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Senanga International Fishing Competition
By Clive Kawana
The dates Saturday 3rd July to Monday 5th July
2004, the ‘long weekend’ as it is popularly know in Zambia, will see
the most prestigious event on the national circuit of the Zambia
Sport Fishing Competition (ZSFA), whose activities were featured in
the June 2004 issue of the Lowdown - the Senanga International
Fishing Competition. This annual event, which celebrated its 10th
Anniversary in 2003, is one of the best attended fishing
competitions on the calendar of the ZSFA, attracting anglers from
both within and outside Zambia.
The anglers will set camp at Senanga Safari Lodge, a beautifully set
lodge perched on a slope overlooking the vast Barotse plain on the
eastern bank of Zambezi River. The
Zambezi
River, known as Liambai in this part of the country, is broad and
deep here. While the great river lazily snakes its way through the
middle of the plain from its northern part, over a hundred
kilometres to the north, it suddenly bends to the eastern edge of
the plain and briefly embraces Senanga boma before it turns back
into the plain.
 The
exceptionally high floods of the upper
Zambezi
plains this year will have gone down by the time of the competition
and, as is always the case in the season of high floods, Liambai
should be teeming with fish. The river in this part of the
Barotseland
is well known for its abundance of tiger fish. Indeed, the local
people have coined an affectionate name tag for this small boma –
“Senanga, koo ndembela iciwa ki lingweshi” – ‘Senanga, where the
flag is torn to pieces by Tiger Fish’. The other major species of
fish found here and caught by the anglers are the breams ‘Nembwe’
and ‘Njinji’. Several hundreds of kilograms of fish are caught each
year during the Senanga event.
Back to the 2004 Senanga International Fishing competition - this
event is the 4th in the ZSFA “Angler of the Year” series
for the year 2004. So far nineteen teams each comprising three
people, have entered for this competition which is set to maintain
its reputation of being one of the best contested fishing
competitions on the ZSFA circuit. Among the entrants are two teams
from Botswana, two from
South Africa
and one English team who are visiting friends in Zambia and have
decided to participate with a local team. Fourteen national teams
will be coming from around Zambia and will be competing in the Tiger
fish, Nembwe and Non-Nembwe categories of the competition.
Sponsorship this year is by Autoworld, JCB Transport Ltd, Sandvik,
Tamrock, Nyati Milling, Trentyre, Truck Africa, Senanga Safaris and
the ZSFA.
As a gesture of goodwill to the local community, the competitors
will donate mealie meal and fish to the local Senanga District
Hospital through the district officials at the competition. This
kind gesture was initiated in 2003.
All entries to the competition are made through the ZSFA and
although it is too late to enter for this year, the 2005 competition
will take place over the same period and at the samevenue.
As
herds of cattle graze silently in the plains of Senanga, this
fishing contest is a reminder that Senanga is not all about cattle
and beef. |
July 2004