botswana/namibia - Cour international de Justice

[6. Selous' more contemporary account of his explorations is to be found in Journeys in the interior of South
Central Africa, in Volume III of the Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society (1881) where he states at
pages 171-173:
"2. The River Chobe
I now take the liberty to send you an account of the rise of the Chobe and other rivers in the interior which has
been observed to occur during the dry season, and quite independently of the rainfall which regulates the rise and
fall of the Zambezi and all the rivers to the eastward of the Victoria Falls...According to the latest maps the
sources of the Chobe must be very nearly in the same latitude as those of the Zambezi, yet the waters of the
Zambezi fall steadily, after the rainy season is over, during the whole winter, until the following rainy season,
whilst the Chobe commences to overflow and flood the flat, marshy country through which it runs, soon after the
rainy season is over,,and is at its highest towards the end of the dry season, at which time of year the weather is
intensely hot....The overflow of the Chobe seems to be growing less year by year. In 1874 an immense extent of
country was under water during the months of July, August and September, which was dry land in the same
months in 1877 and 1879."
See also F.S. Arnot, Journey from Natal to Bihe and Benguella, and thence across the Central Plains of Africa to
the Sources of the Zambezi and Congo in Volume XI of the Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society
(1889), p.65 where he writes:-
"..On 23rd of May we crossed a very long range of hills, and came upon the northern feeders of the Kwando (or
Chobe) river, crossing a small stream almost every half hour. Although the dry season was well advanced, and
we were evidently intercepting these streams at points near their source, yet the abundance of water was most
remarkable. The natives say that the hills around are porous and only yield their waters to the rivers towards the
end of the latter rains" (pp.68-9). If this is so, it no doubts accounts for the mysterious overflow of the Kwando
or Chobe during the dry season, a matter already brought before the Society by Mr. Selous (Proceedings of the
Royal Geographical Society (1881), Vol.III, p.171).]
359. These accounts may also be supplemented by a letter from Dr. David Livingstone written
at Linyanti on the River Chobe, dated October 16, 1856:
"Viewing the basin from this (Linyanti) northwards, we behold an immense flat, intersected
by rivers in every direction, and these are not the South-African mud, sand, or stone rivers
either, but deep never-failing streams, fit to form invaluable bulwarks against enemies who
can neither swim nor manage canoes. They have also numerous departing and re-entering
branches, with lagoons and marshes adjacent, so that it is scarcely possible to travel along
their banks without the assistance of canoes." (Journal of the Royal Geographic Society,
Vol.27 (1857), p.349 at p.353).
360. Andrew A.Anderson, Civil Engineer, in his Notes on the Geography of South Central
Africa, in explanation of a New map of the Region, describes the Kalahari Desert:-
"...There are only two more rivers to describe which rise or flow through the region, viz. the
Chobe and the Cubango. The Chobe rises much beyond the point surveyed, viz. in S.lat.
16'35".E.long. 21_31', where another branch enters it; from this point the Chobe takes a
winding course through a level and swampy country, full of jungle, past a Kaffir kraal,
Matambaya, to within 70 miles to the west of Linyanti, past that chief's kraal, in an easterly
and north-easterly direction; it enters the Zambezi 37 miles above the Victoria falls. The
Chobe is a large and broad river with several rapids." (Proceedings of the Royal Geographic
Society, Vol.VI,(1884), p.19 at p.27).
361. In his annual address in 1881 to the Royal Geographic Society, the President, Lord
Aberdare, reviewing the "apparently illimitable field of African exploration", noted that