Luangwa River

Coordinates: 15°34′28″S 30°23′20″E / 15.57443°S 30.38887°E / -15.57443; 30.38887
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Luangwa
Luangwa River, southern end near Ndevu
Path of the Luangwa River [1]
Location
CountryZambia
RegionEastern Province
Physical characteristics
MouthZambezi
 • location
near Luangwa, Zambia
Basin features
River systemZambezi

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 (December to March) and then falls considerably in the dry season. It is one of the biggest unaltered rivers in Southern Africa and the 52,000 square kilometres (20,000 sq mi) that make up the surrounding valley are home to abundant wildlife.[1]

Source and Upper-Middle Luangwa Valley

Note: distances stated are approximate straight-line distances from source. The Luangwa rises in the Lilonda and Mafinga Hills in north-east Zambia at an elevation of around 1500 m, near the border with Tanzania and Malawi, and flows in a southwesterly direction through a broad valley. About 150 km from its source it has dropped to an elevation of about 690 m and becomes a meandering river with a flood-plain several kilometres wide. Over the next 300 km the meanders increase, with many oxbow lakes and abandoned meanders. Near Mfuwe, the river's elevation has dropped to about 520 m, the flood plain is about 10 km wide and the valley reaches about 100 km wide, with a north-west escarpment (Muchinga Escarpment) about 700 m high, and a south-western escarpment about 450 m high. In the dry season some sections, especially in the upper reaches, dry out completely, leaving isolated pools.[2]

The upper and middle parts of the

hippopotami and crocodiles. The world's largest concentration of hippos lives in the Luangwa Valley. In the dry season they are restricted by the shrinking river and pools, and are easily seen especially in isolated pools.[3][citation needed
]

Luangwa River, 10 km south of Luangwa Bridge

In addition to being a source of water, the oxbow lakes and pools increase the biodiversity of the valley in other ways. The hippopotami which live in them feed on land vegetation at night. Their dung feeds some fish and fertilises the pools, increasing fish life which in turn feed crocodiles and birds.[4][citation needed]

In the dry season, the grazing land animals and their predators congregate near the river and pools, and are easily seen. In the rainy season they graze further afield and are more easily hidden in the growth of new vegetation.

At about 500 km the valley narrows to about 50 km and becomes divided by a ridge into two parallel valleys, with a tributary, the

Lukusashi River
in a 25 km-wide valley to the north-west, and the Luangwa in a 15 km wide valley to the southeast. The river meanders less, and the flood plain narrows.

The principal settlement in the Middle and Upper Luangwa Valley is Mfuwe which serves the tourism industry and has an international airport. Very few humans otherwise inhabit the valley.[5][citation needed]

Lower Luangwa

At 600 km the river abruptly enters a narrow valley between hills rising some 200 m from the broader valley floor, becoming almost a gorge. About 700 km from source the Luangwa merges with its

Luangwa town.[6][citation needed] The lower section of the river forms the border between Zambia and Mozambique.[7]

The Luangwa Rift Valley

This section explains the geomorphology of the Luangwa Valley. It is a

escarpments.[8][citation needed
]

The Luangwa flows along four-fifths of the

Kalahari, where it combined with the Okavango, Upper Zambezi, Cuando and Kafue rivers, emptying into the Limpopo River and flowing to the Indian Ocean.[9][citation needed
]

Several geological events combined to produce the current river systems. Faulting produced another graben just to the south of the Luangwa Rift, and running east–west: the Zambezi Rift Valley and the Chicoa Trough. A tributary of the Shire River at the south end of the Great Rift Valley then cut back eastwards through the Chicao Trough and Zambezi Valley, capturing the southerly overspill of the Madumabisa Lake. This tributary became the Zambezi, which over millions of years captured the Kafue, Cuando and the upper Zambezi. Faulting lowered the land between the Luangwa Rift and the Zambezi Rift allowing Madumabisa Lake to drain out into the Zambezi in a channel which became the lower Luangwa River.[10][citation needed]

The Luangwa merges with Zambezi River.

The Luangwa as a barrier

The Luangwa Rift Valley and rivers within it form a natural barrier, with a very low population density. This, the steepness of the terrain, and the existence of the wildlife reserves have resulted in no highways crossing the valley between the Lusaka-Kabwe roads in the west and the Isoka-Chisenga road in the north, a distance of about 800 km. The lower Luangwa Valley is crossed by just one road, the Great East Road at the Luangwa Bridge, about 10 km south of the Luangwa-Lunsemfwa confluence.[11][citation needed]

Further reading

References

  1. National Geographic. Archived from the original
    on 2007-11-24. Retrieved 2007-04-30.
  2. ISSN 0197-9337
    .
  3. ^ "Luangwa River In Zambia". AfricanMecca Safaris. Retrieved 2021-05-22.
  4. ^ "Hooray for hippos". Africa Geographic. 2016-02-12. Retrieved 2021-05-22.
  5. ^ "Luangwa River In Zambia". AfricanMecca Safaris. Retrieved 2021-05-22.
  6. ^ "Luangwa River". Zambia Tourism. Retrieved 2021-05-22.
  7. ^ "Luangwa River". Britannica. Retrieved 2021-12-04.
  8. ^ "Luangwa River". Zambia Tourism. Retrieved 2021-05-22.
  9. ^ "Safari in Botswana and Zambia | Zicasso". www.zicasso.com. Retrieved 2021-05-22.
  10. ^ "David Shepherd CBE, Buffalo, Luangwa Valley, Zambia". Rountree Tryon. Retrieved 2021-05-22.
  11. ^ "Luangwa Bridge High Resolution Stock Photography and Images - Alamy". www.alamy.com. Retrieved 2021-05-22.

15°34′28″S 30°23′20″E / 15.57443°S 30.38887°E / -15.57443; 30.38887

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