Busanga Bush Camp
Kafue National
Park, Zambia
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BUSANGA
BUSH CAMP -
KAFUE NATIONAL PARK, ZAMBIA
Busanga
Bush Camp lies in the heart of the Busanga Plains, a wildlife paradise
that is situated in the northern region of the Kafue National Park,
one of the largest national parks in Africa. The Busanga Plains
covers an area of approximately 750 square kilometres and is one
of Zambia's most significant wetland resources and also one of
the few areas in the world that remain untouched by development
and human activity.
Wilderness Safaris owns and manages Busanga
Bush Camp.
Busanga Bush Camp, in the north-western
section of the Busanga, is about as 'wild' as you can get in today's
world, with an unfenced mosaic of expansive, grassy, seasonal floodplains
and "dambos" (open
grassy areas that will sometimes fill up with rainwater).
Accommodation  For
images of Busanga Bush Camp, click Busanga
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The camp, hidden in a well vegetated tree-island of sycomore fig trees, can accommodate eight guests in four well-appointed tents. The lounge and bar area is under canvas with an uninterrupted view out over the plains; breakfast is often served here to take in the view of herds of lechwe and puku feeding. A little further back is the dining area, shaded by the canopy of a majestic tree from which an unusual lantern chandelier hangs, romantically lighting up dinner; most meals are served in the open air.
Number of tents
· 4 x twin tents
· All have twin beds but can be converted to doubles if need be.
Tent details
· 4 x canvas and reed style tents - Facilities are en-suite
· Electricity
is supplied by a small diesel generator which runs for a short period of the
day while guests are out on activities. The energy is stored in a bank of batteries
and this provides for lighting in the evening.
· Potable water to the camp comes from a well.
There are no child
restrictions at Busanga. Same-day laundry facility is included.
Activities &
Wildlife
Thanks to the rising mist off the floodplains as they dry up in winter, guests can experience incredible sunrises and sunsets, with the sun a spectacular pink colour, while the floodplains and dambos teem with wildlife and birds; the Plains provide some of the best lion viewing in Africa.
Activities include game drives, walking safaris and night drives, led by qualified guides who are extremely knowledgeable about the area and its wildlife. As the plains dry out, this camp is perfectly situated to see large numbers of plains game such as puku, red lechwe, buffalo and wildebeest, followed by their predators, most notably lion. Cheetah and wild dog are also to be seen, while a special treat is the resident herd of roan antelope. For those interested in birding, the park boasts 491 species, including endemics such as Chaplin's Barbet.
Kafue National Park
At 22 500 square kilometres, Kafue National Park is one of the largest National Parks in Africa. It is fed by three rivers, the Lufupa in the north-west and the Lunga and Kafue in the north-east. The Lufupa River floods in the summer, creating a large floodplain delta system that attracts thousands of waterbirds. The Lunga and Kafue rivers are wide and slow-flowing, banded by riverine forest. In the extreme north of the Kafue lie the Busanga Plains - one of Zambia's most significant wetland resources and one of the few areas in the world that remain untouched by development and human activity.
Considered the jewel in the Kafue crown, the Plains cover an area of approximately 750 square kilometres with Busanga Bush Camp centrally situated within this breathtaking wilderness. The Plains are home to hundreds of red lechwe, ubiquitous puku, stately roan and the diminutive oribi. Lichtenstein's hartebeest, herds of wildebeest, zebra, buffalo and Defassa waterbuck are often seen, while hippo come out of their deep-water channels to graze. This wealth of game on the plains is also a big attraction for predators, including wild dog packs, lone cheetah and lion prides. Pangolin and caracal are spotted occasionally.
The Park has the largest mammal species diversity in Zambia due to its interesting habitat mix which includes miombo woodland and seasonal open grassy areas called dambos. The Park boasts 55 large mammal species - including 20 ungulate and six cat species! At Busanga Bush Camp other unusual sightings include leopard, porcupine, water mongoose and side-striped jackal.
The birdlife is thrilling in its diversity and numbers with nearly 500 species recorded, including exciting endemics such as Chaplin's Barbet. The Busanga plays host to elegant Grey Crowned Cranes and Fülleborn's Longclaw is another speciality here. Birding habitats are exciting and include vast floodplains, broadleaved woodland (mopane and miombo), open water and riverine fringe. Other key species include Ross's Turaco, Schalow's Turaco, African Finfoot, Half-collared Kingfisher, Red-throated Twinspot, Böhm's Bee-eater, Black-backed Barbet, Brown Firefinch, Sooty Chat and Western Banded Snake-Eagle. The area is alive with rollers, bee-eaters, kingfishers, herons and large flocks of Open-billed and Yellow-billed Storks. Northern Kafue is also home to a myriad of other birds like Lesser Jacana, Spur-winged Geese, Saddle-billed Stork, Secretarybird and Martial Eagle to name but a few.
Conservation
As Wilderness Safaris has expanded its presence in Zambia in the Kafue National Park, more opportunities have arisen to partner with the local people in caring for and learning about our environment.
Employment opportunities have been the first step in this process; initially in construction as more than 150 casual labourers from remote surrounding villages helped to build the new camps, and then later in the open camps where upwards of 130 men and women are permanently employed in ecotourism positions. With permanent employment has come training and skills development. Rural income is such that those employed in the 5-month construction period earned more than 8 times the annual average income for rural Zambians.
Further projects are on the cards with the next major focus being education. Children in the Wilderness (Zambia) hosted its first group of school children in 2007.
Read more: Children in the Wilderness Zambia
Wilderness Safaris' Zambia camps, including Busanga Bush Camp, have pioneered the use of innovative energy-saving systems, which are being used as a model to lower the environmental footprint across the entire portfolio of Wilderness Safaris camps in all regions.
Read more: Zambia Camp Energy Saving Initiatives
Given their relatively recent presence in Kafue, Wilderness' conservation efforts here have been limited to date. Crucially they have established a year-round presence in the remote areas of the Park. Prior to their presence, poaching was known to occur especially in the wet season when the area is largely inaccessible and visitor activity is low. Kafue saw significant poaching in the 1980s and game numbers declined before beginning to recover in the 1990s with the growth of ecotourism in Zambia.
Today in Kafue Wilderness Safaris permanently employ eight game scouts seconded from the Zambian Wildlife Authority who are based at their camps and conduct anti-poaching patrols from these bases year round.
Additional measures taken in Kafue National Park have been the secondment of a tertiary student who, aside from learning skills useful in the ecotourism industry, has conducted grass surveys of the Busanga Plains and examined the role of fire in this unique ecosystem, so contributing to the understanding and thus management of it. Further fish surveys are planned with future students in an ongoing capacity building programme in order to determine the role of traditional fishing in the area. An aerial census conducted in September 2007 has provided baseline data of the ungulate population of the Busanga Plains that is useful in comparison to figures from the 1970s; these calculations will allow them to chart the ongoing revival of the area.
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