River
Lualaba River
1,800 km from source to mouth · DR Congo.
DR CongoFlows into River Congo1st longest in DR Congo
In numbers
Length
1,800km
Average flow
12,400m³/s
Basin
1,331,426km²
Drop
573m
from 921 m to 348 m
Country
1
The journey
From source to mouth
1,800 km of river and 18 stops on the way: 7 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmSourceat 921 m
- 69 kmPweto38,298 people
- 71 kmLake Mweru5,043 km²
- 124 kmChutes Poulsen
- 498 kmKabalo81,191 people
- 542 kmLukuga Rivertributary
- 573 kmKongolo86,932 people
- 577 kmKongolo Bridge
- 591 kmHellepoorten
- 654 kmLwama Rivertributary
- 905 kmChute Shambe
- 908 kmKindu234,651 people
- 934 kmElila Rivertributary
- 1,221 kmChutes Tshungu
- 1,323 kmBoyoma Falls
- 1,323 kmChutes Wagenia60 m
- 1,325 kmKisangani1,602,144 people
- 1,415 kmYangambi62,082 people
- 1,689 kmBumba154,586 people
- 1,800 kmRiver Congoat 348 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
River in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo
At the mouth it carries 12,424 m³/s on average: 5.0 Olympic pools every second. It drops from 921 m to 348 m, 0.3 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 1,331,426 km², about the size of PE. 39.8 million people live in it. Highest water: from December to March; lowest: August. No large dam holds it back: it is one of the world's free-flowing rivers.
Where to start
- KisanganiLargest city on its banks · 1,602,144 people
- Bangoka International Airport (FKI)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 17 km from the city
- On the water29 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
- From June to AugustThe best months to visit
Lualaba River, month by month
Highest water: from December to March
Lowest water: August. Best months to visit: from June to August.
From about 10,000 m³/s in the lowest month to 14,800 m³/s in the highest. An estimate: the monthly flow is modelled from the lowest and highest months of WaterGAP (RiverATLAS, 1971–2000) and the rain and snow along the river (WorldClim). Dams change the real rhythm. The chip is the average air temperature; below it, the month's rain.
Plan the trip
Plan the trip: boat trips, a bed by the river, a car
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The basin
Lualaba River: the basin in numbers
1,331,426 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 39.8millionpeople live in the basin
- 30/km²people per km²
- 948maverage altitude of the basin
- 1,380mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 22.9°Caverage air temperature
- 14%protected areas
- 3.6%covered by lakes
- 4.1km³held in reservoirs
What covers the basin
- 75% Forest
- 6% Cropland
- 19% Pasture
- 1% Towns and cities
RiverATLAS (HydroATLAS v1.0, CC BY 4.0): land cover, people, protected areas, glaciers and dams over the whole basin upstream of the mouth.
Along the river
Lualaba River: what you find on the way
- 2Weirs
- 2WaterfallsChutes de Tshungu, Boyoma Falls
- 27Ferry piersKisangani ONATRA, Débarcadère sud, Bumba and 24 more
- 2Marinas
From OpenStreetMap, within 3.1 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Lualaba River in our other atlases
What our sister atlases know about the waterfalls on this river, the lakes it flows through, the beaches at its mouth, the mountains where it rises and the islands off its mouth.
6waterfalls on the riverCascadyas
1lake on its wayLakeyas
Waterfalls (6)
On the river, by Cascadyas
- Chutes Poulsenkm 128
- Hellepoortenkm 609
- Chute Shambekm 932
- Chutes Tshungukm 1,258
- Boyoma Fallskm 1,363
- Chutes Wageniakm 1,36360m
Cascadyas is coming soonOpen Cascadyas ↗
Lakes and reservoirs (1)
Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas
- Lake Mwerukm 73 · 37 m deep5,043km²
Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗
From space
The source and the mouth, seen from orbit
Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 by EOX IT Services GmbH (contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2016), CC BY 4.0. The glowing line is the river as drawn by RiverATLAS.
Photos
Lualaba River in pictures
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
It flows into
River Congo
Angola4,700 km41,800 m³/sTributaries (6)
Also: Ulindi River, Lwama River, Elila River, Lubudi River
In the same basin
Republic of the Congo2,272 km12,000 m³/sUbangi River
Central African Republic1,060 km5,900 m³/sKwango RiverDR Congo1,770 km2,700 m³/sUeleDR Congo1,210 km1,500 m³/sLomami RiverDR Congo1,280 km3,000 m³/sSanghaRepublic of the Congo785 km2,500 m³/sEbola RiverDR Congo250 km320 m³/sMbomou RiverCentral African Republic800 km1,300 m³/sLuvua RiverDR Congo350 km600 m³/sSankuru RiverDR Congo1,200 km1,500 m³/sNearby
Rivers nearby
Where these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q836812) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| Course, profile, basin | RiverATLAS v1.0 (HydroATLAS, Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 — followed along the river network from the point given by Wikidata |
| Flow | WaterGAP (RiverATLAS), 1971–2000 · CC BY 4.0 |
| Climate along the river | WorldClim (RiverATLAS), 1970–2000 · CC BY 4.0 |
| Towns, bridges, dams | Wikidata · CC0; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0 |
| Along the river | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
| Our other atlases | Cascadyas, Lakeyas — Wikidata · CC0; © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0; HydroLAKES · CC BY 4.0; NOAA OISST |
Every source and licence is on the data sources page.
The family
Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers or canyons?
Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, month by month, in seven languages.
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Every island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Coming soonVisit 
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Every canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Coming soonVisit