A dambo is a class of complex shallow wetlands in central, southern and eastern Africa, particularly in Zambia, Malawi and Zimbabwe.
[1] Similar African words include mbuga (commonly used in East Africa), matoro (Mashonaland), vlei (South Africa), fadama (Nigeria), and bolis (Sierra Leone); the French bas-fond and German Spültal have also been suggested as referring to similar grassy wetlands.
The definition for scientific purposes has been proposed as “seasonally waterlogged, predominantly grass covered, depressions bordering headwater drainage lines”.
Thus it may take a long time—perhaps several years—for water from a heavy rainy season to percolate through hills and emerge in a dambo, creating lagoons there or a flow in downstream rivers which cannot be explained by the previous year's rainfall.
Unlike in the neighbouring areas which have been cleared for farming and charcoal-burning, the dambo contrasts well with the undisturbed miombo woodland canopy.