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48-519: The Luapula drains Lake Bangweulu and its swamps into which flows the Chambeshi River , the source of the Congo. There is no single clear channel connecting the two rivers and the lake, but a mass of shifting channels, lagoons and swamps, as the explorer David Livingstone found to his cost. (He died exploring the area, and one of his last acts was to question Chief Chitambo about the course of

96-446: A 7 km channel. The 32 km long Kapata Peninsula lies between Lake Kampolombo and the swamps; at its tip on the eastern side is the 15 km long Lake Kangwena (11) . Only the western side of the lake and some of the islands have a well defined shore, with sandy beaches in places especially around Samfya, though even there, some of the bays and inlets are swampy. It was found that infection with Schistosoma haematobium on

144-523: A hazard for fishermen and travellers. However, the Shila people used to hunt hippopotamus using nothing more than harpoons thrown from canoes. On the western side of the delta in DR Congo is a broad grassy floodplain covering about 1600 km. At the end of the rainy season, the combined Luapula wetlands exceed 4,000 square kilometres (1,500 sq mi). The floodplain was home to herds of lechwe and

192-613: A maximum depth of 10 m. The Bangweulu system is fed by about seventeen rivers of which the Chambeshi (the source of the Congo River) is the largest, and is drained by the Luapula River . The lake was known to Europeans from reports by chiefs such as Kazembe and from Swahili traders, and it was sometimes referred to as 'Lake Bemba' from the name of the dominant tribe. In 1868 explorer and missionary David Livingstone

240-699: A military road to Mbala for the East African Campaign . Unfortunately, the floating papyrus and other vegetation frequently choked the channels through the Bangweulu swamps joining the lake, the Luapula and the Chambeshi, making it difficult to use larger motorboats. The first vehicle pontoon ferries were at Kasenga, Kapalala and Shiniama near Matanda. None remain, though a passenger ferry operates between Kasenga and Kashiba, Zambia. Around 1950

288-411: A section called Lake Walilupe (4) , 30 km long by 13 km wide. The main, middle section of the lake between Ifunge and Mbabala is known only as Bangweulu. There are numerous bays, inlets, smaller lakes and lagoons around Lake Bangweulu, connected by open water, narrow channels or swamps. The largest is Lake Kampolombo (9) , 30 km by 5 km, south of Lake Walilupe and connected to it by

336-616: Is native to Botswana, Zambia, southeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, northeastern Namibia, and eastern Angola, especially in the Okavango Delta , Kafue Flats , and Bangweulu Wetlands . The species is fairly common in zoos and wild animal farms. Adult lechwe typically stand 90 to 100 cm (35 to 39 in) at the shoulder and generally weigh from 50 to 120 kg (110 to 260 lb), with males being larger than females. They are golden brown with white bellies. Males are darker in colour, but exact hue and amount of blackish on

384-591: Is part of the longest tributary of the Congo, and hence, by convention, is part of its source, even though the upper Lualaba carries more water. Overlying the edge of the rift valley 60 kilometres (37 mi) west of the Luapula Swamps is the Luizi structure , a 12.6 kilometres (7.8 mi) wide series of concentric rings. It has been recently confirmed as a meteoritic impact crater (an astrobleme) formed less than 600 million years ago. The swamps stretch along

432-520: The Bangweulu Wetlands and the Bangweulu flats or floodplain . Situated in the upper Congo River basin in Zambia, the Bangweulu system covers an almost completely flat area roughly the size of Connecticut or East Anglia , at an elevation of 1,140 m straddling Zambia's Luapula Province and Northern Province . It is crucial to the economy and biodiversity of northern Zambia, and to

480-699: The British in Northern Rhodesia , on a land corridor reaching Bangweulu from Katanga . This resulted in the shape of the Congo Pedicle (34) which, as it turned out, does not penetrate the area enough to be of the desired value. The first Christian missions in Bangweulu were founded in the early 1900s under the authority of Bishop Joseph Dupont of the Catholic White Fathers who was based north of Kasama . The area of

528-650: The Chembe Ferry on the Congo Pedicle road became on the main vehicle crossing. The river there is 400 metres (1,300 ft) wide but can flood to 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) wide in a heavy rainy season. In 1983 the first bridge over the river was built, the 2.5-kilometre (1.6 mi) long Luapula Bridge on the Samfya - Serenje Road. The bridge approaches include nearly 20 kilometres (12 mi) of elevated causeway over wetlands and another 40 kilometres (25 mi) of embankment over flood plain. The second bridge over

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576-613: The London Missionary Society at Mbereshi in 1900. The first large town of the colonial era was the river port, Kasenga , in DR Congo, which grew prosperous in the 1930s from supplying fish to Elizabethville and other towns of the Katanga Copperbelt via the first motor road to reach the valley. Most of the fish was caught in Lake Mweru and brought by boat up the Luapula to Kasenga, where it

624-457: The Lunda invaders of Mwata Kazembe to settle there around 1750. Their present capital is at Mwansabombwe on the edge of the delta. Arab traders and slavers from Zanzibar and Portuguese traders from Mozambique were attracted to the area in the 18th and 19th Centuries. David Livingstone was the first Briton to visit in 1867. He did not explore the river but in his hunt for the origin of

672-907: The Nile , Mwata Kazembe was the first to tell him that the Luapula connects the Chambeshi/Bangweulu and Mweru/Luvua/Lualaba systems. Livingstone wrongly believed the Lualaba then flowed to the Nile rather than to the River Congo. Some of the first missionaries in Central Africa were also attracted to the valley. The first was the Garanganze Mission of the Plymouth Brethren at Mambilima around 1892, followed by

720-452: The Luapula valley being flooded excessively in the rainy season. The Bangweulu swamps are fed mainly from the north-east by the Chambeshi River , and drain to the south into the Luapula River . The lake is connected to these rivers, and they to each other, by a complex mass of channels through the swamps that may become choked by vegetation and change their course; there is no easy navigation between them. Floating beds of papyrus may close up

768-466: The Luapula.) The channel boldly marked as the 'Luapula' and confidently shown on many maps flowing south out of Lake Bangweulu at 11°25'S 29°49'E can be seen on satellite images such as Google Earth to actually peter out into green vegetation around 11°46'S 29°48'E. Below the Bangweulu swamps and floodplain, the Luapula flows steadily in an arc south-west turning north-west then north, with some rapids and well-known set of cataracts, Mambilima Falls near

816-470: The Lunga Bank (27) . Large grassy floodplains with an area of about 3,000 km lie mainly south of the swamps, but also in the north-north-east, acting as an extension of the region in the wet season. The southern floodplains are famous for large herds of the near-endemic black lechwe . Further information on wildlife of the wetlands is found on the Bangweulu Wetlands page. Water temperatures at

864-508: The birdlife of a much larger region, and faces environmental stress and conservation issues. With a long axis of 75 km and a width of up to 40 km, Lake Bangweulu's permanent open water surface is about 3,000 km , which expands when its swamps and floodplains are in flood at the end of the rainy season in May. The combined area of the lake and wetlands reaches 15,000 km . The lake has an average depth of only 4 m, and

912-414: The bottom to be seen. There are numerous inhabited islands in the Bangweulu system. On the lake they are: In the swamps: Flood season islands: on the edge of the swamps, connected to the mainland in the dry season: Lechwe Onotragus leche The lechwe , red lechwe , or southern lechwe ( Kobus leche ) is an antelope found in wetlands of south-central Africa. The lechwe

960-416: The branching channels typical of river deltas. Very tall reeds grow at the edge of the swamps in most places, making it difficult to see over the lagoons from land or to find the way to the maze of narrow channels used by dugout canoes. Guides are needed to navigate through them, and they are a haven for smuggling between the two countries sharing the swamps. Crocodile and hippopotamus are common and

1008-400: The channels to a width allowing only dugout canoes to pass. Motorised vessels are hampered by their width as well as by vegetation clogging propellers. Since colonial times attempts have been made to improve navigation and alter drainage patterns by cutting channels through the swamp. In 1942, attempts were made, with limited success, to cut an outlet from Lake Walilupe to the Luapula's exit from

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1056-536: The confluence of the Chambeshi and Luansenshi (20) Rivers, and the Pook Lagoon (15) in the East near Nsalushi Island (25) . On the northern side there are several wide swampy estuaries where rivers enter the lake or swamps, going from north-west to north-east they are: Lupososhi Estuary (16) , Luena Estuary (17) , Lukuto Estuary (18) , Chambeshi Estuary (19) (and Luansenshi Estuary which feeds into it). On

1104-529: The delta including Chisenga Island. There are also many lagoons, the largest of which is Mofwe Lagoon on the Zambian side. As in the Bangweulu Swamps, floating beds of papyrus are a feature of the swamps, which often block channels and change the shape of lagoons. However, the main river channel does not get blocked and stays consistently about 400 metres (1,300 ft) wide. It has not developed

1152-518: The eastern and south-eastern sides the swamps are fed by the Munikashi, Luitikila, Lumbatwa, Lukulu and Lulimala rivers. The estuaries of the last three are the main dry season grazing grounds of the Black Lechwe. In the main part of the swamps, just south of Chilubi Island, is a large area which is very shallow in the flood season and may become fairly dry at the end of the dry season, called

1200-404: The extinct Cape lechwe ( Kobus venterae ) are also considered subspecies by some authorities (as Kobus leche anselli and Kobus leche venterae ). Although related and sharing the name "lechwe", the Nile lechwe ( K. megaceros ) is consistently recognized as a separate species. Lechwe mate during rain seasons of November to February. They have a gestation period of seven to eight months so

1248-421: The front legs, chest and body varies depending on subspecies . The long, spiral horns are vaguely lyre-shaped and borne only by males. The hind legs are somewhat longer in proportion than in other antelopes to ease long-distance running on marshy soil. Lechwe are found in marshy areas where they are an important herbivore of aquatic plants , as well as grasses that are found in flooded meadows . They use

1296-487: The knee-deep water as protection from predators. Their legs are covered in a water-repellant substance which allows them to run quite fast in knee-deep water. Lechwe are diurnal . They gather in herds which can include many thousands of individuals. Herds are usually all of one sex, but during mating season they mix. Four subspecies of the lechwe have been recognized. In addition, the Upemba lechwe ( Kobus anselli ) and

1344-1002: The lake is inhabited by the Bisa in Chilubi and Mpika , the Bemba in Luwingu , the Unga in Lunga , the Kabende in Samfya , the Ngumbo in Lubwe, the BenaMukulu in Chungu and affiliated tribes who all speak Chibemba . The Bemba heartland of Paramount Chief Chitimukulu lies to the north-east, around Kasama . The lake supports a seasonal fishing industry and the population may increase markedly during

1392-535: The lake itself. The spot is marked by the Livingstone Memorial (see map). The lake was partially surveyed in 1883 by the French traveller, Victor Giraud, and first circumnavigated by Poulett Weatherley in 1896. It was a desire for the riches of Bangweulu's fisheries and game-rich floodplain which motivated King Leopold II of Belgium to insist, in border negotiations between his Congo Free State and

1440-406: The last 100 kilometres (62 mi) of the river before it reaches the lake, and for much of that, they are 30 kilometres (19 mi) wide, covering an area of about 2,500 square kilometres (970 sq mi). There are four inhabited islands in the DR Congo part of the delta, including the largest in the system which is connected to dry land in the dry season. Zambia has three inhabited islands in

1488-523: The late 1940s, the upper Luapula from Kapalala to Lake Bangweulu and the Chambeshi River was one of the most important stretches for river transport in the then Northern Rhodesia . Goods travelled by road from the railhead at Sakania 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) north of Ndola to Kapalala to be loaded onto dugout canoes and small boats. During World War I , a fleet of 1885 such craft were used to convey matériel to Chambeshi from where it went on

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1536-651: The lower Luapula and Mweru can be considered as one entity. They lie in a rift valley or graben once considered separate from the East African Rift but now seen as a branch of it. Mweru, however, drains not into Lake Tanganyika in the Albertine Rift but via the Luvua River , which has cut a deep, narrow zigzag valley to join the Lualaba River , as the upper Congo is named. The Luapula

1584-461: The main road. A far less well-known site is Tangwa, about 40 kilometres (25 mi) south where the river has eroded a gap through rocky hills carving huge caves, arches, and potholes, and leaving giant boulders, including two balancing rocks called 'God's Corn Bin'. From the Chembe Bridge to Lake Mweru, the 300 kilometres (190 mi) long Luapula Valley has a higher rural population than

1632-584: The north-western shore, the Lifunge Peninsula (2) , Mbalala Island (3) , Chilubi Island (6) , and the Kapata Peninsula (10) . They divide the lake into three sections parallel to its main axis. One divides off a section called Lake Chifunabuli (1) , 50 km long but only 5 km wide. Its entrance through a gap in the sand spits (at the end of Lifunge Peninsula) is only 250 m wide. Another sandy ridge, Mbabala Island, divides off

1680-479: The northern end of the lake. Mpika and Kasama districts just touch the eastern and southern margins of the floodplain, and Serenje District and the Congo Pedicle just reach the southern margin of the floodplain. A notable feature of the Bangweulu system is a series of parallel sandy ridges running south-west to north-east. These are particularly striking in satellite photographs and are easily seen along

1728-409: The plateau at Mansa , while fears of malaria in the Luapula Swamps made them establish the next on the plateau at Kawambwa . Consequently, the towns and villages in the valley, such as the largest, Mwansabombwe , do not have the same ex-colonial character as the administrative towns. However, following the lead of missionary builders and Mwata Kazembe, from the early 1900s, most housing in the valley

1776-507: The plateau through which it cuts to a depth of up to 500 metres (1,600 ft). The river is known for this valley and for its long thin delta entering Lake Mweru, usually referred to as the Luapula Swamps. The well-populated part of the valley starts north from Mambilima Falls, and along the rest of its length is nicknamed 'Mwapoleni Road', after the Chibemba greeting called out as people pass each other. For many practical study purposes,

1824-500: The river, the 320-metre (1,050 ft) long Chembe Bridge was completed in 2008 to replace the Chembe Ferry. 9°24′50″S 28°31′19″E  /  9.41384°S 28.52188°E  / -9.41384; 28.52188 Lake Bangweulu Lake Bangweulu ('where the water sky meets the sky' ) is a freshwater lake in northern Zambia . Bangweulu is one of the world's great wetland systems , comprising Lake Bangweulu ,

1872-523: The season. In 1989 the average annual catch was estimated at 11,900 tonnes, caught by 10,300 people using 5305 dugout canoes , 114 plank and fibreglass boats, and only 54 outboard motors . In 2000 the catch was 13,500 t. In early 2004 a private European natural gas company finished preliminary plans to lay a pipeline which would cut directly through the Southeast portion of the Lake. Part of this plan

1920-400: The shy sitatunga , the famous semi-aquatic antelopes of the region, but both are believed extinct in the lower Luapula due to hunting and the lack of wildlife management. The upper and middle reaches of the Luapula are quite sparsely populated. The natural resources of the lower valley, which include fisheries in the river, lagoons and wetlands with fertile farmland at the margins, attracted

1968-420: The south western shore and is the principal base for road and boat transport and tourism, as well as being the administrative centre for Samfya District covering about three-quarters of the lake and swamps. Chilubi District covers most of the rest, its boma is on Chilubi Island (6) , which is bordered by the swamps to the east. Luwingu District just touches the lake at Nsombo , which is the principal town at

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2016-577: The surface of the Bangweulu system ranged from 25.8 to 28.3 °C in November 1993 and from 23.7 to 27.1 °C in February 1994. The conductivity of the Bangweulu system is unusually low and varies between 20 and 40 μS/cm. Transparency of the water ranges from 0.35 to 0.60 m in most water bodies of the system, but in the Tuchingo lagoon the transparency is much larger (>1.70 m) allowing

2064-533: The swamps, to allow motor boats to transport cassava and other produce from the northern area of the lake to Kapalala Ferry on the Luapula and from there to the Copperbelt . There are numerous lagoons in the swamps, the more prominent ones are: Lake Chali (12) in the south-west, Lake Chaya (13) in the east at the mouth of the Lulingilla River in the east, Lake Wumba (14) in the north-east at

2112-458: The western shores of Lake Bangweulu, Zambia, is higher than previously reported. The Bangweulu Swamps, larger than the lake, extend from the north-west clockwise around to the south. The main part covers an area of roughly 120 km by 75 km and they are normally not less than 9,000 km . The swamps act as a check on annual flooding downstream in the Luapula by releasing water slowly through many lagoons and channels. They help prevent

2160-458: Was a proposed dam to allow for partial drainage of the required part of the lake. This plan was met with harsh opposition from the local people as well as environmental activists. After much court-wrangling and lengthy hearings on the project, the plan was disposed of by the European company as they built a detour for their pipeline in the surrounding province. The largest town, Samfya lies on

2208-403: Was of solid brick construction, sun-dried brick mainly, but with some burnt brick. Before the advent of road transport, people travelled by canoe along the river between lakes Bangweulu and Mweru. The lower river between Kasenga and Kilwa on Mweru is now the only stretch of the river carrying much boat transport and most of that is now for DR Congo, where roads are frequently impassable. Up to

2256-409: Was packed in ice produced in several plants. Although the fish catch has declined and most now travels on the better roads of Zambia, Kasenga remains the only port on the river. For more on the fisheries of the area, see Lake Mweru . On the Zambian side of the Luapula, an outbreak of sleeping sickness made the British colonial authorities move their Fort Rosebery boma out of the valley onto

2304-545: Was the first European to see the lake at the north end of the Lake Chifunabuli section. He was taken by canoe as far as Mbabala Island. His last expedition a few years later foundered in the swamps and their maze of shifting channels as he struggled to discover the rivers draining in and out of the lake. He died in 1873 in Chief Chitambo's village on the edge of the southern flood plain, about 100 km from

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