The Kafue Flats (locally called Butwa) are a vast area of swamp, open lagoon and seasonally inundated flood-plain on the Kafue River in the Southern, Central and Lusaka provinces of Zambia. They are a shallow flood plain 240 km long and about 50 km wide, flooded to a depth of less than a meter in the rainy season (deeper in some lagoons and permanently swampy areas), and drying out to a clayey black soil in the dry season. Geography The Kafue Flats stretch for approximately 240 km east to west along the Kafue River from below the Itezhi-Tezhi gap, site of the Itezhi-Tezhi Dam, to Kafue town and the start of the Kafue Gorge. At their widest point they are 50 km wide and their total area is around 6,500 sq km. The elevation of the Kafue river falls 40 m along the flats from 1030 m at Itezhi-Tezhi to 990 m at Kafue town. The town of Mazabuka and the Nakambala sugar estate lie on the south east edge and the small town of Namwala is situated at the south west edge of the flats. The Kafue Flats fall within parts of the Itezhi-Tezhi and Mumbwa Districts in Central Province, Kafue District in Lusaka Province and Monze, Namwala and Mazabuka districts in Southern Province. People The Batwa (or Twa) are thought to have been the first inhabitants of the Kafue Flats area but are now a small minority population settled on higher ground around the Kafue river channel where they support themselves through fishing. The Batwa are generally considered to be the surviving remnants of nomadic Bushmen who inhabited Zambia long before the Bantu peoples began to arrive from the Congo Basin to the north. The area is now dominated by Ila and Balundwe (or Lundwe, or Plateau Tonga) farmers and cattle herders, in at least 21 chieftaincies, who came to the area between 200 and 300 years ago. They depended on farming, fishing, cattle rearing and wildlife, often moving between a fixed settlement in the woodlands and cattle camps in the flats after the floods have receded. In addition to the settled community there is also a seasonal influx of fishing communities from other parts of the country. These immigrants are mostly Bemba from the north of the country and the Copperbelt area, and Lozi from the Western Province. The population has increased significantly since the 1970s and