Zambia’s President, Edgar Lungu, last week officially opened the Lusaka National Park to the public.

The park has been planned since the early 1990s but has now officially opened its doors, becoming Zambia’s smallest protected wildlife sanctuary. Wildlife in the park includes White rhinos, giraffes, eland, hartebeest, zebras, sables kudus, Blue wildebeest, waterbuck, Black lechwe, impala, puku, bushbuck, reedbuck, warthogs and one pangolin. No cats have been introduced into the reserve, which will feature activities such walking safaris and birding safaris, amongst others.

Located south-east of Lusaka’s central business district, the park features a 33-kilometre fence that has been installed to keep animals within the park safe. The Zambia Wildlife Authority further invested over K5m (R85m) in infrastructure, including various boreholes around the park. The investment also facilitated animal translocation, the purchase of heavy equipment and the grading of access and loop roads.

President Lungu was quoted in the Times of Zambia as saying that, as urbanisation grows, there is a growing desire in people to be close to nature and such sanctuaries needed to be within reach of their residential areas. He said: “I would like to call on you, honourable Jean Kapata (Minister of Tourism and Arts) and your team to partner with the Ministry of Local Government and Housing with the view to start drawing up plans for establishing game parks in surrounding towns and cities in Zambia, which, in addition to the development of tourism, will also enhance our wildlife conservation efforts.”