Luengue-Luiana National Park

Luengue-Luiana covers around twenty-two thousand square kilometres of woodland, floodplain and river systems in southeastern Angola, and it forms the Angolan portion of the Kavango-Zambezi transfrontier conservation area that links five countries. The rivers here feed the Okavango Delta downstream. Elephant have been moving back into the park from Botswana and Namibia as conditions have allowed, and survey work is ongoing. Infrastructure is close to nonexistent and access is arranged with operators who know which tracks are cleared and usable.

History

Hunting reserves, coutadas, were set up here in colonial times. The park was created on 29 December 2011 by decree of the National Assembly, together with Mavinga National Park, taking in the former Luiana and Mucusso reserves (Wikipedia, Luengue-Luiana National Park).

The landscape

• The river systems - the Cuando and Luiana feeding the Okavango system downstream.
• The returning elephants - herds moving back into the park from the south.
• The miombo and floodplain - woodland and seasonally flooded grassland across the park.
• The KAZA linkage - Angola's share of a five-country conservation area.

When to go

June to October is the dry season and the only practical window. The rains from November to April make the sand tracks impassable. Animals concentrate near water at the end of the dry season.

What to expect

Wildlife densities remain low and sightings are unpredictable. There is no accommodation, no fuel and no rescue capacity inside the park. Access is arranged with operators who know which tracks are usable, and travelling off them is not an option.

Nearby

Mavinga National Park is west, and the Botswana and Namibia borders are south.

Key facts