River
Chambeshi River
480 km from source to mouth · Zambia.
ZambiaFlows into Lake Bangweulu4th longest in Zambia
In numbers
Length
480km
Average flow
760m³/s
Basin
81,947km²
Drop
345m
from 1,506 m to 1,161 m
Country
1
The journey
From source to mouth
480 km of river and 3 stops on the way: 1 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmSourceat 1,506 m
- 363 kmLake Bemba6.0 km²
- 379 kmLake Chaya8.3 km²
- 462 kmKataba14,000 people
- 480 kmLake Bangweuluat 1,161 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
River in Zambia
At the mouth it carries 759 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 3.3 seconds. It drops from 1,506 m to 1,161 m, 0.7 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 81,947 km², about the size of AE. 1.3 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 water4 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
- From May to SeptemberThe best months to visit
Chambeshi 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 450 m³/s in the lowest month to 1,200 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
Chambeshi River: the basin in numbers
81,947 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 1.3millionpeople live in the basin
- 16/km²people per km²
- 1,300maverage altitude of the basin
- 1,241mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 20.6°Caverage air temperature
- 13%protected areas
- 2.9%covered by lakes
What covers the basin
- 72% Forest
- 12% Cropland
- 58% Pasture
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
Chambeshi River: what you find on the way
- 4Ferry piers
From OpenStreetMap, within 2.3 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Chambeshi 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.
2lakes on its wayLakeyas
Lakes and reservoirs (2)
Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas
- Lake Bembakm 4596.0km²
- Lake Chayakm 4808.3km²
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.
Photos
Chambeshi River in pictures
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
Tributaries (1)
Also: Kalungu (Fluss)
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 River
DR 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
MalawiWhere these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q777999) · 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 | 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?
Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, month by month, in seven languages.
beaches
Find your beach: sea temperature, sun and swimming month by month.Visit lakes
Every lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.Coming soonVisit 
mountains
Every summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit 
waterfalls
Every waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.Coming soonVisit 
islands
Every island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Coming soonVisit 
rivers
Every river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.You are here
canyons
Every canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Coming soonVisit