Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Making an Outlet from Lake Bangweulu in Northern Rhodesia

1945; Wiley; Volume: 106; Issue: 1/2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.2307/1790102

1475-4959

W. V. Brelsford,

African history and culture studies

Towards the end of 1942 I started to make an outlet from lake Bangweulu so at loaded power boats could pass from the lake into the Luapula river. The main purpose was to enable Government to transport cassava to the Copperbelt of Northern Rhodesia, where war-time conditions and great increase of staff had made this an important emergency food for the African workers. The shores of lake Bangweulu are thickly populated and the ten thousand bags of cassava needed annually could easily be produced. There are two roads touching the lake, one at Nsombo on the north-east and one at Mwamfuli on the west. The former had been used for lorry transport of food to the Great North Military Road and the latter for direct transport to the Copperbelt. The water transport to buying depots and the road heads had been by dug-out canoe. By 1942 lorries were so scarce that the scheme of making a water outlet from the lake was pressed. If such an outlet could be made to carry powerful boats it would be possible to take the meal by water from the lake depots into the Luapula and down to Kapalala, which is only 60 miles by road from the Copperbelt. Mwamfuli, on the lake shore, is about 160 miles, so the saving in lorry and tyre wear would be considerable. As District Commissioner, Luwingu, I was put in charge of the scheme. In 1942 Government voted one thousand pounds as a token sum to start making the outlet. In 1943 I also began work on a power-boat route through the swamps to link up with the new outlet. Five thousand pounds was voted for the general schemes of which approximately half was for the outlet work and for the purchase of boats. In 1944 a further five thousand pounds was voted of which nearly half, again, went on the outlet scheme and boats. In later years maintenance money rather than capital expenditure will be needed, although several thousands of pounds are being voted for 1945. The scheme is thus expensive. This paper however is concerned with the practical and geographical aspects, so I quote these figures only to show the value set on the scheme.