The Kwilu River is a major river in the

Kwilu Province Kwilu is a province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It's one of the 21 provinces created in the 2015 repartitioning. Kwilu, Kwango, and Mai-Ndombe provinces are the result of the dismemberment of the former Bandundu province. Kwi ...

formerly known as Bandundu province in the

Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...

(DRC) to the city of Bandundu, where it joins the

Kwango River The Cuango or Kwango ( pt, Rio Cuango) is a transboundary river of Angola and Democratic Republic of Congo. It is the largest left bank tributary of the Kasai River in the Congo River basin. It flows through Malanje in Angola. The Kwango Riv ...

just before this stream enters the

Kasai River The Kasai River ( ; called Cassai in Angola) is a tributary (left side) of the Congo River, located in Central Africa. The river begins in central Angola and flows to the east until it reaches the border between Angola and the Democratic Repub ...

. In the DRC the river flows past the towns of

Gungu Gungu is a town in Kwilu Province, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). It is the capital of Gungu Territory as well as Gungu Sector. The town lies west of the Kwilu River and is situated between the streams Lukunia in the south-east and Kite ...

Kikwit Kikwit is the largest city of Kwilu Province, lying on the Kwilu River in the southwestern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Kikwit is also known in the region under the nickname "The Mother". The population is approximately 458,000 ( ...

, Bulungu, Bagata, Rutherfordia and Bandundu. Lusanga, formerly Leverville, lies at the location where the

Kwenge River The Kwenge River is a stream in the Bandundu Province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The river begins in Angola and then for about it forms a short part of the Angola–DRC border. It flows north from the Angola border through the Kw ...

joins the Kwilu, between Kikwit and Bulungu.

Characteristics

It is a

meander A meander is one of a series of regular sinuous curves in the channel of a river or other watercourse. It is produced as a watercourse erodes the sediments of an outer, concave bank ( cut bank) and deposits sediments on an inner, convex ba ...

ing river. Near its mouth it is 950 meter wide. The bed material is

sand Sand is a granular material composed of finely divided mineral particles. Sand has various compositions but is defined by its grain size. Sand grains are smaller than gravel and coarser than silt. Sand can also refer to a textural class o ...

. The river is about long. In the wet season the flooded area covers . The headwaters of the river rise at elevations between and in the Angolan highlands. They drop steeply to the flat central Congo Basin at between and above sea level. A 2011 survey found 113 species of fish in 21 families and eight orders. File:Au bord de la rivère Kwilu à Bandundu.jpg, Beside the river at Bandundu, June 2007 File:Rivière Kwilu à Bandundu.jpg, The river at Bandundu, June 2007

References

Sources

* * Rivers of Angola Rivers of the Democratic Republic of the Congo International rivers of Africa {{DRCongo-river-stub