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....