Caprivi Strip

The Caprivi Strip is a region in the extreme north eastern part of Namibia, consisting of a narrow, elongated, roughly rectangular shaped extention of Namibian territory towards Zimbabwe - bordering Angola,  Zambia, and Botswana. The Caprivi Strip stretches to the Zambezi River, and indeed, almost to the Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe.

The Caprivi Strip was acquired by the then German South West Africa in order to provide access to the Zambezi River and consequently a route to the east coast of the continent and German East Africa. The route was later found not to be commercially navigable.

The Caprivi Strip is the only region of Namibia which almost exclusively lies in the tropics, consisting largely of flat marshland. Several perennial rivers such as the Okavango, Kwando and the Zambezi rivers run through the Caprivi Strip making it into into a very wet and therefore very game-rich region, especially during the rainy season (between December and March).

Large parts of the Caprivi Strip are environmentally protected and are therefore increasingly popular for tourist activities.

Within Namibia the Caprivi Strip provides significant habitat for the critically endangered African wild dog. It is a corridor for African elephant moving from Botswana and Namibia into Angola, Zambia and Zimbabwe. National parks found in the Caprivi Strip are Bwabwata National Park, Mudumu National Park and Nkasa Rupara National Park.

Local communities have organised themselves into communal area conservancies and community forests. These local inhabitants work closely with the Namibian Government to jointly manage natural resources through several programmes set up between the Namibian Government and various donor parties.