Kafue National Park

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Kafue National Park
IUCN Category II (National Park)
Location:	Zambia
Area:	22,400 km²
Established:	1924

Kafue National Park is the largest national park in Zambia, covering an area of about 22,400 km² (similar in size to Wales or Massachusetts). It is the second largest park in Africa and is home to over 55 different species of animals.

The park is named for the Kafue River. It was established in 1924 after the British Colonial Government moved the traditional owners of the area the Nkoya people of (King) Mwene Kabulwebulwe from their traditional hunting grounds to east of the park into the Mumbwa District which is also the traditional area pf the Nkoya people of that area. The park covers a variety of habitats, including the Busanga Swamps and Busanga Plains in the north, and the Nanzhila Plains, Ngoma, with the nearby Ngoma Forest of teak and reservoir of the Itezhi-Tezhi Dam in the south. Miombo woodland is found across the park.

There are growing calls from the traditional owners of the land within and around the Kafue National Park, the Nkoya Royal Establishment (N.R.E.) of the Nkoya People to establish a new Province called Kafue Province which was first proposed in 1946 when Zambia's current provincial boundaries where been drawn.

The province takes its name from the Kafue River and of course the Kafue National Park.