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Kafue Flats

With an eight-metre drop in elevation as the Kafue River flows through the area, the natural ecosystem has been deeply influenced by cycles of flooding and droughts. The Kafue area is very flat and sections nearer the river flood in the rainy season. This produces a watery grassland for miles into the horizon. Both the resident waterbirds and water loving lechwe thrive here.

The Kafue lechwe is the region’s most famous animal as it lives only in the Kafue Flats and is found nowhere else. Lechwe is an old Bantu name for antelope and the Kafue lechwe is one of three different species of lechwe or marsh antelope which inhabit swamps and wetlands specifically. Buffalo, eland, roan, zebra, hartebeest, blue wildebeest, puku, reedbuck and oribi antelope, are also to be found here, and on the perimeters of the Kaure River plains you’ll find monkeys, baboons and kudu.

The Kafue Flats environment is still in good shape and now that it’s being managed the wildlife are returning. This wetland has been designated by the WWF as a protected conservation area and they are monitoring the maintenance of the area as a wetland of global importance. Commercially the Kafue Flats are also one of the country’s most important agriculturally productive regions. In addition at least half of Zambia’s electricity is generated from dams positioned along the Kafue River.