The Kazungula Ferry was a pontoon ferry across the

Zambezi River The Zambezi (also spelled Zambeze and Zambesi) is the fourth-longest river in Africa, the longest east-flowing river in Africa and the largest flowing into the Indian Ocean from Africa. Its drainage basin covers , slightly less than half of t ...

between

Botswana Botswana, officially the Republic of Botswana, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory part of the Kalahari Desert. It is bordered by South Africa to the sou ...

and

Zambia Zambia, officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa. It is typically referred to being in South-Central Africa or Southern Africa. It is bor ...

. It was one of the largest ferries in south-central Africa, having a capacity of . The service was provided by two motorised pontoons and operated between border posts at Kazungula, Zambia and Kazungula, Botswana. It linked the Livingstone-

Sesheke Sesheke is a border town in the Western Province, Zambia, Western Province of Zambia, in a Sesheke District, district of the same name. It lies on the northern bank of the Zambezi River which forms the border with Namibia, Namibia's Caprivi Stri ...

road ( M10 road; which connects to the Trans–Caprivi Highway at

Katima Mulilo Katima Mulilo or simply Katima is the capital of the Zambezi Region in Namibia. It had 46,401 inhabitants in 2023, and comprises two electoral constituencies, Katima Mulilo Rural and Katima Mulilo Urban. It is located on the B8 national roa ...

and forms part of the Walvis Bay Corridor) to the main north–south highway of Botswana through

Francistown Francistown is the second-largest city in Botswana, with a population of about 103,417 inhabitants and 147,122 inhabitants in its agglomeration at the 2022 census. It is located in eastern Botswana, about north-northeast from the capital, Gabo ...

and

Gaborone Gaborone ( , , ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Botswana, largest city of Botswana, with a population of 246,325 based on the 2022 census, about 10% of the total population of Botswana. Its metropolitan area is home to 534, ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

, and also to the

Kasane Kasane is a town in Botswana, close to Africa's 'Four Corners', where the borders of Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe almost meet. The town is at the far northeastern corner of Botswana where it serves as the administrative center of the Ch ...

Victoria Falls Victoria Falls (Lozi language, Lozi: ''Mosi-oa-Tunya'', "Thundering Smoke/Smoke that Rises"; Tonga language (Zambia and Zimbabwe), Tonga: ''Shungu Namutitima'', "Boiling Water") is a waterfall on the Zambezi River, located on the border betwe ...

road through

Zimbabwe file:Zimbabwe, relief map.jpg, upright=1.22, Zimbabwe, relief map Zimbabwe, officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Bots ...

. It served the international road traffic of three countries directly (Zambia, Zimbabwe and Botswana) and of three more indirectly (Namibia, South Africa and

DR Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), also known as the DR Congo, Congo-Kinshasa, or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Republic of the Congo), is a country in Central Africa. By land area, it is t ...

). Whether Botswana and Zambia actually shared a common border, or whether the ferry was illegally crossing into

Namibia Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country on the west coast of Southern Africa. Its borders include the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south; in the no ...

n or

Rhodesia Rhodesia ( , ; ), officially the Republic of Rhodesia from 1970, was an unrecognised state, unrecognised state in Southern Africa that existed from 1965 to 1979. Rhodesia served as the ''de facto'' Succession of states, successor state to the ...

n territory, was the subject of dispute. In 1970,

(which at the time occupied Namibia) informed Botswana that there was no common border between Botswana and Zambia, claiming that a

quadripoint A quadripoint is a point on Earth where four distinct political territories meet. The territories can be of different types, such as national and provincial. In North America, several such places are commonly known as Four Corners (disambiguatio ...

existed. As a result, South Africa claimed, the Kazungula Ferry, which links Botswana and Zambia at the quadripoint, was illegal. Botswana firmly rejected both claims. There was actually a confrontation and shots were fired at the ferry; some years later, the

Rhodesian Army The Rhodesian Security Forces were the military forces of the Rhodesian government. The Rhodesian Security Forces consisted of a ground force (the Rhodesian Army), the Rhodesian Air Force, the British South Africa Police, and various personnel ...

attacked and sank the ferry, maintaining that it was serving military purposes. In 2003 the ferry was the site of a

disaster A disaster is an event that causes serious harm to people, buildings, economies, or the environment, and the affected community cannot handle it alone. '' Natural disasters'' like avalanches, floods, earthquakes, and wildfires are caused by na ...

when a severely overloaded Zambian truck capsized one of the pontoons and 18 people drowned. The accident was blamed on the lack of

weighbridge A truck scale (US), weighbridge (non-US) or railroad scale is a large set of Weighing scale, scales, usually mounted permanently on a concrete foundation, that is used to weigh entire Railroad car#Freight cars, rail or road vehicles and their co ...

s in Zambia at the time to check the weight of trucks. Zambezi Bridge construction at Kazungula

In August 2007, the governments of Zambia and Botswana announced a deal to construct the

Kazungula Bridge Kazungula Bridge is a road and rail bridge over the Zambezi, Zambezi River between the countries of Zambia and Botswana at the town of Kazungula. The and bridge, which has a longest span of , links the town of Kazungula in Zambia with Botswana ...

at the site to replace the ferry. The existence of a short boundary of about between Zambia and Botswana was apparently agreed to during various meetings involving heads of state and/or officials from all four states in the 2006-10 period and is clearly shown in the African Development Fund project map. This matches the

US Department of State The United States Department of State (DOS), or simply the State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs o ...

Office of the Geographer depiction in

Google Earth Google Earth is a web mapping, web and computer program created by Google that renders a 3D computer graphics, 3D representation of Earth based primarily on satellite imagery. The program maps the Earth by superimposition, superimposing satelli ...

. The planned route for the new bridge crosses this boundary without entering Zimbabwe or Namibia. Zimbabwe already has a

bridge A bridge is a structure built to Span (engineering), span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or railway) without blocking the path underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, whi ...

into Zambia at

, from Kazungula. Namibia already has a

into Zambia at

about upriver. The bridge provides a direct connection between Zambia and Botswana. However, there is still no direct connection between Namibia and Zimbabwe, nor is one planned. Traffic from Namibia to Zimbabwe has to cross to Zambia at Katimo Mulilo, and then from Zambia into Zimbabwe at the Victoria Falls; or over Ngoma bridge into Botswana, and thence at the Kazungula Road crossing into Zimbabwe. In practice, though, there is very little such traffic along this route, or demand.{{Citation needed, date=January 2017

References

Ferries of Zambia Botswana–Zambia border crossings Zambezi River Ferries of Botswana Southern Province, Zambia

See also

References