page_title: Lake Bangweulu
section_title: Sections of Lake Bangweulu
hierarchical_section_title: Lake Bangweulu / Sections of Lake Bangweulu
caption_attribution_description: Satellite photograph of Lake Bangweulu (upper left) and the Bangweulu Swamps (centre). Water shows as dark green. Key: 1 Lake Chifunabuli, 2 Lifunge Peninsula, 3 Mbabala Island, 4 Lake Walilupe, 5 Chishi Island, 6 Chilubi Island, 7 Lifunge Mwenzi Island, 8 Nsumbu Island, 9 Lake Kampolombo, 10 Kapata Peninsula, 11 Lake Kangwena, 12 Lake Chali, 13 Lake Chaya, 14 Lake Wumba, 15 Pook Lagoon, 16 Lupososhi Estuary, 17 Luena Estuary, 18 Lukuto Estuary, 19 Chambeshi Estuary, 20 Luansenshi River, 21 Grassy floodplains, 22 Chichile Island, 23 Kasansa Island, 24 Panyo Island, 25 Nsalushi Island, 26 Ncheta Island, 27 Lunga Bank, 28 Kasenga, 29 Kataba, 30 Lubwe, 31 Kasaba, 32 Twingi, 33 Chaba, 35 Congo Pedicle. Satellite image credit: Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team, NASA/GSFC
context_page_description: 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. Situated in the upper Congo River basin in Zambia, the Bangweulu system covers an almost completely flat area roughly the size of Connecticut or East Anglia, at an elevation of 1,140 m straddling Zambia's Luapula Province and Northern Province. It is crucial to the economy and biodiversity of northern Zambia, and to the birdlife of a much larger region, and faces environmental stress and conservation issues.
  With a long axis of 75 km and a width of up to 40 km, Lake Bangweulu's permanent open water surface is about 3,000 km², which expands when its swamps and floodplains are in flood at the end of the rainy season in May. The combined area of the lake and wetlands reaches 15,000 km². The lake has an average depth of only 4 m.
  The Bangweulu system is fed by about seventeen rivers of which the Chambeshi is the largest, and is drained by the Luapula River.
context_section_description: A notable feature of the Bangweulu system is a series of parallel sandy ridges running south-west to north-east. These are particularly striking in satellite photographs and are easily seen along the north-western shore, the Lifunge Peninsula (2), Mbalala Island (3), Chilubi Island (6), and the Kapata Peninsula (10). They divide the lake into three sections parallel to its main axis. One divides off a section called Lake Chifunabuli (1), 50 km long but only 5 km wide. Its entrance through a gap in the sand spits (at the end of Lifunge Peninsula) is only 250 m wide. Another sandy ridge, Mbabala Island, divides off a section called Lake Walilupe (4), 30 km long by 13 km wide. The main, middle section of the lake between Ifunge and Mbabala is known only as Bangweulu.
  There are numerous bays, inlets, smaller lakes and lagoons around Lake Bangweulu, connected by open water, narrow channels or swamps. The largest is Lake Kampolombo (9), 30 km by 5 km, south of Lake Walilupe and connected to it by a 7 km channel. The 32 km long Kapata Peninsula lies between Lake Kampolombo and the swamps; at its tip on the eastern side is the 15 km long Lake Kangwena (11).
  Only the western side of the lake and some of the islands have a well defined shore, with sandy beaches in places especially around Samfya, though even there, some of the bays and inlets are swampy.
  It was found that infection with Schistosoma haematobium on the western shores of Lake Bangweulu, Zambia, is higher than previously reported.
caption: Satellite photograph of Lake Bangweulu (upper left) and the Bangweulu Swamps (centre). Water shows as dark green. Key: 1 Lake Chifunabuli, 2 Ifunge Peninsula, 3 Mbabala Island, 4 Lake Walilupe, 5 Chishi Island, 6 Chilubi Island, 7 Ifunge Mwenzi Island, 8 Nsumbu Island, 9 Lake Kampolombo, 10 Kapata Peninsula, 11 Lake Kangwena, 12 Lake Chali, 13 Lake Chaya, 14 Lake Wumba, 15 Pook Lagoon, 16 Lupososhi Estuary, 17 Luena Estuary, 18 Lukuto Estuary, 19 Chambeshi Estuary, 20 Luansenshi River, 21 Grassy floodplains, 22 Chichile Island, 23 Kasansa Island, 24 Panyo Island, 25 Nsalushi Island, 26 Ncheta Island, 27 Lunga Bank, 28 Kasenga, 29 Kataba, 30 Lubwe, 31 Kasaba, 32 Twingi, 33 Chaba, 34 Congo Pedicle.
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