Visit Mudumu & Nkasa Lupala National Park, Namibia

The Mudumu National Park is over 1,000 square kilometers in size, and is covered with dense savanna, mopane woodlands and has the Kwando River as its western border. The park is home to the rare sitatunga and the shy red lechwe, while spotted-necked otters, hippo and crocodile inhabit the waterways. During a game drive, animals likely to be encountered are elephant, buffalo, roan antelope, kudu, impala and Burchell’s zebra.

Mudumu is most notable for its buffalo, which are uncommon in Namibia, as well as the sitatunga, roan and sable antelope. The park is, of course, a birder’s paradise, like the rest of the eastern Zambezi Region (Caprivi Strip). Of particular interest are slaty egrets, white-rumped babblers, greater swamp warblers, chirping cisticolas and swamp boubous. In the backwaters and swamps pygmy geese and African and lesser jacanas are found.

The Nkasa Lupala National Park (also known as Nkasa Rupara) is much smaller, covering only 320 square kilometers, but has the distinction of being the largest wetland area with conservation status in Namibia. The park is characterized by an intricate network of channels, reed beds, oxbow lakes and tree-covered islands, with the main focus on Nkasa and Lupala, two large islands in the Kwando/Linyanti River.

During the dry season, the islands can be reached by road but, after the rains, 80% of the area becomes flooded, cutting the islands off from the mainland. The same bird and animal species occur in Nkasa as in Mudumu National Park.