Luangwa River
The fourth one in Top 10 Longest Rivers in Mozambique that Toplist would like to introduce to you is Luangwa River. The Luangwa River is a major tributary of the Zambezi River and one of Zambia's four largest rivers. The river usually floods during the rainy season (December to March) and then drops significantly during the dry season. It is one of the largest unaltered rivers in Southern Africa, and the surrounding valley of 52,000 square kilometers (20,000 square miles) is teeming with wildlife.
The Luangwa River rises in the Lilonda and Mafinga Hills in north-east Zambia, near the borders with Tanzania and Malawi, and flows southwesterly through a broad valley. It has dropped to an elevation of about 690 m about 150 kilometers from its source and has become a meandering river with a flood-plain several kilometers wide. Over the next 300 kilometers, the meanders become more numerous, with numerous oxbow lakes and abandoned meanders. The river's elevation has dropped to around 520 meters near Mfuwe, the flood plain is about 10 kilometers wide, and the valley reaches about 100 kilometers wide, with a north-west escarpment (Muchinga Escarpment) about 700 meters high and a south-western escarpment about 450 meters high. During the dry season, some sections, particularly in the upper reaches, completely dry out, leaving isolated pools.
The upper and middle reaches of the valley are home to Zambia's North Luangwa and South Luangwa National Parks, which are among the best in Africa. The river itself is home to large hippopotami and crocodile populations. The Luangwa Valley is home to the world's largest concentration of hippos. During the dry season, they are restricted by the shrinking river and pools and can be seen easily, particularly in isolated pools.
At 600 kilometers, the river abruptly enters a narrow valley between hills rising 200 meters above the valley floor, forming a gorge. The Luangwa River merges with its tributary, the Lukusashi River, about 700 kilometers from its source, after the latter has merged with the Lunsemfwa River coming from the opposite direction, and turns due south through a steep narrow valley: this is its exit from the Luangwa Rift Valley (see following section). After only 20 kilometers, it emerges from the hills into the broad Zambezi valley and meanders over 1.5-kilometer-wide sandy flats in a 3–5-kilometer-wide flood plain. At Luangwa town, it joins the deeper Zambezi. The river's lower course forms the border between Zambia and Mozambique.
Length: 770 km (478 mi- shared with Zambia)
