Symptomatic of their persisting marginality, I found no reliable or recent population figures in 2006 for the human residents living within the Munyamadzi GMA. The 1990 census recorded 4 827 residents, a sizeable decrease even from the 1963 census (5 783) prior to independence. The 2000 census suggested slightly more people, but this number was inaccurate according to local residents. These residents had assisted in this census and told the Mipashi team that villages on the Luangwa floodplain were not counted because of heavy downpours at the time. As part of their formal responsibilities, earlier governments required village headmen to keep registries on all their residents. In the past, these local records provided a benchmark for my counts, but we could find no such accounts in 2006. As part of its campaign to solicit media and donor assistance in 2005, the Zambia Baptist Association (2006) commissioned the CRB to make an enumeration to assist their promotions for outside assistance. These counts noted 9 721 adults and 2 511 children (an estimated 12 232 people). Residents were not counted in six villages and no counts were made for children under five years of age. This report probably overestimates the population as have other promotional counts that placed the human population as high as 14 000.

At any time of year, the human populations within this GMA are in flux. Recently, these movements became particularly pronounced as the vagaries of rainfall, droughts and floods produced multi-year famines. During environmental leanness, individuals and families move into other areas and chieftaincies to search for food in exchange for work. Some may stay in these new localities for years before returning home.

Lacking reliable information, the team kept records on the number of houses and estimates for adults within each village and settlement visited. In consultation with other residents in the Kalimba VAG, we appraised the number of inhabitants in the few villages which we failed to reach. On the basis of the team's movements and contacts, we estimated the 2006 population figure for the Munyamadzi GMA as between 8 800 and 10 000 individuals of all ages.