Cuito (river)
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Cuito Kuito |
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| Data | ||
| location |
 Angola
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| River system | Okavango | |
| Drain over | Okavango → Okavango Delta | |
| source | in the west of the province of Moxico 12 ° 41 ′ 14 ″ S , 18 ° 21 ′ 47 ″ E |
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| Source height | 1435 m | |
| muzzle | on the Angola / Namibia border in the Okavango (Cubango) Coordinates: 18 ° 1 ′ 42 ″ S , 20 ° 47 ′ 31 ″ E, 18 ° 1 ′ 42 ″ S , 20 ° 47 ′ 31 ″ E |
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| Mouth height | 1041 m | |
| Height difference | 394 m | |
| Bottom slope | 0.43 ‰ | |
| length | 920 km | |
| Catchment area | 57,470 km² | |
| Discharge at the Dirico A Eo gauge: 57,470 km² at the mouth |
MNQ 1950–1998 MQ 1950–1998 Mq 1950–1998 MHQ 1950–1998 |
110 m³ / s 160 m³ / s 2.8 l / (s km²) 230 m³ / s |
| Medium-sized cities | Cuito Cuanavale | |
.jpg) Confluence of the Cuito (from above) with the Okavango |
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The Cuito (also spelled Kuito ) is an approximately 1000 kilometer long tributary of the Okavango in Angola .
course
It rises in the rainy highlands of Bié in a lake east of the Cubango and initially flows as a torrent in a southerly direction to the Kalahari basin. The river crosses the province of Cuando Cubango and flows in its lower reaches in a south-easterly direction with meanders through floodplain meadows and areas with water-absorbing peat and sand, which inhibit its flow speed to meet the faster-flowing Cubango on the border with Namibia . Both rivers unite there to form the Okavango.
Hydrology
The flow rate was calculated from the difference between the two levels in Rundu and Mukwe in m³ / s, which are about 200 km apart, but only have the Cuito as a noteworthy inflow between the stations.
exploration
The source region of the Cuito, which is difficult to access, was hardly explored for a long time, especially because of the civil war in Angola , which left many landmines in the highlands even after the end of the conflict in 2002. In 2015, a South African expedition led by National Geographic first attempted to investigate the entire length of the Cuito from its source to the mouth of the Okavango. Awareness of this region and its tourism potential should also be created. The course of the river has so far been largely untouched and plays an important role in supplying the Okavango Delta , one of the most important wetland regions in South West Africa.
In the town of Cuito Cuanavale at the confluence of the rivers Cuito and Cuanavale , the battle of Cuito Cuanavale took place between January 13 and March 23, 1988 , the largest battle in Africa since 1943. At that time, thousands of Angolan, South African, Cuban and Namibian fought Soldiers opposite. In the course of this, almost 20,000 soldiers were killed.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d Okavango Basin - Hydrology
- ↑ David Quammen: Inside the Mission to Save Africa's Okavango Delta. In: National Geographic , November 2017.
- ^ Hans-Georg Schleicher: Cuito Cuanavale: "A victory over Pretorias apartheid". In: Neues Deutschland , 19./20. April 2008; Battle of Cuito Cuanavale 1988. In: South African History Online , May 30, 2011; Ronnie Kasrils : Cuito Cuanavale, Angola. In: Monthly Review , April 1, 2013; Keith Somerville: It's 30 years since Cuito Cuanavale. How the battle redefined southern Africa. In: The Conversation , May 29, 2017.