Bangweulu In the balance

My first visit to the Bangweulu village has sprung up next to the field resources are significant challenges. A in north-western in June 2001 station at Chikuni. Earthen walls have process is under way during 2011 to cor- left an indelible impression. Driving been dug across the once mirror-flat rect these problems and thus give the there was an adventure in itself, but be- floodplain to set fish traps. Patches of project a chance of long-term success. ing confronted by tens of thousands of water-lilies have been cleared from the If the Bangweulu project can be right- black on the floodplain south main channels to allow seine netting. ed, there is the potential to restore a glo- of Chikuni was one of the greatest wild- The are crisscrossed by kilo- bally important conservation network in life spectacles I have witnessed. And once metres of fishing lines set just at water the region, which includes six game man- I reached the swamps themselves, the level, which may account for the dis- agement areas (Bangweulu, Chambeshi, diversity and sheer numbers of ducks, appearance of African Skimmers. Duck Luwingu, Kafinda, Kalasa Mukoso and , storks and other wading birds snares await unwary waterbirds, and Mansa) and several protected forests, as beggared belief; even normally scarce shots from home-made muzzle-loaders well as Isangano National Park to the species such as Rufous-bellied and Black punctuate the night. The are north, Lavushi Manda National Park herons were present in their thousands. still there and are now among the most (which shares a boundary with the Bang- Like most visitors, I was there mainly to approachable of birds, with other species weulu Wetlands) to the east and Kasanka see the enigmatic , but it proved being distinctly skittish. National Park to the south. The Kasanka to be just the cherry on the top of a It is worrying that these changes have Trust (see box, page 63) has recently tak- unique wilderness experience. So it’s not occurred in the heart of the proposed en on the challenge of running Lavushi surprising that when I had half a chance 290 000-hectare Chikuni Community Manda National Park. Given its proven to go to Bangweulu again, I grabbed it. Partnership Park, which has been man- track record, it has every chance of restor- Arriving at Chikuni almost 10 years aged by the Bangweulu Wetlands Board ing game populations in this scenically to the day since my first visit brought since early 2009. One of the key stake- attractive reserve. We can only hope that a strong sense of déjà vu. Black lechwe holders, the Network, has the African Parks Network is afforded the still crowd the floodplain, interspersed come to the conclusion that the project political support necessary to enable it to with Wattled Cranes. Clouds of water- is unworkable in its present form. The conserve the Bangweulu Wetlands effect- birds continue to throng the shallow lack of enabling legislation, poorly de- ively and in a sustained manner into the edges of the . But there are some fined community expectations and little future. unsettling changes. A seasonal fishing effective control over the use of natural PETER RYAN

Shoebills When David Lloyd saw a pair of Shoebills in Kasanka in 1992, 1 000 birds. The Bangweulu Wetlands Project and the Percy it was hoped that a satellite population of the species would FitzPatrick Institute have started a multiple-year study of develop and become probably the only population inside a the species, in collaboration with the Kasanka Trust and national park in Zambia. But there had been only one sight- other organisations; funding has been provided by WWF- ing since then – until December 2010, when a single bird Netherlands. showed up and was joined by another two. They stayed until Shoebills are resident at Bangweulu and April to July is July 2011. If rainfall remains high in the coming years, sight- the best period to see them. In recent years the guides from ings of this species will hopefully become an annual event. Shoebill Island Camp have managed to find them throughout Little is known about the nearby Bangweulu population, the year, but in the late dry season sightings are achieved but recent research suggests that there may be more than only after hours spent traversing the swamps.

peter ryan