Mweru Wa Ntipa National Park

Governing Body: Department of National Parks and Wildlife

Infrastructure & Accessibility

It has had no management and protection for several decades, and lacks visitor facilities. Consequently, its wildlife population has been much reduced in recent years, the black rhinoceros is extinct in the area and elephant and lion are probably also wiped out.

The park can be reached from Nchelenge, continuing on the dirt road alongside Lake Mweru and turning right just after Mununga, then left at Nkoshya. Or, if approaching from the east, after Mporokoso, turn right at Mukunsa and right again at Nkoshya. There is only one road through the park coming out at Kaputa near the DRC border. The park is inaccessible during the rainy season from December to March.

Habitat, Flora and Climate

Though mostly in the Central Zambezian Miombo woodlands ecoregion, the Mweru-Wantipa/Sumbu area has a rare and endangered ecoregion or vegetation type known as Itigi-Sumbu thicket, an almost impenetrable bush consisting of about a hundred plant species woven together so densely that it is virtually impossible to walk through. It is known from only one other location in central Tanzania. 70% of Itigi-Sumbu thicket in the Mweru-Wantipa/Sumbu area has already been destroyed, even where supposedly protected in the national park, on the north shore of the lake where some of the largest patches are located. It is estimated that the remainder will be lost in the next 20 years.

Wildlife

Mweru Wantipa National Park, adjacent to the lake, used to harbour vast herds of elephant but poaching however has depleted most of the wildlife although there are still some small herds of buffalo. The black rhinoceros was declared extinct from this region.