The Kazungula Ferry was a pontoon ferry across the

Zambezi River The Zambezi River (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 hal ...

between

Botswana Botswana (, ), officially the Republic of Botswana ( tn, Lefatshe la Botswana, label=Setswana, ), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory being the Kalahar ...

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, although it is typically referred to as being in Southern Africa at its most cent ...

. 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 Kazungula is a small border town in Zambia, lying on the north bank of the Zambezi River about west of Livingstone on the M10 Road. At Kazungula, the territories of four countries (Zambia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, and Namibia) come close to meeti ...

and

Kazungula, Botswana Kazungula is a village in the far north of Botswana, 8 km east of the town of Kasane. It lies on the south bank of the Chobe and Zambezi rivers. Kazungula is the site of border crossings to the town in Zambia, also called Kazungula, acros ...

. It linked the Livingstone-

Sesheke Sesheke is a border town in the Western Province of Zambia, in a district of the same name. It lies on the northern bank of the Zambezi River which forms the border with Namibia's Caprivi Strip at that point. The Katima Mulilo Bridge, comp ...

road (which connects to the

Trans–Caprivi Highway The Walvis Bay-Ndola-Lubumbashi Development Road (previously ''Trans-Caprivi Corridor'' and until 2004 ''Trans-Caprivi-Highway'', accessed on 27 August 2014.) runs from Walvis Bay, through Rundu in north eastern Namibia, along the Caprivi Strip ...

Katima Mulilo Katima Mulilo or simply Katima is the capital of the Zambezi Region in Namibia. It is located in the Caprivi Strip. It had 28,362 inhabitants in 2010, and comprises two Constituencies of Namibia, electoral constituencies, Katima Mulilo Rural and ...

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 and 147,122 inhabitants for its agglomeration at the 2022 census. and often described as the "''Capital of the North''" or as the natives would have it “''T ...

and

Gaborone Gaborone ( , , ) is the capital and largest city of Botswana with a population of 246,325 based on the 2022 census, about 10% of the total population of Botswana. Its agglomeration is home to 421,907 inhabitants at the 2011 census. Gaboron ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

, and also to the

Kasane Kasane is a town in Botswana, close to Africa's 'Four Corners', where four countries almost meet: Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe. It is at the far north-eastern corner of Botswana where it serves as the administrative center of the Chobe D ...

Victoria Falls Victoria Falls ( Lozi: ''Mosi-oa-Tunya'', "The Smoke That Thunders"; Tonga: ''Shungu Namutitima'', "Boiling Water") is a waterfall on the Zambezi River in southern Africa, which provides habitat for several unique species of plants and animal ...

road through

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and Mozam ...

. 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 (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...

). 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 in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...

n or

Rhodesia Rhodesia (, ), officially from 1970 the Republic of Rhodesia, was an unrecognised state in Southern Africa from 1965 to 1979, equivalent in territory to modern Zimbabwe. Rhodesia was the ''de facto'' successor state to the British colony of S ...

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 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. Several examples exist ...

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 a serious problem occurring over a short or long period of time that causes widespread human, material, economic or environmental loss which exceeds the ability of the affected community or society to cope using its own resources ...

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 scales, usually mounted permanently on a concrete foundation, that is used to weigh entire rail or road vehicles and their contents. By weighing the vehicle both emp ...

s in Zambia 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 River between the countries of Zambia and Botswana at the town of Kazungula. The by bridge has a longest span of and links the town of Kazungula in Zambia with Botswana. The bridge ...

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 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 of other ...

Office of the Geographer depiction in

Google Earth Google Earth is a computer program that renders a 3D computer graphics, 3D representation of Earth based primarily on satellite imagery. The program maps the Earth by superimposition, superimposing satellite images, aerial photography, and geog ...

. 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 a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...

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. Most traffic between Namibia and Zimbabwe goes through Botswana via Maun, which is a considerably shorter route. For those travelling from South Africa to Zambia's copperbelt or

Lusaka Lusaka (; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Zambia. It is one of the fastest-developing cities in southern Africa. Lusaka is in the southern part of the central plateau at an elevation of about . , the city's population was ab ...

by road, routes through Zimbabwe are several hundred kilometres shorter.{{Original research inline, date=January 2017

References

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

See also

References