Katima Mulilo

The capital of the Caprivi

Katima Mulilo is situated in the far north-east of Namibia, within the Caprivi Strip. It is the regional capital in the Caprivi. At the same time Katima Mulilo is a border town to Zambia and is connected by bridge with the town of Shesheke in Zambia. This Katima Mulilo Bridge was inaugurated on 2004.

Katima Mulilo was founded in 1911 and has about 28.000 inhabitants.

To reach Katimo Mulilo the whole Caprivi Strip has to be crossed. In the forties this was not possible by road though, due to the swamps, which covered most of the area and thus Katima Mulilo, which after all is about 1,200 km away from Windhoek, could only be reached via Botswana or Zambia. Hence the East-Caprivi was basically cut off from the rest of Namibia, due to the impassable roads and the civil war in Angola (1975 – 2002) until a few years ago. Only until the opening of the Trans-Caprivi-Highway, a tarred road running all the way from Walfish Bay passed Windhoek to Zambia and further into the Republic of Congo, the East-Caprivi was successfully connected to the rest of Namibia. In spite of the highway it is still advisable to use a 4x4 especially during the rainy season in the Caprivi Strip.

The Caprivi itself has a very interesting history, which is described on a different page. In the recent history Katima Mulilo and the Caprivi have been affected by political unrests. The borders to Botswana, Zambia and Zimbabwe originate from the colonial time and were drawn randomly without considering any local tribes. Thus conflict and militant border disputes occurred regularly. Presently the situation has calmed and Katima Mulilo is experiencing a strong economic increase, especially through tourism.

The nearby Victoria Falls and the Chobe National Park in Botswana are popular travel destinations, which have Katima Mulilo as starting point.