North Luangwa gains its outstanding global value from the Luangwa River, which has shaped a rich and biodiverse landscape over millennia
Funds disbursed
Funding year
Program area
The North Luangwa legacy landscape in Zambia is one of the finest wilderness experiences in the entire Southern African region, boasting the “big five” – elephant, buffalo, rhino, leopard, and lion – as well as the endemic Cookson’s wildebeest.
Recently, an ambitious translocation was started to reintroduce the black rhino into the park. As a result, North Luangwa harbors Zambia’s only black rhino population. It is also home to the highest elephant population in the country.
The North Luangwa program invests in wildlife and community projects to perpetuate the integrity of the ecosystem and its biodiversity for present and future generations.
National Park - IUCN Category II
Buffer zone comprised of game management areas
| Country |
|---|
| Zambia |
| IUCN Category |
| IUCN category II, Game Management Areas |
| Ecosystem type |
| Changeover zone between mopane and miombo woodlands |
| Key species |
| Cookson’s wildebeest, Thornicroft’s giraffe, Savannah elephant, wild dog, hippopotamus, lion, buffalo, leopard, black rhino |
| Conservation and climate relevance |
| Important Bird Area, Key Biodiversity Area, Ramsar site, large intact wilderness areas acting as an important carbon sink |
| Implementing partner(s) |
| North Luangwa Management (NLM); Frankfurt Zoological Society (FZS) |
| Governmental partner(s) |
| Zambian Department of National Parks and Wildlife (DNPW) |
| Grant type |
| Sustaining |
| Match funder |
| Wyss Foundation |
Program in brief
Activities
- Carrying out ranger field patrols including canine units and implementing aerial surveillance of the park
- Improving the involvement of stakeholders and communities in the park management
- Supporting community-based natural resource management and ownership in the game-management areas around the park
- Implementing an environmental education program
- Establishing village-level micro-finance systems to promote conservation-compatible small-scale business enterprises and enhancing the communities’ participation in tourism
Conservation challenges
- Land conversion and encroachment through anthropogenic pressures and uncontrolled fires
- Human-wildlife conflict e.g. elephants raiding crop storages or predators killing livestock
- Unsustainable, often commercial, offtake of flora and fauna from the park e.g. bushmeat or timber
- Unsustainable agricultural practices that e.g. lead to adverse effects on the area’s hydrology system
For more information on this landscape’s Environmental and Social Due Diligence (ESDD)
Field Insights
Voice from the Field
Rhino Rescue Mission
In 2021, a young male black rhino broke away from North Luangwa and settled 220km away in a remote area of the Luangwa Valley.
As there was no road access to the area, an unprecedented rescue mission had to be attempted by slinging the rhino from a helicopter. Conservationists have pioneered rhino “slinging” from helicopters, but this had never been attempted in Zambia, and never over such a long distance.
On April 8th, the Rhino & Elephant Protection Unit (REPU) and a team of experts embarked on the rescue mission. They located and tranquilized the rhino, attached a sling, and safely airlifted it. The veterinarians flew ahead to the next checkpoint, and two additional stops to North Luangwa were made en route to refuel and complete vet checks on the rhino. After just four hours, the rhino arrived back in the park, where he was carefully monitored before being released.
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North Luangwa field report
A team from Legacy Landscapes Fund recently visited North Luangwa National Park, a legacy landscape in northeastern Zambia.