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Water patrols

One of the main challenges in monitoring and smoothly prosecuting illegal poaching activities in the Luangwa Valley is the inaccessibility of the area during the rainy season. Large parts are then flooded, marshy, and the various tributaries of the Luangwa become raging rivers that cannot be crossed from land.

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Most roads are either flooded or too muddy to traverse by car and can only be walked to a limited extend on foot. The travel routes used for animal observation are either flooded or too muddy to pass unhindered.

From mid-January to mid-March, however, the water levels are so high that the Luangwa and many of its tributaries are easily navigable by motorboat. Because of this, C4C donated a motorboat to Wilderness Welfare Ltd and the Department of National Parks (DNPW). The eight-seater is used during the rainy season for game ranger patrols and to drop off foot patrols to different parts of the parks.