Kasanka Walking Safaris in Zambia
Kasanka Walking Safaris in Zambia – Game viewing on foot
Kasanka walking safaris in Zambia – Getting out on foot is perhaps the best way to appreciate all aspects of a wilderness like Kasanka. It gives you a chance to see the small things as well the more obvious! Follow a Honey Guide to a Bee’s nest or track an Elephant along its spore. Walks can be arranged from 1 hour to 5 days!
Walking trails of several days are a specialty of Kasanka as the terrain and vegetation make for easy walking. The park has many different habitats in its relatively small area so walks are always passing through changing scenery.
Walkers are accompanied by an armed scout for safety and also to glean local knowledge. You just carry what they need for the day with other luggage taken ahead separately. A temporary camp is set up ahead so that food and shelter are reached at the end of each day.
One day of the trail is usually spent drifting down the Luwombwa river by canoe. One or 2 nights may be spent at the lodges, but otherwise simple tented camps will be set up each night in remote corners of the park. The scouts always carry a radio for contact with HQ in case of any urgency.
This peaceful sanctuary, situated on the south western edge of the Lake Bangweulu basin, is one of Zambia’s smallest national parks. It’s 450 km2 however, are so well endowed with rivers, lakes, wetlands, forests, lagoons, meadows and dambos that it supports a uniquely wide range of animals and abundant birds and fish.
Do not expect to see large herds of animals round every corner, but it is surely one of the most picturesque parks in Zambia with superb birdlife.
Kasanka walking safaris in Zambia – About ten years ago Kasanka was in danger of becoming yet another defunct national park due to rampant poaching. David Lloyd, a British expatriate, who had lived in Zambia for many years, visited the Park in 1985 and heard the crack of gunshots. He concluded that if there was still poaching there must still be animals there and set out to save the Park from total depletion. He teamed up with a local farmer, sought funding and along with much of their own resources applied for official permission to rehabilitate the Park. They built tourist camps, roads and bridges and set up the Kasanka Trust to raise funds for this community based project. Slowly it began to earn a little money from tourists to help cover costs. Three years later the National Parks and Wildlife Services Department were sufficiently impressed to sign a 10 year agreement with the Trust allowing full management of the Park in conjunction with National Parks & Wildlife Services and to develop it for tourism in partnership with the local community.