Zambia/Barotseland: Barotse Floodplain Villages & People
Driving through Barotseland villages, you get to see a glimpse of culture of the Barotse aka Lozi people. The vast expanse of the Barotseland lies on the Barotse floodplain – a sandy expanse of the Upper Zambezi and other rivers that get flooded annually. Many people have to live around these floods, moving twice a year from the lower grounds of the floodplain to the elevated ridge of the plateau. Even the Barotse king has two residences down and up and moves twice per year in an elaborate festival ceremony known as Kuomboka. Small straw huts dot the landscape, while people mostly engage in small scale subsistence agriculture.