Lake Bangweulu << `bang` wee OO loo >> is a shallow depression about 50 miles (80 kilometers) long and 30 miles (48 kilometers) wide in northern Zambia (formerly Northern Rhodesia). Much of the area to the south and southeast is swamp, which floods in the rainy season. The normal size of the lake is about 1,900 square miles (4,920 square kilometers), but the flood waters increase it to about 4,500 square miles (11,700 square kilometers).
The Luapula River, which flows out of the southern end of Lake Bangweulu, is one of the headstreams of the Congo River. David Livingstone, the British explorer, reached Lake Bangweulu in 1868. Livingstone died near the lake in 1873.
