Bangweulu Wetlands
The Bangweulu Wetlands, located in northern Zambia, form a vital ecosystem within the Congo River system, encompassing approximately 5,800 square miles (15,000 square kilometers) of swamps, lakes, and floodplains. This unique biome is nourished by 17 rivers, with the Chambeshi River being the largest, and features a diverse array of habitats, including lagoons and islands, which are submerged during the rainy season. The wetlands are characterized by rich vegetation, predominantly papyrus, and host various wildlife, including the endangered shoebill stork and the black lechwe antelope.
Despite its ecological significance, the Bangweulu region faces challenges due to human activities such as hunting, fishing, and grazing, leading to environmental stress. The area lacks extensive conservation management, with no designated wildlife reserves to protect its unique biodiversity. Local communities typically rely on subsistence methods for survival, navigating the complex waterways primarily in dugout canoes. The wetlands have been recognized not only for their biological diversity but also for their cultural significance, including legends of mythical creatures like the Emela-ntouka, which highlights the rich interplay between local folklore and the natural environment. The ongoing struggle for conservation and sustainable management underscores the need for a balanced approach to preserve this remarkable ecosystem.
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Bangweulu wetlands
Category: Inland Aquatic Biomes.
Geographic Location: Africa.
Summary: This wetlands is a biodiverse ecosystem of critical importance to many migratory bird species, but under severe environmental stress from human settlement and agricultural activity.
The Bangweulu Wetlands biome, situated in a headwaters area of the Congo River system in west-central Africa, consists of the Bangweulu swamps, Lake Bangweulu, and its associated floodplain in northern Zambia—a total combined area of about 5,800 square miles (15,000 square kilometers) that drains an extremely flat catchment area of some 42,500 square miles (110,000 square kilometers).
The system is fed by 17 rivers, the largest of which is the Chambeshi, which is the longest tributary of the Congo River; it flows into the lake from the northeast. Rich deltas are found where the rivers Lupososhi, Luena, Lukuto, Chambeshi, and Luansenshi enter the lake or swamps.
The Bangweulu (the name means “where the water sky meets the sky” in Bemba dialect) wetlands and lake system is drained by the Luapula River to its the south; the swamps help prevent the Luapula from flooding by releasing water slowly through channels and lagoons. The area is not easily navigable because of the amount of vegetation, including floating beds of papyrus. For hundreds of years, efforts have been made to improve navigation by cutting channels, but dugout canoes remain the vessels that are easiest to navigate through Bangweulu. Other vessels may be too wide to pass through clogged arteries, and motorboats face the problem of vegetation clogging their propellers.
Lake Bangweulu is about 5,792 square miles (15,000 square kilometers) in surface area in the rainy season and just 1,158 square miles (3,000 square kilometers) in the dry season, with an average depth of about 13 feet (four meters) year-round. Prominent lagoons include Lake Chali, Lake Chaya, Lake Wumba, and Pook Lagoon. The areas is riddled with islands, many of them inundated or entirely submerged during the rainy season.
Vegetation
The Bangweulu wetlands are among the most dilute water bodies in Africa, with a very low level of dissolved solids and a generally low level of nutrients. Phytoplankton is present only in low concentrations. On the other hand, the swamps and the channels that run through them are frequently clogged by heavy stands of papyrus (Cyperus papyrus). Sedges, spearworts, wild rice, and hippo grass can all be found on the firmer ground and the islands, and the permanent water bodies are fringed by Eleocharis dulcis, Phragmitus pungens, and Nymphea. Termite mounds are so numerous and prominent that they act as small islands that become temporary homes to small wildlife during floods, and sometimes preserve tree seedlings from fig trees, sausage trees (Kigella africana), and the water berry (Syzygium cordatum).
Animals
The region is one of the only breeding grounds for the endangered shoebill stork (Balaeniceps rex), a bird that nests on the ground and has no more than two offspring per year. This odd-looking bird is well known among the ecotourists who visit the region during the months just before the rainy season, when it dwells on the fringe between the floodplain and the permanent waters. Saddle-billed stork, spur-winged goose, sacred ibis, black-crowned night heron, Denham's bustard, and very numerous waterfowl complement the avian picture.
The region is also home to the black lechwe, an antelope that gathers in herds of up to 10,000 during floods, as well as tsessebe, reedbuck, oribi, sitatunga, African buffalo, crocodile, and elephants.
The wetlands boasts at least 83 species of fish in 13 identified families. Common larger species include the bulldog-nose or elephant-nose (Marcusenius macrolepidotus), redbreast tilapia (Tilapia rendalli), yellow-belly bream (Serranochromis robustus), and African tiger fish (Hydrocynus vittatus). Lower on the food chain are various species of barbus, as well as banded tilapia (Tilapia sparrmanii), Churchill (Petrocephalus catostoma), and African butter catfish (Schilbe mystus).
An African legendary creature called the Emela-ntouka is alleged to live in Lake Bangweulu. It is described by the local Pygmy tribes as being the size of an African elephant, with a body similar to a rhinoceros and a single long horn or tusk on its snout. There is a wide spectrum of thinking about the Emela-ntouka. At one end is the fringe theory that the region is in general home to surviving prehistoric animals, including some dinosaurs, but this theory has no explanation for the lack of a dinosaur like the Emela-ntouka (a ceratopsian, for example) in Africa's fossil record. At the other end of the spectrum is simple disbelief: The Emela-ntouka is a legendary creature like Bigfoot or the Abominable Snowman. Somewhere in the middle is the suggestion that a real animal has taken on the appearance of legend. The ecosystem is far from exhaustively recorded; the discovery of a new species of semi-aquatic rhinoceros, for example, may be feasible.
Human Stresses
Despite facing significant environmental stress as a result of nearby human settlement and the use of the area for hunting, fishing, and grazing, the ecoregion lacks a wildlife reserve; neither Bangweulu National Park nor the nearby Isangano National Park feature major conservation management activities, and there are no protected areas within the wetlands. The Zambian government has historically had trouble funding and amply staffing its system of twenty national parks. The human settlements in the Bangweulu wetlands region are largely impoverished, relying on fishing and hunting for subsistence; combatting poaching in parklands is an ongoing challenge.
Bibliography
Brelsford, W. V. “Making an Outlet From Lake Bangweulu in Northern Rhodesia.” Geographical Journal, no. 1–2 (1945).
Howard, G. W. and D. R. Aspinwall. “Aerial Censuses of Shoebills, Saddlebilled Storks, and Wattled Cranes at the Bangweulu Swamps and Kafue Flats, Zambia.” Ostrich 55, no. 4 (1984).
Jeffrey, R. C. V. and P. M. Chooye. “The People's Role in Wetlands Management: The Zambian Initiative.” Landscape and Urban Planning 20, no. 1–3 (1991).
Kingdom, Sarah. "Bangweulu--The Place Where the Water Meets the Sky." Outdoor Journal, 29 Sept. 2021, www.outdoorjournal.com/featured/travel/bangwelu-the-place-where-the-water-meets-the-sky/. Accessed 20 July 2022.
Kolding, Jeffrey. A Brief Review of the Bangweulu Fishery Complex. Langbroek, Zambia: African Parks Bangweulu Wetlands Project, 2011.
Richardo-Bertram. “The Fishes of the Bangweulu Region.” Zoology Journal of the Linnean Society of London 41, no. 278 (1943).
Smardon, Richard. Sustaining the World's Wetlands. New York: Springer, 2009.