New Bridge over the Zambezi

Today is a notable day in the life of a border town – the official opening of our newly constructed Kazungula Bridge over the Zambezi, linking Botswana and Zambia.

Our Zambian border has now been officially transformed from a historical ferry crossing in all its African, chaotic, colourful glory – into an elegantly engineered road crossing, spanning one of Africa’s iconic rivers.

Over the past few years the bridge’s gradual construction has been part of life in our town and we have been observing it all the way from the first concept drawings, to huge scaffolded piers marching through the river, to the evolution of its beautiful curved design. 

Once a year during the seasonal floods, we are able to head downstream by boat, and observe the bridge from the water at the confluence of the Chobe and Zambezi Rivers. 

From this angle the curvature is very obvious. (April 2021)

Back to the beginning: first, a temporary bridge to enable the construction of the actual bridge (2018)

With feats of engineering going on underwater, the first piers begin to rise up… (2019)

One year on, many more piers and a road surface define the bridge’s eventual shape (2020)

A memory of the now historical ferry – leaving Botswana, crossing over to Zambia by bike (2017)

Town has been alive with Heads of State, dignitaries, military,  police, motorcades and film crews, but tomorrow the bridge will be officially open to traffic, so we seriously contemplated a quick excursion over to Zamiba, to perhaps be the first motorbike to grace its brand new surface, and experience the very efficient sounding new concept One Stop border post. 

However, reality struck: 2 x covid tests, 2 sets of bridge toll fees, bike insurance fees, interpol clearances, carbon tax and TIP, all seemed to take the edge off the whole impulsive plan… so this proverbial space will have to be watched again for a longer bike trip over the river sometime in the future!