Zambezi Watercourse Commission Mozambique and flowing to the Indian Ocean. The Zambezi basin also includes parts of Malawi and Tanzania. The Zambezi is the fourth largest river in Africa after the Nile, Congo and Niger. The eight Zambezi Basin riparian states that participate in ZAMCOM are Angola, Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe. ZAMCOM operations are in line with the revised SADC Protocol on Shared Watercourses. The SADC Protocol was adopted in 1995 and by SADC member states, including all Zambezi riparian states, and came into force in 1998. Seven of the riparian states signed the ZAMCOM Agreement on 13 July
Zambezi important long-distance transport route. David Livingstone's Zambezi Expedition attempted to open up the river to navigation by paddle steamer, but was defeated by the Cahora Bassa rapids. Along some stretches, it is often more convenient to travel by canoe along the river rather than on the unimproved roads which are often in very poor condition due to being regularly submerged in flood waters, and many small villages along the banks of the river are only accessible by boat. In the 1930s and 40s a paddle barge service operated on the stretch between the Katombora Rapids, about upstream from Livingstone, and