Kissama National Park

The park occupies a high plateau above the Kwanza River about 70 kilometres from Luanda, a landscape of open acacia savanna and dry forest that is remarkably close to the capital given the distances African wildlife reserves typically demand, making Kissama the most accessible large conservation area in Angola.

Game drives follow a network of sand and laterite circuits through the park, passing through landscapes that shift between open grassland with scattered acacias, denser woodland along seasonal watercourses and rocky outcrop zones that provide refuge for a different subset of species.

The animal populations have been rebuilt through restocking programmes that brought in individuals from other African countries after the civil war devastated Angola’s wildlife, and the park now holds elephants, giraffes, buffaloes, zebras and several antelope species, as well as hippos and crocodiles in the river itself.

The Kwanza River forms the eastern boundary of the park and from the higher ground inside the park you look out across a wide valley of riverine forest to the far plateau beyond, a view that in the dry season can extend for many kilometres under a hazy sky that is more equatorial than the Atlantic-facing coast suggests.

The park was established as a hunting reserve during the Portuguese colonial period and designated a national park in 1970, though the civil war that followed Angolan independence in 1975 prevented effective management for decades and allowed significant poaching and habitat degradation to occur.

Infrastructure remains limited, with rough roads requiring 4WD vehicles throughout the park and no major permanent lodges inside the reserve, though the proximity to Luanda makes a day trip feasible, returning to the capital for dinner after a full day’s game drive.

For the Angolan conservation movement Kissama represents the flagship project and the clearest proof of concept for wildlife recovery, and the government has supported tourism development here more actively than at any other site in the country, a commitment that is visible in the relative ease of access compared to more remote parks.

Night drives are increasingly offered by the tour operators based in Luanda, and provide a different dimension to the park: the chance to see which nocturnal species have returned since the restocking began, the sound of the bush at night with hyenas and genets calling from the riverine forest, and the extraordinary number of stars visible from the plateau above the river with no urban light pollution for hundreds of kilometres.

Kissama is the most accessible wildlife reserve in Angola, offering a genuine safari experience within a reasonable day-trip distance from Luanda.

The animal restocking programme has produced a diverse mammal population including elephants, giraffes, buffaloes and zebras.

The park occupies a distinctive highland savanna landscape above the Kwanza River, with views across the river valley to the far plateau.