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Lavushi Manda National Park

National Park · Zambia

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Photo © Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit, Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center

Photo © Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit, Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center — CC0 1.0 — Source: Wikimedia Commons

ABOUT

Where the Muchinga escarpment softens into broad, undulating plateaus, a quiet mosaic of miombo woodland, dambo grassland and seasonally flooded drainage lines spreads across one of Zambia's least-visited protected landscapes. This is country shaped by a Cwa climate — warm, wet summers and a distinctly dry, cool winter — and everything living here reads that rhythm. Miombo canopy dominates the higher ground, its legumes fixing nitrogen and its leaf-fall feeding the soils below; between the woodland fingers, grassy dambos hold moisture long after the rains retreat, drawing grazers and the predators that shadow them. Wildlife is best understood by function rather than name: browsing and grazing herbivores work the woodland edges and wet grasslands, small forest mammals and ground-dwelling rodents rustle through leaf litter, and the air carries raptors riding thermals above the canopy, woodland songbirds, and waterbirds concentrated wherever standing water persists into the dry months.

For photographers and birdwatchers, the appeal is precisely this unpressured wildness — a park where you can work a scene without a convoy of vehicles behind you. The dry winter is the connoisseur's season: low sun, bleached grass, dust-hazed light and animals tethered to shrinking water points, while the green season brings dramatic skies, flushing vegetation and a flush of breeding activity among resident and migratory birds. Access is by road through Muchinga Province, with the going dependent on the rains, so the dry months reward both logistics and light. Come for the miombo bird flocks and raptor-filled skies, for the patient hours at water, and for a landscape that asks you to read habitat rather than tick a list — the kind of place that rewards the naturalist's eye over the collector's.

Website lavushimanda.com

WILDLIFE

Type

Southern Carmine Bee-eater

Merops nubicoides

Southern Ground Hornbill

Bucorvus leadbeateri

African Fish Eagle

Icthyophaga vocifer

Crowned Hornbill

Lophoceros alboterminatus

White-necked Raven

Corvus albicollis

Spur-winged Goose

Plectropterus gambensis

Helmeted Guineafowl

Numida meleagris

Southern Crested Guineafowl

Guttera edouardi

Coqui Francolin

Campocolinus coqui

Red-necked Spurfowl

Pternistis afer

Schalow's Turaco

Tauraco schalowi

Black-bellied Bustard

Lissotis melanogaster

Thick-billed Cuckoo

Pachycoccyx audeberti

Chrysococcyx klaas

Cuculus clamosus

Streptopelia semitorquata

Ring-necked Dove

Streptopelia capicola

Emerald-spotted Wood Dove

Turtur chalcospilos

Blue-spotted Wood Dove

African Green Pigeon

African Finfoot

Podica senegalensis

Actophilornis africanus

Common Sandpiper

Actitis hypoleucos

Leptoptilos crumenifer

African Woolly-necked Stork

Ciconia microscelis

Microcarbo africanus

Bostrychia hagedash

Plegadis falcinellus

Rufous-bellied Heron

Ardeola rufiventris

Scopus umbretta

Terathopius ecaudatus

Western Banded Snake Eagle

Circaetus cinerascens

Brown Snake Eagle

Circaetus cinereus

Long-crested Eagle

Lophaetus occipitalis

Wahlberg's Eagle

Hieraaetus wahlbergi

African Hawk-Eagle

Aquila spilogaster

Dark Chanting Goshawk

Melierax metabates

Kaupifalco monogrammicus

Ovambo Sparrowhawk

Accipiter ovampensis

Pel's Fishing Owl

Scotopelia peli

African Wood Owl

Strix woodfordii

Apaloderma narina

Common Scimitarbill

Rhinopomastus cyanomelas

Pale-billed Hornbill

Lophoceros pallidirostris

Trumpeter Hornbill

Bycanistes bucinator

Racket-tailed Roller

Coracias spatulatus

Lilac-breasted Roller

Coracias caudatus

Broad-billed Roller

Eurystomus glaucurus

Grey-headed Kingfisher

Halcyon leucocephala

Brown-hooded Kingfisher

Halcyon albiventris

Striped Kingfisher

Halcyon chelicuti

African Pygmy Kingfisher

Malachite Kingfisher

Corythornis cristatus

Half-collared Kingfisher

Alcedo semitorquata

Giant Kingfisher

Megaceryle maxima

Pied Kingfisher

Swallow-tailed Bee-eater

Merops hirundineus

Little Bee-eater

Merops pusillus

Blue-breasted Bee-eater

Merops variegatus

White-fronted Bee-eater

Merops bullockoides

Böhm's Bee-eater

Yellow-rumped Tinkerbird

Pogoniulus bilineatus

Yellow-fronted Tinkerbird

Pogoniulus chrysoconus

Black-collared Barbet

Lybius torquatus

Lesser Honeyguide

Indicator minor

Greater Honeyguide

Indicator indicator

Green-backed Woodpecker

Campethera maculosa

Cardinal Woodpecker

Dendropicos fuscescens

Olive Woodpecker

Dendropicos griseocephalus

Dickinson's Kestrel

Falco dickinsoni

Poicephalus meyeri

African Broadbill

Smithornis capensis

Black-throated Wattle-eye

Platysteira peltata

Grey-headed Bushshrike

Malaconotus blanchoti

Orange-breasted Bushshrike

Chlorophoneus sulfureopectus

Gorgeous Bushshrike

Telophorus viridis

Black-crowned Tchagra

Tchagra senegalus

Black-backed Puffback

Dryoscopus cubla

Tropical Boubou

Laniarius major

White-crested Helmetshrike

Prionops plumatus

Retz's Helmetshrike

Prionops retzii

White-breasted Cuckooshrike

Ceblepyris pectoralis

Black Cuckooshrike

Campephaga flava

Black-headed Oriole

Oriolus larvatus

African Golden Oriole

Oriolus auratus

Fork-tailed Drongo

Dicrurus adsimilis

Square-tailed Drongo

Dicrurus ludwigii

African Paradise Flycatcher

Terpsiphone viridis

Northern Fiscal

Lanius humeralis

Red-backed Shrike

Lanius collurio

White-tailed Blue Flycatcher

Elminia albicauda

Rufous-bellied Tit

Melaniparus rufiventris

Melaniparus griseiventris

Grey Penduline Tit

Anthoscopus caroli

Pale-throated Greenbul

Atimastillas flavigula

Yellow-bellied Greenbul

Chlorocichla flaviventris

Little Greenbul

Eurillas virens

Grey-olive Greenbul

Phyllastrephus cerviniventris

Pycnonotus barbatus

Psalidoprocne pristoptera

Grey-rumped Swallow

Pseudhirundo griseopyga

Wire-tailed Swallow

Hirundo smithii

Western House Martin

Delichon urbicum

Lesser Striped Swallow

Cecropis abyssinica

Red-breasted Swallow

Cecropis semirufa

Moustached Grass Warbler

Melocichla mentalis

Red-capped Crombec

Sylvietta ruficapilla

Phylloscopus trochilus

Lesser Swamp Warbler

Acrocephalus gracilirostris

Little Rush Warbler

Bradypterus baboecala

Red-faced Cisticola

Cisticola erythrops

Trilling Cisticola

Cisticola woosnami

Chirping Cisticola

Cisticola pipiens

Croaking Cisticola

Cisticola natalensis

Zitting Cisticola

Cisticola juncidis

Tawny-flanked Prinia

Prinia subflava

Yellow-breasted Apalis

Stierling's Wren-Warbler

Calamonastes stierlingi

Green-capped Eremomela

Eremomela scotops

Black-necked Eremomela

Eremomela atricollis

Southern Yellow White-eye

Zosterops anderssoni

Yellow-bellied Hyliota

Hyliota flavigaster

Southern Hyliota

Hyliota australis

African Spotted Creeper

Salpornis salvadori

Lesser Blue-eared Starling

Lamprotornis chloropterus

Violet-backed Starling

Cinnyricinclus leucogaster

Kurrichane Thrush

Turdus libonyana

Miombo Scrub Robin

Tychaedon barbata

White-browed Scrub Robin

Cercotrichas leucophrys

Pale Flycatcher

Agricola pallidus

Grey Tit-Flycatcher

Fraseria plumbea

Southern Black Flycatcher

Melaenornis pammelaina

White-browed Robin-Chat

Cossypha heuglini

African Stonechat

Saxicola torquatus

Myrmecocichla arnotti

Anchieta's Sunbird

Anthreptes anchietae

Western Violet-backed Sunbird

Anthreptes longuemarei

Collared Sunbird

Hedydipna collaris

Cyanomitra olivacea

Amethyst Sunbird

Chalcomitra amethystina

Eastern Miombo Sunbird

Cinnyris manoensis

Purple-banded Sunbird

Cinnyris bifasciatus

Variable Sunbird

Cinnyris venustus

Cinnyris cupreus

Yellow-throated Bush Sparrow

Gymnoris superciliaris

Spectacled Weaver

Ploceus ocularis

Holub's Golden Weaver

Ploceus xanthops

Ploceus cucullatus

Dark-backed Weaver

Ploceus bicolor

Red-headed Weaver

Anaplectes rubriceps

Red-billed Quelea

Euplectes capensis

Fan-tailed Widowbird

Euplectes axillaris

Yellow-mantled Widowbird

Euplectes macroura

Marsh Widowbird

Euplectes hartlaubi

Bronze Mannikin

Spermestes cucullata

Black-and-white Mannikin

Spermestes bicolor

Mandingoa nitidula

Orange-winged Pytilia

Red-throated Twinspot

Hypargos niveoguttatus

Brown Firefinch

Lagonosticta nitidula

Broad-tailed Paradise Whydah

Mountain Wagtail

Motacilla clara

African Pied Wagtail

Motacilla aguimp

Fülleborn's Longclaw

Macronyx fuelleborni

Rosy-throated Longclaw

Macronyx ameliae

Plain-backed Pipit

Anthus leucophrys

Yellow-fronted Canary

Crithagra mozambica

Black-eared Seedeater

Crithagra mennelli

African Black Duck

Western Crested Guineafowl

Guttera verreauxi

Fiery-necked Nightjar

Caprimulgus pectoralis

Caprimulgus natalensis

Freckled Nightjar

Caprimulgus tristigma

Denham's Bustard

African Emerald Cuckoo

Chrysococcyx cupreus

Red-chested Cuckoo

Cuculus solitarius

Cuculus gularis

Cuculus canorus

Red-chested Flufftail

Sarothrura rufa

Black-rumped Buttonquail

African Wattled Lapwing

Vanellus senegallus

Tringa glareola

Temminck's Courser

Cursorius temminckii

Chlidonias hybrida

African Openbill

Anastomus lamelligerus

White-headed Vulture

Trigonoceps occipitalis

Black-chested Snake Eagle

Circaetus pectoralis

Stephanoaetus coronatus

Verreaux's Eagle

Aquila verreauxii

Western Barn Owl

African Barred Owlet

Glaucidium capense

African Scops Owl

Otus senegalensis

Coracias naevius

Black-backed Barbet

Pogonornis minor

Green-backed Honeybird

Prodotiscus zambesiae

Scaly-throated Honeyguide

Indicator variegatus

Golden-tailed Woodpecker

Campethera abingoni

Black-fronted Bushshrike

Chlorophoneus nigrifrons

Terrestrial Brownbul

Phyllastrephus terrestris

Cabanis's Greenbul

Phyllastrephus cabanisi

Hirundo rustica

Greater Swamp Warbler

Acrocephalus rufescens

Evergreen Forest Warbler

Bradypterus lopezi

Rock-loving Cisticola

Cisticola aberrans

Short-winged Cisticola

Cisticola brachypterus

Bar-throated Apalis

Apalis thoracica

Brown-headed Apalis

Apalis alticola

Green-backed Camaroptera

Camaroptera brachyura

Arrow-marked Babbler

Turdoides jardineii

Hartlaub's Babbler

Turdoides hartlaubii

Splendid Starling

Lamprotornis splendidus

Ashy Flycatcher

Fraseria caerulescens

African Dusky Flycatcher

Muscicapa adusta

Spotted Flycatcher

Muscicapa striata

Cassin's Flycatcher

Muscicapa cassini

Collared Flycatcher

Ficedula albicollis

Mocking Cliff Chat

Thamnolaea cinnamomeiventris

Myrmecocichla nigra

Capped Wheatear

Oenanthe pileata

Oenanthe familiaris

Scarlet-chested Sunbird

Chalcomitra senegalensis

White-bellied Sunbird

Cinnyris talatala

Red-collared Widowbird

Euplectes ardens

Fawn-breasted Waxbill

Estrilda paludicola

Paludipasser locustella

African Firefinch

Lagonosticta rubricata

Anthus vaalensis

Anthus lineiventris

Golden-breasted Bunting

Emberiza flaviventris

Cabanis's Bunting

Emberiza cabanisi

View Complete List (241 more) →

COMMUNITY

0 Community observations

No community observations yet — be the first to log a sighting here.

Natural environment

Lavushi Manda National Park

Generally mild conditions, with noticeable seasonal changes.

Usual climateTemperate with dry winters and hot summersUpland

Average annual temperature 21.0 °C Average of the twelve monthly means

Average elevation 1,268 m Upland

Climate pattern Temperate with dry winters and hot summers Also: Tropical savanna with dry winter

A year of temperatures

Monthly means, with the coldest and warmest highlighted

Monthly minimum · July 17.7 °C Monthly maximum · October 24.6 °C

Global temperature scale

−40°−20°0°20°40°

Terrain and elevation

1,268 m · Upland

Average terrain elevation estimate across the hotspot; the figure does not represent its highest summits.

Elevation scale

1,268 m

02,0004,0006,0008,000m

Upland

Long-term climate averages, not live weather.

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