Bangweulu Where Big is Beautiful
Writer: Nicky Dunnington-Jefferson Photography: Nicky Dunnington-Jefferson, Frank Willems
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omewhere in the remote watery wastes of northern Zambia’s Bangweulu Wetlands, an immense area of some 15,000 square kilometres and always known to me as the Bangweulu Swamps, lives an avian giant: the shoebill. I had pored over maps of Zambia for years, and listened spellbound as a friend described the spectacle laid out beneath the wings of his ‘plane as he flew over lake and grassland, woodland and river. The Bangweulu Wetlands form the heart of the Great Bangweulu Basin but the wetlands do not consist solely of an aquatic wilderness. It is true that Lake Bangweulu forms part of this seemingly limitless expanse, an area which floods in the wet season between November and March and is fed by 17 rivers but drained by only one, the Luapula. But here too is miombo woodland…and grassland plains with shimmering horizons, giving succour to land animals which must adapt when their home range is seasonally flooded. Bangweulu means ‘the place where the water meets the sky’; and it was here that I must go to search for shoebills… but how? Leslie Nevison of Lusaka-based Mama Tembo Tours had the answer. To fulfil my wish to explore the shoebill’s domain she organised a four-wheel-drive vehicle as transport, plus the services of a wonderful guide, Zambian artist Quentin Allen.
Since 2008 African Parks, in partnership with the Zambian Department of National Parks and Wildlife (DNPW) and Community Resource Boards (CRBs), has administered this community-owned ecosystem under the title of the Bangweulu Wetland Management Board. I visited in 2016, when, unlike now, Shoebill Island Camp was operational. At that time the camp was administered by the Kasanka Trust. However, shortly after my visit, African Parks took over managing the camp and at the time of writing it is closed and undergoing a complete overhaul following plans to upgrade the accommodation.
There are two ways to reach Shoebill Island: by air or road. There is a small airstrip called Chimbwe near Chikuni, or you drive. We drove from Kasanka National Park and our journey was memorable. Initially, we headed towards Lake Waka Waka on a pretty bad road, stopping at the campsite there to admire the deep-blue and springwater-fed lake. We then turned sharp left, towards Chiundaponde. The road was appalling, with cavernous potholes, and it took all of Quentin’s driving skills to keep
