Images
from the Interior
Gill
Staden
gill@livingstonian.com
Mudumu National
Park
Mudumu National
Park is a little-known park on the edge
of the Kwando River in the Caprivi
Strip, Namibia. It was raining off and
on when I visited in November. The bush
was very green; some roads were
muddy.
Mudumu, of 1,000
sq km, was proclaimed a park in 1990,
so it is quite young. Two villages were
moved out of the park so that the
animals could have the whole place to
themselves. There weren't many animals
left then, of course, but Mudumu is a
migratory route for elephants and other
animals so they are gradually coming
back. Over the Kwando River into
Botswana, the region is Game Reserve,
with privately-run concessions. The
Namibian government also brought in a
few species to help repopulate the
park.
Now, in 2009, the
animals are still a bit thin on the
ground, but are visible and, even
though the bush was thick, we did see a
variety of birds and animals. The Park
borders the Kwando River for about 15
km. The Kwando meanders through the
floodplain and is edged with tall reeds
and papyrus. Nestling in between the
reeds, the waterlilies find a roothold,
their stems leaning out into the
mainstream.
The guide at
Lianshulu, the only lodge in the Park,
told me that he had seen a great
improvement in game numbers during the
three years he had been there. There is
a pride of seven lion; wild dog come
and go; elephants, this year, have been
too many to count; leopards are often
seen around the lodge. Also present are
herds of sable, roan, eland, giraffe,
zebra, buffalo. There are, of course,
the ubiquitous impala and warthog.
Other animals include sitatunga,
tsessebe, red lechwe, reedbuck and
oribi.
Our camp in the
park was not in the prettiest site
&endash; it was with the game scouts
and next to the broken-down grader.
There are three 'campsites' at Nakatwa
&endash; these campsites consist of a
patch of flat grass … nothing
else. The campsites were full, so we
were allowed to camp with the grader.
But we had a toilet and a tap …
so, I suppose we should count ourselves
as lucky … It was fine.
During the night
we heard all those wonderful night
noises that are so special when
camping. We heard lion, baboons,
hippos. We didn't hear hyena but were
told that the park has some of the
spotted variety.
The roads in the
park have not been graded for a while
because of the sad state of the grader.
With the rains, too, some had become
waterlogged. We took a drove around the
park, but it was heavy-going in places.
Also, because of the thickness of the
bush, it was difficult to see for any
distance.
Mudumu Park is a
park to be seen in during the dry
season &endash; July-October. I decided
that Mudumu will be on my list of trips
for next year. It is certainly worth
another visit.
Bird species in
Mudumu, it says, are over 400. We were
told that, because of the heavy rains
in the past few years, the banks of the
river have subsided. Carmine bee-eaters
usually nest in holes in the river
bank, but have now resorted to nesting
on the ground.
We found two
large herds of elephant coming down to
the water to drink, swim and play. The
elephants move between Namibia,
Botswana, Zambia and Angola, following
their migratory routes in search of
food and water.
This eagle had
just caught a land monitor &endash; it
is under its talons. After a few
minutes he flew up into a tree carrying
his meal.
Vervet monkeys
were our constant companions at the
campsite watching from above and then
diving down as soon as we left a bit of
food untended.
