The Kabompo River is one of the main

tributaries A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem (or parent) river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drainage b ...

of the upper

Zambezi River The Zambezi River (also spelled Zambeze and Zambesi) is the fourth-longest river in Africa, the longest east-flowing river in Africa and the largest flowing into the Indian Ocean from Africa. Its drainage basin covers , slightly less than hal ...

. It flows entirely in

Zambia Zambia (), officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa, although it is typically referred to as being in Southern Africa at its most cent ...

, rising to the east of the source of the Zambezi, in North-Western Province along the watershed between the Zambezi and

Congo river The Congo River ( kg, Nzâdi Kôngo, french: Fleuve Congo, pt, Rio Congo), formerly also known as the Zaire River, is the second longest river in Africa, shorter only than the Nile, as well as the second largest river in the world by discharge ...

basins which also forms the border between Zambia and

DR Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...

. It is the second deepest river in Africa and one of the top five in the world.

Geography

The Kabompo River flows south-west through

miombo woodland The Miombo woodland is a tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome (in the World Wide Fund for Nature scheme) located primarily in Central Africa. It includes four woodland savanna ecoregions (listed below) characterized b ...

, then a remote Cryptosepalum dry forest ecoregion, with the

West Lunga National Park West Lunga National Park is a remote wildlife haven in dense forest in the North-Western Province of Zambia. It lies between the West Lunga River and Kabompo River about 10 km north of the gravel road from Solwezi to Kabompo, and covers ab ...

on its west bank. After flowing past the town of

Kabompo Kabompo is a town in north-western Zambia, lying on the Kabompo River with a population over 88,000 people. It is surrounded by teak forest and is home to a Roman Catholic mission. Its most significant activity is the production of honey. You als ...

, it develops a swampy floodplain up to 5 km wide. The

Kabompo Ferry The Kabompo Ferry is a vehicle pontoon ferry at the Kabompo River near the village of Watopa, approx. 60 km east of the river mouth to Zambezi River. The Kabompo River is dividing the Western and North-Western Provinces of Zambia. The ferry wit ...

on its lower course carries the main north–south gravel highway on the eastern side of the Zambezi. The river enters the Zambezi north of the town of

Lukulu Lukulu is a market town in the Western Province of Zambia, on the Zambezi River, and headquarters of a district of the same name. Access to the town is limited to only a few graded roads with traffic running through it from Kaoma town to Watopa t ...

, at the north end of the

Barotse Floodplain The Barotse Floodplain, also known as the Bulozi Plain, Lyondo or the Zambezi Floodplain, is one of Africa's great wetlands, on the Zambezi River in the Western Province of Zambia. It is a designated Ramsar site, regarded as being of high conserv ...

. Its main tributaries are the Western Lunga River which flows from the north, and the Dongwe River from the east.

References

Rivers of Zambia Tributaries of the Zambezi River Barotse Floodplain {{Zambia-river-stub

Geography

See also

References