The Caprivi Strip! What's that, and more important, why is it there?

As you study a map of the southwest region of Africa, you'll find a country known as Namibia. On the surface, it looks like a normal place, its shape looks like a country all right, but on closer examination, you see a protrusion up in the northeast that prompts the question, "Huh? What's that? Who owns that?" That's the Caprivi Strip, it belongs to Namibia, and its history is interesting and instructive. Best of all, its future could be bright as a top drawer tourist haven if it can break loose from the burden of the quarter century old civil war in Angola that bleeds into it on occasion.

March 18, 2001

What is the Caprivi Strip? Well, that’s not the best question, but the answer is it is a remote stretch of Namibia’s far northeast territory. It is some 450 km (270 miles) long by 35 km (about 21 miles) wide at its most narrow point.

It is a sliver of land that juts out to the east in between Angola and Zambia to the north and Botswana to the south. Its easternmost tip meets the Zimbabwe border just 60 km (36 miles) west of the famous Victoria Falls.

So that’s the Caprivi Strip.

But the better question to ask is, "Why is there a Caprivi Strip?" That’s an interesting question and says a lot about colonial history and European interests.

Let’s start with a fellow named Georg Leo Caprivi, born in 1831 in Berlin-Charlottenberg, educated in Berlin, entered the army in 1849, fought in a few wars, and in 1883 was made chief of the admiralty.

Otto von Bismarck, who served as Germany’s first chancellor from 1871-1890, took a liking to Caprivi and advertised him as Bismarck’s likely successor. True enough, in March 1890 Caprivi was appointed chancellor, Prussian minister president, and foreign minister, following the forced resignation of Bismarck.

Surprisingly perhaps, given the prominence of the Great Prussian Empire and the unification of Germany as major issues of the day, one of Caprivi’s first orders of business was to handle an African issue.

The African issue had to do with an agreement with Great Britain about each country’s sphere of influence in colonial Africa.

It turns out, Caprivi was infatuated with rivers, seas, and their strategic importance to Germany. He urgently wanted a place called Heligoland, which is an island in the North Sea, in the Germany Bay, partially shown in the picture to the right. This picture, by Hans Huber, is of the island's red sandstone cliffs on its coast.

What is important about this place?

Well, it is strategically placed vis-à-vis the mouths of the Weser and Elbe Rivers and Kiel Canal (canal pointed with red arrow on the map above), on the northwest side of the peninsula jutting north that ultimately concludes as Denmark.

This was a strategic region because free use of the Elbe River and Kiel Canal, the latter of which was built between 1887-1895, served German military needs by eliminating the necessity for ships to travel northward around the Danish peninsula.

It was subsequently enlarged between 1907 and 1914 to accommodate large naval ships, so Caprivi correctly understood the importance of Heligoland, the rivers, and the canal. As you can see from this modern-day picture, the Germans have made something of the canal.

As early times would have it, the British owned Heligoland, having seized it in 1807 from the Danes. Chancellor Caprivi decided to reduce Germany’s interests in East Africa and Nigeria and withdraw German claims to Zanzibar, which is now part of the Union of Tanzania, in exchange for Heligoland. The hard-line German colonialists objected, but Caprivi went ahead and the Anglo-German agreement of 1890 went forward. The rest of Caprivi’s tour of duty as chancellor was unremarkable and he was dismissed in 1894 by the emperor.

Let’s change course for just a moment and fall back a few years. What is now known as Namibia was, from a European standpoint, simply an area of exploration for the Portuguese in the late 1480s. During the 17th, 18th, and early 19th centuries, the Dutch and English explored the coast and limited inland areas. In the 1840s the German connection with the territory began with the arrival of the Rhenish Missionary Society. In the 1860s tribal wars prompted missionaries, settlers, and the German government to offer the British territorial sovereignty in exchange for protection. Each request was denied by the British, until, in 1876, the Cape Colony secured treaties with the tribal chiefs that brought the territory under British colonial rule. The British government agreed only to annex Walvis Bay and some adjacent territory. Finally, in 1884, Germany's chancellor, Otto von Bismarck, took the initiative to offer complete German protection, which developed into full-fledged annexation by Germany. The first German farmers settled into what wa known as South West Africa (now Nambia) in 1892.

So, by 1893 the Germans were in charge of what is now Namibia. While the colony offered a terrific Atlantic Ocean coastline connecting it with Europe, it did not offer access to Africa’s interior, which is where the Europeans in general and the Germans in specific understood a great many raw materials and resources to exist.

However, Chancellor Caprivi looked at the maps of the time and thought it would be nice to have access to the Zambezi River, some 250 km (150 miles) to the east. He and his advisors thought at the time they would be able to use this access route to join their South West Africa (Namibia) colony with their East Africa colony, Tanzania. So in principle, Chancellor Caprivi made a good deal with the British. He got Heligoland, to guard the western entry to the Kiel Canal, which was just being built, and he got what became known as the Caprivi Strip, which he thought would give him access to the Zambezi River and a river route right across the continent to the Indian Ocean and his colony in Tanzania.

For reasons we have not had time to explore, the British were very accommodating and ceded the strip of land which was extruded from the northeast corner of Namibia to Kazungula on the Zambezi at what is now the Zambia and Botswana border. Unfortunately, this did not achieve the German objective, because the Zambezi was not navigable at that point. But in any event, the Germans got the strip of land and named it after their man the chancellor, Georg Leo Graf von Caprivi. Hence it is known as the Caprivi Strip.

Now one must fast-forward in order to round out a quick history and then we’ll get back to the modern Caprivi Strip.

Right from the outset of German colonization of Namibia, then known as South West Africa, the German farmers had their hands full and got themselves in trouble. They came up against the Khoikhoi people, which led to later uprisings in 1903 and 1904. The Germans responded by killing off the indigenous people, reducing their population from some 80,000 persons to 15,000 starving refugees.

The discovery of diamonds in 1908 brought an influx of Europeans. National Geographic Magazine, in an article published in June 1982 entitled, "Namibia, nearly a nation?", showed the picture of the diamonds that is depicted to the right and said these represented 1,200 carats collected in just a few hours. So diamonds became a European's best friend.

During World War I troops from the Union of South Africa defeated the German troops deployed there and occupied South West Africa. Following the war the territory was mandated to South Africa by the League of Nations.

Initially, the mandate was administered as a South African colony. In 1926 a legislative assembly was established with limited domestic authority. With the demise of the League of Nations, South Africa denied any obligation to relinquish the mandate to the newly established United Nations. In 1946 South Africa requested UN permission to incorporate South West Africa, but the request was denied.

In 1964 the UN voted to end South Africa's mandate and four years later, in 1968, voted to recognize the name "Namibia."

South Africa, however, refused to relinquish its control. Demands for the immediate withdrawal of South African administration came from the UN Security Council (1969) and the International Court of Justice (1970).

In the mid-1970s South Africa proposed the partition of Namibia, but this was rejected by the South West Africa People's Organization (SWAPO), an organization of native Namibians that since the 1960s had waged a guerrilla war against South African rule in an effort to gain independence. This South Africa soldier shown in the picture was preparing for a night patrol against the SWAPO guerrillas, convinced he and his comrades in arms were fighting for their homeland.

In 1988, after many years of conflict, South Africa agreed to grant Namibia independence. In 1989 SWAPO won a majority of seats in a new Constituent Assembly that drew up a new constitution, and in 1990 Namibia gained full independence under a government dominated by SWAPO. It is important to note, here, that Namibia as an independent nation is only 11 years old at this writing, a very new state.

Throughout all of that history, the country now known as Namibia retained the Caprivi Strip, remarkable when you think about it. Even when Zambia’s President Kaunda signed an agreement with the King of Barotseland in 1964 to incorporate that region into Zambia, Kaunda left the Caprivi Strip alone, to Namibia.

During its occupation, the South Africans used Caprivi as a jumping off base from which to fight against SWAPO and to support UNITA rebels fighting in Angola to the north against the dos Santos regime, which was a Marxist-Leninist regime supported by the Soviet Union and Cuba.

That Caprivi was so heavily used for these purposes by South Africa is still a source of tension. Some Namibian officials still believe that inhabitants of Caprivi harbor ill feelings toward the SWAPO government in Windhoek that trace back to their exposure to the South African military forces fighting against both Namibia and Angola. But there are other reasons for some degree of tension in the Caprivi Strip.

The majority of its 100,000 people are Lozi-speaking and share more in common with fellow Lozi-speaking people in neighboring Zambia than with the rest of Namibia. Indeed there is a Caprivi nationalist movement that would like to tie up with Zambia’s Barotse Patriotic Front, which finds itself ignored by the Lusaka government in Zambia. Prior to the colonial carve up of Africa that followed the 1884-1885 Berlin Conference, where Africa’s present borders were drawn, the Caprivi Strip in Namibia and Zambia's Western Province were one nation ruled by Lozi kings.

To make matters even more complicated, there is a territorial dispute between Botswana and Namibia over an island called the Kasikili-Sedudu that is now before the International Court of Justice. On occasion, Caprivi separatists cross into Botswana and find safe-haven, which aggravates the Namibian government.

With all that as background, the Caprivi Strip has developed into a favorite region for exploration and travel. Our own view of the entire country is that it has made remarkable progress in the 11 short years it has been on its own. While it has numerous challenges, some are simply the result of being such a young nation.

The map shown above depicts the favorite regions to visit for tourists. They all appear fascinating and markedly different from the other, which is one of those things that makes Namibia such an interesting place to visit and study.

The Caprivi region has tremendous tourism potential of its own. With the tarring of the Trans-Caprivi highway, marked in red on the map above, tourist traffic has increased. The region's isolation from the rest of Namibia, coupled with traditional linkages, result in a high degree of cross-border interaction and trade with Zambia and Botswana.

The map above is of the Caprivi Strip. The strip's northern border is largely formed by the Zambezi River as it heads eastward toward Victoria Falls and ultimately to the Indian Ocean through Mozambique. The strip itself is a lush savannah area bounded by the Kwando, Linyanti and Chobe River systems on the southern border with Botswana.

While the region has suffered from substantial poaching and destructive fighting in the past, there are some very well thought of conservation areas in the strip. Some of these include the Mahango Game Reserve, which is a small reserve with an ecologically diverse combination of grassland, woodland, floodplain, riverine forests and reed beds supporting over 60 mammal and nearly 350 bird species. This is an excellent reserve for elephants during the dry season. This is the only Namibian Park in which visitors are allowed to walk unaccompanied by a guide or scout.

The West Caprivi Game Park has similar habitats to Mahango, but this reserve covers most of the "strip" from the Kavango to Kwando Rivers. This area is recovering from past poaching.

Mudumu National Park, which flanks the Kwando River, benefits from the wetlands of the Kwando-Mashi-Linyanti-Chobe river system, it is an excellent birding area and is also well known for its fishing. Water-loving mammals including the Cape clawless otter are abundant.

Mamili National Park, proclaimed in 1989, is the most inaccessible wetland and is particularly well known for its birdlife. Mamili is only suitable for the hardiest guests. For campers who like to rough it, there are basic camp sites but no other facilities, so campers are largely on their own.

Katima Mulilo is the provision center of the Caprivi strip and is the Caprivi Strip's main population centre.

The small town lies at the Zambezi river and offers some nice lodges directly at the river. Katima has an airport, a hospital, several petrol stations, grocery stores and nice street markets.

Throughout the strip, the population is sparse, it is a region of small villages, many of them fishing villages, and the people are farmers, fishermen, hunters and livestock owners.

But, there are very comforatble lodges throughout, such as the Impalila Lodge shown in the picture, on Impalila Island, at the convergence of Zambia, Zimbabwe, Namibia and Botswana on the eastern corner of the Caprivi Strip.

The Caprivi Strip is just now starting to develop, hindered a bit by the on-going Angolan civil war which has recently bled into parts of it and demanded that tourists be escorted by Namibian military forces across the Trans-Caprivi highway.

But, about the area, an author once said, "Caprivi has, until recently, been veiled with an aura of mystery -- a mystery which has hinted of impressive pristine landscapes, largely uncharted waterways, bountiful wildlife and rich tourism potential."

POINTS OF INTEREST TO EXPLORE Namibia's Safari Destinations: Caprivi Strip

South Africa Online travel guide, Katima Mulilo, Caprivi Strip, nice brief description, some neat photos.

Encyclopedia Britannica summary of the strip.

Real Adventures, the Caprivi Strip

Mapping Namibia, has the very detailed map of the strip that is so large we could not use it, but you should visit it.

Orusovo, the Nambian Connection has another good map of the strip, the one we used and reduced, but again is better seen at this site.

"The Caprivi: A Legacy of Colonialism," published by The Namibian in August 1999.

"Crisis in Caprivi," by Angus Begg, from Into Africa, a product of South Africa's Mail & Guardian, March 14, 2000

Caprivi Liberation Front, from the Federation of American Scientists Intelligence Resource Center, December 1999

The Caprivi Region, from the Cardboard Travel Shop

Caprivi, as represented by Africa Adenalin Afro Ventures, again has some neat pictures attached to the text.

Paradise found: Caprivi, from Die Republikein, October 11, 2000

"Caprivi crisis takes on regional overtones," by Katima Mulilo, Mail & Guardian, August 10, 1999

Exploring Namibia, from Geographia

Impalila Island Lodge, this site will make you wish you were there.

Biography of Caprivi, (Georg) Leo, Graf von, by Encyclopedia Britannica

Caprivi, a history with a special focus on the region's flags

"Namibia: Nearly a nation?", by Bryan Hodgson, photos by Jum Brandenberg, National Geographic Magazine, June 1982, tells the story when the region was referred to as both Namibia and South West Africa, and was under the control apartheid South Africa.

DISCUSSION ITEMS

The current crisis in the Caprivi Strip is, in part, a consequence of colonial policies. What was the Barotseland empire and how did it fare under different colonial governments?

Who are the Lozi people? Has their culture managed to survive the current crisis, or are its tradtional practices endangered?

The Lozi people inhabit a region now covering several nations. What countries are they? Would a crisis like the current one have been any less probable if an ethnic group had not been split up among different countries? Why or why not?

Can you identify other conflicts in Africa where this colonial practice of drawing political borders has contributed to political crises?

Look at the countries surrounding the Caprivi Strip. What problems do they face?

Even though the Strip is a seemingly insignificant feature, could it serve as a focus for problems that might draw these countries into a wider regional conflict?

How can Namibia secure this area sufficiently to make attract major investments in its tourism industry?

http://www.marekinc.com/GeoOverviewCaprivi.html