Sioma Ngwezi National Park is a 5,000-square-kilometre park in the south west corner of
Zambia
Zambia (), officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa, although it is typically referred to as being in Southern Africa at its most cent ...
. It is undeveloped and rarely visited, lacking roads and being off the usual tourist tracks, but this may change in the future.
Description
Like most
national park
A national park is a nature park, natural park in use for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state dec ...
s in Zambia, it is unfenced allowing free movement of the animals, and it is surrounded by buffer zones where hunting is regulated, called Game Management Areas (GMAs). The West Zambezi GMA adjacent to the park is the largest in the country at 35,000 square kilometres.
The park occupies part of large plain lying between the
Zambezi
The Zambezi River (also spelled Zambeze and Zambesi) is the fourth-longest river in Africa, the longest east-flowing river in Africa and the largest flowing into the Indian Ocean from Africa. Its drainage basin covers , slightly less than hal ...
, the
Cuando River
The Cuando River (or Kwando in the non-colonial spelling) is a river in south-central Africa flowing through Angola and Namibia's Caprivi Strip and into the Linyanti Swamp on the northern border of Botswana. Below the swamp, the river is called t ...
(the upper
Chobe River
The Cuando River (or Kwando in the non-colonial spelling) is a river in south-central Africa flowing through Angola and Namibia's Caprivi Strip and into the Linyanti Swamp on the northern border of Botswana. Below the swamp, the river is called t ...
), and the
Caprivi Strip
The Caprivi Strip, also known simply as Caprivi, is a geographic salient protruding from the northeastern corner of Namibia. It is surrounded by Botswana to the south and Angola and Zambia to the north. Namibia, Botswana and Zambia meet at a s ...
, called the Silowana Plains, lying south of the
Barotse Floodplain
The Barotse Floodplain, also known as the Bulozi Plain, Lyondo or the Zambezi Floodplain, is one of Africa's great wetlands, on the Zambezi River in the Western Province of Zambia. It is a designated Ramsar site, regarded as being of high conserv ...
. They were once part of the
Kalahari Desert
The Kalahari Desert is a large semi-arid sandy savanna in Southern Africa extending for , covering much of Botswana, and parts of Namibia and South Africa.
It is not to be confused with the Angolan, Namibian, and South African Namib coastal de ...
and covered in wind-blown sand-dunes, still present as gentle undulations and a sandy soil. Although the climate is now wetter, permanent rivers do not flow through the plains, only a few seasonal ones, and in the rainy season thousands of small lagoons, typically a couple of hundred metres across, form in the depressions between the dunes. Two ecoregions are well represented in the park,
Zambezian Baikiaea woodlands
The Zambezian ''Baikiaea'' woodlands is an ecoregion in Africa. It includes dry deciduous forest and woodland, thicket, and grassland, dominated by the tree ''Baikiaea plurijuga''. The ecoregion has a semi-arid climate, and is a transition between ...
dominated by
Zambian Teak
''Baikiaea plurijuga'', known as African teak, Mukusi, Rhodesian teak, Zambian teak or Zambesi redwood, is a species of Afrotropical tree from the legume family, the Fabaceae from southern Africa.
Description
''Baikiaea plurijuga'' is a medi ...
trees, which surrounds plains of
Western Zambezian grasslands
The Western Zambezian grasslands is a tropical grassland ecoregion of eastern Zambia and adjacent parts of Angola. It is situated in two sections, to the north and south of the Barotse Floodplain. The region supports herds of ungulates, including ...
. Along the major rivers surrounding the park is a third
ecoregion
An ecoregion (ecological region) or ecozone (ecological zone) is an ecologically and geographically defined area that is smaller than a bioregion, which in turn is smaller than a biogeographic realm. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of l ...
,
Zambezian flooded grasslands
The Zambezian flooded grasslands is an ecoregion of southern and eastern Africa that is rich in wildlife.
Setting
The Zambezian flooded grasslands can be found on seasonally- or permanently-flooded lowlands in the basin of the Zambezi and neighbo ...
.
Fauna
The Park and surrounding GMA form an important link in the migratory route of elephants and wildebeest from the nearby national parks of
Botswana
Botswana (, ), officially the Republic of Botswana ( tn, Lefatshe la Botswana, label=Setswana, ), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory being the Kalahar ...
and
Namibia
Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...
. Although still poached, the park does offer a better refuge for
elephant
Elephants are the largest existing land animals. Three living species are currently recognised: the African bush elephant, the African forest elephant, and the Asian elephant. They are the only surviving members of the family Elephantidae an ...
s migrating from Angola where poaching and illegal
hunting
Hunting is the human activity, human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, or killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to harvest food (i.e. meat) and useful animal products (fur/hide (skin), hide, ...
has been rampant during and in the aftermath of the civil war there.
The park is home to over 3,000
African bush elephant
The African bush elephant (''Loxodonta africana'') is one of two extant African elephant species and one of three extant elephant species. It is the largest living terrestrial animal, with bulls reaching a shoulder height of up to and a body ...
s, and
roan antelope,
sable antelope
The sable antelope (''Hippotragus niger'') is an antelope which inhabits wooded savanna in East and Southern Africa, from the south of Kenya to South Africa, with a separate population in Angola.
Taxonomy
The sable antelope shares the genus ''Hi ...
,
puku
The puku (''Kobus vardonii'') is a medium-sized antelope found in wet grasslands in southern Democratic Republic of Congo, Namibia, Tanzania, Zambia and more concentrated in the Okavango Delta in Botswana. Nearly one-third of all puku are found ...
,
impala
The impala or rooibok (''Aepyceros melampus'') is a medium-sized antelope found in eastern and southern Africa. The only extant member of the genus '' Aepyceros'' and tribe Aepycerotini, it was first described to European audiences by Germa ...
,
Grant's zebra
Grant's zebra (''Equus quagga boehmi'') is the smallest of the seven subspecies of the plains zebra. This subspecies represents the zebra form of the Serengeti- Mara ecosystem and others across central Africa.
Distribution
This subspecies is di ...
, and
kudu
The kudus are two species of antelope of the genus '' Tragelaphus'':
* Lesser kudu, ''Tragelaphus imberbis'', of eastern Africa
* Greater kudu, ''Tragelaphus strepsiceros'', of eastern and southern Africa
The two species look similar, th ...
. Several endangered species including
Cape wild dog
The African wild dog (''Lycaon pictus''), also called the painted dog or Cape hunting dog, is a wild canine which is a native species to sub-Saharan Africa. It is the largest wild canine in Africa, and the only extant member of the genus '' L ...
and
South African cheetah
The Southeast African cheetah (''Acinonyx jubatus jubatus'') is the nominate cheetah subspecies native to East and Southern Africa. The Southern African cheetah lives mainly in the lowland areas and deserts of the Kalahari, the savannahs of Okav ...
are also present.
Since 2005, the protected area is considered a
Lion
The lion (''Panthera leo'') is a large Felidae, cat of the genus ''Panthera'' native to Africa and India. It has a muscular, broad-chested body; short, rounded head; round ears; and a hairy tuft at the end of its tail. It is sexually dimorphi ...
Conservation Unit.
Tourism
There are no facilities except for
campsites
A campsite, also known as a campground or camping pitch, is a place used for overnight stay in an outdoor area. In British English, a ''campsite'' is an area, usually divided into a number of pitches, where people can camp overnight using ten ...
and no roads in the park, only tracks requiring four-wheel drive vehicles even in the dry season, when vehicles can become bogged in sand. In 2007 several tour operators were taking guided safaris into the park. According to the Zambian government plans are in hand to open the park to private management and provide better wildlife protection. The proximity to Angola, Namibia and Botswana makes it ripe for transfrontier parks initiatives.
Other tourism facilities have recently been developed or are planned in the region, such as along nearby stretches of the Zambezi (a fishing resort, and a lodge at
Ngonye Falls
The Ngonye Falls or Sioma Falls is a waterfall on the Zambezi river in Western province Zambia, near the town of Sioma and a few hundred kilometres upstream from the Victoria Falls. Situated in the southern part of Barotseland, the falls are a da ...
), and in the Caprivi Strip. The recently opened
Trans–Caprivi Highway and
Katima Mulilo Bridge
The Katima Mulilo Bridge (also known as ''Bridge 508'' in the Namibian Bridge Register) carries the TransCaprivi Highway over the Zambezi River between Katima Mulilo, Namibia and Sesheke, Zambia. It is a road bridge, completed in 2004, 900 met ...
are within 60 km of the park and may increase visitor numbers appreciably.
Notes
This park is considered for inclusion in the 5 Nation
Kavango - Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area Kavango may refer to:
;Geographical features:
* Okavango River, a river in southwest Africa, which drains into the Okavango Delta
* Okavango Delta, a delta in Botswana
* Okavango Basin, an endorheic basin that includes the Okavango River and Okavan ...
.
See also
*
Wildlife of Zambia
The wildlife of Zambia refers to the natural flora and fauna of Zambia. This article provides an overview, and outline of the main wildlife areas or regions, and compact lists of animals focusing on prevalence and distribution in the country rather ...
References
External links
Zambian tourism website
{{authority control
National parks of Zambia
Cuando River
Geography of Western Province, Zambia
Tourist attractions in Western Province, Zambia
Important Bird Areas of Zambia