West Lunga National Park

Proclaimed in the mid-90s to protect a small population of yellow-backed duiker, this park has received little attention or support from the government and until recently, local communities still hunted and fished here. The West Lunga Trust was set up to work with local communities to curb poaching, and encourage sustainable tourism, but without much support this has seen little success.

Located about 150 km northwest of Kafue National Park, West Lunga NP is located between the West Lunga River in the west and the Kabompo River in the east. It’s also surrounded by game management areas which form a buffer zone around the park.

The park is located in a belt of dry evergreen forest, dominated by Cryptosepalum exfoliatum (commonly called mukwa trees), interspersed with grasslands, swamps and miombo woodlands. The dry evergreen forest is unique to this region and it’s the largest example of such on the continent outside the equatorial region. In spite of the high rainfall here, there’s little surface water as water soaks away quickly in the sandy soils; hence, the dry evergreen forest.

More than 380 species of birds occur in this vegetation, with 15 species being typical of the dry evergreen forest. These include barred long-tailed cuckoo, golden-rumped tinkerbird and Boulton’s Batis. Endemic to the forest is the white-fronted tinkerbird, although controversy surrounds its existence. The only specimen ever recorded, was way back in 1964, and in spite of earnest attempts by even more earnest twitchers, no more sightings have been recorded. Some say that the original sighting was possibly a rare variant of the golden-rumped tinkerbird, while others believe that their attempts at locating the species are simply foiled by the dense undergrowth which accompanies the tall mukwa trees. You could be the one to settle this debate!

Although wildlife does occur in the park, it’s difficult to spot due to the dense forest. Thanks to hunting, the game is inclined to be very cautious of human proximity. Nevertheless, be on the lookout for elephant, yellow-backed duiker, buffalo, puku, hippo, samango monkey, yellow baboon, bush pig, sable and roan antelope.

West Lunga National Park lies about 10 km north of the gravel road from Solwezi to Kabompo.

ACCOMMODATION:
There is no accommodation in the park so visitors need to be self-sufficient. (Mar-2019).

EMERGENCY SERVICES:
Tow-in services: +27(0)97 473 7848 / +260(0)96 676 1647 (Based in Lusaka). (2019).

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