The blue channels
Through green plain.
Petrtyl — CC BY 4.0 · Petrtyl — CC BY 4.0 · Petrtyl — CC BY 4.0 · Petrtyl — CC BY 4.0 · Wickyjax — CC BY-SA 4.0
The Barotse Floodplain, also called the Zambezi Floodplain, is one of Africa's great wetlands, on the Zambezi River in Zambia's Western Province. It is a Ramsar site, valued highly for conservation. It stretches for about 230 km and floods every year, turning into a sea of green and blue around the town of Mongu. The name is tied to the Lozi people, as «Ba» means people and «Rotse» is a form of Lozi. A powerful kingdom grew up here under King Lewanika, reaching up to 300 km from the plain. The flood comes with the rainy season from October to May, as water spreads over flat Kalahari sands, and hard rock at Ngonye Falls in the south holds it back like a dam. From the high ground near Mongu you see endless green plain threaded by blue channels, with small villages on slightly raised mounds. A long bridge and causeway run across the water. In flood season people and cattle move to higher land. The best-known event is the Kuomboka ceremony, when the Lozi king moves by great barge from his palace on the plain to his palace on higher ground. It lies about 35 km in a straight line from Mongu, the best place to start. Kuomboka has no fixed date, as it depends on the water, and usually falls around March or April, so ask before you travel. Walking on the plain is hard in flood season, so hire a boat with its owner. Bring protection against mosquitoes.
Through green plain.
Above the water.
The king's great barge.
West of Mongu, Western Province, Zambia
It has no fixed date, as it depends on the water, and usually falls around March or April.
From the high ground near Mongu and the long bridge, and by boat in flood season.