Lake Ishiba Ng'andu is a picturesque lake very close to the watershed between the Luangwa

Luangwa River

The Luangwa River is one of the major tributaries of the Zambezi River, and one of the four biggest rivers of Zambia. The river generally floods in the rainy season and then falls considerably in the dry season...

 and Chambeshi River

Chambeshi River

The Chambeshi River of northeastern Zambia is the most remote headstream of the Congo River and therefore considered its source...

 basins in the Northern Province

Northern Province, Zambia

Northern Province is one of Zambia's nine provinces. It covers approximately one fifth of Zambia in land area. The provincial capital is Kasama. The province is made up of 12 districts, namely Kasama , Chilubi, Isoka, Chinsali, Kaputa, Luwingu, Mbala, Mporokoso, Mpika, Mpulungu, Mungwi and Nakonde...

 of Zambia

Zambia

Zambia , officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. The neighbouring countries are the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the north, Tanzania to the north-east, Malawi to the east, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Namibia to the south, and Angola to the west....

, and just on the Chambeshi side. Its name in the Bemba language means 'lake of the royal crocodile'. Though small by central African standards, being about 5 km long and up to 1.5 km wide, it is widely known locally and, more recently, internationally.

Firstly it is important to the Bemba people

Bemba people

The Bemba belong to a large group of peoples mainly in the Northern, Luapula and Copperbelt Provinces of Zambia who trace their origins to the Luba and Lunda states of the upper Congo basin, in what became Katanga Province in southern Congo-Kinshasa...

 as the country in which, in the late 17th Century, Chitimukulu

Chitimukulu

The Chitimukulu is the Paramount Chieftainship of the Bemba, the largest ethnic group in Zambia. The chieftainship is named after Chiti Mukulu , who in the 18th Century led the Bemba out from their original lands in the Lunda Empire of Mwata Yamvo in DR Congo to eventually settle the country...

 of the Ng'andu (crocodile) Clan came across a dead crocodile, and taking this as an omen, settled his people after their wanderings from the Lunda Kingdom

Lunda Kingdom

The Kingdom of Lunda , also known as the Lunda Empire, was a pre-colonial African confederation of states in what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo, north-eastern Angola and northwestern Zambia. Its central state was in Katanga....

 1,000 km to the east.

Secondly it has been made internationally famous for being the inspiration for the nearby Shiwa Ngandu

Shiwa Ngandu

Shiwa Ngandu is a grand English-style country house and estate in the Northern Province of Zambia, about 12 km west of the Tanzam highway and half-way between Mpika and Chinsali. Its name is based on a small lake nearby, Lake Ishiba Ng'andu which in the Bemba language means 'lake of the royal...

 estate built by Stewart Gore-Browne

Stewart Gore-Browne

Lieutenant Colonel Sir Stewart Gore-Browne, DSO, , called Chipembele by Africans, was a soldier, pioneer white settler, builder, politician and supporter of independence in Northern Rhodesia .- Early life :...

, who used a variant spelling of the name.

The lake was visited by the missionary explorer David Livingstone

David Livingstone

David Livingstone was a Scottish Congregationalist pioneer medical missionary with the London Missionary Society and an explorer in Africa. His meeting with H. M. Stanley gave rise to the popular quotation, "Dr...

whose dog was taken by a crocodile there. The area supported large populations of game animals until the middle of the 20th century.

The Kapishya hot springs 20 km away have chalets and a campsite.