CHOBE DISTRICT (3)

In our last instalment we had noted that the venerable Makololo monarch Sebetwane reached out to Dikgosi Letsholathebe, Sechele, and Sekgoma to request that the road to his kingdom be opened to the Europeans in return for access to the hunting grounds in Chobe.

As a result in 1851 Livingstone, once more joined by Oswell and Fleming, arrived at Linyandi just weeks before the great Mokololo's death on July 7. Thereafter, the trio explored the region north of the Zambezi River. While Livingstone remained behind at Sesheke, Oswell, apparently accompanied by Fleming, proceeded from the confluence of the river they labelled Chobe eastward along the Zambezi, only turning back after spotting the spray of Mosi-oa-Thunya or Victoria Falls. This was just over four years before their supposed discovery by Livingstone in November 1855.