Zambezi Region | |
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![]() Location of the Zambezi Region in Namibia | |
Country | Namibia |
Seat | Katima Mulilo |
Government | |
• Governor | Lawrence Sampofu [1] |
Area | |
• Total | 14,785 km2 (5,709 sq mi) |
Population (2023 census) | |
• Total | 142,373 [3] |
Time zone | UTC+2 (CAT) |
HDI (2017) | 0.628 [4] medium · 8th |
The Zambezi Region is one of Namibia's fourteen regions, situated in the north-eastern part of the country along the Zambezi River where it gets its name from. The region's capital is the town of Katima Mulilo. The Katima Mulilo Airport is 18 kilometres south-west of the town, while the village of Bukalo is located 43 kilometres south-east of Katima Mulilo. [5] Formerly known as the Caprivi Region until 2013, it has eight electoral constituencies and a population of 142,373 according to the 2023 census. [6]
The region comprises eight electoral constituencies:
Electorally, Zambezi is consistently dominated by the South West Africa People's Organization (SWAPO). In the 2004 regional election for the National Assembly of Namibia, SWAPO won all constituencies, and mostly by a landslide. [8]
In the 2015 regional elections SWAPO won in all eight constituencies [9] and obtained 77.5% of all votes (2010: 80%). In the 2020 regional election SWAPO still had the vast majority of votes (45.4%) but lost four of the eight constituencies, three to independent candidates and one to the Independent Patriots for Change (IPC), an opposition party formed in August 2020. [10]
The Zambezi Region can be classified as a tropical area, with high temperatures and high rainfall during the December-to-March rainy season, making it the wettest region in Namibia. The terrain mostly consists of swamps, floodplains, wetlands and woodland.
In addition to the Zambezi River, the region also holds the Kwando River, which marks the border with Botswana. Tributaries include the Linyanti and the Chobe. The Kwando meets the Zambezi in the far east of the region.
The Zambezi Region is almost entirely bordered by foreign countries. Its only domestic border is a with the Kavango East Region in the west.
The Namibia-Zambia-Botswana tripoint lies less than 100 metres from the Zimbabwe border – causing Namibia sometimes erroneously thought to border Zimbabwe.
The Zambezi Region is home to 450 animal species, including elephants, making the Zambezi Region a popular spot for game-watching. Wildlife is safeguarded by several national parks: Bwabwata National Park, Nkasa Rupara National Park (formerly Mamili National Park), and Mudumu National Park. Animals move freely across the unmarked border into Botswana, where Chobe National Park is situated. The region is also renowned for bird-watching, hosting almost 70 percent of Namibia's recorded bird species.
The Zambezi Region's population of 142,373 constitutes approximately 4.71% of Namibia's total population. The region is predominantly inhabited by subsistence farmers who rely on the Zambezi, Kwando, Linyanti, and Chobe Rivers for their livelihoods.
The Lozi people are a Bantu-speaking ethnic group native to southern Africa. They consist of several tribes, including the Bafwe, Bambukushu, Basubia, Batotela, and Bayeyi, each with its own dialect and traditional authority. These tribes share the same Lozi culture and traditions. Silozi serves as the standard language that unifies them and is widely used in educational materials, media such as television and radio, and government communications. Additionally, Silozi plays a crucial role in preserving and promoting cultural heritage, serving as a common medium for cultural practices and ceremonies.
Additionally, there is a population of San, specifically the Khwe people, residing in Bwabwata in the western part of the region. [2] [14]
According to the 2012 Namibia Labour Force Survey, unemployment in the Zambezi Region is 28.0%. [15] Zambezi has 102 schools with a total of 39,808 pupils. [16]
Bwabwata National Park is 6,100 square kilometres (2,400 sq mi) and extends for about 180 km (110 mi) from the Kavango River in the west to the Kwando River in the east. Deciduous woodlands are dominated by trees such as wild seringa, copalwood and Zambezi teak. While the park is sanctuary to 35 large and numerous small game species, visitors are not likely to see many of these animals, as vehicles are restricted to the road between Kavango and Eastern Zambezi. Animals likely to be seen are elephant, roan and kudu. Buffalo occur towards the west. As many as 339 bird species have been recorded in the west of the Zambezi Region.
The wild and little visited Nkasa Rupara National Park (formerly Mamili National Park) is Namibia's equivalent of the Okavango Delta, a watery wonderland of wildlife rich islands, river channels and wetlands. The focal points of the 320 km2 (120 sq mi) national park are Nkasa and Lupala, two large islands in the Kwando/Linyati 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.
Mudumu National Park is a vast 1,000 km2 (390 sq mi) expanse of dense savannah and mopane woodland with the Kwando River at its western border. The park is home to small populations of sitatunga and red lechwe while spotted neck otter, hippo and crocodile inhabit the waterways. Animals to be encountered are elephant, buffalo, roan, sable, kudu, impala, oribi, zebra, wild dog as well as some 430 species of birds.
The Namibian Wetland Route, established in 2005, is a local tourism association of businesses along a route from Divundu to Impalila.
Until the end of the 19th century, the area was known as Itenge, and it was under the rule of the Lozi kings. In the late 19th century the strip of land was administered as part of the British protectorate of Bechuanaland (Botswana). The German Empire in 1890 laid claim to the British-administered island of Zanzibar; Britain objected and the dispute was settled at the Berlin Conference later that year. On 1 July 1890, the British acquired Zanzibar and Germany acquired the territory which became known as the Caprivi Strip. Caprivi was named after German Chancellor Leo von Caprivi, who negotiated the land in an 1890 exchange with the United Kingdom. Leo von Caprivi arranged for the Caprivi strip to be annexed to German South West Africa in order to give Germany access to the Zambezi River as part of the Heligoland-Zanzibar Treaty. The German motivation behind the swap was to acquire a strip of land linking German South West Africa with the Zambezi River, providing easy access to Tanganyika (Tanzania) and an outlet to the Indian Ocean. Unfortunately for the Germans, the British colonisation of Rhodesia (Zimbabwe and Zambia) stopped them well upstream of Victoria Falls, which proved a considerable barrier to navigation on the Zambezi.
During World War I, the Caprivi Strip again came under British rule and was governed as part of Bechuanaland but it received little attention and became known as a lawless frontier. The region became of geopolitical importance during the 1980s when it was used as a jumping off point and re-supply route for South African support for the UNITA movement in Angola.
Caprivi Region became one of Namibia's thirteen regions when the country gained independence in 1990.
In August 2013, following a recommendation of the fourth Delimitation Commission for the Electoral Commission of Namibia, the Caprivi Region was renamed the Zambezi Region in a step to eliminate names of colonial administrators from Namibia's maps. [13] Alternative proposals for the region's name had included Iyambezi, Linyandi, Itenge, and others. [17] The name of the Zambezi town of Schuckmannsburg was also changed to Luhonono as part of the same process.
The renaming was not without controversy, however. The group Concerned Caprivians (or Caprivi Concerned Group) released a press statement expressing concern over the name change as well as Delimitation Commission boundary and constituency demarcation changes. [18] Caprivi African National Union (CANU) party secretary general Robert Sililo argued that the renaming was motivated by a desire to dilute Caprivian identity and history. [18] A statement from Concerned Caprivians read, "the name change from Caprivi to Zambezi is destined to destroy our identity and history as a symbol of renaissance, the dilution of political foundations in the identity of CANU party". [19]
The Caprivi Strip, also known simply as Caprivi, is a geographic salient protruding from the northeastern corner of Namibia. It is bordered by Botswana to the south and Angola and Zambia to the north. Namibia, Botswana and Zambia meet at a single point at the eastern tip of the Strip, which also comes within 150 m (490 ft) of Zimbabwe, thus nearly forming a quadripoint.
Kavango was one of the thirteen regions of Namibia until it was split into the Kavango East and Kavango West Regions in 2013. Its capital was Rundu.
The Cuando River is a river in south-central Africa flowing through Angola and Namibia's Caprivi Strip and into the Linyanti Swamp on the northern border of Botswana. Below the swamp, the river is called the Linyanti River and, farther east, the Chobe River, before it flows into the Zambezi River.
Sibbinda Constituency is a constituency in Namibia's Zambezi Region, with its administrative centre located in the settlement of Sibbinda. As of 2023, it has a population of 17,126 residents.
Katima Mulilo Urban is a constituency in Namibia's Zambezi Region. Its administrative centre is the region's capital, Katima Mulilo. The Katima Mulilo Airport is located 18 kilometres south-west of the town. The constituency has a population of 46,401 people, covers an area of 44.94 km², and has a population density of 1,033/km².
Katima Mulilo Rural is one of the eight constituencies in Namibia's Zambezi Region. Its administrative centre is located in Bukalo. The constituency has a population of 24,016, an area of 1,620 square kilometres and a population density of 14.82 per square kilometre, making it the fourth largest constituency in the region. Approximately 10 per cent of the constituency is prone to flooding every year.
Katima Mulilo or simply Katima is the capital of the Zambezi Region in Namibia. It had 46,401 inhabitants in 2023, and comprises two electoral constituencies, Katima Mulilo Rural and Katima Mulilo Urban. It is located on the B8 national road on the banks of the Zambezi River in the Caprivi Strip in lush riverine vegetation with tropical birds and monkeys. The town receives annual average rainfall of 654 millimetres (25.7 in).
Luhonono, until 2013 Schuckmannsburg, is a settlement in the Caprivi Strip in northeastern Namibia with a population of about 800. It belongs to the Kabbe North electoral constituency of the Zambezi Region. During the time of German colonialism, it was the capital of the Caprivi Strip.
The Caprivi conflict was an armed conflict between the Namibian government and the Caprivi Liberation Army, a rebel group that waged a brief insurrection in 1999 for the secession of the Caprivi Strip.
Albert Mishake Muyongo is a Namibian politician and former Member of Parliament who is currently living in exile in Denmark.
Caprivi Liberation Army (CLA) is a Namibian rebel and separatist group which was established in 1994 to separate the Caprivi Strip, a region mainly inhabited by the Lozi people. It operates only in the Caprivi strip.
Sioma Ngwezi National Park is a 5,000-square-kilometre park in the south west corner of Zambia. It is undeveloped and rarely visited, lacking roads and being off the usual tourist tracks, but this may change in the future.
Kavango–Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area is the second-largest nature and landscape conservation area in the world, spanning the international borders of five countries in Southern Africa. It includes a major part of the Upper Zambezi River and Okavango basins and Delta, the Caprivi Strip of Namibia, the southeastern part of Angola, southwestern Zambia, the northern wildlands of Botswana and western Zimbabwe. The centre of this area is at the confluence of the Zambezi and Chobe Rivers where the borders of Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe meet. It incorporates a number of notable national parks and nature sites, including Chobe National Park, Hwange National Park, and the Victoria Falls. The region is home to a population of approximately 250,000 animals, including the largest population of African Elephants in the world.
Bwabwata National Park is a protected area in northeastern Namibia that was established in 2007 and covers 6,274 km2 (2,422 sq mi). It was created by merging Namibia's Caprivi Game Park and Mahango Game Park. It is situated in the Zambezi and Kavango East regions, extending along the Caprivi Strip. It is bounded by the Okavango River to the west and the Kwando River to the east. Angola lies to the north and Botswana to the south.
The Mayuni Conservancy is a conservation area in Linyanti Constituency, in Namibia's northeastern Caprivi Region, along the eastern bank of the Cuando River.
Mudumu is a National Park in Caprivi Region of north-eastern Namibia. Established in 1990, the park covers an area of 737 square kilometres (285 sq mi). The Kwando River forms the western border with Botswana. Various communal area conservancies and community forests surround Mudumu National Park.
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. Botswana lies to the west, south and east, and Sangwali village to the north. It is Namibia's largest formally protected wetland area. It is one of Namibia’s protected areas that benefits local communities surrounding parks. The unfenced park forms a trans-boundary link for wildlife migration between Angola, Botswana, Namibia and Zambia. Nkasa Rupara is part of the Kavango Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area.
Kavango East is one of the fourteen regions of Namibia. Its capital is Rundu, its governor is Bonifatius Wakudumo. The region was created in 2013 when the Kavango Region was split into Kavango East and Kavango West. The only self-governing settlements in Kavango East are the capital Rundu and the village of Divundu.
Judea Lyaboloma is a constituency in Namibia's Zambezi Region. The administrative centre of the constituency is the settlement of Sangwali, situated 130 kilometres south-west of the region's capital, Katima Mulilo. It has a population of 8,738 and covers an area of 1,723 km², resulting in a population density of approximately 5.071/km².
Kabbe North is a constituency in Namibia's Zambezi Region. The administrative centre of the constituency is the settlement of Kabbe, situated 53 kilometres south-east of the region's capital, Katima Mulilo. It has a population of 12,253 and covers an area of 1,183 km², resulting in a population density of approximately 10.36/km².