31/03/2026
The Chambeshi rises as a stream in the mountains of northeast Zambia (Location is quite near to the road- Kasama- Mbala road) near Lake Tanganyika at an elevation of 1,760 metres (5,770 ft) above sea level. It flows for 480 km into the Bangweulu Wetlands, which are part of Lake Bangweulu. By the end of the rainy season in May, the river delivers a flood which recharges the wetlands and inundates the Zambezian grasslands to the southeast. The water then flows out of the wetlands as the Luapula River. (Ba Luapula see how important the Northern river is to you ๐)
For more than 100 km of its length as it flows to the east of Kasama, the river consists of a maze of channels in wetlands about 2 km wide, in a floodplain up to 25 km wide (current situation) Further downstream, where it is bridged by the KasamaโMpika road and the Tazara Railway, the permanent main channel is about 100 m wide, and up to 400 m wide in flood.
On October 11, 1979, the Rhodesian SAS bombed and destroyed the vital Chambeshi Railway Bridge ( the bridge just before the rail bridge in the second picture) in Northern Zambia to disrupt supply routes and preempt attacks from Zimbabwe People's Revolutionary Army (ZIPRA) rebels hosted in Zambia. The sabotage, part of the Rhodesian campaign to force Zambian economic dependence, temporarily paralyzed transport before Chinese engineers rebuilt the bridge a year later, which is the rail bridge at the far end in the second picture.
Note on Location: The Chambeshi River (Northeastern Zambia/ Congo basin) should not be confused with the Chambishi River (a tributary of the Kafue River, part of the Zambezi basin)๐