This is one of several posts with photographs that I took in Zambia last year, when I accompanied an archaeological team from several universities to document their work at a site the team is excavating in Zambia’s Southern Province. The site is at Mwanamaimpa, on a mound that rose from the accumulated debris of a thousand years or more of human habitation (earlier posts: Zambia – An Archaeological Trip, and Zambia – Isamu Fishing Village). In this post I’m sharing photographs taken at an isolated arc of a seasonal river a short walk from the mound. The river, during the wet season, flows into the Kafue River, 10 miles to the north. It’s part of a vast flood plain, called the Kafue Flats, that extends hundreds of miles to the east and covers over a million acres. At this spot the occasional comings and goings of local folks in dugout canoes, a few cattle, families of pigs, and the adjacent gardens create an interesting scene.
The short piece of river is still and shallow during this time of year, during the dry season. It’s more like a long pond now, with tall grasses along the edges and muddy spots where the people and cattle and pigs come down to the water. There might be a few hundred people living around this little piece of river today. It’s a sparsely settled area. Families live in compounds of small structures with mud-covered walls and thatched roofs. There is no electricity, and no running water. This is an area of subsistence living, agricultural in nature for the most part, with few or no jobs other than the work that’s done on one’s own land.
I watch two boys take a canoe out to collect a few fish. In the dry season there’s still some fish in this water, left from the full river and the floods of the last rainy season. Above the riverbank, on the other side of a narrow path, dense borders of thatch formed into fences protect a stretch of gardens from the animals. Children come down to the river with buckets to collect water for the gardens, or just to hang out, sit, and take in the scene.
At this time of year, in July, during the dry season, this short isolated stretch of river near the archaeological site is more like a pond.Garden plots along the river bank are enclosed with dense borders of thicket and gates of crisscrossed and stacked up branches.A boy pushes off an older man in one of the dugout canoes at the edge of the water. Because the water is shallow long poles are used, shaped into paddles at one end.A group of boys have come down to the river, maybe to keep an eye on a group of cattle. The t-shirts are an interesting sample of western designs and marketing.Cattle seem to be free to wander and graze with minimal supervision. They are important symbols of status and wealth.A family or two of pigs are frequent visitors to the water’s edge.The little piglets march by, oblivious to how cute they are.One of several dugout canoes at the edge of the river. This one has an interesting shape, with a bit of a waist in the middle of the length.Two boys head out in a canoe. They are adept at standing up and staying steady in such a shallow boat.The boys are back with a couple of fish. I wasn’t watching them closely enough to know how they caught them – maybe they slapped the water with the paddle/pole? From this angle you can see that the canoe is beautiful example of form, craftsmanship, and durability.Eréndira, from the archaeological team, would know what types of fish these are. She specializes in fish species and is creating an inventory of local fish skeletons so the team can identify fish bones that are found at the dig.Young boys killing some time at the river. Buckets are used to carry water up to the gardens or close-by family compounds.Typical kids. All were curious. Some were shy – including the boy who is crouching on the ground behind these guys.This young boy, looking so directly into the camera, exudes a wonderful sense of confidence and poise.As in many of the photographs I took, this young woman poses with no hint of self-consciousness – just a beautiful gaze.Down to the river for a bucket of water, with sleeping baby in an interesting sling. The sling is simply tied across the upper part of mom’s chest.Young kids doing the water collection chores.There were 15 or 20 garden plots strung along the edge of this short stretch of river. The beds of plants are depressed a bit, or surrounded by low berms, for retaining water brought up with buckets. There’s little or no rain during the dry season.Mother and daughter digging a new bed with adzes, in synchronized motion. Here the beds are clearly depressed for retaining water poured in with buckets. The soil, nourished by the flooding of the river, looks rich. The fence here is natural thicket reinforced with stakes and branches woven together. A gate into a garden plot. It’s not going to keep small animals out, but it may work for the cattle.A well-worn path leads back down to the river between natural thickets and a garden gate.A newly carved dugout canoe is sunk in the river to soak, presumably to reduce cracks as the wood adjusts to its new shape.This looks like a family of happy pigs – the older ones foraging on their own, and the piglets nursing at mom.Kennedy and Hilgread, brothers-in-law, walked down to the river’s edge with me one afternoon. They were working at the dig site – a rare opportunity to earn money in this community. The smoke across the river is from grass that is being burned to return nutrients to the soil ahead of the wet season that comes at the end of the year.In this photo, Hildegard, Hilgread’s brother, joins Kennedy, on the left, for a portrait.
