West Lunga National Park

關於

West Lunga National Park is a remote national park in dense forest in the Northern Province of Zambia. It lies between the West Lunga River and Kabompo River about 10 km north of the gravel road (M8 road) from Solwezi to Kabompo, and covers about 1700 km². Within the park, there are a diverse set of natural areas, including forests, seasonally flooded grass valleys, also called dambos, open grasslands, chipya woodlands and papyrus swamps.

The park was originally established as a game reserve during the 1940s, primarily to preserve the population of yellow-backed duiker. The park is one of the more wild parks in Zambia, and has a lower number of visitors than the more popular parks such as Kafue or Lower Zambezi. It remains the least visited park in Zambia.

The national park is the only one in Zambia covered by forest, categorised in the small Cryptosepalum dry forests ecoregion, which exists only in a few patches in the south west of the province extending a little over the border into Angola. Cryptosepalum trees (called "mukwe" locally) are evergreen and grow densely with a closed canopy. The ecoregion forms the largest evergreen forest in Africa outside of the equatorial zone. Although the rainfall in the area is quite high (above 1,000 mm per year) the soils are sandy and well drained so apart from the rivers there is a lack of surface water. A few patches of Miombo woodland and grassland also exist in the park.

The park can be reached from the Copperbelt in the north or Kafue in the south using the tarred M8. About 10 kilometers north of the gravel road which is between Kira and Solweizi. The park’s entrance is accessible only by a dirt track from the main road to the park gate. Jivundu, a small village, to the park’s southwest is the only entrance, and is located about 65 kilometers east of Kabompo.

Accommodation within the park is limited. Recently, a community-led tour operator, Kafunfula Community Camp, opened within the park.

內容改寫自 Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)。照片來自 Wikimedia Commons.