Zambezi Totally Explained

Everything about Zambezi totally explained

The Zambezi (also spelled Zambesi) is the fourth-longest river in Africa, and the largest flowing into the Indian Ocean from Africa. The area of its basin is 1,390,000 km² (537,000 miles²), Credit: Jacques Descloitres, MODIS Rapid Response Team, NASA/GSFC.]]
The north of the Zambezi basin has mean annual rainfall of 1100 to 1400 mm which declines towards the south, reaching about half that figure in the south-west. The rain falls in a 4 to 6 month rainy season when the Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone moves over the basin from the north. Evaporation rates are high (1600mm−2300 mm) and much water is lost this way in swamps and floodplains, especially in the south-west of the basin.
Funding boost for cross-border conservation project along the Zambezi in 2008. The Okavango–Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation project — which follows the Zambezi River and stretches across Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe — has received a grant of €8 million from a German nongovernmental organisation. Part of the funds will be used for research in areas covered by the project. However, Angola has warned that civil war landmines may impede the project. (External Link

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Tributaries, their basin areas, discharge rates, and region drained

Upper Zambezi: 507,200 km², discharges 1044 m³/s at Victoria Falls, comprising: ť Northern Highlands catchment, 222,570 km², 850 m³/s at Lukulu:

   * Chifumage River: Angolan central plateau ť * Luena River: Angolan central plateau

   * Kabompo River: 72,200 km², NW highlands of Zambia ť * Lungwebungu River: 47,400 km², Angolan central plateau

   Central Plains catchment, 284,630 km², 196 m³/s (Victoria Falls – Lukulu): ť * Luanguingu River: 34,600 km², Angolan central plateau

   * Luampa River: 20,500 km², eastern side of Zambezi ť * Cuando /Linyanti/Chobe River: 133,200 km², Angolan S plateau & Caprivi

'Middle Zambezi cumulatively 1,050,000 km², 2442 m³/s, measured at Cahora Bassa Gorge ť (Middle section by itself: 542,800 km², discharges 1398 m³/s (C. Bassa – Victoria Falls)

   Gwembe Catchment, 156,600 km², 232 m³/s (Kariba Gorge – Vic Falls): ť * Gwayi River: 54,610 km², NW Zimbabwe

   * Sengwa River: 25,000 km², North-central Zimbabwe ť * Sanyati River: 43,500 km², North-central Zimbabwe

   Kariba Gorge to C. Bassa catchment, 386200 km², 1166 m³/s (C. Bassa – Kariba Gorge): ť * Kafue River: 154,200 km², 285 m³/s, West-central Zambia & Copperbelt

   * Luangwa River: 151,400 km², 547 m³/s, Luangwa Rift Valley & plateau NW of it ť * Panhane River: 23,897 km², North-central Zimbabwe plateau

'Lower Zambezi cumulatively, 1,378,000 km², 3424 m³/s, measured at Marromeu ť (Lower section by itself: 328,000 km², 982 m³/s (Marromeu – C. Bassa))

   * Luia River: 28,000 km², Moravia-Angonia plateau, N of Zambezi ť * Luenha River/Mazoe River: 54,144 km², 152 m³/s, Manica plateau, NE Zimbabwe

   * Shire River, 154,000 km², 539 m³/s, Lake Malawi basin ť Zambezi Delta, 12,000 km²

TOTAL ZAMBEZI RIVER BASIN: 1,390,000 km², 3424 m³/s discharged into delta Source: Beilfuss & Dos Santos (2001) For details of how the falls cuts back its bed to form the gorge, see How the Victoria Falls formed.

Exploration of the river

The Zambezi region was known to medieval geographers as the Empire of Monomotapa, and the course of the river, as well as the position of Lakes Ngami and Nyasa, were given broadly accurately in early maps. These were probably constructed from Arab information.
The first European to visit the upper Zambezi was David Livingstone in his exploration from Bechuanaland between 1851 and 1853. Two or three years later he descended the Zambezi to its mouth and in the course of this journey discovered the Victoria Falls. During 1858–60, accompanied by John Kirk, Livingstone ascended the river by the Kongone mouth as far as the Falls, and also traced the course of its tributary the Shire and reached Lake Malawi.
For the next 35 years very little exploration of the river took place, but in 1889 the Chinde channel north of the main mouths of the river was discovered. Two expeditions led by Major A. St Hill Gibbons in 1895 to 1896 and 1898 to 1900 continued the work of exploration begun by Livingstone in the upper basin and central course of the river. Portuguese explorer Serpa Pinto examined some of the western tributaries of the river and made measurements of the Victoria Falls in 1878.

Wildlife

The river supports large populations of many animals. Hippopotamuses are abundant along most of the calm stretches of the river, and many crocodiles are also present. Monitor lizards are found in many places. Bird life is abundant, with species including heron, pelican, egret and African Fish Eagle present in large numbers. Riverine woodland also supports many large animals, such as buffalo, zebras, giraffes and elephants. However, below Kariba and Cahora Bassa dams, the cessation of annual flooding has seen the area of this habitat greatly reduced and a corresponding reduction in the populations of the large mammals.
The Zambezi also supports several hundred species of fish, some of which are endemic to the river. Important species include cichlids which are fished heavily for food, as well as catfish, tigerfish, yellowfish and other large species. The bull shark is sometimes known as the Zambezi Shark after the river but is found around the world. It normally inhabits coastal waters but has been found far inland in many large rivers including the Zambezi. It is an aggressive shark which has been responsible for several attacks on humans.

Economy

The population of the Zambezi river valley is estimated to be about 32 million. About 80% of the population of the valley is dependent on agriculture, and the upper river's flood plains provide good agricultural land.
Communities by the river fish extensively from it, and many people travel from far afield to fish. Some Zambian towns on roads leading to the river levy unofficial 'fish taxes' on people taking Zambezi fish to other parts of the country. As well as fishing for food, game fishing is a significant activity on some parts of the river. Between Mongu and Livingstone, several safari lodges cater for tourists who want to fish for exotic species, and many also catch fish to sell to aquaria.
The river valley is rich in mineral deposits and fossil fuels, and coal mining is important in places. The dams along its length also provide employment for many people near them, in maintaining the hydroelectric power stations and the dams themselves. Several parts of the river are also very popular tourist destinations. Victoria Falls receives over 1.5 million visitors annually, while Mana Pools and Lake Kariba also draw substantial tourist numbers.

Transport

The river is frequently interrupted by rapids and so has never been an important long-distance transport route. David Livingstone's Zambezi Expedition attempted to open up the river to navigation by paddle steamer, but was defeated by the Cahora Bassa rapids. Along some stretches, it's often more convenient to travel by canoe along the river rather than on the unimproved roads which are often in very poor condition due to being regularly submerged in flood waters, and many small villages along the banks of the river are only accessible by boat. In the 1930s and 40s a paddle barge service operated on the stretch between the Katombora Rapids, about upstream from Livingstone, and the rapids just upstream from Katima Mulilo. However, depending on the water level, boats could be paddled through — Lozi paddlers, a dozen or more in a boat, could deal with most of them — or they could be pulled along the shore or carried around the rapids, and teams of oxen pulled barges over land around the Ngonye Falls.
Road, rail and other crossings of the river, once few and far between, are proliferating. They are, in order from the source:

Cazombo road bridge, Angola, bombed in the civil war and not yet reconstructed

Chinyingi suspension footbridge near the town of Zambezi, a footbridge built as a community project

Katima Mulilo road bridge,, between Namibia and Sesheke in Zambia, opened 2004, completing the TransCaprivi Highway connecting Lusaka in Zambia with Walvis Bay on the Atlantic coast

Kazungula Bridge — in August 2007 a deal was announced to replace the Kazungula Ferry, one of the largest river ferries in Southern Africa, with a road bridge where the river is wide

Victoria Falls Bridge (road and rail), the first to be built, completed in April 1905 and initially intended as a link in Cecil Rhodes' scheme to build a railway from Cape Town to Cairo: long

Kariba Dam carries the paved Kariba/Siavonga highway across the river

Otto Beit Bridge at Chirundu, road,, 1939

Second Chirundu Bridge, road,, 2002

Cahora Bassa Dam is in a remote area and doesn't carry a highway across the river

Tete Suspension Bridge, road bridge (1970s)

Dona Ana Bridge, railway, (1935), the longest at

Caia Bridge — construction started in 2007 of a road bridge to replace the Caia ferry, which, with Kazungula, is the largest ferry across the river There are a number of small pontoon ferries across the river in Angola, western Zambia, and Mozambique, notably between Mongu and Kalabo. Above Mongu in years following poor rainy seasons the river can be forded at one or two places.

Ecology

Sewage effluent is a major cause of water pollution around urban areas, as inadequate water treatment facilities in all the major cities of the region force them to release untreated sewage into the river. This has resulted in eutrophication of the river water and has facilitated the spread of diseases of poor hygiene such as cholera, typhus and dysentery.
The construction of two major dams regulating the flow of the river has had a major effect on wildlife and human populations in the lower Zambezi region. When the Cahora Bassa Dam was constructed in 1973, its managers allowed it to fill in a single flood season, going against recommendations to fill over at least two years. The drastic reduction in the flow of the river led to a 40% reduction in the coverage of mangroves, greatly increased erosion of the coastal region and a 60% reduction in the catch of prawns off the mouth due to the reduction in emplacement of silt and associate nutrients. Wetland ecosystems downstream of the dam shrank considerably.

EUS outbreak

On September 14, 2007, epizootic ulcerative syndrome (EUS) killed hundreds of sore-covered fish in River Zambezi. Zambia Agriculture Minister Ben Kapita asked experts to investigate the outbreak to probe the cause to find out if the disease can be transmitted to humans.

Major towns

Along much of the river's length, the population is sparse, but important towns and cities along its course include the following:

Katima Mulilo (Namibia)

Mongu, Lukulu, Livingstone, & Sesheke (Zambia)

Victoria Falls & Kariba (Zimbabwe)

Songo & Tete (Mozambique)Further Information

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