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Kafue National Park
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Several human settlements were scattered throughout the area of the Kafue National Park. Accordingly, the colonial government made consultations with the respective native authorities for the villagers to move out.

As a result, the Kasonso and Busanga group of villages were moved out of the Kafue Game Reserve to an area in the north. It was agreed, however, that the boundary of the reserve would be adjusted to release a large area of suitable agricultural land.

Furthermore, the Busanga group was allowed to continue fishing at the Busanga Plain (inside the reserve). Thus, fishermen remain a regular sight in the park during certain months of the year. Similar traditional fishing and hunting rights were granted for other groups. The last villagers, from Chief Kabulwebulwe's area, moved out of the Kafue National Park in 1960.
 		 
     

Intro - History - Vegetation - Wildlife - Climate - The Kafue River - Park entry fees


In the early 1920s, in an effort to control the progressive attrition of wildlife populations, the Kafue Game Reserve was formed. This area encompassed a little more than the current Kafue National Park north of the Lusaka-Mongu Road. In 1948, in pursuance of the obligations under the 1933 International Convention on the Protection of Fauna and Flora, proposals for the establishment of a national park were brought under discussion, eventually leading to the proclamation of the Kafue National Park on 20 April 1950. The park, then and today, includes most of the Kafue Game Reserve as well as the Southern Province portion of the so-called Cordon Controlled Area. The latter corresponds to the section of the park south of the Lusaka-Mongu Road. In 1954, the first visitor camps, mostly built from poles and grass, were completed. The northern part of the park opened to visitors, mostly from the Copperbelt, in August 1956, with accommodation at Ndulumina and Kasompe just outside the northern park boundary, while others stayed at Lushimba, Ntemwa and Moshi inside the park. Visitors had to bring their own food, crockery and cutlery. The southern part was opened to visitors in August 1958 with accommodation at Ngoma, Nanzhila and Kalala. Only Ngoma offered full board, and only to European visitors.
 
By 1959, Kafue National Park had 13 visitor camps at Lushimba, Kasompe, Moshi, Ntemwa, Ndulumina, Kafue, Ngoma, Nanzhila, Kalala, Chunga, Onekera, Mapunga, Lufupa and Itumbi with a total visitor capacity of 100. Norman Carr, the first Wildlife Warden, found this number ideal for the park: "KNP should never be allowed to expand to the extent that other parks and game reserves have expanded… exclusiveness and peacefulness are the major attractions of this park." Today, the visitor capacity is in the process of being upgraded to 1000. In 1971, the Lusaka-Mongu road cutting through the park was tarred for the first time in connection with the construction of the Hook Bridge, only to be overshadowed by an even larger contracting project, the construction of the Itezhi-Tezhi dam wall from 1972 to 1975. The following year, the Kafue National Park was gazetted together with 17 other national parks in Zambia. Initially, the management of the park was entrusted to the Department of Game and Tsetse Control in the Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources. In 1959, the game component was transferred to the Game and Fisheries Department under the Ministry of Native Affairs, only to be reorganised in 1969 into the Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and National Parks. In 1974, the department was divided into two, separating wildlife from fisheries, and in 1999, the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Service was restructured into the Zambia Wildlife Authority (ZAWA). In 1991, the Kafue National Park was divided into two commands: North and South, with the headquarters located at Chunga and Ngoma respectively.