Unique Places in Luapula Province

On our second day in the Park, we did our game touring the easy way - from the back of our Land Rover! In this photo, you can see that we have found quite a large section of the park that has had the grass burned off. That enabled us to spot any troublesome termite mounds while getting the old machine up to speed when we spotted some antelope. We actually chased along beside some hartebeest that were amazingly fleet!! The tall chap standing on the front of the LR is the Fisheries Patrol Officer that later also took us out for an overnight trip on Lake Mweru.

Over the years since I visited Lusenga Plain, the lions have been eradicated and poaching has also much reduced the game. Due to it's isolated location, this park received even less protection from poaching activities than it's more famous cousins at Luangwa and Kafue.

Lusenga Plain National Park was intended to protect a large open plain that was surrounded by a combination of swamp and dry evergreen forest, as well as the Kalungwishi River along it's northeastern side.

Because of it's isolated location and the lack of roads inside the Park, game was very plentiful when we toured the park. At that time, lions, leopards and occasional elephants frequented the area. This was in addtion to the vast numbers of antelope such as buffalo, duiker, bushbuck and reedbuck.

As we set off on foot for some exploration, our two Rangers led the column with our single rifle! I remember feeling a little vulnerable to lions lurking in the tall grass since the rest of us had nothing but an axe or two to fall back on! For the first time in my life, I knew what it felt like to be at risk of attack because something might want you for dinner!! Zambia was one of the first African countries to utilize 'walking safaris' for that up-close-and-personnal feeling.

The locals had a habit of burning the grass off with deliberate fires to 'enrich' the soil. Here, you can see that the burned area has exposed numerous small concrete-hard termite mounds that were a hazard to the Land Rover if you could not see them coming!

Once we reached the Lusenga Plain, not too many miles due west of Nchelenge at the bottom end of Lake Mweru, we set to work organizing our camp for the next two nights.

We picked a spot in the scattered mopani forest that surrounds the Plain where we pitched our two big tents and dug a fire pit and latrine.

It was really strange to be out in the middle of an African Game Park at night with only a few gas lanterns. We had to have someone awake all night in shifts to make sure that our fire did not go out, or maybe the animals would get a little too brave! That is me in the foreground with the white t-shirt.