Matusadona National Park
Matusadona National Park is one of a number of protected wildlife areas which encompass the shoreline of Lake Kariba. This is a mall reserve, at some 1 370 square kilometres in, and is bordered by the Ume River to the west, and to the east, the Sanyati River. The bulk of the Park (two-thirds), is found south of the Zambezi Escarpment, which, itself, is formed by the 600 metre high Matusadona Hills. Therefore the Park enjoys a wonderful combination of flat plains and rugged mountain country. There are Miombo woodlands and Mopane scrublands, along with pristine riverine vegetation, and the waters of Lake Kariba – all of which have combined to create a unique habitat for healthy wildlife populations.
The Park’s name is quite unique and derives from the local name for the Hills – Matuzviadonha, meaning “falling dung” - which may have been related to the site of elephants dropping dung balls as they struggled up the hills!
As Matusadona has relatively poor accessibility by road and an extremely harsh internal network of roads, it tends to be less crowded. Accessibility is generally best by boat from Kariba and from the Bumi Hills airstrip.
Many of the animals rescued during Operation Noah (in the late 1950’s) when Lake Kariba was filling (following the construction of Kariba Dam) were released into Matusadona, which now holds strong populations of most mammals occurring in the Zambezi Valley. Buffalo, in particular, are prominent and herds of up to 1,000 individuals often congregate along the shoreline in the dry season.
Elephants, who have adapted to a semi aquatic lifestyle, frequent the shoreline as do numerous species of antelope, whose behaviour is dictated by the ever-changing levels of the lake. Predators, too, are well represented, with lion, leopard, hyena and cheetah occurring in good numbers.
Matusadona’s birdlife is prolific with an excess of 350 species having been identified. Understandably, there are good representations of water fowl seen on the shoreline or perched on one of the petrified and partially submerged trees at the Lake’s edge. These stark trees, remnants of great hardwood forests, also provide homes for bats and insects, vantage points and nesting sites for fish eagles, darters, cormorants and king fishers.
The Park’s name is quite unique and derives from the local name for the Hills – Matuzviadonha, meaning “falling dung” - which may have been related to the site of elephants dropping dung balls as they struggled up the hills!
As Matusadona has relatively poor accessibility by road and an extremely harsh internal network of roads, it tends to be less crowded. Accessibility is generally best by boat from Kariba and from the Bumi Hills airstrip.
Many of the animals rescued during Operation Noah (in the late 1950’s) when Lake Kariba was filling (following the construction of Kariba Dam) were released into Matusadona, which now holds strong populations of most mammals occurring in the Zambezi Valley. Buffalo, in particular, are prominent and herds of up to 1,000 individuals often congregate along the shoreline in the dry season.
Elephants, who have adapted to a semi aquatic lifestyle, frequent the shoreline as do numerous species of antelope, whose behaviour is dictated by the ever-changing levels of the lake. Predators, too, are well represented, with lion, leopard, hyena and cheetah occurring in good numbers.
Matusadona’s birdlife is prolific with an excess of 350 species having been identified. Understandably, there are good representations of water fowl seen on the shoreline or perched on one of the petrified and partially submerged trees at the Lake’s edge. These stark trees, remnants of great hardwood forests, also provide homes for bats and insects, vantage points and nesting sites for fish eagles, darters, cormorants and king fishers.
