Lochinvar National Park
Expert Reviews (4)
Zambia Parks
Ariadne is a renowned African wildlife photographer whose work is featured in many well-known guidebooks and magazines.
3 people found this review helpful.
Birding in the Kafue Flats
Lochinvar National Park is a highly rated birding destination. It protects a section of the Kafue Flats, a massive seasonal floodplain of the Kafue River. As there is nowhere to stay inside the park, we based ourselves at Moorings Campsite, about 50km from the entrance. Once inside the park, you need to follow a long dusty road (passing a working gypsum mine) to get to Chunga Lagoon – the main birding hot spot. Here we were rewarded with a great variety of water-associated birds. Walking and bird watching along the papyrus fringed shore, we also spotted a herd of Kafue lechwe, a near-endemic restricted to the Kafue Flats. The only other place you might see this semiaquatic antelope is Blue Lagoon NP. We checked out Lochinvar’s other places of interest including a big baobab tree and hot springs, but we were disappointed there was no opportunity to get onto the wetland by boat or mokoro. All in all, the park feels quite neglected and, while I’m sure the wetlands are brimming with life, we couldn’t see much of it.
Alan is a travel writer and author of over 20 Lonely Planet guidebooks, including the guides to Southern Africa and Zambia & Malawi.
2 people found this review helpful.
The Kafue Flats
This small park is well off-the-beaten track with no facilities (although camping is possible) so come well prepared. Consisting mainly of grasslands and a lagoon which floods during the Wet season this area has been deemed a World Heritage Site - the Kafue Flats. Large wildlife is still a bit scarce as the park is recovering from years of neglect.
Birdwatching is a draw and wetland birds are a highlight. I saw a few cranes and plenty of antelope - especially the Kafue lechwes splashing about in the shallows. Otherwise I heard the unmistakable grunt of hippos surfacing and saw a jackal sneaking around. If the wildlife is not cooperating you can scratch around the remnants of an Iron Age settlement or check out the scalding water of a hot spring, too hot to dip a toe in though.