Mwinilunga

Geographical location of Mwinilunga

Mwinilunga is a small town with 14,500 inhabitants (2006 estimate) on the upper reaches of the Western Lunga River in the north-western province of Zambia . It is 1400 meters above sea level and is the seat of the administration of the district of the same name of 20,910 km² with 124,485 inhabitants (2002), which borders Angola in the north and the Democratic Republic of the Congo in the northeast . After Lusaka there are 872 kilometers, according to Solwezi 290 km.

geography

The highest point in the district is the Kaleni Hills with 1524 meters with dense Miombo forest , the deepest with 458 meters is in the sandy south. In the north the soils are acidic because of the heavy rain, in the south they are good and suitable for agriculture. The average annual rainfall is 1386 mm, the highest in Zambia. The equatorial rainforest extends all the way to here. The population is concentrated in the town of Mwinilunga and the areas next to the road to Solwezi.

The dominant ethnic group are the Lunda . The population density is six people per km².

In the 1980s, 23,000 Angolan refugees were settled in the area around the city . An orderly drinking water supply is virtually non-existent.

economy

Subsistence farming is the main source of income . The food situation is stable and without hunger. Corn, cassava , millet, beans, pineapple, sweet potatoes , peanuts and rice are grown. Charcoal is also burned. The apiaries deliver 85 tons of wax and 300,000 tons of honey annually. Fish farming is under construction. There is enough water and still countless uninhabited valleys.

Small gold and diamond deposits have been discovered nearby.

traffic

Mwinilunge is on the T5 trunk road . In the direction of Solwezi it is a gravel road to Kasempa and then becomes an asphalt road, with an average of 15 vehicles per day. However, it is essential for the supply of the entire district. To the north, the T5 extends to the Angolan border, where a border crossing enables traffic to and from the neighboring country.

There are plans for a new railway line ( North-Western Railway Line ), coming from Chingola via Solwezi to the Zambian-Angolan border and continuing via Jimbe to the Atlantic coast of Angola . Your end point should be in the port of Luanda or, according to other information, from Lobito ( Benguela Railway ).

The city has an unpaved, 1,000 meter long runway.

education

The district has 69 elementary schools and six secondary schools, most of which have no benches, no doors or windows.

tourism

Mwinilunga is southeast of the Nchila Wildlife Sanctuary, a rainforest area known for saber antelopes and other large mammals. The Luakela Forest Reserve and the Chitunta Plain are known as the source of the Zambezi and for their bird life. The Kabombo Gorge of the Zambezi with its white water rapids is also worth seeing.

In terms of tourism, the Chisemwa cha Lunda ceremony is significant, which attracts many people and where men earn money by selling meat from wild animals that they have previously hunted during this festival. This is the main monetary income here.