Kafue National Park is Zambia’s oldest park and by far the largest. It was proclaimed in 1950 and is spread over 22 400 square kilometers, making it one of the largest National Parks in Africa. It is fed by three rivers, the Lufupa in the north-west and the Lunga and Kafue in the north-east. The Lufupa River floods in the summer, creating a large floodplain delta system that attracts thousands of water birds. The Lunga and Kafue rivers are wide and slow-flowing, banded by riverine forest.
Habitats in the Park are diverse, and include floodplains, miombo woodland and dambos. It has good concentrations of plains game and their predators as well as the largest species diversity in Zambia, including animals that are rare or non-existent in other southern African countries, such as Lichtenstein’s Hartebeest, Roan Antelope, Defassa Waterbuck and Oribi. Birdlife is spectacular, consisting of 491 species.
In the extreme north of the Kafue lies the Busanga Plains – one of Zambia’s most significant wetland resources and one of the few areas in the World that remain untouched by development and human activity. Covering 750 square kilometers of breathtaking wilderness, it is considered the jewel in the Kafue crown. This is the best area in Zambia to see Cheetah.
Despite the depravations of poaching and lack of management, the Park is still a raw and diverse slice of African wilderness with excellent game viewing, bird watching and fishing opportunities.