Sioma | |
|---|---|
Town | |
  Sioma Location of Sioma in Zambia | |
| Coordinates: 16°36′20″S23°30′19″E / 16.60556°S 23.50528°E | |
| Country |  Zambia |
| Province | Western |
| District | Sioma |
| Time zone | UTC+2 (CAT) |
Sioma is a town on the west bank of the Zambezi River in the Western Province of Zambia. Since 2012 it has been the capital of the Sioma District. [1]
Sioma is located on the west bank of the Zambezi River 130 kilometres (81 mi) north of Sesheke and 150 kilometres (93 mi) south of the provincial capital Mongu. The town is situated approximately 60 kilometres (37 mi) south of the town of Senanga which marks the southern extent of the Barotse Floodplain.
Vegetation in the area is predominantly Dry Kalahari woodland. [2]
An Early Iron Age site was excavated at Sioma which has been dated to the mid centuries of the first millennium. [3] Some of the pottery at the site resembles that which is found in Nqoma, Angola. [4]
In the 1880s the Portuguese explorer Alexandre Alberto da Rocha de Serpa Pinto and American James Dabney McCabe both described the settlement as a hamlet. Pinto also described how the Lui government forced local residents to act as porters for canoes attempting to get around the nearby Ngonye Falls. [5] [6]
Expansion of the town started in 1957 when the catholic Irish Capuchin Franciscans established the Saint Anthony mission station on the Zambezi river at the town. [7]
In 2012 the town was made the capital of the newly created Sioma District. [8]
Annually, the town gets an average of 737 millimetres (29.0 in) of rain. [2]
| Climate data for Sioma, Zambia | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Average high °C | 22 | 20 | 23 | 25 | 23 | 22 | 21 | 25 | 27 | 28 | 27 | 24 | 24 |
| Average low °C | 15 | 16 | 15 | 13 | 11 | 9 | 7 | 10 | 13 | 15 | 15 | 14 | 13 |
| Average precipitation mm | 165 | 147 | 90 | 21 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 30 | 162 | 630 |
| Average high °F | 72 | 68 | 73 | 77 | 73 | 72 | 70 | 77 | 81 | 82 | 81 | 75 | 75 |
| Average low °F | 59 | 61 | 59 | 55 | 52 | 48 | 45 | 50 | 55 | 59 | 59 | 57 | 55 |
| Average precipitation inches | 6.5 | 5.8 | 3.5 | 0.8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.6 | 1.2 | 6.4 | 24.8 |
| Average precipitation days | 19 | 16 | 16 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 9 | 18 | 94 |
| Source: [9] | |||||||||||||
The Zambezi is the fourth-longest river in Africa, the longest east-flowing river in Africa and the largest flowing into the Indian Ocean from Africa. Its drainage basin covers 1,390,000 km2 (540,000 sq mi), slightly less than half of the Nile's. The 2,574-kilometre-long (1,599 mi) river rises in Zambia and flows through eastern Angola, along the north-eastern border of Namibia and the northern border of Botswana, then along the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe to Mozambique, where it crosses the country to empty into the Indian Ocean.
The Ngonye Falls or Sioma Falls is a waterfall on the Zambezi river in Western province Zambia, near the town of Sioma and a few hundred kilometres upstream from the Victoria Falls. Situated in the southern part of Barotseland, the falls are a day's journey by car from the capital, Lusaka. Their inaccessibility makes them much less known than Victoria Falls. The Ngonye Falls Community Partnership Park is located at the falls.
Western Province is one of the 10 provinces in Zambia and encompasses most of the area formerly known as Barotseland. The capital is Mongu, and together with the neighbouring town of Limulunga, Mongu is treated as the capital of Barotseland.
Alexandre Alberto da Rocha de Serpa Pinto, Viscount of Serpa Pinto was a Portuguese explorer of southern Africa and a colonial administrator.
Mwinilunga is a town in the North-Western Province of Zambia. It is the headquarters of Mwinilunga District, one of the province's eleven districts.
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Senanga is the capital of the Senanga District, which is located in the Western Province of Zambia. The town is situated on the eastern bank of the Zambezi River, at the southern end of the Barotse Floodplain. It lies on the main road running parallel to the river from Livingstone and Sesheke to Mongu. Recently the Kaunga Lyeti Bridge was completed to cross the Kaunga Lyeti River near the junction to Sioma, traveling from Sesheke and Katima Mulilo. On top of the bridgework, recent road projects have improved travel conditions and inspired economic confidence and growth.
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The T1 or Lusaka–Livingstone Road is the main highway of the Southern Province of Zambia. It begins 55 kilometres south of the city of Lusaka and heads south-west to the principal tourist destination, Victoria Falls in Livingstone, via Mazabuka, Monze, Choma and Kalomo, measuring approximately 430 kilometres (267 mi). The entire route is part of Trans-African Highway network number 4 or Cairo-Cape Town Highway between Cairo and Cape Town.
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Sioma District is a district of Zambia, located in Western Province on the west bank of the Zambezi River. The capital lies at Sioma.
The T2 is a trunk road in Zambia. The road runs from the Tunduma border with Tanzania via Mpika, Kabwe and Lusaka to the Chirundu border with Zimbabwe. The road is the longest route of the country, as it is approximately 1,155 kilometres (718 mi). The route from Mpika to Kafue is a toll road. The route from Tanzania to Lusaka is Zambia's Great North Road and is part of the Tanzam Highway.
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