View source for Mosi-oa-Tunya National Park

{{Infobox protected area
| name= Mosi-oa-Tunya National Park
| iucn_category = II
| photo = White rhino Livingstone.jpg
| photo_caption = The two white rhinos at Mosi-oa-Tunya National Park in May 2005
| location = Southern Province, [[Zambia]]
| nearest_city = [[Livingstone, Zambia|Livingstone]]
| map =  
| relief =
| lat_d = 
| lat_m = 
| lat_NS =
| long_d = 
| long_m = 
| long_EW = 
| area =  23.4 km² <ref name=wice>''National Parks and Nature Reserves of Zambia'', [http://www.nationalparks-worldwide.info/zambia.htm World Institute for Conservation and Environment].</ref>
| established = 
| visitation_num =
| visitation_year =
| governing_body = [[Zambia Wildlife Authority]]
| embedded1 = {{designation list | embed=yes
   | designation1 = WHS
   | designation1_date = 1989 
   | designation1_type = Natural
   | designation1_criteria = vii, viii
   | designation1_number = [http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/509 509]
   | designation1_free1name = State Party
   | designation1_free1value = [[Zambia]]
   | designation1_free2name = Region
   | designation1_free2value = [[List of World Heritage Sites in Africa|Africa]]}}
}}
{{Featured article}}
'''Mosi-oa-Tunya National Park''' (Sotho: ''Musi oa Thunya'' ['''Mosi wa Tunya'''] "''The Smoke Which Thunders''"), is an [[UNESCO]] World Heritage site<ref>[http://whc.unesco.org/pg.cfm?cid=31&id_site=509 Unesco World Heritage List website accessed 1 March 2007]</ref> that is home to one half of the Mosi-oa-Tunya ''— 'The Smoke Which Thunders' —'' known worldwide as [[Victoria Falls]] on the [[Zambezi River]]. The river forms the border between [[Zambia]] and [[Zimbabwe]], so the falls are shared by the two countries, and the park is 'twin' to the [[Victoria Falls National Park]] on the Zimbabwean side.<ref name="Spectrum">Camerapix: "Spectrum Guide to Zambia." Camerapix International Publishing, Nairobi, 1996.</ref>

‘Mosi-oa-Tunya’ comes from the Kololo or [[Lozi language]] and the name is now used throughout Zambia, and in parts of Zimbabwe.<ref name="Spectrum"/>

Mosi-oa-Tunya National Park covers {{convert|66|km2|sqmi|abbr=on}} from the Songwe Gorge below the falls in a north-west arc along about 20&nbsp;km of the Zambian river bank. It froms the south-western boundary of the city of [[Livingstone, Zambia|Livingstone]] and has two main sections, each with separate entrances: a [[national park|wildlife park]] at its north-western end, and the land adjacent to the immense and awe-inspiring Victoria Falls, which in the rainy season is the world's largest curtain of falling water.<ref name="UNEP">[http://www.unep-wcmc.org/sites/wh/mosi-oa-.html United Nations Environment Programme: Protected Areas and World Heritage World Conservation Monitoring Centre. Website accessed 1 March 2007.]</ref> It extends downstream from the falls and to the south-east along the [[Batoka Gorge]]s.<ref name="Spectrum"/>

== The wildlife section of the park ==
The wildlife park includes tall riverine forest with palm trees, miombo woodland and grassland with plenty of birds, and animals including [[Angolan giraffe]], [[Grant's zebra]], [[warthog]], [[sable antelope|sable]], [[Common eland|eland]], [[African buffalo|buffalo]], [[impala]] and other antelope. Animal numbers fell in droughts over the last two decades. The park contained two [[southern white rhino]] which are not indigenous and were imported from South Africa - they were both poached during the night of June 6, 2007. One was shot dead and got its horn extracted, not far from the gate and the other received serious bullet wounds but has triumphed against all odds and still lives in the park under twenty four hours surveillance. As of June, 2009 the number of southern white rhino in the park has been increased to five animals with plans to introduce further animals in due course.<ref>ZAWA 2009.</ref> The indigenous (black rhino) was believed extinct in Zambia but has recently been reintroduced in a pilot area). [[African elephant]]s are sometimes seen in the park when they cross the river in the dry season from the Zimbabwean side. [[Hippopotamus]] and [[crocodile]] can be seen from the river bank. Vervet monkeys and baboons are common as they are in the rest of the national park outside the wildlife section.<ref name="UNEP"/>
As of January 2009 the commercial wildlife company, Lion Encounter, has been operating a "walking with Lions" experience within the park, with further plans to start a breeding programme for [[Southwest African lion]]s within the soon to be expanded Dambwa Forest section of the park.<ref>African Impact, 2009</ref>
Within the wildlife park is the [[Old Drift cemetery]] where the first European settlers were buried. They made camp by the river, but kept succumbing to a strange and fatal illness. They blamed the yellow/green-barked "fever trees" for this incurable malady, while all the time it was the malarial mosquito causing their demise. Before long the community moved to higher ground and the town of [[Livingstone, Zambia|Livingstone]] emerged.<ref name="natgeojan07">{{Citation | surname=Lange| given=Karen E.| title=Showdown at Victoria Falls| journal=National Geographic|volume=211|issue=1| year=2007| id=ISSN 0027-9358|page=22}}</ref>

== The Falls section of the park ==
{{ Main|Victoria Falls }}
The Falls section of the national park includes the [[rainforest]] on the cliff opposite the Eastern Cataract which is sustained by spray from the falls. It contains plants rare for the area such as pod mahogany, ebony, ivory palm, wild date palm and a number of creepers and lianas. Small [[antelope]]s and [[warthog]]s inhabit this area, and may also be seen in on the paths through the riverine forest leading to the falls.<ref name="UNEP"/>

In November 2005 a new statue of explorer [[David Livingstone]] was erected in the park (the original and more famous Livingstone statue is on the [[Zimbabwe]]an side). A plaque was also unveiled on Livingstone Island to mark the spot from where Livingstone was the first European to see the falls.<ref>[http://www.times.co.zm/news/viewnews.cgi?category=6&id=1132264497 ''The Times of Zambia'' online: "David Livingstone remembered"], November 15, 2005 - November 23, 2005. Website accessed 26 April 2007.</ref>

The Knife-Edge Bridge was constructed in this area in the 1960s to enable access on foot to the cliffs looking over the Rainbow Falls and the First Gorge's exit to the Boiling Pot in the Second Gorge. A steep footpath also goes down to the Boiling Pot, with views of the Second Gorge and the Victoria Falls Bridge.<ref name="Spectrum"/>

In the area directly before the river plunges over Victoria Falls, there is a small undeveloped stretch of the park which is currently the only riverfront location that can be accessed without paying a fee. It is a crucial location for elephants to cross the river.<ref name="natgeojan07"/>

The tops of the deep gorges below the falls can be reached by road and walking tracks through the park and are good places to see [[klipspringer]]s, [[Otter|clawless otters]] and 35 species of raptors such as the Taita falcon, black eagle, peregrine falcon and augur buzzard, which all breed there.<ref name="UNEP"/>

==Notes==
This park is considered for inclusion in the five-nation [[Kavango - Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area]].

==See also==
*[[Wildlife of Zambia]]
*[[List of national parks of Zambia]]

== References ==
{{reflist|40em}}



{{National Parks of Zambia}}

[[Category:National parks of Zambia]]
[[Category:World Heritage Sites in Zambia]]
[[Category:Victoria Falls]]
[[Category:Livingstone]]
[[Category:Geography of Southern Province]]
[[Category:Visitor attractions in Southern Province]]