Water transport Maritime transport (or ocean transport) or more generally waterborne transport, is the transport of people (passengers or goods (cargo) via waterways. Freight transport by watercraft has been widely used throughout recorded history, as it pr ...

and the many navigable inland waterways in

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 ...

have a long tradition of practical use except in parts of the south. Since

draught animal A working animal is an animal, usually domesticated, that is kept by humans and trained to perform tasks. Some are used for their physical strength (e.g. oxen and draft horses) or for transportation (e.g. riding horses and camels), while ot ...

s such as

oxen An ox (: oxen), also known as a bullock (in BrE, British, AusE, Australian, and IndE, Indian English), is a large bovine, trained and used as a draft animal. Oxen are commonly castration, castrated adult male cattle, because castration i ...

were not heavily used, water transport was usually the only alternative to going on foot until the 19th century. The history and current importance of Zambian waterways, as well as the types of indigenous boats used, provide information on this important aspect of Zambian economy.

Indigenous boats and traditional use of waterways

Dugout canoes

The techniques of making temporary boats or rafts by weaving together bundles of buoyant reeds were known to African people living near the many rivers, lakes, lagoons and swamps of what is now Zambia.Yuyi K Libakeni: “The Nalikwanda”, on ''The Lowdown'' website
accessed 24 February 2007. The coming of the

Iron Age The Iron Age () is the final epoch of the three historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progre ...

introduced tools such as the

adze An adze () or adz is an ancient and versatile cutting tool similar to an axe but with the cutting edge perpendicular to the handle rather than parallel. Adzes have been used since the Stone Age. They are used for smoothing or carving wood in ha ...

which facilitates the construction of dugout canoes, especially from African teak ('' Pterocarpus angolensis'' or 'mulombwa' in

Chibemba Bemba (natively known as ''Chibemba, Ichibemba'' and ''Chiwemba''), is a Bantu language spoken primarily in north-eastern Zambia by the Bemba people. History Bemba is spoken in rural and urban areas of the region, and is one of Zambia's sev ...

, 'mulombe' in Chilozi, 'mukwa' in Chishona) which has a long life even when constantly immersed. The dugout then took over as the principal means of fishing and travel by boat, whether paddled in deeper water, or punted in shallow water like makoros in neighbouring Botswana. When explorer David Livingstone, the first European to see

Lake Bangweulu Lake Bangweulu ('where the water sky meets the sky') is a Fresh water, freshwater lake in northern Zambia. Bangweulu is one of the world's great Wetland, wetland systems, comprising Lake Bangweulu, the Bangweulu Wetlands and the Bangweulu flats or ...

arrived on the western shore of that lake in 1868, he was conveyed across it efficiently in a dugout canoe 45 feet long and 4 feet wide (about 14 m by 1.2 m), paddled by six men. The people of the lake and its wetlands, which cover a completely flat area of more than 10,000 km² in flood, have the ability to navigate unaided across open water or through mazes of swamp channels despite having no landmarks to guide them most of the time. David Livingstone and Horace Waller (ed.): ''The Last Journals of David Livingstone in Central Africa from 1865 to his Death''. Two volumes, John Murray, 1874. There is an account of the Shila people in the Luapula swamps in the 19th century hunting hippos with great skill by throwing harpoons at them from dugout canoes, despite being in great danger from these huge aggressive animals’ ability to overturn a canoe and virtually bite its paddlers in half, and they are responsible for many human deaths in Zambia. Several dugout canoes may be lashed together and a timber platform built over them to carry heavy loads, and many early pontoon ferries were made in this way, such as the first ferry over the Luangwa River in 1929, which could carry a 1.5 ton truck. Paddled by a dozen men, the crossing used to take four to six hours, not because of the great width of the river but the need to go a long way upstream before the crossing, when the current would sweep the pontoon several kilometres downstream.(On www.nrzam.org.uk website accessed 24 February 2007)
H. C. N. Ridley: “Early History of Road Transport in Northern Rhodesia”, The Northern Rhodesia Journal, Vol 2 No 5 (1954) There are both permanent and seasonal fishing communities to which the only access is by boat or canoe, such as in Bangweulu and Mweru Wantipa in particular, but also along many rivers and lake shores. To such communities canoes and boats are a way of life. A colonial administrator in the 1920s saw a dugout canoe crossing Lake Tanganyika (35 km wide) which is large enough to have waves of around 1 m. Though such a feat was commonplace, he was astonished to discover that the three paddlers were all blind, and the boat was being steered by a small child to the store at Mpulungu so they could buy supplies.

Lozi timber plank boats

Before the coming of the Europeans from 1860 onwards, the

Lozi people The Lozi people, also known as Balozi, are a Bantu-speaking ethnic group native to Southern Africa. They have significant populations in Botswana, Namibia, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. The Lozi language, Silozi, is used as the formal language in e ...

Barotseland Barotseland (Lozi language, Lozi: ''Mubuso Bulozi'') is a region between Namibia, Angola, Botswana, Zimbabwe including half of north-western province, southern province, and parts of Lusaka Province, Lusaka, Central Province, Zambia, Central, ...

were building ''Nalikwanda'' royal barges made from teak planks fixed with iron nails (extensive Rhodesian Teak forests grew in the east of Barotseland). As seen in the Kuomboka ceremony these reached huge sizes, requiring a hundred paddlers or more. Although there has been speculation that the Lozi learnt this method of boat building from

Arab Arabs (, , ; , , ) are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in West Asia and North Africa. A significant Arab diaspora is present in various parts of the world. Arabs have been in the Fertile Crescent for thousands of years ...

or Portuguese traders, the Lozi did not allow such traders to enter their territory, and the traders certainly did not haul boats overland to central Africa with them. There is no evidence to suppose that the Lozi plank boat is anything other than an indigenous technology.

Water transport in the colonial era

For about three decades after the start of the colonial era as North-Western and North-Eastern Rhodesia, there was no road transport in the territory, except by

ox-wagon An ox-wagon or bullock wagon is a four-wheeled vehicle pulled by oxen (draught cattle). It was a traditional form of transport, especially in Southern Africa but also in New Zealand and Australia. Ox-wagons were also used in the United States. ...

. Even when the first railway reached the

Copperbelt The Copperbelt () is a natural region in Central Africa which sits on the border region between northern Zambia and the south eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. It is known for copper mining and is the second largest global reserve of copper, ...

in 1910, there was no mechanised road transport from that single line into the surrounding areas or the rest of the country. Water transport was used by colonial officials, businesses, and the few settlers, and some Africans made their living hiring out their canoes and labour to them. The main waterways used in this way were:

Lake transport

Lake Tanganyika Lake Tanganyika ( ; ) is an African Great Lakes, African Great Lake. It is the world's List of lakes by volume, second-largest freshwater lake by volume and the List of lakes by depth, second deepest, in both cases after Lake Baikal in Siberia. ...

: the port of Mpulungu was one of the main entry points to the north of the territory until

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, and even after remained a significant route with services by the MV Liemba connecting to the Kigoma-

Dar es Salaam Dar es Salaam (, ; from ) is the largest city and financial hub of Tanzania. It is also the capital of the Dar es Salaam Region. With a population of over 7 million people, Dar es Salaam is the largest city in East Africa by population and the ...

railway. # Lake Bangweulu and Bangweulu swamps: from Samfya and Nsombo to all parts of the system. #

Lake Mweru Lake Mweru (also spelled ''Mwelu'', ''Mwero'') (, ) is a freshwater lake on the longest arm of Africa's second-longest river, the Congo. Located on the border between Zambia and Democratic Republic of the Congo, it makes up of the total length ...

: Nchelenge- Kashikishi to Kilwa Island,

Chiengi Chiengi or is a historic colonial boma of the British Empire in central Africa and today is a settlement in the Luapula Province of Zambia, and headquarters of Chiengi District. Chiengi is in the north-east corner of Lake Mweru, and at the foo ...

and Pweto.

River and swamp channel transport

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 ...

: Katombora Rapids to Sesheke and Katima Mulilo, just above which is a series of rapids over a distance of 20 km, and then the Ngonye Falls 75 km further on at Sioma. Depending on the water level, boats could be paddled or pulled through or carried around the rapids, and at Sioma, Chief Yeta had a team of 40 oxen available to pull barges 5 km over land around the Ngonye Falls. # Upper Zambezi between Ngonye Falls and the Nyamboma Rapids, and especially Mongu to Kalabo. # Kasenga (in

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 ...

) and Kashiba, across from each other on the Luapula River, to Lake Mweru. From the 1930s to the 1950s most of the commercial fishing on the lake was run by

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

fishermen operating from Kasenga. The

Belgian Congo The Belgian Congo (, ; ) was a Belgian colonial empire, Belgian colony in Central Africa from 1908 until independence in 1960 and became the Republic of the Congo (Léopoldville). The former colony adopted its present name, the Democratic Repu ...

government also operated a sternwheeler paddle steamer, the ''Charles Lemaire'', on the Luapula and Lake Mweru. # Bangweulu Swamps: The hundreds of channels are often narrowed by shifting vegetation and not suitable for motorboats except those with outboard motors. Efforts have been made over the years to cut channels but they eventually become silted or overgrown with papyrus again. The main routes: ::* Kapalala on the

Luapula River The Luapula River is a north-flowing river of central Africa, within the Congo River watershed. It rises in the wetlands of Lake Bangweulu (Zambia), which are fed by the Chambeshi River. The Luapula flows west then north, marking the border betw ...

to Chandesi on the

Chambeshi River The Chambeshi (or Chambezi) River of northeastern Zambia is the most remote headstream of the Congo River (in length) and therefore it is considered the source of the Congo River. (However, by volume of water, the Lualaba River provides a greater ...

— this was the main route between the

and the Northern Province until 1930. During the later stages of

, a fleet of 900 boats (mainly dugout canoes) ferried supplies over this route for British forces near Abercorn. ::* Kapalala to Lake Bangweulu and Samfya/Nsombo. ::* Chambeshi to Nsombo.

Other waterways, local use

* The Kafue River, though navigable between the town of Kafue and the Copperbelt was not used for that route because its meandering course which takes it far to the west makes the route three times longer than the straight-line distance, and it does not pass close to any areas with much population. * Similarly the Luangwa River does not constitute a major waterway since it does not pass through any well-populated areas, and becomes very shallow in the dry season. * Dongwe River and Kabompo River in the west * Lungwebungu River in the west * Luena- Luongo in the north * Upper Kalungwishi River the north * Lake Mweru Wantipa in the north * Lukanga Swamp in the centre

Boat operations in the present day

There is a need to develop inland waterways in Zambia but it is hampered by a lack of management know-how in the sector and a lack of port facilities. Development of the road network has reduced the demand for commercial boat services where road services compete. No major urban centres have developed on any waterways and so boat transport is not used for any urban or inter-urban travel. The only centres which can be considered to have commercial boat services are, in rough order of size:

Commercial operators

* Mpulungu, Lake Tanganyika, serving the Zambian shore and islands up to Nsumbu and Ndole Bay, with international services to

Tanzania Tanzania, officially the United Republic of Tanzania, is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It is bordered by Uganda to the northwest; Kenya to the northeast; the Indian Ocean to the east; Mozambique and Malawi to t ...

and

Burundi Burundi, officially the Republic of Burundi, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is located in the Great Rift Valley at the junction between the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa, with a population of over 14 million peop ...

. * Samfya, Lake Bangweulu * Nchelenge-Kashikishi, Lake Mweru (with international connections to DR Congo at Kilwa and Kasenga). * Mongu, Zambezi River, especially to Kalabo.

Tourism operators

Boat operators serving the tourist trade are found in:Zambia National tourist Board website
accessed 24 February 2007 * Mpulungu on Lake Tanganyika * Nsumbu National Park at Kasaba Bay on Lake Tanganyika * South Luangwa National Park on the Luangwa River * Kafue National Park on the Kafue River and the lake formed by the Itezhi-Tezhi Dam * Mongu on the Zambezi * Livingstone on the Zambezi * Siavonga and Sinazongwe on Lake Kariba * Lower Zambezi National Park on the Zambezi In addition to these there are a number of tour companies and camps set up for fishing and adventure tours, especially on the upper Zambezi, mostly catering for international tourists at high prices.

Boat use for non-commercial and subsistence use

Use of dugout canoes has declined somewhat except in more remote locations, due to a relative shortage of good African Teak trees, and competition from timber plank, aluminium and glass-fibre boats. The use of outboard motors remains relatively low due to the high cost of fuel and lack of maintenance services.