Kafue Flats, Zambia
Zambia's largest and most important wetlands
The Kafue Flats are a huge open flood-plain covering some 6,500 square kilometres. It's one of the major wetlands in water-rich Zambia and is extremely important for wildlife, fishing, cattle-grazing, sugar-cane farming and the production of hydro-electric power.In fact the Kafue Gorge hydroelectric power plant situated at the eastern end of the Kafue Flats provides around 50% Zambia’s electricity needs and also exports electricity to neighbouring countries, such as Zimbabwe and South Africa.
Where there is water, there is life... and lots of it
"The whole area is a very flat plain," says Nyambe Nalumino, Project Manager of WWF-Zambia, "with lots of lagoons and reed-beds. You can see many different sorts of antelope as well as zebras, hippos and crocodiles - and hundreds of different sorts of birds, including many water birds such as the endangered Wattled crane."
Centuries old flooding regime altered by dams
Because the region is so flat, the Kafue river tends to flow slowly and falls only 8 metres during its 200 kilometre journey through the Flats. Normally this means that the surrounding grasslands become regularly flooded as part of the natural water-cycle of the Kafue Flats. But this system has been upset by the construction of two enormous dams at either end of the Kafue Flats area.
"The flooding regime of the Kafue Flats has been more-or-less manipulated by the construction of the dams," says Mr Nalumino. "And that has had a great effect on the wetland because the flooding doesn’t happen at the natural time."
It also means that there are no longer peak floods and extreme droughts, vital to much of the wildlife in the region. As a result, many of the former flooded areas no longer become inundated and bushes are now beginning to grow there - so that the original wetland ecology has changed drastically.
National Parks
In the 1960's,WWF bought up two farm estates in the central region of Kafue Flats and established 'Lochinvar National Park' and 'Blue Lagoon National Park'.
Recently, both these two parks have been declared 'Ramsar sites' - which means that they are internationally recognised as extremely important wetlands.
However over the years, the parks have been badly neglected and it has been difficult to maintain the quality of the roads leading into and around the parks. Happily though, the WWF-Zambia co-ordination office signed an agreement in June 2000 with Tully Ho Safaris to rehabilitate the Blue Lagoon National Park and develop ecotourism there.
A partnership between WWF-Zambia and Star of Africa, a major investor in tourism in southern Africa is now also underway, and is focussing on upgrading facilities in Lochinvar National Park.
People of the Kafue Flats
Traditionally, the local people of the Kafue Flats have made a living by fishing and grazing livestock.
However, most damage is caused by organised hunting and commercial poaching. As a result, certain parts of the Flats are suffering from increasing human pressure.
