The Lunsemfwa River is a

tributary 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 drai ...

of the

Luangwa River 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 ...

s in

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

and part of the

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 ...

basin. It is a popular

river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of ...

for

fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment, but may also be caught from stocked bodies of water such as ponds, canals, park wetlands and reservoirs. Fishing techniques ...

, containing large populations of tigerfish and

bream Bream ( ) are species of freshwater and marine fish belonging to a variety of genera including ''Abramis'' (e.g., ''A. brama'', the common bream), ''Acanthopagrus'', '' Argyrops'', ''Blicca'', '' Brama'', '' Chilotilapia'', '' Etelis'', '' Le ...

. It rises on the south-central African

plateau In geology and physical geography, a plateau (; ; ), also called a high plain or a tableland, is an area of a highland consisting of flat terrain that is raised sharply above the surrounding area on at least one side. Often one or more sides h ...

at an elevation of about 1250 m to the north of Mkushi and south of the border of Congo Pedicle, and flows south. It is used to generate hydroelectric power for the Kabwe mines through the Mita Hills Dam, built in the 1950s with a reservoir about 30 km long by 3–5 km wide, and another power station at Lunsemfwa Falls. About 30 km below the dam it enters a remote and inaccessible

gorge A canyon (from ; archaic British English spelling: ''cañon''), or gorge, is a deep cleft between escarpments or cliffs resulting from weathering and the erosive activity of a river over geologic time scales. Rivers have a natural tendency to ...

which it has cut back into the plateau from the edge of the Luangwa Rift Valley into which it flows. Known as the Lunsemfwa Wonder Gorge it is 20 km long, up to 500 m deep and about 1 km wide at the top. A viewpoint called Bell Point overlooks the confluence of the Lunsemfwa and its tributary the Mkushi River, about 15 km along the gorge, and can be reached on a dirt track. The Lunsemfwa enters the Luangwa Rift valley about 40 km from its western end, where the valley is about 45 km wide. It flows to the middle of the valley and turns east as a meandering river with oxbow lakes and a floodplain 1–2 km wide. 100 km further on it merges with the Lukusashi coming from the north-east, and the combined river turns south towards the Luangwa River.

Location

References

Google Earth
accessed 18 February 2007. * Camerapix: Spectrum Guide to Zambia, Camerapix International Publishing, Nairobi, 1996. * Terracarta: Zambia, 2nd edition, International Travel Maps, Vancouver, Canada, 2000. {{coord, 14, 50, S, 29, 15, E, region:ZM_type:river_source:dewiki, display=title Rivers of Zambia Geography of Central Province, Zambia