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Quarter degree square: mostly 1425B, 1425D, 1426A, 1426C, 1426D, 1525B, 1525D and 1625B. Country: Zambia Habitat: Mainly miombo woodland and associated grassland dambos Altitude range: 970-1470 m Annual rainfall: 551-750 mm Location (short): About 200km west ofLusaka and spread over three provinces Northwest, Central, and Southern Province. Location (detailed): National Park No. 11, gazetted 1950, area 22400 sq km. Zambia's largest and oldest national park covers a broad section of the Kafue drainage above the Kafue Flats. |
The gently undulating terrain is dominated by the typically Zambezian miombo-dambo mosaic with smaller patches of munga and strips of riparian forest and thicket and along the major rivers. The Kafue river follows a relatively narrow and well-defined course through the park, becoming wider in only a few places where shallow, rocky rapids occur. Bisected by the Mongu road (M9), the park is conveniently divided into two sectors. The northern sector receives more rainfall and so the vegetation is richer and the rniombo taller. In many areas such woodland is dominated by Julbernardia paniculata. In the north-western corner of the park are the Busanga swamps and adjacent floodplains. These are flanked by termitaria and there are scattered 'islands' of higher ground, some of which support vegetation such as enormous sycamore fig trees Ficus sycomorus. The southern sector of the park-is drier and much of it falls on Kalahari sand. As a result there are stretches of Kalahari woodland and a few patches of mutemwa in addition to the miombo. The Ngoma forest is the best known block of mutemwa, though like so many similar blocks it has suffered fire damage. In the far south of the park grey alluvial clays support stands of mopane. Near the point where the Kafue River leaves the park is the Itezhi- Tezhi dam, behind which an area of 3-400km2 has been flooded. Although the dam generates some electricity, its primary function is as a reservoir to regulate the flow to the Kafue Gorge hydroelectric dam further downstream.
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