Kwilu River
May, 2003 - Villagers crossing the Kwilu river
The Kwilu River in the Kasai catchment (center)
Location
Countries	Democratic Republic of the Congo
Physical characteristics
Mouth
• coordinates	3°23′07″S 17°23′04″E / 3.385251°S 17.384491°E / -3.385251; 17.384491
Length	965 km (600 mi)
Basin features
River system	Kasaï River

The Kwilu River (French: Rivière Kwilu) is a major river in Kwilu Province, formerly known as Bandundu province, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to the city of Bandundu, where it joins the Kwango River just before this stream enters the Kasai River. In the DRC the river flows past the towns of Gungu, Kikwit, Bulungu, Bagata, Rutherfordia and Bandundu.^[1] Lusanga, formerly Leverville, lies at the location where the Kwenge River joins the Kwilu, between Kikwit and Bulungu.^[2]

Characteristics

It is a meandering river. Near its mouth it is 950 meters wide. The bed material is sand.^[3] The river is about 965 kilometres (600 mi) long. In the wet season the flooded area covers 1,550 square kilometres (600 sq mi). The headwaters of the river rise at elevations between 1,000 metres (3,300 ft) and 1,800 metres (5,900 ft) in the Angolan highlands. They drop steeply to the flat central Congo Basin at between 500 metres (1,600 ft) and 300 metres (980 ft) above sea level. A 2011 survey found 113 species of fish in 21 families and eight orders.^[4]

• 
  Beside the river at Bandundu, June 2007
• 
  The river at Bandundu, June 2007