Current view: Text account
Site description (2001 baseline):
Site location and context
Lying in the far north of the country, between Lakes Mweru and Tanganyika, the park encompasses a third lake, from which it takes its name. Until recently the water-level fluctuated both seasonally and over longer cycles and much of the wetland was swamp. However, a dam has been built and a large proportion of this habitat has been flooded. The lake and surrounding areas lie at comparatively low altitude, between 900–1,000 m, and itigi thicket is the dominant vegetation-type. Further west, the land gradually rises and reaches over 1,400 m where the terrain is rugged, hilly and clad in miombo. A 0>single road bisects the park running roughly north–south along the western shore of the lake, and there are no tourist facilities.
See Box and Table 3 for key species. Waterbirds can be numerous at times and the lake shore has in the past supported large numbers of migrant waders.
Balaeniceps rex was once a regularly seen resident, but its recent status is uncertain—it is likely to have suffered from the increase in water-level. In 1955, over 600 pairs of
Phoenicopterus minor nested, probably unsuccessfully, although the site lies on the periphery of this species’s normal breeding range. More than 3,000
Pelecanus onocrotalus were present in 1954. Species characteristic of the thicket include
Ceuthmochares aereus,
Pitta angolensis,
Nicator gularis,
Telophorus multicolor and
Ploceus bicolor. Birds of more open habitats include
Corythaixoides personatus and
Uraeginthus bengalus and the miombo remains largely unexplored.
Non-bird biodiversity: A wide variety of mammals occur, including Tragelaphus spekii (LR/nt) and Cephalophus silvicultor (LR/nt).
Pressure/threats to key biodiversity
The level of protection is low and large mammals have suffered from illegal hunting. Threats to the birds and the vegetation are probably few, but the effect of the dam requires further investigation.
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Mweru Wantipa National Park (Zambia). Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/mweru-wantipa-national-park-iba-zambia on 23/12/2024.
