Zambezi River Basin

© ZACPRO 6.2 © Oxfam

Ndebele traditional Dance is one of the many cultural activities in the Zambezi basin.

The floods came early for Kuomboka

the royal Maoma drums, the sound of which echoes around the royal capital the day before Kuomboka , announcing the event. Thousands gather to dance, feast and watch the royal barge, the Nalikwanda, rowed by dozens of oarsmen beneath a giant replica elephant. The kuomboka is the cue for local people, who are traditionally cattle herders, to follow the paramount chief in escaping the rising waters. However, the reality of climate change is catching up with this colourful traditional ritual. In 2008 the flood came too soon and too strong, killing at least 31 people in Zambia’s western province. The devastating aftermath left people hungry and homeless. Source: Oxfam 2007, in SADC and HBS 2010, Responding to Climate Change Impacts: Adaptation and mitigation strategies as practised in the Zambezi River Basin; www.barotseland.com/kuomboka1

Kuomboka is a survival strategy in which the paramount chief of the Lozi in western Zambia leads the people in an annual migration out of the rising floodwaters. Kuomboka is held when the annual inundation of the Bulozi floodplain of the Upper Zambezi River reaches a height (up to 12 metres above normal) that requires the people to move to a drier area. The paramount chief, the Litunga, leaves the floodplain and journeys by barge to higher ground. This is usually at the end of March or beginning of April, although the date changes each year and is kept secret by the Barotse royal establishment until close to the day. The route taken today is from the village of Lealui (which was the capital of the Lozi kingdom in the time of paramount chief Lewanika, 1878-1916) to Limulunga, the summer or flood-time capital where the current Litunga spends most of his time. The ceremony is preceded by heavy drumming of

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