Kasungu National Park (6670)
Malawi, Africa

Site overview

KBA status: confirmed

Global KBA criteria: A1c, A2, B1, B4

Year of last assessment: 2025

National site name: Kasungu National Park

Central coordinates: Latitude: -12.9217, Longitude: 33.1376

System: terrestrial

Elevation (m): 1000 to 1330

Area of KBA (km²): 2340.65366

Protected area coverage (%): 98.19

KBA classification: Global

Legacy site: Yes

Site details

Site description: Kasungu National Park is a national park in Malawi. It is located west of Kasungu, about 175 km north of Lilongwe, extending along the Zambian border. Kasungu National Park, established in 1970, is the second-largest in Malawi at 2,316 square kilometres (894 sq mi), with an elevation of approximately 1,000 metres (3,300 ft) above sea level on average. It is located in the Central Region approximately 165 km (103 mi) north of Lilongwe. Most years the park is closed during March, during the wet season. The park is warm from the months of September to May and cooler from June to August. During the summer months a large variety of birds migrate to the park and bird watching is common between June and September.

Rationale for qualifying as KBA: This site qualifies as a Key Biodiversity Area (KBA) of international significance due to the presence of threatened species and ecosystems. Two species trigger KBA criteria in the site: Loxodonta africana (African savanna elephant), which meets Criterion A1c, and Epomophorus anselli, which meets Criterion B1. Additionally, the Wetter Miombo Woodland ecosystem triggers Criterion A2.

Additional biodiversity: The park also hosts different species of animals, including elephants, buffalos, kudu, eland, roan and sable antelopes, hartebeest, warthog, bushbuck, bush pig, waterbuck, impala, leopard, lion, hyena and pangolin. The Kasungu and Lukusuzi (in Zambia) being ecologically connected as one landscape allows for animals to move freely and frequently between the two national parks and beyond to the Luangwa ecosystem.

Manageability of the site: Kasungu National Park is managed by the Department of National Parks and Wildlife

Supersedes another site: The site is not replacing any KBA. It is a reassessment of an existing KBA.

Other site values: The site has widespread and important cultural heritage resources and artifacts. These include ancient dwelling sites of Early Iron Age people dating from about AD 100 (Carter 1987), and rock paintings such as at Solonje Hill. There are also several iron ore mining sites, and several surviving iron-smelting kilns.

Delineation rationale: Kasungu is national park under the National Parks Act (Cap. 66:07). It was declared in its present form by the National Parks (Establishment) Order, 1970 published as Government Notice no. 156 of 1970. Government Notice Number 149 of 1977 gazetted a buffer zone adjacent to the park’s southeastern boundary.

Habitats

Summary of habitats in KBA: Kasungu National Park features an ancient landscape of metamorphosed basement geology, characterized by gently undulating terrain interspersed with rocky inselbergs like Wang’ombe Rume. The park is dominated by miombo woodland, particularly Brachystegia species, growing on sandy to sandy clay loam soils, and is drained by seasonal grassy wetlands known as dambos. The park is classified into two main landscape units: the Plateau Landscape, covering about 80% of the park, supports closed-canopy miombo woodlands and ‘sour’ dambos with low-nutrient, moisture-retaining soils; and the Valley Landscape, occupying around 20%, features more fertile ferruginous clay loams, ‘sweet’ dambos with high-quality floodplain grasses, and higher wildlife biomass dominated by elephants and buffalo.

Land use: The land is a protect area as such it is fully conserved

IUCN Habitat	Coverage %	Habitat detail
Forest

Threats

Summary of threats to biodiversity at KBA: Kasungu National Park faces numerous challenges, including poaching, habitat encroachment, low tourism, tsetse fly infestation, human-wildlife conflicts, and habitat degradation. These issues, compounded by climate change, threaten wildlife health, reduce biodiversity, and strain conservation efforts.

Additional information

References: EAD & MUST. 2022. Malawi Spatial Biodiversity Assessment, version 2.0. Mapping Biodiversity Priorities Project, Lilongwe, Malawi. Report on an Aerial Wildlife Census of Kasungu National Park, Malawi - September / October 2020 https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/0981b455e3204502af61fdbb3a6d2400/page/Ecosystem-Threat-Status/ Gobush, K.S., Edwards, C.T.T, Balfour, D., Wittemyer, G., Maisels, F. & Taylor, R.D. 2022. Loxodonta africana (amended version of 2021 assessment). The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2022: e.T181008073A223031019. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2022-2.RLTS.T181008073A223031019.en. Accessed on 19 August 2024. https://ourworldindata.org/elephant-populations#:~:text=There%20are%20around%20ten%20times,range%20of%2040%2C000%20to%2050%2C000. Mildenstein, T. 2016. Epomophorus anselli. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2016: e.T136351A22024470. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-1.RLTS.T136351A22024470.en. Accessed on 24 February 2025.