Lower Zambezi National Park
Encyclopedia
The Lower Zambezi National Park lies on the north bank of the Zambezi River in south eastern Zambia
. Until 1983 when the area was declared a national park the area was the private game reserve of Zambia's president. This has resulted in the park being protected from the ravages of mass tourism and remains one of the few pristine wilderness areas left in Africa. On the opposite bank is Zimbabwe's Mana Pools national Park. The two parks sit on the Zambezi flood plain ringed by mountains, the area is a world heritage site. In fashion with the current trend in Southern Africa there is talk of linking the two parks to form a massive trans-frontier park.
The park gently slopes from the Zambezi Escarpment
down to the river, straddling two main woodland savannah ecoregions distinguished by the dominant types of tree, Miombo
and Mopane
: Southern Miombo woodlands on higher ground in the north, and Zambezian and Mopane woodlands on lower slopes in the south. At the edge of the river is floodplain habitat.
The park itself is ringed by a much larger game management area (commonly referred to as GMA), there are no fences between the park and the GMA and both animals and people are free to roam across the whole area. The attraction of the Lower Zambezi park and its surrounding GMA is its remote location, unlike South African parks there are no tarred roads and you are very unlikely to encounter another tourist whilst traveling around. Tourist numbers are kept down due to the park being inaccessible by road, unless you have advanced 4x4 driving skills and even then only at certain times of the year, tourists are taken in on either a boat on the Zambezi or by light aircraft flying from either Livingstone or Lusaka.
Most large mammal
s in the national park
congregate on the floodplain
, including buffalo
, numerouselephant
s, lion
s, leopard
s and many antelope
, crocodile
s and hippopotamus
es. There are also a large number of species of bird
s, but the black rhinoceros
es died out around the time the national park was declared, in 1983.
Zambia
Zambia , officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. The neighbouring countries are the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the north, Tanzania to the north-east, Malawi to the east, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Namibia to the south, and Angola to the west....
. Until 1983 when the area was declared a national park the area was the private game reserve of Zambia's president. This has resulted in the park being protected from the ravages of mass tourism and remains one of the few pristine wilderness areas left in Africa. On the opposite bank is Zimbabwe's Mana Pools national Park. The two parks sit on the Zambezi flood plain ringed by mountains, the area is a world heritage site. In fashion with the current trend in Southern Africa there is talk of linking the two parks to form a massive trans-frontier park.
The park gently slopes from the Zambezi Escarpment
Zambezi Escarpment
Zambezi Escarpment is a name used for the escarpments forming both sides of the rift valley or graben in which lie the middle Zambezi river and Lake Kariba...
down to the river, straddling two main woodland savannah ecoregions distinguished by the dominant types of tree, Miombo
Miombo
Miombo is the Swahili word for Brachystegia, a genus of tree comprising a large number of species. Miombo woodland is classified in the tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome...
and Mopane
Mopane
The mopane or mopani tree grows in hot, dry, low-lying areas, in elevation, in the far northern parts of southern Africa, into South Africa, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Botswana, Zambia, Namibia, Angola and Malawi. The tree only occurs in Africa and is the only species in genus Colophospermum...
: Southern Miombo woodlands on higher ground in the north, and Zambezian and Mopane woodlands on lower slopes in the south. At the edge of the river is floodplain habitat.
The park itself is ringed by a much larger game management area (commonly referred to as GMA), there are no fences between the park and the GMA and both animals and people are free to roam across the whole area. The attraction of the Lower Zambezi park and its surrounding GMA is its remote location, unlike South African parks there are no tarred roads and you are very unlikely to encounter another tourist whilst traveling around. Tourist numbers are kept down due to the park being inaccessible by road, unless you have advanced 4x4 driving skills and even then only at certain times of the year, tourists are taken in on either a boat on the Zambezi or by light aircraft flying from either Livingstone or Lusaka.
Most large mammal
Mammal
Mammals are members of a class of air-breathing vertebrate animals characterised by the possession of endothermy, hair, three middle ear bones, and mammary glands functional in mothers with young...
s in the national park
National park
A national park is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or owns. Although individual nations designate their own national parks differently A national park is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or...
congregate on the floodplain
Floodplain
A floodplain, or flood plain, is a flat or nearly flat land adjacent a stream or river that stretches from the banks of its channel to the base of the enclosing valley walls and experiences flooding during periods of high discharge...
, including buffalo
African Buffalo
The African buffalo, affalo, nyati, Mbogo or Cape buffalo is a large African bovine. It is not closely related to the slightly larger wild Asian water buffalo, but its ancestry remains unclear...
, numerouselephant
Elephant
Elephants are large land mammals in two extant genera of the family Elephantidae: Elephas and Loxodonta, with the third genus Mammuthus extinct...
s, lion
Lion
The lion is one of the four big cats in the genus Panthera, and a member of the family Felidae. With some males exceeding 250 kg in weight, it is the second-largest living cat after the tiger...
s, leopard
Leopard
The leopard , Panthera pardus, is a member of the Felidae family and the smallest of the four "big cats" in the genus Panthera, the other three being the tiger, lion, and jaguar. The leopard was once distributed across eastern and southern Asia and Africa, from Siberia to South Africa, but its...
s and many antelope
Antelope
Antelope is a term referring to many even-toed ungulate species indigenous to various regions in Africa and Eurasia. Antelopes comprise a miscellaneous group within the family Bovidae, encompassing those old-world species that are neither cattle, sheep, buffalo, bison, nor goats...
, crocodile
Crocodile
A crocodile is any species belonging to the family Crocodylidae . The term can also be used more loosely to include all extant members of the order Crocodilia: i.e...
s and hippopotamus
Hippopotamus
The hippopotamus , or hippo, from the ancient Greek for "river horse" , is a large, mostly herbivorous mammal in sub-Saharan Africa, and one of only two extant species in the family Hippopotamidae After the elephant and rhinoceros, the hippopotamus is the third largest land mammal and the heaviest...
es. There are also a large number of species of bird
Bird
Birds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic , egg-laying, vertebrate animals. Around 10,000 living species and 188 families makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from...
s, but the black rhinoceros
Black Rhinoceros
The Black Rhinoceros or Hook-lipped Rhinoceros , is a species of rhinoceros, native to the eastern and central areas of Africa including Kenya, Tanzania, Cameroon, South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe, and Angola...
es died out around the time the national park was declared, in 1983.