The Chambeshi (or Chambezi) River in northern Zambia headstream is farther from the Congo River (in length) and therefore considered as the source. (However, in terms of volume of water, the river is higher Lualaba the "source" of the Congo.)The Chambeshi rises as a stream in the northern mountains, near Lake Tanganyika in Zambia, at an altitude of 1760 meters. It flows 480 km in the Bangweulu swamps, which form part of Lake Bangweulu, and the end of the rainy season in May, which delivers a current that recharges the wetlands and flooded a vast flood plain in the southeast, supporting the Bangweulu Wetlands ecosystem. Then the water comes out of the swamps in the Luapula River.
Over 100 km of its length, which flows east of Kasama of the river consists of a maze of canals in the marshes about 2 km wide, and the flood of up to 25 km wide. In addition, downstream, where it is bridged by the Kasama-Mpika the road, the railway Tazara, a permanent channel is about the main 100 m wide, and up to 400 meters wide flood.