| | | Location: | Caprivi, Namibia | | Area: | 19,532km (7,541 mi ) | | Population: | 79,852 (2001), 90,422 (1991) | | Capital: | Katima Mulilo | | Time Zone: | South African Standard Time: UTC+1 | | | Caprivi, sometimes called the Caprivi Strip or Caprivi Region and formally known as Itenge, is a narrow protrusion of Namibia eastwards about 450km, between Botswana on the south, Angola and Zambia to the north, and Kavango. Caprivi is bordered by the Cuando, Linyanti, Chobe and Zambezi Rivers. Its largest city is Katima Mulilo.
Geography
The Caprivi is a heavily tropical area, with high temperatures and much rainfall during the December-to-March rainy season, making it the wettest region of Namibia. The terrain is mostly made up of swamps, floodplains, wetland, and woodland.
It also is home to 450 animal species, including elephants, making Caprivi a popular game-watching spot. The wildlife is protected by several nature reserves, such as Bwabwata, Mudumu, Lizauli, West Caprivi Game Park, Mahango Game Reserve, and Mamili National Park; animals travel freely across the unmarked border with Botswana, where the Chobe National Park lies. The strip is also a prime bird-watching area, with almost 70 percent of bird species found in Namibia being recorded here. Katima Mulilo is the largest city, with other notable towns including Choi, Chinchimane, Bukalo, Sibinda, and Impaliola.
In addition to the Zambezi River, the strip also holds the Cuando and Kwando River, which marks the border with Botswana. Tributaries of the river here go by different names, including the Linyata and the Chobe. The province's far eastern is where the Cuando meets the Zambezi.
History and people Caprivi was named after German Chancellor Leo von Caprivi, who negotiated the land in an 1890 exchange with the United Kingdom. Von Caprivi arranged for Caprivi — along with Helgoland — to be annexed to German South-West Africa in order to give Germany access to the Zambezi River, in exchange for ceding Zanzibar to the UK.
About 80,000 people live in Caprivi, about four percent of Nambia's population. About 17,000 are part of the Lozi ethnic group of 556,000 people, who also live in western Zambia, northwest Zimbabwe (70,000), and northern Botswana (14,000).
There have been ethnic tension between the Lozis and the Ovambos, the majority ethnic group of northern Namibia. This has led to past conflict, including the 1994 formation of the Caprivi Liberation Front, which pushes for Caprivi-Lozi self-rule.
The region comprises six constituencies: Kongola, Linyanti, Sibinda, Katima Mulilo Urban, Katima Mulilo Rural, and Kabe.
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