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River

Lomami River

1,280 km from source to mouth · DR Congo.

DR CongoDR CongoFlows into River Congo5th longest in DR Congo

Follow the riverMonth by month

SourceMouth
The river and every tributary in its basin, drawn from RiverATLAS (CC BY 4.0).

In numbers

Length

1,280km

Average flow

3,000m³/s

Basin

110,000km²

Drop

203m

from 573 m to 370 m

Country

1

The journey

From source to mouth

1,280 km of river and 0 stops on the way: 0 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.

573 m370 m
State of Katangaat 573 m0 km
River Congoat 370 m1,280 km
05001,0001,280 km
  1. 0 kmState of Katangaat 573 m
  2. 1,280 kmRiver Congoat 370 m

Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.

River in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

At the mouth it carries 3,000 m³/s on average: 1.2 Olympic pools every second. It drops from 573 m to 370 m, 0.2 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 110,000 km², about the size of CU. 1.6 million people live in it. Highest water: from December to January; lowest: August. No large dam holds it back: it is one of the world's free-flowing rivers.

Read more on Wikipedia

Where to start

  • YangambiLargest city on its banks · 62,082 people
  • Bangoka International Airport (FKI)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 105 km from the city
  • On the water15 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
  • From June to JulyThe best months to visit

Lomami River, month by month

Highest water: from December to January

Lowest water: August. Best months to visit: from June to July.

2,900
25°139 mmJan
2,600
25°134 mmFeb
2,500
26°183 mmMar
2,500
26°174 mmApr
2,300
26°107 mmMay
1,900
25°52 mmJun
1,300
24°59 mmJul
1,100
25°102 mmAug
1,400
25°144 mmSep
2,000
25°184 mmOct
2,700
25°211 mmNov
3,000
25°182 mmDec
Water (estimated flow)Air (average) Rain (mm)Best months

From about 1,100 m³/s in the lowest month to 3,000 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

Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.

The basin

Lomami River: the basin in numbers

104,162 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.

Free-flowingDams upstream can hold only 0.0% of a year's flow: the river still keeps its natural rhythm.
  • 1.6millionpeople live in the basin
  • 15/km²people per km²
  • 630maverage altitude of the basin
  • 1,566mmof rain a year (basin average)
  • 24.4°Caverage air temperature
  • 3%protected areas

What covers the basin

  • 78% Forest
  • 5% Cropland
  • 7% Pasture

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

Lomami River: what you find on the way

  • 15Ferry piersBac Karushe and 14 more

From OpenStreetMap, within 2.4 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.

Cross-checked with our atlases

Lomami 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.

  • 1mountain at the sourcePeakyas

Mountains at the source (1)

Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas

  1. Mont Eku8.5 km away

Open Peakyas ↗

From space

The source and the mouth, seen from orbit

Lomami River: satellite view of the source
The source14 km across
Lomami River: satellite view of the mouth
The mouth44 km across

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

Lomami River in pictures

Swallowtails on bank of Lomami River at Katopa Camp, Democratic Republic of the Congo
Christina Bergey · CC BY-SA 3.0
Lomami River at Katopa Camp, Democratic Republic of the Congo
Christina Bergey · CC BY-SA 3.0
Rivière lomami
WINEUR · CC BY-SA 4.0

Where these numbers come from

Name, length, placesWikidata (Q753765) · CC0
Course, profile, basinRiverATLAS v1.0 (HydroATLAS, Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 — followed along the river network from the point given by Wikidata
FlowWaterGAP (RiverATLAS), 1971–2000 · CC BY 4.0
Climate along the riverWorldClim (RiverATLAS), 1970–2000 · CC BY 4.0
Towns, bridges, damsWikidata · CC0; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0
Along the river© OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL
ImagesEOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons
Our other atlasesPeakyas — 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.

beachesCoastyaFind your beach: sea temperature, sun and swimming month by month.Visit
lakesLakeyasEvery lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.Coming soonVisit
mountainsPeakyasEvery summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit
waterfallsCascadyasEvery waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.Coming soonVisit
islandsIslandyasEvery island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Coming soonVisit
riversRiveryasEvery river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.You are here
canyonsCanyonyasEvery canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Coming soonVisit