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River

Lukuga River

320 km from source to mouth · DR Congo.

DR CongoDR CongoFlows into River 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

320km

Average flow

1,800m³/s

Basin

244,500km²

Drop

219m

from 767 m to 548 m

Country

1

The journey

From source to mouth

320 km of river and 3 stops on the way: 1 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.

767 m548 m
Lake Tanganyikaat 767 m0 km
chutes Mulimba156 km
River Congoat 548 m320 km
0100200320 km
  1. 0 kmLake Tanganyikaat 767 m
  2. 0 kmKalemie160,961 people
  3. 3 kmLake Tanganyika32,827 km²
  4. 156 kmchutes Mulimba
  5. 320 kmRiver Congoat 548 m

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

It is an outlet river of lake Tanganyika in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

At the mouth it carries 1,769 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 1.4 seconds. It drops from 767 m to 548 m, 0.7 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 244,500 km², about the size of GB. 14.5 million people live in it. Highest water: from January to March; lowest: from July to October. No large dam holds it back: it is one of the world's free-flowing rivers.

Read more on Wikipedia

Where to start

  • KalemieLargest city on its banks · 160,961 people
  • Kalemie Airport (FMI)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 10 km from the city
  • On the water1 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
  • From May to SeptemberThe best months to visit

Lukuga River, month by month

Highest water: from January to March

Lowest water: from July to October. Best months to visit: from May to September.

2,600
24°146 mmJan
2,700
25°119 mmFeb
2,500
25°144 mmMar
2,400
25°141 mmApr
2,000
24°41 mmMay
1,600
23°4 mmJun
1,200
23°2 mmJul
900
24°9 mmAug
950
25°52 mmSep
1,200
25°94 mmOct
1,800
24°174 mmNov
2,400
24°184 mmDec
Water (estimated flow)Air (average) Rain (mm)Best months

From about 900 m³/s in the lowest month to 2,700 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

Car hire in DR CongoDiscover CarsSee 

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

Lukuga River: the basin in numbers

266,514 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.
  • 14.5millionpeople live in the basin
  • 56/km²people per km²
  • 1,169maverage altitude of the basin
  • 1,055mmof rain a year (basin average)
  • 22.5°Caverage air temperature
  • 28%protected areas
  • 13.4%covered by lakes
  • 0.0km³held in reservoirs

What covers the basin

  • 46% Forest
  • 9% Cropland
  • 36% Pasture
  • 2% 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

Lukuga River: what you find on the way

  • 1Ferry piersKalemie Port

From OpenStreetMap, within 2.7 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.

Cross-checked with our atlases

Lukuga 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.

  • 1waterfall on the riverCascadyas
  • 1lake on its wayLakeyas

Waterfalls (1)

On the river, by Cascadyas

  1. chutes Mulimbakm 165

Cascadyas is coming soonOpen Cascadyas ↗

Lakes and reservoirs (1)

Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas

  1. Lake Tanganyikakm 3 · 1,433 m deep32,827km²

Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗

From space

The source and the mouth, seen from orbit

Lukuga River: satellite view of the source
The source14 km across
Lukuga River: satellite view of the mouth
The mouth70 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

Lukuga River in pictures

River Lukuga, Kalemia
Tom Skrinar · CC BY-SA 2.0

Tributaries

Where it flows, and what flows into it

It flows into

River CongoAngolaAngola4,700 km41,800 m³/s

Tributaries (2)

Also: Kalimabenge, Nyemba

In the same basin

Kasai RiverRepublic of the CongoRepublic of the Congo2,272 km12,000 m³/sUbangi RiverCentral African RepublicCentral African Republic1,060 km5,900 m³/sKwango RiverDR CongoDR Congo1,770 km2,700 m³/sUeleDR CongoDR Congo1,210 km1,500 m³/sLomami RiverDR CongoDR Congo1,280 km3,000 m³/sSanghaRepublic of the CongoRepublic of the Congo785 km2,500 m³/sEbola RiverDR CongoDR Congo250 km320 m³/sMbomou RiverCentral African RepublicCentral African Republic800 km1,300 m³/sLuvua RiverDR CongoDR Congo350 km600 m³/sSankuru RiverDR CongoDR Congo1,200 km1,500 m³/s

Nearby

Rivers nearby

Lufira RiverDR CongoDR Congo500 km300 m³/s293 km awayMalagarasi RiverTanzaniaTanzania475 km340 m³/s319 km awayRuzizi RiverBurundiBurundi117 km400 m³/s362 km awayMugere RiverBurundiBurundi293 km100 m³/s353 km awayLuvua RiverDR CongoDR Congo350 km600 m³/s450 km awayRuhwa RiverRwandaRwanda50 km6.0 m³/s401 km awayLuapula RiverZambiaZambia560 km1,300 m³/s450 km awayMubarazi RiverBurundiBurundi67 km28 m³/s436 km away

Where these numbers come from

Name, length, placesWikidata (Q128350) · 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 atlasesCascadyas, 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.

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