Nsumbu National Park (also called Sumbu) lies on the southwestern shore of Lake Tanganyika near its southern extremity, in Zambia's Northern Province, with its north and west in Nsama District, and its east and south in Mpulungu District. It is part of Zambia's Mweru Wantipa‒Tanganyika ecological region stretching 150 km from Lake Tanganyika to the hills northeast of Lake Mweru, protected by a series of national parks, game reserves and game management areas. Created as a game reserve in the 1940s as recognition of its rich wildlife, and made a National Park in 1985, Nsumbu NP has been relatively isolated, initially accessible only by boat from Mpulungu. It was considered to be, with South Luangwa and Kafue, one of the best wildlife reserves in the country, with elephants and lions being common.
Nsumbu National Park experienced a decline in the 1980s in wildlife populations, facilities and visitor numbers, continuing in the next two decades, exacerbated by conflict in the neighbouring Congo territory which boosted poaching. With Zambia's improved economy in more recent decades and revitalised tourism sector, new conservation and management programmes have been introduced in the Park and the rebuilding of visitor facilities is planned.
Nsumbu is the only National Park in Zambia that offers a natural lake environment,Mweru Wantipa NP is also on a lake but has no facilities or tourism. adding sandy beaches, clear water and lakeshore landscapes, as well as angling, and safaris by boat, to its attractions.Camerapix: "Spectrum Guide to Zambia." Camerapix International Publishing, Nairobi, 1996.
Geography
Nsumbu National Park covers about 2000 km2 of plateau at an average elevation of about 1000 m on the margin of the Lake Tanganyika Rift Valley, with (in the most-visited northeast portion of the Park) lakeshore escarpments, rocky headlands, sandy bays, and incised river valleys. To the west in complete contrast, flatter woodland with extensive wetlands stretches to Lake Mweru Wantipa, with its own National Park noted for birdlife, crocodiles and hippopotamus.
Running west-south-west to east-north-east across most of the north and centre of Nsumbu National Park are three river valleys ending at bays at the lake, with two ridges in between forming headlands at the lake. The elevation of the lake surface is 776 m and the ridges are about 250 m higher. The highest point in the park, about 1300 m, is on the Chansamasanka Escarpment above the Lufubu Valley.
In the south of the park, towards the margin of the Mporokoso plateau, streams and rivers have dissected shallow valleys into a pattern of dendritic drainage with low rounded hills between.
Lake Tanganyika shore Nsumbu National Park has 80–100 km of lake shore (depending on scale of measurement) in the northeast, including five sandy bays and three main rocky headlands. From west to east the bays in the park are: the eastern half of Sumbu; Nkamba; Kala; Kasaba; and the northern half of Kasololo. The headlands are Nundo Head, Inangu Peninsula and Cape Chikutula. South of Cape Chikutula in Kasololo Bay the Park's lake shore ends at the mouth of the Lufubu River, Zambia's major tributary to Lake Tanganika.
The land generally rises 100–200 m above the lake within a kilometre of the shore, except that the heads of bays are lower, extending inland some distance with only a few metres’ elevation above the lake surface.
The Park includes a zone of the lake extending 1.6 km from the shore, amounting to about 100 km2 of lake surface. Commercial fishing is not permitted in this zone and recreational fishing requires a licence.
The Inangu peninsula is its own Game Management Area and is technically not part of the Park but is managed as part of it.
Game viewing by boat is particularly rewarding at Nsumbu National Park.
The Chisala valley and Nsumbu Bay The Chisala Stream flows NE across the northern part of the park, from wetlands east of Lake Tondwa into Nsumbu town and discharges at the town's northern edge into Nsumbu Bay. It forms a broad shallow valley, more prominent to the east, with wetlands in its upper reaches, and at its mouth.
The Nkamba valley and Bay The Nkamba Stream, also known as the Chitatu, is formed from several streams running north down the dip slope of the Chansamasaka escarpment. It flows ENE in a deeper valley than the Chisala, which opens out to an alluvial plain, altogether about 10 km long, at the head of Nkamba Bay. The Bay itself, 14 km long and 2.5–6 km wide with steep sides formed by the two ridges which end at Nundo Head and Inangu Peninsula/Cape Chikutula, is the extension of the same valley carved out in earlier times and now submerged.
The alluvial plain supports about 10 m2 of grassland and wetlands, the largest such area in the northeast of the park, and together with wetlands, riparian woodland and forested slopes, makes the bay and valley one of the Park's prime game viewing areas and a destination for game drives and walking safaris.
The Lufubu River Valley and southern portion of the Park The Lufubu River valley, which is contiguous in the west with the Mukotwe River valley, runs WSW to ENE across the whole park. An escarpment along its northern bank rises up to 300 m above the river, making it the most prominent valley and ridge in the Park, running across its full width. In the west, where for about 30 km it includes a vertical cliff, it is called Chansamaseka Escarpment.
Apart from in a 200-m deep gorge 5 km from its mouth, the main river channel, about 50 m wide, meanders through extensive wetlands in its last 20 km, with a floodplain up to 2 km wide. Here the river is the Park boundary, and on the other side, the southern escarpment of the valley is up to 10 km away, leaving a flat valley floor which supports several villages, accessed by a dirt road from the south.
Going WSW, the park boundary crosses the Lufubu at a tributary and runs south, so that part of the middle and upper sections of the river flow wholly within the Park. The middle Lufubu River above Chika Falls has a different aquatic fauna, and before the upper Lufubu flows into the main valley from the south, it has whitewater sections in a narrow steep-sided winding valley.
The western side of the Park On its western side the park is bounded by the Kaputa Game Management Area and Tondwe Game reserve. The relatively flat western area of the park does not drain well and supports numerous small wetlands.
The northern side of the Park The northern land boundary of the Park lies about 5 km north of the Nsumbu—Mporokoso road and there has been some encroachment into the Park from villages and fields on that side.
Ecological zones in the Park The largest zone in the Park is Central Zambesian miombo woodland. The dominant vegetation is Brachystegia, Julbernardia and Isoberlinia trees with grasses and shrubs in the understory, supporting a very diverse fauna, including large mammals. As the annual rainfall in the area is above 1000 mm, it is the wet type of miombo. The woodland is interspersed with dambos, which are seasonally waterlogged grassy wetlands, dominated by grasses, rushes and sedges, retaining moisture along drainage lines through the dry season. Itigi–Sumbu thicket, considered to be of high conservation significance because it is a rare and geographically restricted vegetation type, occurring only in Nsumbu NP, on the northern shore of Lake Mweru Wantipa, and at one location in Tanzania. It comprises deciduous trees with shrubs and woody climbers forming a dense understory that can be locally impenetrable, although elephants readily move through it. The thicket provides cover for duikers and other small antelope. Once cleared, it does not regenerate. Lake Tanganyika aquatic habitats, including inundated shoreline vegetation. The lake level is variable and has risen by 2 m since 2018, submerging vegetation close to the water's edge particularly in the low-lying parts of the bays, and parts of the lower Lufubu River Valley. Lake Tanganyika shoreline habitats: sandy and stony beaches, cliffs, and rocky shores. Wetlands, including rivers, riparian habitats, dambos, swamps, floodplains, lagoons, and seasonal stream beds. Some wetlands may dry out to grassland in the dry season. Steep rocky escarpments above the Lufubu River.
Fauna Mammals Nile crocodile, hippopotamus, bushbuck, warthog, puku, roan antelope, sable antelope, eland, hartebeest, African buffalo, plains zebra, spotted hyena, side-striped jackal, serval, impala, waterbuck, reedbuck, bush elephant, leopard (occasionally), blue duiker (rare), sitatunga (rare).Nsumbu National Park page on Zambia National Tourist Board website, accessed 25 June 2018.
Lions became extinct in the Park but were reintroduced in 2024.
Birds Flamingo, African skimmer, spoonbill, whiskered tern, stork, duck, heron, gray-headed gull, lesser black-backed gull, white-winged black tern, fish eagle, palm-nut vulture (occasionally), Pel's fishing owl (occasionally)
Fish Nile perch, goliath tigerfish, vundu catfish, lake salmon, yellow belly or 'nkupi', golden perch (occasionally)
Wildlife conservation developments In 2015 the Zambian Wildlife Authority reverted to its previous name, Department of National Parks and Wildlife (DNPW), in the Ministry of Tourism. A number of initiatives in the enforcement of wildlife protection (anti-poaching measures) and wildlife management have followed. For example, in 2019 a total of 148 community scouts were successfully trained in 90 day basic paramilitary training and wildlife management courses at the Chunga training school in the Kafue National Park.
The Nsumbu Tanganyika Conservation Project (NTCP), a partnership between the DPNW and the Frankfurt Zoological Society was started in 2017, managed by Craig Zytkow. It is credited with starting a turnaround in the Park's wildlife. It started with ranger training, surveillance, and intelligence networks. Thousands of wire snares (traps used in the bushmeat trade) were removed. Dozens of poachers were arrested. Patrols expanded into remote corners of the park where wildlife had once thrived. After securing the Park, the NTCP moved to reintroduction to the Park of species that had been lost.
Among the NTCP's programmes and achievements:
No elephants have been poached in the park and adjacent protected areas since 2018. 200 Buffalo and 48 zebra were relocated to the Park in 2021. Lions were reintroduced to the Park. The Tanganyika Boat Unit was formed to provide support for conservation along the lake shore and Lufubu River.
Park facilities
Access
By road Apart from some 4WD bush tracks, the only road access to the Park is the 170-km Mporokoso–Nsama–Nsumbu gravel road.
By boat Scheduled lake transport services operate from Mpulungu Harbour and call at Nsumbu town jetty. Some lodges, boat charters and tour companies operate boat transfers from Mpulungu as well. Boat safaris can also be organised from the lodges and may be available at Nsumbu jetty.
Air transport The nearest airport to Nsumbu receiving scheduled flights is Kasama Airport, 209 km south of Mpulungu on a tarred road.
Air charters and private planes operate to Chisala Airstrip which has a 1.2 km gravel runway and is used by government and private air services including private tour companies (no scheduled flights). Nkamba Bay Lodge also has a dirt airstrip.
Note that Kasaba Bay Airport and Kasaba Bay Lodge are closed awaiting redevelopment.
Park headquarters and entrance gate The Park headquarters and entrance gate are in a DNPW compound next to the jetty in Nsumbu town. Armed wildlife scouts are available there to accompany visitors on game drives and walking and boating safaris within the park (vehicles and boats not provided).· These can also be arranged through the accommodation lodges and private tour companies.