sumbu national
park
Lying on the southern shores
of Lake Tanganyika in the Northern most tip of
Zambia, Sumbu National Park covers
an area of 2020 square kilometers encompassing
100kms of some of the most pristine shores of
this vast Lake. Its beauty ranges from sandy beaches,
vertical cliffs, rocky coves and natural bays
to the rugged hills and deep valleys of the interior.
The Lufubu River winds its way through a valley
flanked by 300 meter escarpments on either side.
The western boundary of Nsumbu
National Park is buffered by Tondwa Game Management
Area, an IUCN Category VIII Multiple Use Management
Area of 54,000 ha. The much larger Kaputa Game
Management Area (360,000 ha) is also contiguous
with the National Park to the north-west and south-west
therefore, with the National Park, completely
surrounding Tondwa. Sumbu National Park and the
two Game Management Areas thus form important
parts of a network of Protected Areas in Zambia.
The Park is dissected from west
to east by the sizeable and perennial Lufubu River,
which also demarcates the eastern boundary of
the Park up to the river's discharge into Lake
Tanganyika. Nkamba and Chisala Rivers are ephemeral
and smaller than the Lufubu, draining Tondwa Swamp
into Nkamba and Sumbu Bays respectively, the former
through an attractive valley with abundant wildlife
in relation to other parts of the Park. Much of
the park is covered by combretum thicket, but
along the lakeshore there are many strangler figs
and ‘candelabra’ trees along with
the strange and interesting boulders balanced
on top of one another.
Although wildlife numbers have
declined, there is still a wide range of species
present in the park and numbers are recovering,
although sightings are not guaranteed. Roan, sable,
eland, hartebeest as well as buffalo and zebra
and occasionally elephant, lion and Leopard. Bushbuck,
warthog and puku often frequent the beaches. The
rare blue duiker, a small forest antelope is one
of the Park’s specialities along with the
shy swamp dwelling sitatunga. Other species seen
here are the spotted hyena, side-striped jackal,
serval, impala, waterbuck and reedbuck. This side
of the Lake is teeming with crocodiles, so swimming
is obviously not advisable. Some reach up to six
meters in length. Hippo's often emerge at night
around the lodges to ‘mow’ the green
grass.
Birdlife in the park is still
prolific with many migrants coming down from East
Africa and up from South African regions. The
flamingo is one of the more spectacular migrants
while some of the lakeshore inhabitants include
the skimmer, spoonbill, whiskered tern along with
many different storks, ducks and herons. Commonly
encountered species around the lake include the
grey-headed gull, lesser black-backed gull, white-winged
black tern, whiskered tern, African skimmer, and
of course the ubiquitous fish eagle. The palmnut
vulture and Pel's fishing owl are also occasionally
seen.
The Balancing Boulders are shrouded
in myth and are of great significance to the local
Tabwa people. On the Nundo Head Peninsula a large
boulder balances upon three smaller ones and is
the scene of annual ceremonies in which a white
chicken is sacrificed to honour the God Nundo.
Further east at Kabwembwa, just outside the Park
there is a sacred place where the Spirit of the
Lake resides. Local fishermen throw offerings
into the water here whenever they pass as a sign
of respect.
There are three lodges: Kasaba
Bay, Nkamba Bay Beach and Ndole Bay and boating
on the lake. Every year in February or March a
national fishing competition is held at Kasaba
Bay, which is attended by fishermen from all over
the world.
Sumbu is famous for it’s
excellent world-class game fishing. Some of the
better catches are the large Nile perch reaching
50kg, goliath tigerfish reaching 35kg, vundu catfish
reaching 70kg, lake salmon and the tasty yellow
belly or ‘nkupi’. Occasionally the
much sought after golden perch is caught. The
Zambian National Fishing Competition takes place
here every year around March or April and some
world records have been set here.
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