Barotse Floodplain
Designations | |
---|---|
Official name | Zambezi Floodplains |
Designated | 2 February 2007 |
Reference no. | 1662[1] |
The Barotse Floodplain, also known as the Bulozi Plain, Lyondo or the Zambezi Floodplain, is one of Africa's great wetlands, on the Zambezi River in the Western Province of Zambia. It is a designated Ramsar site, regarded as being of high conservation value.[3]
The name recognises the floodplain as spawning the culture and way of life of the Lozi people, "Rotse" being a variant of Lozi, and "Ba" meaning "people". 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.
Topography and area
The region is a flat
The floodplain stretches from the Zambezi's confluence with the Kabompo and Lungwebungu Rivers in the north, to a point about 230 km south, above the Ngonye falls and south of Senanga. Along most of its length its width is over 30 km, reaching 50 km at the widest, just north of Mongu, principal town of the plain, situated at its edge. 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,
The satellite photo was taken in April 2004 at the peak of the flood, Note that the northern part of the plain, near Lukulu, is less flooded, the land there varies a bit more in height and the water tends to keep to the many river channels.
Flood levels and timing
- See also Climate of Zambia
The peak of the flood occurs on the floodplain about 3 months after the peak of the rainy season in January–February. The flood usually peaks in April, and recedes in May to July, when grasses quickly grow on the exposed plain. At the river's lowest water in November the floodplain still contains about 537 km2 of lagoons, swamps and channels.[5] The flood leaves behind a fertile grey to black soil overlaying the Kalahari sands, enriched by silt deposited by the flood as well as humus from vegetation killed by the initial flood, and from decaying aquatic plants left to dry out in the mud. It provides a good soil, but in the late dry season it bakes hard in the heat of the sun.[4]
As the floods recede, water is left behind in lagoons, swamps, and oxbow lakes.
Natural environment
The floodplain is in the Zambezian flooded grasslands ecoregion, and is bordered by slightly higher sandy ground on which grow dry grasslands (Western Zambezian grasslands) with woodland savanna (Zambezian Baikiaea woodlands) to the east and south, and patches of evergreen forest (Cryptosepalum dry forests) in the north and east.
The flood provides
These herbivores have been displaced in most areas by the cattle grazed by the Lozi, but they have provided a large game reserve on the dry grassland to the west, the Liuwa Plain National Park, once the Litunga's hunting grounds, established as a game reserve by Lewanika in the 19th century. In addition the entire western of the Zambezi within the country is a Game Management Area.Human ecology of the plain
About 250,000 people live on the plain with a similar number of cattle, migrating to grasslands at the edge of the floodplain when the flood arrives. The floodplain is one of the most productive areas for raising cattle in the country.[4]
The Lozi also catch fish, eating about five times as much as the national average. At the height of the flood they use
The Lozi cultivate crops on the floodplain such as
November to January are lean months.[4] Stored produce from the previous growing season is almost used up and in any case would need to be transported during the migration, while the new season's crops and grasses are not yet productive, and at the same time fishing stops for the spawning season. Hunting and trapping animals, which might have filled the gap, is no longer available to most people, and trapping waterbirds is one of the few alternatives to buying flour.
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.
In the occasional very wet year such as 2005, lives and property are lost in floods on the Barotse Plain. More often, however, it is a very good example of the principle that natural annual flooding by rivers is valuable and productive for wildlife and human populations, while damming rivers to control floods, as has happened with the Kafue Flats, is potentially damaging to the environment.
Development
Development on the plain has been restricted until now to—
- the canal dug in colonial times to connect a small harbour at Mongu to the Zambezi's channel in the dry season
- small villages and compounds constructed on mounds, such as Lealui
- a few dry season tracks
- pontoon ferriesat Sandaula, Libonda and Lukulu
- some intensive rice and sugarcane plantations.
Tight control over access to the floodplain by the Litunga and the homogeneity of the indigenous people have slowed commercial development by outsiders.
Barotse Floodplain causeway
A new project, the
See also
References
- ^ "Zambezi Floodplains". Ramsar Sites Information Service. Retrieved 25 April 2018.
- ^ "Seasonal Flooding in Southern Africa". Archived 2008-09-23 at the Wayback Machine NASA/Visible Earth, Credit: Jacques Descloitres, MODIS Rapid Response Team, NASA/GSFC.
- ^ "Zambezi Floodplain Ramsar Information Sheet" Archived March 26, 2009, at the Wayback Machine, in Ramsar Sites Information Service, Wetlands International. Retrieved 22 November 2007.
- ^ a b c d e f g h "Barotse Floodplain, Zambia: local economic dependence on wetland resources." Case Studies in Wetland Valuation #2: IUCN, May 2003.
- ^ a b Welcomme, R.L. (Comp.) (1979): ”The inland fisheries of Africa." CIFA Occas.Pap., (7): 69 p. Published by Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations, Rome.
- ^ Bulletin 74 (August 2004), Archived March 26, 2009, at the Wayback Machine Consolidated Contractors Company of Kuwait.
- ^ Sylvia Mweetwa: "Road financiers to extend agreement." Ndola: Times of Zambia, 5 April 2007.
- ^ "Zambia : The Mongu-Kalabo road has been completed".
- ^ Chris McIntyre (2004). Zambia: The Bradt Travel Guide online at www.zambia-travel-guide.com. Retrieved 21 November 2007.
- Map references
- "Zambia 1:1,500,000 2nd Edition", Terracarta/International Travel Maps, Vancouver, 2000.
- MSN Encarta World Atlas[permanent dead link] online retrieved 19 November 2007.