Kafue National Park

Kafue National Park is Zambia's oldest and largest national park, spanning approximately 22,400 square kilometers across the North-Western, Central, and Southern provinces of western Zambia. It forms an essential component of the Kavango-Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area. The park is named after the Kafue River, which runs through its landscape alongside tributaries such as the Lufupa and Lunga rivers. Its varied terrain encompasses dominant miombo woodlands, seasonal grassy dambos, teak and mopane forests, Lake Itezhi-Tezhi, and the vast seasonally flooded Busanga Plains in the north.The park supports remarkable biological diversity, including 158 mammal species and 21 species of ungulates—the highest diversity of antelope species in Africa—featuring roan, sable, puku, sitatunga, blue duiker, and reintroduced Kafue lechwe. Kafue is a major stronghold for large predators, holding viable populations of lion, leopard, cheetah, spotted hyena, and African wild dog. The Kafue River and its tributaries support large pods of hippos and Nile crocodiles, while African bush elephant herds wander across the landscape. Designated as an Important Bird Area, the park is home to more than 500 bird species, including Pel's fishing owl, Chaplin's barbet, and breeding populations of wattled cranes.Originally designated as a game reserve in the 1920s and established as a national park in the 1950s, Kafue is managed through a long-term partnership between Zambia's Department of National Parks and Wildlife and African Parks. Visitor activities within the park include guided daytime and nocturnal game drives, walking safaris, birdwatching trips, riverboat cruises, and canoeing safaris.