Zambezi River

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The Zambezi River

• The Zambezi (also spelled Zambesi) is the fourth-longest river in Africa
  
• The Zambezi is the largest African river flowing into the Indian Ocean.
  
• The area of the Zambezi River basin is 1,390,000 square kilometers (540,000 sq mi), a little less than half that of the Nile River.
  
• The  Zambezi River is 3,540-kilometers long (2,200 mi) has its source in Zambia and flows through Angola, along the borders of Namibia, Botswana, Zambia again, and Zimbabwe, to Mozambique, where it empties into the Indian Ocean via the Zambezi River Delta.

• The mighty Zambezi River rises in a  north-western Zambia and the Southern Congo,at about 1,524 m (4,900 ft) above sea level.

• The Zambezi River flows to the south-west and into Angola for about 240 kilometers (150 mi), then is joined by sizable tributaries such as the Luena river and the Chifumage river

• Where the Zambezi River  re-enters Zambia it is nearly 400 meters (1,300 ft) wide in the rainy season and flows quite quickly with rapids ending in the Chavuma Falls.
  

• The first of the Zambezi River's large tributaries is the Kabompo River in the north-western province of Zambia.

• Below the confluence of the Cuando River and the Zambezi the river bends almost due east. Here, the  Zambezi river is very broad and shallow, and flows fairly slowly, but as it flows eastward towards the border of the great central plateau of Africa it reaches a chasm, 2km wide into which the Victoria Falls plunge.

• The Victoria Falls are considered the boundary between the upper Zambezi and middle Zambezi. Below the Victoria Falls in Zambia.

• The Zambezi river continues to flow due east for about 200 kilometers (120 mi).

• The Zambezi River cuts through perpendicular walls of basalt 20 to 60 meters (66 to 200 ft) apart in hills 200 to 250 meters (660 to 820& ft) high. Here the Zambezi River river flows swiftly through the Batoka gorge

• Beyond the gorge are a succession of rapids which end 240 km (150 mi) below Victoria Falls. Over this distance, the Zambezi drops 250 meters (820 ft).

• Here the Zambezi river enters Lake Kariba, created in 1959 following the completion of the Kariba Dam.

• The Luangwa and the Kafue rivers are the two largest  tributaries of the Zambezi. The Kafue joins the main river in a quiet deep stream about 180 meters (590 ft) wide. From there the  Zambezi  continues due east. At the confluence of the Luangwa (15°37' S) it enters Mozambique.

• The lower Zambezi's 650 km (400 mi) from Cahora Bassa to the Indian Ocean is navigable by large ship in the wet season.
  

• In some places in Mozambique, the Zambezi River is from 5 to 8 km (3 to 5 mi) wide, flowing slowly in many channels.

• About 160 km (100 mi) from the sea the Zambezi joins up with the drainage of Lake Malawi,  the Shire River. On approaching the Indian Ocean, the river splits up into the Zambezi River Delta.