Current view: Text account
Site description (2001 baseline):
Site location and context
The third largest of Zambia’s National Parks, situated in the dry south-west. Much of the area is very sandy and there are few permanent water-sources. The Mashi river (also known as the Kwando) lies along the park’s south-western boundary, although the international border with Angola is delineated by the edge of the flood-plain on the Zambian side. Mopane woodland and mutemwa forest cover a large proportion of the area and there is also grassland, thicket and woodland of various types. In places, the woodland is dominated by
Acacia species.
See Box and Table 3 for key species. A number of species from the Zambian list are restricted to the dry south-west of the country. Most occur within the site, including
Pterocles burchelli and
Lamprotornis australis, both characteristic of the Kalahari–Highveld biome (A11), as well as
Tockus bradfieldi,
Tricholaema leucomelas,
Sylvia subcaerulea,
Bradornis mariquensis,
Laniarius atrococcineus,
Lamprotornis nitens and
Estrilda erythronotos.
Non-bird biodiversity: Mammals known to occur include Loxodonta africana (EN) and Giraffa camelopardalis angolensis (only Zambian population of the species outside the Luangwa Valley).
Pressure/threats to key biodiversity
The small number of settlements in the area present no significant threat and much of the area is unsuitable for habitation. There is illegal hunting, but it probably does not affect the avifauna, although poaching pressure is heavy on larger wildlife.
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Sioma Ngwezi National Park (Zambia). Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/sioma-ngwezi-national-park-iba-zambia on 22/11/2024.
