Barotse Floodplain

They became a powerful kingdom in Central/Southern Africa under their king or litunga Lewanika, whose realm extended up to 300 km from the plain and was called Barotseland.

The Zambezi and its headwaters rise on the higher ground to the north, which enjoys good rainfall (1400 mm annually) in a rainy season from October to May.

To the south, around the Ngonye Falls, harder rock is found at the surface and has resisted the river's tendency to cut a channel down into it, and so acts a bit like a dam.

The main body of the plain covers about 5500 km2,[4] but the maximum flooded area is 10 750 km2 when the floodplains of several tributaries are taken into account,[5] such as the Luena Flats.

The flood provides aquatic habitats for fish such as tigerfish and bream, crocodiles, hippopotamus, waterbirds, fish-eating birds, and lechwe, the wading antelope.

After the flood, the plain is a habitat for grazing animals such as wildebeest, zebra, tsessebe and small antelope such oribi and steenbok, and their predators.

The floodplain determines and dominates the way of life, economy, society and culture of the Lozi, who are skilled boat-builders, paddlers and swimmers.

[4] The annual migration with the flood is celebrated in the Kuomboka ceremony held at Mongu, capital of Barotseland and its successor, the Western Province.

Around 2002 construction started of a 46-kilometre causeway across the centre of the floodplain to take a paved highway from Mongu to Kalabo, via the ferry across the main river channel at Sandaula, which would then be replaced by a 500-metre bridge.

[7] Subsequent modifications have been made to raise the road height and to increase the number and size of culverts, and this in turn led to funding problems.

NASA satellite photograph showing the Barotse Floodplain as the bright green to dark blue central region. 1 The Zambezi flowing north to south through the middle of the floodplain; 2 confluence of (left to right) the Lungwebungu , Southern Kashiji, Zambezi and Kabompo Rivers , marking the start of the floodplain; 3 end of the floodplain south of Senanga ; 4 Ngonye Falls on the Zambezi; 5 Mongu , capital of Barotseland; 6 Lealui , seat of the Litunga on the floodplain; 7 Limulunga , seat of the Litunga during the flood; 8 swamps and floodplain of the Lungwebungu; 9 the Kabompo drains an area of Cryptosepalum dry forest ; 10 Luena Flats (floodplain); 11 Luanginga River floodplain near Kalabo ; 12 Lui River with narrow floodplain; 13 a broad floodplain which carries overspill from high floods of the Cuando River in Angola ; 14 Cuando river and floodplain, on the border between Angola and Zambia; 15 Liuwa Plain National Park ; 16 The flat sandy Central Zambezian Miombo woodland west of Mongu features many pans ; 17 Sioma Ngwezi National Park . [ 2 ]