Botswana–Zambia border
One of the shortest borders in the world: a stretch of the Zambezi about 135–150 metres long, where Botswana and Zambia meet between Namibia and Zimbabwe. Since 2021 a curved bridge has crossed it.
Written from cited sourcesLast checked 29 September 2026Suggest a correction
See it on the globe:Botswana →Zambia →
Four countries, almost
At Kazungula the Chobe river flows into the Zambezi just upstream of the old ferry crossing. Zambia’s borders with Namibia and with Zimbabwe follow the centre of the Zambezi, and the Botswana–Namibia border follows the centre of the Chobe.[3] The Namibian side is the tip of the Caprivi Strip, a corridor Britain and Germany agreed to in 1890 so that German South West Africa could reach the Zambezi.[6]
World maps often show a quadripoint here, a single spot where four countries touch. Up close, the point is two tripoints: Botswana and Zambia meet Namibia at the western one and Zimbabwe at the eastern one.[1][2] Big Think puts them 135 m apart.[1] Dubawa says leaders and officials of the four states apparently agreed on a boundary of about 150 m at meetings held while the bridge was being negotiated, and that it appears on the African Development Bank’s project map.[2]
A border that mattered
In the 1970s the question was political. If there was a quadripoint, the white-minority governments of South Africa, which ran Namibia, and Rhodesia, today’s Zimbabwe, could control all river traffic between Zambia and Botswana. South Africa declared the Kazungula ferry illegal, and Big Think reports that the Rhodesian army later sank it.[1]
When Zambia and Botswana announced a deal to build a bridge in August 2007, Zimbabwe’s transport minister Obert Mpofu said the two countries had no direct border.[2] Before the bridge, most Botswana–Zambia trade went through Zimbabwe.[2]
The bridge
Presidents Mokgweetsi Masisi of Botswana and Edgar Lungu of Zambia opened the Kazungula Bridge and its one-stop border posts on 10 May 2021. The US$259 million project replaced the pontoon ferry and was funded by the two governments with support from the African Development Bank and the Japan International Cooperation Agency.[5]
The 923-metre bridge curves as it crosses, to stay out of Zimbabwe’s waters. It carries a railway line down its centre, which was not yet in use a year after opening.[4] Zambian customs said the old border handled up to 80 trucks a day and the new one more than 280.[4]
Timeline
18901 July 1890
Caprivi Strip
An Anglo–German treaty gives South West Africa a corridor to the Zambezi.[6]
1970s
Ferry dispute
South Africa says there is a quadripoint and declares the Kazungula ferry illegal.[1]
2007August 2007
Bridge deal
Zambia and Botswana announce a bridge; Zimbabwe objects.[2]
202110 May 2021
Bridge opens
The Kazungula Bridge and one-stop border posts are commissioned.[5]
More borders
Sources
- [1]Why Africa’s newest super-bridge is in the continent’s weirdest border zone · Big Think (Strange Maps) · 2021
- [2]
- [3]Briefing Memorandum: The Kazungula Bridge – Botswana-Zambia · Infrastructure Consortium for Africa
- [4]How a $260M bridge negotiated Africa’s most unusual border · CNN · 17 August 2022
- [5]US$259m Kazungula Bridge and One Stop Border Post Commissioned, Paving way for Enhanced SADC Integration and Development · Southern African Development Community · 2021-05
- [6]Kasikili/Sedudu Island (Botswana/Namibia), Judgment · International Court of Justice · 13 December 1999
Map geometry from Natural Earth via world-atlas. See credits.