Botswana Travel Guide
Botswana Travel Guide
>
Kasane & NE
>
Around Kasane
>
Impalila Island
>
>

Botswana Travel Guide

Impalila Island



Around Kazungula is the confluence of the Chobe and the Zambezi, and trapped between the two is Impalila Island, at the far eastern tip of Namibia. The Zambezi flows relentlessly to the sea but, depending on their relative heights, the Chobe either contributes to that, or may even reverse its flow and draw water from the Zambezi. Between the two rivers is a triangle of land, of about 700km2, which is a mixture of floodplains, islands and channels that link the two rivers.

This swampy, riverine area is home to several thousand people of Namibian nationality, mostly members of Zambia's Lozi tribe. (The main local languages here are Lozi and Subia.) Most have a seasonal lifestyle, living next to the river channels, fishing and farming maize, sorghum, pumpkins and keeping cattle. They move with the water levels, transferring on to higher, drier ground as the waters rise.


^ Top of page