Study Areas
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Luangwa and Mid-Zambezi Valleys Ecosystem
- Lions along the Kapamba River in the Luangwa Valley. Photo courtesy of Paola Bouley.
The whole of the Luangwa and Mid-Zambezi Valleys Ecosystem forms an ecological network of National Parks connected through Game Management Area’s (GMA) forming an unfenced, relatively undisturbed wilderness area of over 70,000 square kilometers. African wild dogs, lions, leopards and hyaena are resident in and around the protected areas of the region although their abundance, population trends, limiting factors and the degree of exchange between populations are poorly understood. Historically cheetahs were also present, but the last reliable sighting dates back to 2000. Thus work initiated in the Luangwa valley in 2005 as a continuation of research and conservation efforts begun in 1999 has been aimed at describing and maintaining carnivore metapopulation dynamics and strengthening protection of this unique and important wildlife corridor.
To date the most recent minimum estimates of African wild dog populations are over 180 adults in the central region of the Luangwa Valley including South Luangwa National Park (SLNP) and the bordering GMAs alone, already over 40% of the total country-wide estimate for wild dogs. In addition photographic monitoring and data from instrumented dispersing animals indicates that the corridor is likely still functioning as an effective metapopulation. Thus there are indications that Eastern Zambia may have one of the more significant remaining wild dog populations in Africa, and is of even more significance in its potential for providing connectivity to Eastern and Southern African wild dog populations in Tanzania, Malawi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, and Botswana.
To date ZCP has identified 137 in lions in 20 prides and coalitions in the core study area of South Luangwa with some prides and coalitions still containing additional unidentified animals. These prides and coalitions form the basis for our study of the ecology, threats and limiting factors for one of the country’s most significant lion populationsLions in this system have considerable importance for photographic and hunting safaris and obtaining accurate and current data on these populations to help guide management is one of the top priorities.
Liuwa Plain Ecosystem
Thunderclouds illuminate wildebeest in Liuwa Plain National Park. Photo courtesy of Michelle Attala
The immense and productive seasonally-flooded grasslands of Liuwa Plain National Park and the surrounding GMA were historically a prolific wildlife area. In the 19th century the area was declared royal hunting ground and game reserve by the Litunga (the King) Lubosi Lewanika. The Lozi people were originally placed in the park by the Litunga as his game keepers. Their strong system of traditional practices, rules and regulations still exist today. The Liuwa Plain Ecosystem forms a huge ecological network the size of Italy.
Widespread poaching, mainly by refugees and warring factions from the Angola war, over the last several decades along with unsustainable trophy hunting extirpated most of the park’s large mammal species. In 2003, African Parks Zambia (APZ) assumed management of Liuwa in partnership with the Zambian Wildlife Authority (ZAWA) and the Barotse Royal Establishment tribal authority. AZP’s vision has been to protect and restore the ecosystem, its processes, and the human populations that depend on it through legal and traditional instruments. As a result, wildlife species and populations are being rapidly restored through increased protection efforts such as anti-poaching patrols and reintroductions of many species. One hallmark of their success has been tremendous improvements among large ungulates such as wildebeest (Connochaetes taurinus) that more doubled in number from 15,000 in 2003 to over 40,000 at present.
Today Liuwa Plain is a developing system with an assemblage of large carnivores that includes a high density of hyaena, only three lions, at least two breeding packs of African wild dogs, and a potentially sizable population of cheetah. Thus, given its transitional state and potential to eventually hold substantial numbers of large mammal species at or near their historical abundance, we can expect dramatic changes in species abundance and distribution as the system changes with restoration efforts. Well-designed conservation, research and monitoring programs instituted concurrently with these restoration activities will not only provide immediate applications for conservation and management of the park’s carnivore species but also provide key insights into our understanding of competitive interactions within the large carnivore guild that will have broad applications for continent-wide carnivore conservation efforts.
Kafue Ecosystem
Kafue National Park is Zambia’s largest protected area, 22,400 km2 and combined with the adjacent GMA’s comprises one of the most vast wildlife areas remaining in Africa of about 70,000 km2. Kafue NP also forms part of the yet even bigger KAZA TFCA of 287,132 km2 forming one of the biggest protected ecological networks in the world if not the biggest. Ultimately, through the KAZA TFCA protected ecological network the Luangwa and Mid-Zambezi Valley Ecosystem and the Liuwa Plain Ecosystem are both connected to the Kafue Ecosystem. The most recent estimates for African wild dog populations in Zambia indicate that the area has the country’s largest population of the species but this ecosystem’s dog population remains unstudied and its status and threats unknown. The Kafue Ecosystem is also likely to contain Zambia’s largest population of cheetah, but to date no scientific population estimate of cheetah in the Kafue Ecosystem exists. We are initiating work in collaboration with ZAWA’s Kafue Area Management Unit to begin long-term studies of African wild dogs and cheetah in collaboration with Dr. Scott Creel, from Montana State University and Robin Lines, who also manages the Namibia Wild Dog Project.
Bangweulu Wetlands Ecosystem
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Bangweulu Swamps from the air. Photo Courtesy of Lorenz A. Fischer/ Allvisions and APN
The Bangweulu Wetlands, sometimes referred to as the Okavango of Zambia, in northern Zambia is home to the endemic black lechwe and one of the most enigmatic birds of Africa, the rare Shoebill. The project area is not part of the Luangwa Valley ecosystem, but there is some evidence of exchange of animals between SLNP and Lavushi Manda NP in the Bangweulu Wetlands Ecosystem indicating an ecological connection between both ecosystems. The project area, now known as the Bangweulu Wetlands, consists of mostly lowly populated swamps, extensive floodplains, miombo woodlands and lakes. Current land use is mostly subsistence fishing and hunting. The limited amount of tourism has not yet begun to tap into the full potential of the area. In the past there has been some management, tourism and trophy hunting infrastructure in the area, all of which has now been taken over by the Bangweulu Wetlands Management Board (BWMB). The ethos of the management model for Bangweulu is informed by the need to deliver tangible benefits to the community that owns the land and that has set it aside for conservation purposes. Zambia is pioneering a new concept in African conservation, a “Community Partnership Park” (CPP). This will be a protected area with the status of a national park, but which belongs to the local community rather than to the State and will be managed by a private sector partner. Almost half of the Bangweulu Game Management Area is to be proclaimed as the Chikuni CPP which is expected to obtain its legal status in 2010. The Bangweulu Wetlands Project is a public private partnership between Zambia Wildlife Authority, six Bangweulu Communities and African Parks Network, who agreed to be the private management partner not only for the proposed Chikuni CPP, but for the entire Bangweulu GMA, an area of 6,000 km2. The Bangweulu Wetlands of Zambia is the only place in Africa where the black lechwe still occurs in significant numbers. The population at the present time is estimated to be over 60,000 and is thus one of the major assemblages of wildlife left on earth. The wetlands also support a healthy population of the swamp-dwelling sitatunga and at least 1,000 tsessebe. Many species are however depleted or locally extinct (including cheetah, wild dog and lion) and it is the intention of the BWMB and APN to restore the biodiversity of BW to the levels that could be considered to be natural, including the reintroduction of indigenous fauna and facilitating the restoration of populations of species that are present but rare. This work is proposed to begin with Cheetah reintroductions in collaboration with Cheetah Conservation Fund and the Zambian Carnivore Programme in 2011 and other predators over the coming years.
