Lumangwe Falls

Lumangwe drops the Kalungwishi river some thirty metres over a front around a hundred metres wide, throwing spray into the gorge below and often carrying a rainbow, and the comparison to Victoria Falls in miniature is made constantly because the shape is similar. It sits in the far north where very few travellers go. A path runs along the rim and down towards the base, and a campsite stands in the bush above. Kabwelume falls lie downstream.

Background

This is the largest waterfall lying wholly inside Zambia, a block-type fall 30-40 m high and 100-160 m wide over bedrock of quartzite interbedded with layers of red siltstone. It is part of a national monument, the Lumangwe Falls / Kabwelume Falls / Chimpepe Falls Complex, and Kabwelume lies 6 km downstream through the gorge. The name comes from Lumangwe, a snake spirit said to have stretched roughly 5 km between the two falls. Local chiefs once treated the area as sacred, and efforts to open it, begun in 1975, succeeded only in 1996. The flower Zygotritonia atropurpurea, identified in 2019, is known from a single spot just downstream of the falls.

Source: Wikipedia, "Lumangwe Falls"

Highlights

• The curtain - a front around a hundred metres wide dropping some thirty metres.
• The spray and rainbows - the mist thrown into the gorge below.
• The rim path - the walk along the edge and down towards the base.
• The remoteness - a major waterfall in a region almost nobody reaches.

When to go

April to July has the highest volume after the rains. The flow drops considerably by October. Tracks are difficult in the wet season.

Before you go

The roads in the far north are rough and slow at any season. Facilities amount to a campsite and a caretaker. The descent path is steep and unmaintained.

Nearby

Kabwelume Falls is downstream, and Ntumbachushi is south.

Key facts