The Zambezi River

• rises on the Central African Plateau in the Kalene Hills in northwestern Zambia and flows through eight countries to its delta in Mozambique and the Indian Ocean.
• drains an area of almost 1.4 million sq km, stretching across Angola, Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
• supports the Victoria Falls, popularly identified as one of the seven natural wonders of the world, as well as Kariba and Cahora Bassa hydroelectric dams and their lakes.

The Zambezi Basin

• is the most shared in southern Africa and third largest in Africa after the Congo and the Nile. covers about 25 percent of the total geographic area of the eight riparian countries estimated at 5.6 million sq km.
• is home to almost 40 million of SADC’s estimated population of more than 200 million people. hosts urban areas such as Luena in Angola, Kasane in Botswana, Tete in Mozambique, Katima Mulilo in Namibia and Mbeya in Tanzania, almost all urban centres in Zambia including the capital city of Lusaka, all urban centres in Malawi and most in Zimbabwe, including Harare.
• contains Lake Malawi/Nyasa/Niassa covering 28,000 kq km, Africa’s third largest freshwater lake after Lakes Victoria and Tanganyika and third deepest in the world.

This edition of The Zambezi is supported by SADC’s Zambezi Action Programme 6 Phase II (ZACPRO 6.2)

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