The Mambatuta Falls is a steep waterfall on the

Luapula River The Luapula River is a section of Africa's second-longest river, the Congo. It is a transnational river forming for nearly all its length part of the border between Zambia and the DR Congo. It joins Lake Bangweulu (wholly in Zambia) to Lake Mwe ...

, which originates in

Lake Bangweulu Bangweulu — 'where the water sky meets the sky' — is one of the world's great wetland systems, comprising Lake Bangweulu, the Bangweulu Swamps and the Bangweulu Flats or floodplain.Camerapix: ''Spectrum Guide to Zambia.'' Camerapix Internation ...

and flows through

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 ...

and along the border with the

Democratic Republic of the 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 ...

into

Lake Mweru Lake Mweru (also spelled ''Mwelu'', ''Mwero'') is a freshwater lake on the longest arm of Africa's second-longest river, the Congo. Located on the border between Zambia and Democratic Republic of the Congo, it makes up of the total length of th ...

. The Luapula flows south from Lake Bangweulu as a broad, swampy river a few hundred meters (yards) wide. It then turns west and runs along the border with the

Democratic Republic of 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 ...

. After the Mambatuta falls the river narrows and meanders north, then descends through the

Mambilima falls Mambilima Falls is a series of rapids on the Luapula River on the boundary between Zambia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The falls used to be called the Johnstone Falls. They extend along a stretch of the river. Below Lake Bangweulu t ...

, following which it broadens into a wetland region that feeds the south end of Lake Mweru. Mambatuta is a steep waterfall that descends in a single vertical drop. At one time the Bangweulu / Mweru basin was part of the Zambezi system, and several species of fish that are common in the Zambezi system are found in the Luapula. Congo fauna have penetrated up the Luvua into Lake Mweru, but have been blocked by the Mambatuta Falls from entry into Lake Bangweulu. The transition occurred in the early

Tertiary Tertiary ( ) is a widely used but obsolete term for the geologic period from 66 million to 2.6 million years ago. The period began with the demise of the non-avian dinosaurs in the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, at the start ...

References

{{reflist Lake Mweru Luapula River Waterfalls of the Democratic Republic of the Congo