Kafue National Park

Kafue National Park is located in the central part of the western half of Zambia.  The park covers an area of 8,600 square miles (22,400 sq km) creating the largest national park in Zambia.  It is a GANP Ambassador Park and serves as the second-largest national park across the continent of Africa.

The Kafue River stretches 990 miles (1,600 km) as the longest river found solely within the country.  The park is named after the river that crosses through this region of the country.

The majority of the national park terrain is flat characterized by savanna grasslands with islands of Miombo trees scattered across the plains. The southern part of the park is further characterized by rocky outcrops, stony hills, and mopane woodlands.  The vegetation is diverse including thicket, savanna grasslands, woodlands, evergreen forests, and mixed forests.

Much of the grassy savannas serve as floodplain during the rainy season.  The Kafue River and the Lufupa and Lunga tributaries off of it serve as the waterways that overflow into the floodplains.  These floodwaters are rarely deep covering such a tremendous area.  The soils are also comprised of sandy and loamy compositions giving way to good drainage.

As the floodwaters begin to drain and disappear, it leaves watering holes in areas of the grasslands that are deeper.  The Zambezian flooded grasslands become an ecosystem that is rich with diverse wildlife.  The area becomes an excellent place to watch for wildlife while on safari.

There are 55 different mammalian species roaming about the savanna grasslands and mopane forests.  Predators are almost always the highlight and they are here in full.  Lion, leopard, hyena, cheetah, and Cape wild dogs are all hopeful sightings.

Other popular species include bushbuck, crocodile, duiker, eland, elephant, grysbok, hippopotamus, kudu, lechwe, roan antelope, wildebeest, and zebra.  There is actually a diverse collection of antelope as well as large herds of red lechwe and puku.