Dambo

A dambo is a class of complex shallow wetlands in central, southern and eastern Africa, particularly in Zambia, Malawi and Zimbabwe. They are generally found in higher rainfall flat plateau areas and have river-like branching forms which in themselves are not very large but combined add up to a large area. Dambos have been estimated to comprise 12.5% of the area of Zambia. Similar African words include mbuga (commonly used in East Africa), matoro (Mashonaland), vlei (South Africa), fadama (Nigeria), and bolis (Sierra Leone); the French bas-fond and German Spültal have also been suggested as referring to similar grassy wetlands. Dambos are characterised by grasses, rushes and sedges, contrasting with surrounding woodland such as miombo woodland. They may be substantially dry at the end of the dry season, revealing grey soils or black clays, but unlike a flooded grassland, they retain wet lines of drainage through the dry season. They are inundated (waterlogged) in the wet season but not generally above the height of the vegetation, and any open water surface is usually confined to streams and small ponds or lagoons (called pans) at the lowest point generally near the centre. The name dambo is most frequently used for wetlands on flat plateaus which form the headwaters of streams. The definition for scientific purposes has been proposed as “seasonally waterlogged, predominantly grass covered, depressions bordering headwater drainage lines”. The problem with the preceding definition is that the word may also be used for wetlands bordering rivers far from the headwaters, for example the dambo of the Mbereshi River where it enters the swamps of the Luapula River in Zambia, . A 1998 report of the Food and Agriculture Organization distinguishes between ‘hydromorphic/phreatic’ dambos (associated with headwaters) and ‘fluvial’ dambos (associated with rivers), and also referred to five geomorphological types in Zambia’s Luapula Province: upland, valley, hanging, sand dune and pan dambos.