| Page last updated
19 August 2005 |
MUSSELp Freshwater Mussel Collecting Sites in Zambia, 2005
From 15 July-2 August, the DLG and KSC of the MUSSELp took part in a brief sampling expedition in eastern Zambia. Mollusks were collected at 8 sites, including freshwater mussels, aquatic gastropods and terrestrial gastropods. Diversity was generally found to be low but interesting. The specimens collected are still being worked up for cataloguing. Another page describing the freshwater mollusks of Zambia will be constructed as appropriate. The notes below are transcribed from our field note book.
Site 2.
Luangwa River, just above Luangwa Bridge, Great Eastern Road, Zambia.
14° 58.431' S, 030° 12.985' E.
17 July 2005
After crossing the Luangwa Bridge eastbound toward Chipata, we pulled off on the left side of the Great Eastern Road to sample the left bank of the Luangwa River. At this time of year, the river has a wide floodplain of sand with high, steep banks.
After discovering tracks in the soft silt near the shore, Kevin donned his waders and pollywog'd, finding ca. 20 individuals of Coelatura sp., all live. There were no iridinids in our sample. |
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 Site 5.
Lutemwe River, at Lutemwe Bridge on the road from Chipata to Mfuwe, Zambia.
13° 17.959' S, 032° 04.631' E.
18 July 2005; also stopped 21 July 2005.
On the way from Chipata to Mfuwe, we made an extended stop at the Lutemwe because there was actually water in the river bed. However, the water was so shallow and the stream was such a trickle between wide sand bars that waders were unnecessary. We found a couple dead individuals of Chambardia wahlbergi on the north side of the bridge.
It was at this locality that we met Gerald Nhkoma and Susan Malata. Kevin hunted around the southside of the bridge with Susan and some of the other women washing clothes in the river. They uncovered a few more dead specimens.
Once the neighborhood was alerted that we were interested in 'dwili', they were ready with a large cache when we passed back over Lutemwe Bridge on our way back to Chipata. Susan and her friends had collected a large number of dead specimens of Ch. wahlbergi and Aspatharia sp. Gerald found a few live individuals of Ch. wahlbergi that he kept in his irrigation ponds. |
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Site 6.
Dry bed of the Msandila River, road from Mfuwe to Nsefu, Zambia.
13° 06.874' S, 031° 51.819' E.
20 July 2005.
We investigated the dry bedsof the Lupande and the Msandila rivers. Nothing was found in the former. In the Msandila bed, we met Edson Kapomba; after some haggling we bought a Giant African Snail for 30,000 ZMK; it had two smaller land snails attached to it. Once we got across that we were looking for bivalves, one of the older local children ran off somewhere and brought us back some dead Chambardia wahlbergi. We paid him the same amount. At that time, we also made a plan to meet Edson the next day to acquire more specimens.
 Site 6b. Confluence of the Msandila and Luangwa rivers, Zambia.
21 July 2005.
The next day, Edson Kapomba and Jeff Chiwa met us at the head the road to Nsefu with many specimens of both Chambardia and Aspatharia, collected at the confluence of the Msandila and Luangwa. Their initial asking price was was 500,000 ZMK, but we walked them down to 250,000 ZMK plus our yellow rake and the collapsable camp shovel.
"Where there any gwena (crocodiles)?" "Yes, many."
Edson and Jeff also provided two live Ch. wahlbergi that we preserved in gin. Click here to see a quicktime of part of our discussion with Edson and Jeff.
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 Site 8.
Lake Bangweulu, Samfya Beach Lodge, Samfya, Zambia.
11° 20.696' S, 029° 33.746' E.
25 July 2005.
Samfya Beach Lodge provided the only access to Lake Bangweulu in Samfya, so we had to be content to sample there. We wore our waders to pollywog and rake the white sandy substrate adjacent to the beach. There was an enormous midge hatch going on, which coincided with a lot of aquatic activity among the odonates. As the later emerged from the surf, they were in turn eaten by black and white crows.
We found a few species of prosobranchs, some Coelatura sp., and Mutela hargeri by the dozens. All the mussels were dead but gorgeous. |
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Site 9.
Zambezi River, ca. 2-3 km above Mosi-au-Tunya, near Livingstone, Zambia.
17° 54.492' S, 25° 51.534' E.
31 July 2005.
On the road to Mosi-au-Tunya National Park, the wide pool of the Zambezi above the Falls is accessible. We found dead specimens of four mussel species: Chambardia, Aspatharia, "Coelatura" and Cafferia. We also got a bunch of gastropods. We had limited collecting gear with us, so we just waded in our pants and shoes.
We didn't see any crocodiles, but we were warned about them. |
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