Bagani (1.093 m above sea level) is a settlement on the south-western banks of the

Okavango River The Okavango River (formerly spelt Okovango or Okovanggo), is a river in southwest Africa. It is known by this name in Botswana, and as Cubango in Angola, and Kavango in Namibia. It is the fourth-longest river system in southern Africa, runni ...

in the

Kavango East Kavango East is one of the fourteen regions of Namibia. Its capital is Rundu, its governor is Bonifatius Wakudumo. The region was created in 2013 when the Kavango Region was split into Kavango East and Kavango West. The only self-governing sett ...

Region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as areas, zones, lands or territories, are portions of the Earth's surface that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and ...

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 ...

, east of

Rundu Rundu is the capital and the largest city of the Kavango-East Region in northern Namibia. It lies on the border with Angola on the banks of the Kavango River, about above sea level. Rundu's population is growing rapidly. The 2001 census counted ...

and near the Popa Falls on the Okavango River. Bagani has a population of around 2.000 inhabitants and is homestead of the local Mbukushu kings. On the opposite north-eastern banks of the river lies Bufalo in the

Caprivi Strip The Caprivi Strip, also known simply as Caprivi, is a geographic salient protruding from the northeastern corner of Namibia. It is bordered by Botswana to the south and Angola and Zambia to the north. Namibia, Botswana and Zambia meet at a sing ...

. The two towns are linked via a nearby border post.

History

The history of Bagani ( Mbukushu: "the old place") is closely linked with the history of the Mbukushu people, the easternmost of the five kingdoms of the

Kavango people The Kavango people, also known as the vaKavango or haKavango, are a Bantu people, Bantu ethnic group that resides on the Namibian side of the Namibian–Angolan border along the Okavango River, Kavango River. They are mainly riverine living people, ...

Economy and infrastructure

Compared to many other villages in Namibia, Bagani is still underdeveloped. It suffered from bad infrastructure and the political unrest in the neighboring, country ,Angola. Until recent years, the economy of Bagani was characterized by small farmers with only a few general services. Since the

independence of Namibia The South African Border War, also known as the Namibian War of Independence, and sometimes denoted in South Africa as the Angolan Bush War, was a largely asymmetric conflict that occurred in Namibia (then South West Africa), Zambia, and Angol ...

in 1990 and particularly since an ongoing

decentralisation Decentralization or decentralisation is the process by which the activities of an organization, particularly those related to planning and decision-making, are distributed or delegated away from a central, authoritative location or group and gi ...

policy, Bagani has gained some investments.

Schools

* Bagani Combined School

References

Populated places in Kavango East Angola–Namibia border crossings {{Namibia-geo-stub