River
Luapula River
560 km from source to mouth · Zambia and DR Congo.
Zambia and DR CongoFlows into Lake Mweru3rd longest in Zambia
In numbers
Length
560km
Average flow
1,300m³/s
Basin
173,620km²
Drop
242m
from 1,163 m to 921 m
Countries
2
The journey
From source to mouth
560 km of river and 9 stops on the way: 1 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmLake Bangweuluat 1,163 m
- 1 kmLake Bangweulu1,764 km²
- 53 kmKataba14,000 people
- 170 kmMumbotuta Falls
- 171 kmChutes Giraud
- 172 kmMambatuta Falls
- 311 kmKafubu Rivertributary
- 414 kmMambilima Falls
- 486 kmPembe Lagoon32 km²
- 512 kmMofwe Lagoon68 km²
- 560 kmLake Mweruat 921 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
River in central Africa
At the mouth it carries 1,332 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 1.9 seconds. It drops from 1,163 m to 921 m, 0.4 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 173,620 km², about the size of UY. 4.4 million people live in it. Highest water: from February to March; lowest: from July to October. No large dam holds it back: it is one of the world's free-flowing rivers.
Where to start
- KatabaLargest city on its banks · 14,000 people
- Simon Mwansa Kapwepwe International Airport (NLA)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 183 km from the cityCar hire at NLA airport (Ndola)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- On the water6 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
- From May to SeptemberThe best months to visit
Luapula River, month by month
Highest water: from February to March
Lowest water: from July to October. Best months to visit: from May to September.
From about 640 m³/s in the lowest month to 2,400 m³/s in the highest. An estimate: the monthly flow is modelled from the lowest and highest months of WaterGAP (RiverATLAS, 1971–2000) and the rain and snow along the river (WorldClim). Dams change the real rhythm. The chip is the average air temperature; below it, the month's rain.
Plan the trip
Plan the trip: boat trips, a bed by the river, a car
Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.
The basin
Luapula River: the basin in numbers
173,620 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 4.4millionpeople live in the basin
- 25/km²people per km²
- 1,254maverage altitude of the basin
- 1,210mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 20.6°Caverage air temperature
- 17%protected areas
- 1.5%covered by lakes
What covers the basin
- 79% Forest
- 11% Cropland
- 49% Pasture
- 1% Towns and cities
RiverATLAS (HydroATLAS v1.0, CC BY 4.0): land cover, people, protected areas, glaciers and dams over the whole basin upstream of the mouth.
Along the river
Luapula River: what you find on the way
- 17WaterfallsMambatuta falls, Mambilima falls and 15 more
- 6Ferry piers
From OpenStreetMap, within 2.5 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Luapula River in our other atlases
What our sister atlases know about the waterfalls on this river, the lakes it flows through, the beaches at its mouth, the mountains where it rises and the islands off its mouth.
4waterfalls on the riverCascadyas
3lakes on its wayLakeyas
Waterfalls (4)
On the river, by Cascadyas
- Mumbotuta Fallskm 208
- Chutes Giraudkm 209
- Mambatuta Fallskm 210
- Mambilima Fallskm 507
Cascadyas is coming soonOpen Cascadyas ↗
Lakes and reservoirs (3)
Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas
- Lake Bangweulukm 1 · 10 m deep1,764km²
- Pembe Lagoonkm 59632km²
- Mofwe Lagoonkm 62768km²
Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗
From space
The source and the mouth, seen from orbit
Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 by EOX IT Services GmbH (contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2016), CC BY 4.0. The glowing line is the river as drawn by RiverATLAS.
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
Tributaries (1)
Also: Kafubu River
In the same basin
Angola4,700 km41,800 m³/sKasai River
Republic of the Congo2,272 km12,000 m³/sUbangi River
Central African Republic1,060 km5,900 m³/sKwango RiverDR Congo1,770 km2,700 m³/sUeleDR Congo1,210 km1,500 m³/sLomami RiverDR Congo1,280 km3,000 m³/sSanghaRepublic of the Congo785 km2,500 m³/sEbola RiverDR Congo250 km320 m³/sMbomou RiverCentral African Republic800 km1,300 m³/sLuvua RiverDR Congo350 km600 m³/s
TanzaniaWhere these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q151858) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| Course, profile, basin | RiverATLAS v1.0 (HydroATLAS, Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 — followed from the source to the mouth given by Wikidata |
| Flow | WaterGAP (RiverATLAS), 1971–2000 · CC BY 4.0 |
| Climate along the river | WorldClim (RiverATLAS), 1970–2000 · CC BY 4.0 |
| Towns, bridges, dams | Wikidata · CC0; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0 |
| Along the river | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
| Our other atlases | Cascadyas, Lakeyas — Wikidata · CC0; © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0; HydroLAKES · CC BY 4.0; NOAA OISST |
Every source and licence is on the data sources page.
The family
Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers or canyons?
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