Mosi-Oa-Tunya National Park
Mosi-Oa-Tunya is a national park in Zambia, bordering Zimbabwe and sharing Victoria's world-famous waterfall with it. The local residents themselves call the waterfall "Mosi-Oa-Tunya", which translates as a rattling smoke, hence the name of the park. The park is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The territory of the Mosi-Oa-Tunya National Park is quite small and occupies 66 km2 and located downstream of the Zambezi River 20 kilometers from the waterfall. The southwestern border of the park is adjacent to the city of Livingston, in the northwestern part there is an entrance to the park - this is the so-called section of wildlife, another entrance at the Victoria Falls.
The wildlife park includes a coastal forest with palm trees, a sown miombo forest, as well as spacious meadows where you can meet birds and animals grazing on them. Well, from animals here come across antelopes, zebras, giraffes, buffaloes, warthogs, elephants. There are practically no predators here, so some organizations are developing programs to bring lions here. In Mosi-Oa-Tunya Park, you can also see white rhinos rare for this area - they were completely destroyed by poachers. Therefore, in 2007 two white rhinos were brought here, one of them was soon shot by poachers near the entrance to the park, the other was seriously wounded. By 2009, the number of rhinos had reached 5 individuals, all of which were under round-the-clock surveillance. On the river you can meet hippos and crocodiles.
In Mosi-Oa-Tunya Park there is an old cemetery where the first settlers were buried. It arose here after the settlers set up a camp on the banks of Zambezi, but soon many fell ill with malaria and died, the rest left this place.
Tropical forests are growing in the park sector related to Victoria Falls. In forests there are rare plants for the area, such as red and black wood, wild date palms, and liana. Near the waterfall, you can often notice antelopes and warts, and about 35 species of birds of prey are also found in the park.
