Kasanka National Park

I would go back, but! I visited in May 2014 as part of a Zambian holiday that included Liuwa Plain, South Lungwa and Shoebill Island. The latter part of the Kasanka Trust which oversees the Kasanka National Park. (The highlight of the park’s year occurs in November – with the visit of the fruit bats.) The landscape is beautiful and varied, forests, woods, rivers, savannah and marshes. The food is excellent and the staff friendly and accommodating. So far so good. But … the rooms are run down, the main lodge is some distance from all centres of activity, and the main area for viewing the extremely shy sitatunga has a camp site right by it. Great if all the campers are keen on seeing sitatungas but not so good if occupants of the tents are on a booze bonding week-end away from Lusaka. The vehicles used are not the easiest to get out of when not at the main lodge. No-one has thought to take steps for disembarking and embarking away from base camp. The vehicles have an enclosed cab. This means that the guide needs to slap the top of the driver’s cab to get him to stop. As you can imagine the sighting has now potentially flown or run off or been passed by. On our river trip I gave up taking photographs early on, the three photographers in the group were squeezed on to one bench, with no real room for movement, and this was compounded by the spotter sitting in the prow blocking the view through the lens. There was plenty to see. Whilst there the new management seemed to be under some sort of training programme … personally I felt that there was an undercurrent between the staff. But I would go back. Why? It is beautiful. Upon request we were given the opportunity for an extra and exceptionally early safari to see if we could see the sitatunga (near the tented camp) … which we did through the mist of dawn. Magical.

Its not your normal safari destination. You wont find big game here nor will you find large quantities of animals. Inside the park, however, in bangweulu wetlands, Mushitu forest during October to December you will find a spectacle to behold. A phenomenon that can be described in writing, documented in video but only when experienced in person will one appreciate and be humbled by this unforgettable unique wonders. This is one of the smallest park in Zambia, but the over 8 million fruit bats (the worlds largest mammal migration)that arrive from Congo to eat the wild musuku fruits found here make this park a top visit. Our stay was at the wasa lodge, the rooms basic, flush toilets and hot water bucket showers on demand. The lodge offered a close vantage point to view the bats. One had to access l tree hides so as to get the best view of the bats. We accessed the hide at Fibwe standing at 18 metres high in a mahogany tree. This was the perfect location. Persons with mobility issues will find it cumbersome to climb to the hide as a ladder is generally used. The climb to the hide is usually in the evening/morning so as to watch the bats come out from the trees to go and feed, and they didn't disappoint. Countless no of bats emerged and darkened the sky for a bit. We were advised the bats totaled not less than 4 million at the time. Do not forget to carry good binoculars and camera so as to capture this lifetime wonder. We did the same during sunrise to view the birds return to their habitat, it was a terrific sight more up close, a bit heart thumping but in a good way. Apart from the bats we saw antelopes roaming around but no other game. The migration was awesome, millions of bats in and out in one location. A wonder if not a conundrum indeed.