The Cuvelai River catchment of 37 000 km2 is a landlocked endorheic system ending in Etosha Pan, an international Ramsar site. The top reaches in Central Angola are permanent but after fanning out to form a delta and then an inverted oshana system in northern Namibia, it has an unreliable seasonal flow. Large floods called efundja can cause serious flooding as occurred in 2008, 2009 and 2011, flooding large parts of Oshakati and necessitating the design of a flood control system. Whereas floods are experienced as a disaster by Oshakati and other town dwellers, floods are the life blood of the oshana system and explain the preference of a population of more than 800 000 or 100/km2 to live in the oshana region. Apart from water, fields and grazing, wetland products such as fruit, frogs and epecially fish are of great significance to the rural population. Fish are caught for own consumption using traditional but recently more efficient modern nets and fishing gear. Fish are intercepted during their downstream migration or collected in remaining pools as the iishana dry up.