Lake Mweru
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| Lake Mweru | |
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| Coordinates | |
| Lake type | Rift Valley lakes |
| Primary sources | Luapula River Kalungwishi River |
| Primary outflows | Luvua River |
| Basin countries | Zambia Democratic Republic of the Congo |
| Max-length | 96 km |
| Max-width | 45 km |
| Surface area | 4,350 km² |
| Average depth | 7 m |
| Max-depth | 37 m |
| Water volume | 32 km³ |
| Shore length1 | 340 km |
| Surface elevation | 917 m |
| Islands | Kilwa Island Isokwe |
| Settlements | Nchelenge |
| 1 Shore length is an imprecise measure which may not be standardized for this article. | |
Lake Mweru (located at ) is a lake located on the border between Zambia and Democratic Republic of the Congo, about 150 km west of the southern end of Lake Tanganyika. It is approximately 96 km long and 45 km wide, with its long end oriented northeast/southwest, and lies at an elevation of 917 m.
It is mainly fed by the Luapula River, which comes in through swamps to the south of the lake and the Kalungwishi River, and to the north the lake is drained by the Luvua River, which flows in a northwesterly direction to join the Lualaba River and thence to the Congo.
Many fishing villages dot its shores, on which the town of Nchelenge also lies. It is home to two large islands: Kilwa Island and Isokwe. The lake has for a long time has been the subject of the Luapula Province border dispute. The area was isolated until a tarred road was built to Nchelenge in 1987; the population around the lake has grown, much of it exploiting the rich fishery of the lake.
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