Kafue National Park

About the same size as the state of New Jersey, Kafue National Park is one of the largest and oldest national parks in Africa. It is located in the central part of the west of Zambia, directly north of Livingstone, where Victoria Falls is located. The part is centered around the Kafue River and its tributaries. Flying into one of several all-year airstrips from Livingstone or Lusaka takes less than an hour.

Most of the park is miombo woodlands broken up by dambos near riverbanks and teak and mopane evergreen forests. The Busanga Plains in the far north of the park are seasonally flooded grasslands that are, at the right time of year, a fantastic destination for large numbers of mammals and birds. Spaced out are giant anthills and baobab trees.

There are, as in all great safari destinations, a variety of camps throughout Kafue National Park. Locations are key, both in getting to good game viewing areas, as well as simply being in a good game viewing area. At Musekese Camp, they had built a two-tiered deck overlooking the dambo between the camp and the Kafue River. Not only did we have an elephant in the camp upon arrival, but each evening at dinner on the deck, we spotted some wonderful wildlife: a pride of lions one night and a huge leopard the next. The tents all face the dambo and each morning I was greeted by impala, puku, and grey-crowned cranes grazing in the grassland.

This is why I love bush camps—you are right in the heart of the wildlife viewing areas, so much so that the animals can come to you. The camp staff can tell you what wandered through camp by checking the trailcams each morning; afternoon tea can be interrupted with an animal or bird sighting; and as I’ve already mentioned, dinner was great game-viewing from the Musekese Camp deck.

Kafue is a massive park, and the wildlife is massive as well—I’m speaking in terms of variety, as there have been 158 mammal species documented here, including the most species of ungulates in this part of the world. Kafue has some great species of antelope: roan, sable, lechwe, duikers, sitatunga, and hartebeest. And don’t forget kudu, puku, oribi, and the rare tsessebe.

Even if antelope are not what you are hoping to see when on safari, they are important in terms of attracting the predators. All those prey animals mean leopard, lion, cheetah, hyena, and wild dog can be found throughout the park. Cheetah are fairly rare in Zambia, so Kafue is one of the best places to go looking for them (along with Liuwa Plains National Park). There are also excellent numbers of elephants and buffalo throughout the area, too.

Kafue National Park was not always the great game-viewing destination it is now. Decades of neglect and rampant poaching took their toll. Camp operators on the ground started localized conservation efforts that proved successful, targeting poachers and removing snares. Their efforts helped bring game numbers up and got more support from the government’s Zambian Wildlife Authority (ZAWA). Musekese Conservation still operates in the area, an NGO supported by Musekese Camp. With anti-poaching efforts now run by ZAWA, Musekese Conservation focuses on ecology. They track each lion pride, wild dog pack, and individual leopards—as well as the number of herbivores. I was able to take a photo of a leopard that was used to identify her; the profile picture showed her whisker pattern and we noted her location and time and date and entered it into the Musekese Conservation database.

Even if you don’t get a photo that can be used for the database, by staying at Musekese Camp or it’s sister camp, Ntemwa-Busanga Camp, you are supporting the efforts of Musekese Conservation.