View source for Lungwebungu River

{{Short description|Stream in Angola, Africa}}
{{More citations needed|date=June 2025}}
[[File:Lungwebungu.svg|right|thumb|330px|Lungwebungu River catchment]]
The '''Lungwebungu River''' (in Angola '''Lungué Bungo''') of [[Central Africa]] is the largest [[tributary]] of the upper [[Zambezi|Zambezi River]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Lungwebungu River {{!}} Congo Basin, Central Africa, tributary {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Lungwebungu-River |access-date=2025-06-29 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref> The [[River source|headwaters]] of the Lungwebungu are in central [[Angola]] at an elevation around {{convert|1400|m}}, and it flows south-east across the [[southern Africa]]n [[plateau]].{{Citation needed|date=May 2020}} Within {{convert|50|km}} it has developed the character which it keeps for most of its course, of extremely intricate [[Meander|meanders]], with multiple channels and [[Oxbow lake|oxbow lakes]], in a swampy channel about {{cvt|800|m}} wide which in turn is in a shallow valley with a [[floodplain]] {{cvt|3|to|5|km}} wide, inundated in the [[wet season]]. 

The edges of the floodplain are a white sandy soil covered in thin forest. The main river channel grows from {{cvt|50|m}} wide to {{cvt|200|m}} wide near the Zambezi, and its floodplain suddenly broadens as it merges with the Zambezi, at the beginning of the [[Barotse Floodplain]], which is {{cvt|25|km}} wide at that point.{{Citation needed|date=May 2020}}

A 2021 study found the river is home to a subspecies of ''[[Hippopotamyrus]]'' that is distinct from other lineages of the fish.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Mutizwa |first=Tadiwa I. |last2=Kadye |first2=Wilbert T. |last3=Chakona |first3=Albert |date=2021 |title=Deep genetic and morphological divergence in the Hippopotamyrus ansorgii species complex (Teleostei: Mormyridae) in southern Africa |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/jfb.14743 |journal=Journal of Fish Biology |language=en |volume=99 |issue=2 |pages=543–556 |doi=10.1111/jfb.14743 |issn=1095-8649}}</ref>

While the river is a valuable resource to people living near it as a source of fish, its meanders make it unsuitable for [[Maritime transport|water transport]] except in the wet season when [[Dugout (boat)|canoes]] and small boats can navigate the floodwaters.{{Citation needed|date=May 2020}}

== References ==
{{reflist}}

{{Rivers of Angola}}
{{Rivers of Zambia}}

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[[Category:Rivers of Angola]]
[[Category:Rivers of Zambia]]
[[Category:Tributaries of the Zambezi River]]
[[Category:International rivers of Africa]]


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