This is a list of national parks in Zambia. There are twenty

national parks A national park is a natural park in use for conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or owns. Although individua ...

Zambia Zambia (), officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central, Southern and East Africa, although it is typically referred to as being in Southern Africa at its most central point. Its neighbours are t ...

, although a few of them are not maintained and so contain no facilities and few animals. Others have high concentrations of animals and are popular with tourists, while two or three are world-famous.

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Alphabetical list

Blue Lagoon National Park Blue Lagoon National Park is a small wildlife haven in the northern part of the Kafue Flats in Zambia's Central Province. It covers about 500 km² and is very accessible, being about 100 km west of Lusaka (120 km by road). Ecology ...

— a small park in the north of the

Kafue Flats The Kafue Flats (locally called Butwa) are a vast area of swamp, open lagoon and seasonally inundated flood-plain on the Kafue River in the Southern, Central and Lusaka provinces of Zambia. They are a shallow flood plain 240 km long and a ...

west of Lusaka, known chiefly for bird life; one lodge * Isangano National Park — east of the

Bangweulu Swamps The Bangweulu Wetlands is a wetland ecosystem adjacent to Lake Bangweulu in north-eastern Zambia. The area has been designated as one of the world's most important wetlands by the Ramsar Convention and an "Important Bird Area" by BirdLife Intern ...

, no facilities, little wildlife *

Kafue National Park Kafue National Park is the largest national park in Zambia, covering an area of about 22,400 km² (similar in size to Wales or Massachusetts). It is one of the largest parks in Africa and is home to 152 different species of mammals. The park ...

— world-famous for its animals, one of the world's largest national parks, several lodges * Kasanka National Park — privately operated, south of the

, one lodge *

Lavushi Manda National Park Lavushi Manda National Park is a national park in the Muchinga Province of Zambia with an area of 1,500 sq km. It is the 11th largest of the 20 National Parks in Zambia. The park was initially gazetted as a Game Reserve in 1941, and was ...

— south-east of the

, no facilities, little wildlife *

Liuwa Plain National Park Liuwa Plain National Park is a national park in Zambia's Western Province. "Liuwa" means "plain" in the local Liuwa language, a dialect of Lozi language, and the plains originally served as a hunting ground for Lubosi Lewanika, the Litunga (ki ...

— in the remote far west, no facilities but some large herds of animals *

Lochinvar National Park __NOTOC__ The Lochinvar National Park lies south west of Lusaka in Zambia, on the south side of the Kafue River.The habitats the national park protects are a large portion of the southern Kafue Flats floodplain, including the Chunga Lagoon, and dri ...

— a small park south of the

world-famous for bird life and herds of

lechwe The lechwe, red lechwe, or southern lechwe (''Kobus leche'') is an antelope found in wetlands of south-central Africa. Range The lechwe is native to Botswana, Zambia, southeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, northeastern Namibia, and eas ...

, one lodge *

Lower Zambezi National Park The Lower Zambezi National Park lies on the north bank of the Zambezi River in southeastern Zambia. Until 1983 when the area was declared a national park, the area was the private game reserve of Zambia's president. This meant that the park was pro ...

— east of Lusaka, offers good wildlife viewing on the Zambezi River; numerous lodges * Luambe National Park — a small park, close to South Luangwa National Park, recovering after previous neglect, one new lodge * Lukusuzi National Park — east of Luambe, undeveloped but with potential * Lusaka National Park — opened in 2015, a small park on the south-east side of the capital city Lusaka * Lusenga Plain National Park — east of Lake Mweru, no facilities, no easy access, little wildlife * Mosi-oa-Tunya National Park (

Victoria Falls National Park Victoria Falls National Park in north-western Zimbabwe protects the south and east bank of the Zambezi River in the area of the world-famous Victoria Falls. It extends along the Zambezi river from the larger Zambezi National Park about 6 k ...

) — the small park for Victoria Falls on the edge of the city of Livingstone (where accommodation is available), includes a small 'safari park' * Mweru Wantipa National Park — no facilities, neglected, little wildlife but has potential for redevelopment *

North Luangwa National Park North Luangwa National Park is a national park in Zambia, the northernmost of the three in the valley of the Luangwa River. Founded as a game reserve in 1938, it became a national park in 1972 and now covers 4,636 km². Like the South Luangw ...

— this reserve has no facilities and is closed except to specially-licensed tours * Nsumbu National Park (also known as Sumbu) — once ranked with Kafue and Luangwa, needs redevelopment but has good wildlife potential and offers lakeside game viewing, three lodges *

Nyika National Park Nyika National Park is Malawi’s largest national park, with an area of 3200 km2 (1250 mile2). Location and road access The park covers practically the whole of the Nyika Plateau in northern Malawi, about 480 km north of Lilongwe and 60 km ...

— famous for its highland scenery and vegetation rather than wildlife; one lodge, but reached from the park of the same name in

Malawi Malawi (; or aláwi Tumbuka: ''Malaŵi''), officially the Republic of Malawi, is a landlocked country in Southeastern Africa that was formerly known as Nyasaland. It is bordered by Zambia to the west, Tanzania to the north and northeas ...

Sioma Ngwezi National Park Sioma Ngwezi National Park is a 5,000-square-kilometre park in the south west corner of Zambia. 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 ...

— in the remote far south-west, no facilities but some large herds of animals *

South Luangwa National Park South Luangwa National Park is in eastern Zambia, the southernmost of three national parks in the valley of the Luangwa River. It is a world-renowned wildlife haven which is known to locals simply as "the South Park."Concentrations of game along ...

— world-famous as an icon of African wildlife, numerous lodges *

West Lunga National Park West Lunga National Park is a remote wildlife haven in dense forest in the North-Western Province of Zambia. It lies between the West Lunga River and Kabompo River about 10 km north of the gravel road from Solwezi to Kabompo, and covers ab ...

— no facilities, no easy access, neglected, little wildlife but has potential for redevelopment.

Administration

The national parks are administered by the Zambia Wildlife Authority, an autonomous body responsible to the Ministry of Tourism, Environment and Natural Resources. This Authority took over from the former National Parks and Wildlife Service which suffered from chronic underfunding. Consequently of the 20 parks, five have never had management or facilities and have very little wildlife: Isangano, Lavushi Manda, Lusenga Plain, West Lunga, and Mweru Wantipa; three have substantial wildlife but have hitherto been left undeveloped as a matter of policy or because a neighbouring park has been favoured: North Luangwa, Luambe, and Lukusuzi; and three have wildlife but have been too remote to develop: Liuwa Plain, Sioma Ngwezi, and Nyika Plateau. Of the remainder, most are in quite good shape, except Nsumbu, which went through a decline due to a lack of transport infrastructure, and the zoological park section of Mosi-oa-Tunya National Park which needs rehabilitation. In approximate order of importance in terms of wildlife resources, the eight main functioning parks, all with access and accommodation are: *

* Nsumbu National Park * Kasanka National Park *

* Mosi-oa-Tunya National Park

References

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National parks A national park is a natural park in use for conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or owns. Although individua ...

Map

Alphabetical list

Administration

See also

References