Barotse Floodplain - Human Ecology of The Plain

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.

The Lozi also catch fish, eating about five times as much as the national average. At the height of the flood they use fish traps and spears for fishing, and they use gill nets in the lagoons left behind by the falling flood. Fish spawn just before the flood, the first floodwaters are naturally hypoxic (low in oxygen) which kills most fish, while eggs survive.

The Lozi cultivate crops on the floodplain such as maize, rice, sweet potato, and sugar cane.

November to January are lean months. 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. 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.