All images and texts credited to Wim Werrelman
All images and texts credited to Wim Werrelman
KASANKA NATIONAL PARK
"Home to the world’s largest mammal migration"
Images and storytelling by Wim Werrelman
Kasanka National Park
"Home to the world’s largest mammal migration"
Amazing wetlands, a beautiful forest with spectacular trees, very special antelopes and monkeys and the planets largest mammal migration.
That is Kasanka National Park, located in the northern part of Central Province forming part of the Greater Bangweulu Ecosystem.
A gem of a park that I fell in love with.
​
My personal favorite is the “Bufumu Tree”, a 65 metre tall (I did not check it....) Mofu or Mofwe Tree (Entandrophragma delevoyi), which is the tallest known indigenous tree in Zambia. I went back several times to visit this enormous tree to make photos of it and was marvelled by its truly dominant presence.
In the area surrounding the excellent Pontoon campsite you can very easily spot the very special Sitatunga, a shy aquatic antelope with splayed hooves which spends its days in the thick papyrus swamps. Kasanka National Park might hold the highest density and most visible population in the world of this scarce and highly valued antelope.
If you drive around the park and hear a weird “pyow pyow” sound, please stop the car and look carefully around you. It is very likely that you will find one of the rare Blue Monkeys, a species of monkey not commonly found anywhere else in Southern Africa.
Most famous of all and the reason that many visitors come to Kasanka National Park in November and early December each year is the annual bat migration. An estimated 10 million Straw-coloured Fruit Bats gather in the relatively small “Bat Forest”.
They all fly out at sunset to find juicy fruits to eat and come back together again in the early morning hours.
One of nature’s true spectacles and a joy for both ears and eyes!
Let´s all help to respect and protect this incredible natural heritage that is Kasanka National Park.
