Cuando
Cuando is a mapped river in the YearMaps hydrographic index. River courses organise settlement, agriculture and frontier-making more durably than any political boundary, and this reach is indexed against the dams, lakes and cities within its catchment.
- Feature Class
- River
- Coordinates
- -15.70°, 21.53°
About Cuando
The Cuando (or Kwando) is a river in south-central Africa flowing through Angola and Namibia's Caprivi Strip and into the Linyanti Swamp on the northern border of Botswana. Below the swamp, the river is called the Linyanti River and, farther east, the Chobe River, before it flows into the Zambezi River.
Encyclopedic summary adapted from Wikipedia: Cuando River (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Cuando in Depth
Course
The Cuando rises in the central plateau of Angola on the slopes of Mount Tembo, thence flowing southeast along the Zambian border. Along this reach it flows in a maze of channels in a swampy corridor 5–10 km wide (map 1: the border with Zambia is the eastern bank of this floodplain, not the river channel). As with all rivers in south-central Africa, its flow varies enormously between the rainy season when it floods and may be several kilometres wide, and the dry season when it may disappear into marshes.
The Cuando continues in its marshy channel across the neck of the Caprivi Strip of Namibia (map, 2) and then forms the border between Namibia and Botswana as it continues southeast.
Sections adapted from Wikipedia: Cuando River (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Cuando: Key Facts
| Length | 731 km |
|---|---|
| Drainage basin | 113,393 km² |
| Mouth | Zambezi River |
| Drainage system | Zambezi Basin |
Facts from Wikidata Q182942 (CC0).
Major River Dossiers
Hand-written studies of the great river systems of history.
Connected Reaches
Nearby watercourses in the same drainage network.
Water Bodies in the Catchment
Settlements Along the Reach
Hydraulic Infrastructure Nearby
Surrounding Terrain
Cuando: Quick Answers
- Where is Cuando?
- Cuando is located in Angola and Zambia and Namibia and Botswana, at 15.6972° S, 21.5307° E.
- Are there dams on the Cuando?
- No dam on the Cuando is recorded in the YearMaps dam index, which covers major structures only.