Mwandi
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Mwandi | |
|---|---|
  Mwandi Location in Zambia | |
| Coordinates: 17°31′00″S 24°49′30″E / 17.51667°S 24.82500°E | |
| Country |  Zambia |
| Province | Western Province |
| District | Mwandi District |
| Time zone | UTC+2 (CAT) |
Mwandi is a small town on the Zambezi in the district of the same name[1] of the Western Province in Zambia. The town is 120 km west of Livingstone, on the M10 Road to Sesheke.[2] The village is part of the region known as Barotseland. The town is the seat of a parliamentary constituency of the same name.[3]
Mwandi means "plenty of fish" in the Silozi language.[4]
Religion
The United Church of Zambia maintains a large mission at Mwandi. In addition, local traditional tribal beliefs continue to be practised.[2]
Facilities
The hospital is the Mwandi Mission Hospital, which is listed as a Level 1 Hospital by the Zambian Ministry of Health.[5] The hospital is one of the village's largest employers.[4] The village is close to the Shackleton Tiger Fishing Lodge,[6] a popular tourist destination for fishing for tigerfish named after Robert Millner Shackleton.
Population
Approximately 8,000 people live in the village proper.[7] They are semi-nomadic cattle herders and fishermen. Infrastructure is poor, and electricity and clean water are not readily available, though recent development efforts have begun to change that. Most people live on less than $1.00 per day. The people are largely of the Lozi ethnicity, though there are also some people here of European descent. The area around the village includes anywhere from 25,000[4] to 33,000[8] people.