The Kwilu River is a major river that originates in Angola and flows north through Bandundu Province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to the city of Bandundu, where it joins the Kwango River just before this stream enters the Kasai River. In the DRC the river flows past the towns of Gungu, Kikwit, Bulungu, Bagata and Bandundu. Lusanga, formerly Leverville, lies at the location where the Kwenge River joins the Kwilu, between Kikwit and Bulungu.
The river is about 965 kilometres (600 mi) long. In the wet season the flooded area covers 1,550 square kilometres (600 sq mi). The headwaters of the river rise at elevations between 1,000 metres (3,300 ft) and 1,800 metres (5,900 ft) in the Angolan highlands. They drop steeply to the flat central Congo Basin at between 500 metres (1,600 ft) and 300 metres (980 ft) above sea level. A 2011 survey found 113 species of fish in 21 families and eight orders.
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Beside the river at Bandundu, June 2007
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The river at Bandundu, June 2007
Famous quotes containing the word river:
“The river’s tent is broken; the last fingers of leaf
Clutch and sink into the wet bank. The wind
Crosses the brown land, unheard. The nymphs are departed.
Sweet Thames, run softly, till I end my song.
The river bears no empty bottles, sandwich papers,
Silk handkerchiefs, cardboard boxes, cigarette ends
Or other testimony of summer nights.”
—T.S. (Thomas Stearns)