Kafue is a town on the T2 road in the

Lusaka Province Lusaka Province is one of the ten provinces of Zambia. It is the smallest in terms of land area, covering 21,896 km2. However, it is the most populated and densely populated province in Zambia, with a population of 3,079,964 as of 2022 and ...

Zambia Zambia, officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa. It is typically referred to being in South-Central Africa or Southern Africa. It is bor ...

and it lies on the north bank of the

Kafue River The long Kafue River is the longest river lying wholly within Zambia. Its water is used for irrigation and for generating Hydroelectricity, hydroelectric power. It is the largest tributary of the Zambezi, and of Zambia's principal rivers, it ...

, after which it is named. It is the southern gateway to the central Zambian

plateau In geology and physical geography, a plateau (; ; : plateaus or plateaux), also called a high plain or a tableland, is an area of a highland consisting of flat terrain that is raised sharply above the surrounding area on at least one side. ...

on which

Lusaka Lusaka ( ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Zambia. It is one of the fastest-developing cities in southern Africa. Lusaka is in the southern part of the central plateau at an elevation of about . , the city's population was abo ...

and the

mining Mining is the Resource extraction, extraction of valuable geological materials and minerals from the surface of the Earth. Mining is required to obtain most materials that cannot be grown through agriculture, agricultural processes, or feasib ...

towns of

Kabwe Kabwe is the capital of the Zambian Central Province and the Kabwe District, with a population estimated at 288,598 at the 2022 census. Named Broken Hill until 1966, it was founded when lead and zinc deposits were discovered in 1902. Kabwe also ...

and the

Copperbelt The Copperbelt () is a natural region in Central Africa which sits on the border region between northern Zambia and the south eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. It is known for copper mining and is the second largest global reserve of copper, ...

are located.Camerapix: "Spectrum Guide to Zambia." Camerapix International Publishing, Nairobi, 1996.

Site

Kafue is at the south-eastern foot of a range of granite hills rising 200 m and extending over an area of about 250 km², and occupies a shelf of land between the hills and the river, just high enough to avoid its annual flood. The town extends along some shallow

valley A valley is an elongated low area often running between hills or mountains and typically containing a river or stream running from one end to the other. Most valleys are formed by erosion of the land surface by rivers or streams over ...

s between the hills. A 400 m wide strip of small farms and gardens separates the town from a bend of the river which is about 300 m wide in the dry season and 1.3 km wide in the rainy season, sometimes inundating a floodplain 10 km wide on the opposite bank, which consequently is uninhabited save for a few small villages or farms on higher ground.Google Earth
accessed 2007.

History

During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, 25 Polish refugees escaping from German- and Soviet-occupied Poland, were admitted in Kafue in 1941.

Transport links

The Kafue River's 50 km wide

floodplain A floodplain or flood plain or bottomlands is an area of land adjacent to a river. Floodplains stretch from the banks of a river channel to the base of the enclosing valley, and experience flooding during periods of high Discharge (hydrolog ...

, the

Kafue Flats The Kafue Flats (locally called Butwa) are a vast area of swamp, open lagoon and seasonally inundated flood-plain on the Kafue River in the Southern, Central and Lusaka provinces of Zambia. They are a shallow flood plain long and about wide,< ...

, is a 240 km long east-west barrier to road and rail connections between the centre of the country and the south. Kafue lies at the eastern end of the

where the river enters the Kafue Gorge and flows down the

Zambezi Escarpment Zambezi Escarpment is a name used for the escarpments forming both sides of the rift valley or graben in which lie the middle Zambezi river and Lake Kariba. They are fault scarps, rising 500 to 600 m higher than the lake or river, running from t ...

into the middle

Zambezi The Zambezi (also spelled Zambeze and Zambesi) is the fourth-longest river in Africa, the longest east-flowing river in Africa and the largest flowing into the Indian Ocean from Africa. Its drainage basin covers , slightly less than half of t ...

rift valley A rift valley is a linear shaped lowland between several highlands or mountain ranges produced by the action of a geologic rift. Rifts are formed as a result of the pulling apart of the lithosphere due to extensional tectonics. The linear ...

. Consequently, it's strategically located at the only place where north-south road and rail can easily cross the Kafue River and squeeze through the gap between floodplain and escarpment. The Kafue Railway Bridge on the Lusaka–Livingstone line is at the south end of the town, and the Kafue Bridge 9 km to south-east carries one of the busiest sections of the T2 road across the river and brings it through the town, from where it continues 50 km north to

. In the other direction the road connects to the

Zimbabwe file:Zimbabwe, relief map.jpg, upright=1.22, Zimbabwe, relief map Zimbabwe, officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Bots ...

border at the Chirundu Bridge, and the main southern highway to Livingstone,

Botswana Botswana, officially the Republic of Botswana, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory part of the Kalahari Desert. It is bordered by South Africa to the sou ...

and

Namibia Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country on the west coast of Southern Africa. Its borders include the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south; in the no ...

branches off it just south of the Kafue Bridge.Terracarta/International Travel Maps, Vancouver Canada: "Zambia, 2nd edition", 2000 The river is not used for commercial

water transport Maritime transport (or ocean transport) or more generally waterborne transport, is the transport of people (passengers or goods (cargo) via waterways. Freight transport by watercraft has been widely used throughout recorded history, as it pr ...

. To the west it is too shallow and meandering and does not go near any centres of population, to the east is not navigable due to the Kafue Gorge and dam. However, subsistence fishing and recreational boating and sports fishing takes place on a 60 km stretch of the river above the dam.

Population

According to the 2010 Zambia Census of Population and Housing, Kafue has a total population of 219,000 of which 108,939 are males and 110,061 are females.Zambia Statistics
accessed 20 July 2013.

Religion

Among people aged 15 years and above, 73.11% are

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...

, 11.08% belong to other religions, and 15.80% are not affiliated with any

religion Religion is a range of social system, social-cultural systems, including designated religious behaviour, behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, religious text, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics in religion, ethics, or ...

Industry

Agriculture and fishing are the traditional occupations of the area, and a

commercial farming Intensive agriculture, also known as intensive farming (as opposed to extensive farming), conventional, or industrial agriculture, is a type of agriculture, both of crop plants and of animals, with higher levels of input and output per unit of ...

area extends along the edge of the Kafue Flats for 35 km north-west of the town. Commercial fishing operations of any size are limited to fish farming. Kafue has a larger proportion of manufacturing industries compared to most of the towns outside the Copperbelt Province.The Town has an industrial estate with housing and services called Kafue Estates. The industries in Kafue include; * Nitrogen Chemicals of Zambia (Agricultural

fertiliser A fertilizer or fertiliser is any material of natural or synthetic origin that is applied to soil or to plant tissues to supply plant nutrition, plant nutrients. Fertilizers may be distinct from Liming (soil), liming materials or other non- ...

s) * Bata

Tannery Tanning, or hide tanning, is the process of treating skins and hides of animals to produce leather. A tannery is the place where the skins are processed. Historically, vegetable based tanning used tannin, an acidic chemical compound derived fr ...

(shoe leather) - No longer operational. * Textiles - Kafue Textiles - No longer operational. * UNIVERSAL Mining and Chemical Industries Limited (UMCIL), Kafue integrated Iron and Steel plant (Direct Reduced Iron). Phase one of the project was completed in 2007 and is now fully operational, producing 7,000 tonnes of finished rolled iron and steel products per month for the local and regional markets. * Lee Yeast Zambia - The Sole manufacturer of baking yeast (and other baking products) in Zambia. * Alliance Ginnery Zambia - Cotton Ginning company. * Fens Zambia - Manufacturer of spray race equipment and commercial trailers. * Kafue River Cliff - A modern 4 star Hotel located on the banks of the Kafue River operated by the LSA group. Other industries in or near the town: * Kafue Fisheries Ltd was first established in 1981 with a five hectare project pilot scheme. Over the years, the project has grown to its present size of 60 hectare ponds and is situated in the centre of 1800 hectare wildlife and cattle scheme. The whole

aquaculture Aquaculture (less commonly spelled aquiculture), also known as aquafarming, is the controlled cultivation ("farming") of aquatic organisms such as fish, crustaceans, mollusks, algae and other organisms of value such as aquatic plants (e.g. Nelu ...

system is based on an integrated pig and fish enterprise with annual production of

Tilapia Tilapia ( ) is the common name for nearly a hundred species of cichlid fish from the coelotilapine, coptodonine, heterotilapine, oreochromine, pelmatolapiine, and tilapiine tribes (formerly all were "Tilapiini"), with the economically mos ...

exceeding 700 tonnes and 4000 pigs of the ‘heavy hog’ class. * Kafue Quarry produces

construction aggregate Construction aggregate, or simply aggregate, is a broad category of coarse- to medium-grained particulate material used in construction. Traditionally, it includes natural materials such as sand, gravel, crushed stone. As with other types of ag ...

for road building and general construction. The firm has been together with Nitrogen Chemicals and Kafue Textiles (no longer in operation) a source of employment for the district for a number of years. * Kafue Gorge Upper Power Station ( generation capacity) operated by the Zambia Electricity Supply Company ( ZESCO) generates

hydroelectricity Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is Electricity generation, electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies 15% of the world's electricity, almost 4,210 TWh in 2023, which is more than all other Renewable energ ...

downstream from the town, and at the end of the rainy season its

reservoir A reservoir (; ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam, usually built to water storage, store fresh water, often doubling for hydroelectric power generation. Reservoirs are created by controlling a watercourse that drains an existing body of wa ...

extends back to the town.

Kafue Bulk Water Supply Project (KBWSP)

References

{{Authority control Populated places in Lusaka Province