Visitors to this park must be really well-prepared as the lack of facilities combined with its desolate and difficult terrain makes it tough to navigate.

Nkasa Lupala, formally Mamili National Park was officially proclaimed along with the nearby Mudumu National Park on 1 March 1990. In 2012, the Namibian Government renamed the area as Nkasa Rupara National Park. The former name, Mamili, referred to a family of traditional leaders of the Mafwe tribe with that surname. The new name, Nkasa Lupala, is a reference to two Kwando River islands within the park’s territory.

The Kwando River runs along Nkasa Rupara’s western border and then changes course to become the Linyanti River, forming the park’s south-eastern boundary. Most of the park consists of channels of reed beds, lagoons, and islands. Nkasa Rupara has relatively narrow, permanently filled main channels of the Kwando/Linyanti River and several periodically flooded channels.

Size of Nkasa Rupara national park Namibia

Nkasa Lupala (Mamili) National Park beautifully mirrors Botswana’s .the distinction of being the largest wetland with conservation status in Namibia. Hectare unfenced wildlife area that borders the Nkasa Rupara National Park. The national park is a big 5 (no rhino) wildlife game reserve that is 32,000 hectares in size.

Location of Nkasa Rupara national park Namibia

Nkasa Rupara National Park, also Nkasa Lupala National Park, formerly Mamili National Park, is a national park in Namibia. It is centered on the Nkasa and Rupara islands on the Kwando/Linyanti River in the south-western corner of East Caprivi.

How to get to Nkasa Rupara national park Namibia

Nkasa Rupara National Park (formerly Mamili NP) is 1,200km/745mi from Windhoek in the Zambezi Region. Most often embarked upon as a self-drive safari, visitors are advised to drive in convoy with at least two robust 4×4’s, as the park is very remote. Roads are often very bad to inaccessible during the Wet season.

Things to do in Nkasa Rupara national park Namibia

Namibia’s wild and seldom visited Nkasa Rupara National Park is a watery wonderland of wildlife-rich islands, river channels, and wetlands. In many ways, the park mirrors Botswana’s Okavango Delta – but is even more remote and less visited. Wild is the best word to describe this park. Nkasa Rupara holds the distinction of being the largest wetland area with conservation status in Namibia. This protects flora and fauna living within its complex channel of reed beds, lakes, and islands that form the Linyanti swamps.

The focal points of the 320km² national parks are Nkasa and Lupala, two large islands in the Kwando / Linyanti River. During the dry season, the islands can be reached by road but after the rains 80% of the area becomes flooded, cutting them off from the mainland. This is a sanctuary for birds, with more species of birds recorded here than anywhere else in Namibia. In those dry winter months, huge herds of elephants congregate on these islands.

Because the park is subject to frequent flooding in the rainy season, camping is inadvisable. Families of hippopotamus also venture onto the floodplains at night to feed. The lush marshes, dense savannah, and high river reeds as well as large herds of elephants and buffalo, lion, leopard, spotted hyena, giraffe, impala, red lechwe, reedbuck, and the elusive Sitatunga can be seen. Noteworthy species of bird include wattled crane, rosy-throated Longclaw, slaty egret, Meves’ starling, and the greater swamp warbler birding at its best!

When to visit Nkasa Rupara national park Namibia

Nkasa Rupara National Park (formerly Mamili NP) is a wetland reserve and the roads become virtually impassable in the wet summer months, from November to April. The best months for wildlife viewing area in the dry winter months from July to September.

Where to stay Nkasa Rupara national park Namibia

The Rest Camp is located on the southern boundary of the Wuparo Conservancy.

The conservancy was started by the Mayeyi Traditional Authority after they found that the community was not reaping the benefits of the natural resources found between the Nkasa Rupara (Mamili) and Mudumu NP.

The Rest Camp is located on the banks of one of the many channels of the Kwando-Linyanti river system of this unique Namibian wetland paradise in the eastern Zambezi Region (Caprivi).

The Rest Camp is managed on behalf of the community by Wildest Logistics a sister company of Nkasa Lupala Tented Lodge that is located 3km away from the Rest Camp other places to stay include Livingstone’s camp, Duma Tau Camp, and Jackal berry camp