River
Luvua River
350 km from source to mouth · DR Congo.
DR CongoFlows into River Congo
In numbers
Length
350km
Average flow
600m³/s
Basin
265,300km²
Drop
136m
from 1,057 m to 921 m
Country
1
The journey
From source to mouth
350 km of river and 3 stops on the way: 0 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmSourceat 1,057 m
- 187 kmMambilima Falls
- 273 kmPembe Lagoon32 km²
- 305 kmMofwe Lagoon68 km²
- 350 kmRiver Congoat 921 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
River in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
At the mouth it carries 600 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 4.2 seconds. It drops from 1,057 m to 921 m, 0.4 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 265,300 km², about the size of GA. 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
- NchelengeLargest city on its banks · 77,746 people
- On the water2 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
- From May to SeptemberThe best months to visit
Luvua 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
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The basin
Luvua 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
Luvua River: what you find on the way
- 16WaterfallsMambilima falls and 15 more
- 2Ferry piers
From OpenStreetMap, within 2.5 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Luvua 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.
1waterfall on the riverCascadyas
2lakes on its wayLakeyas
Waterfalls (1)
On the river, by Cascadyas
- Mambilima Fallskm 193
Cascadyas is coming soonOpen Cascadyas ↗
Lakes and reservoirs (2)
Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas
- Pembe Lagoonkm 28232km²
- Mofwe Lagoonkm 31468km²
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
Luvua River in pictures
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
It flows into
River Congo
Angola4,700 km41,800 m³/sTributaries (1)
Also: Lukushi River
In the same basin
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/sSankuru RiverDR Congo1,200 km1,500 m³/sAruwimi RiverDR Congo1,300 km1,600 m³/s
Zambia
TanzaniaWhere these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q220839) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| Course, profile, basin | RiverATLAS v1.0 (HydroATLAS, Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 — followed along the river network from the point 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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