By Surihe Gaomas
RUNDU
As the cloud cover thickens along the northern borders of Namibia and Angola, the heavy rains in southern Angola quickly swell the Kavango River’s level to such an extent that most of the river lodges are now cut off by the water.
Roads leading to the various riverside lodges of Sarasungu, Hakusembe and Simsitu have become impassable and tourists and visitors have to be ferried by boat to and from the town of Rundu.
The thick cloudy weather conditions still remain as the visibly fast flowing river continues to cover the floodplains even more.
Recently, New Era reported that the fast rising water level of the Kavango River has started to threaten lives and property along the Namibia/Angola border, especially of the people living in the floodplains.
Due to the rapidly increasing river level, many villagers along the floodplain areas of the Kavango Region have been forced to leave their homesteads, taking only some of their belongings and moving to higher grounds.
New Era found this situation mainly along the 145-km stretch between Rundu and Nkurenkuru, that runs along the banks of the Kavango River.
Almost half of the trees are already under water and most villagers have moved to higher ground as the river waters which originate from Angola continue to flow strongly.
Smaller villages along the riverbanks like Nankudu, Kahenge, Tondoro, Musese, Bunya Shambyu and Kapako have been negatively affected by the overflowing river.
The Rundu-Calais border post has also been forced to shift from its original position as the Kavango River burst its banks.
When the New Era team visited the border site recently it found that Angolan nationals were also trying to cross the river to and from Namibia by canoes.
Some washed and fished in the area located close to Sarasungu River Lodge.
However, this could prove dangerous as the water is in most cases infested with crocodiles. Last Sunday, a learner was attacked and killed by a crocodile, while another narrowly escaped death and sustained serious injuries. The learner is in the Nkurenkuru Hospital.
In light of this precarious situation, the Regional Emergency Management Unit has again called on people living in the floodplains to move to higher ground and desist from fishing in the crocodile-infested river.
Governor of the Kavango Region John Thighuru has urged local villagers in the flood affected areas not to wait until the water level of the river is high, but rather to move to dry and higher ground early.
At Nkurenkuru, Angolans and Namibians are making use of taxi canoes to take them and their belongings across the swelling Kavango River. Due to the heavy rains in southern Angola, the Kavango River brings in much of its floodwaters from there, which then flows past northern Namibia and ends up in the Okavango Delta in neighbouring Botswana. Since the rains came early this year, flooding already started end of January/early February, carrying on still during the course of this month,
The Okavango River, as it is known in much of Southern Africa, is considered one of Africa’s greatest rivers.