Kafue

River in central Zambia, a tributary of the Zambezi, 965 km/600 mi long. The upper reaches of the river form part of the Kafue National Park (1951). Kafue town, 44 km/27 mi south of Lusaka, population (2000) 45,900, is the centre of Zambia's heavy industry, which includes engineering and textiles. A hydroelectric power station opened in 1972 on the lower Kafue River at Kafue Gorge; its 600,000-kilowatt generating facility was expanded to 900,000 in the late 1970s by the construction of a storage dam upstream.