{"id":81,"date":"2024-03-27T12:23:43","date_gmt":"2024-03-27T12:23:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/dr-congo\/?p=81"},"modified":"2026-08-01T00:06:48","modified_gmt":"2026-08-01T00:06:48","slug":"haut-lomami","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/dr-congo\/haut-lomami\/","title":{"rendered":"Haut-Lomami"},"content":{"rendered":"

Haut-Lomami (“Upper Lomami”) is a landlocked province in the south-east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, named after the Lomami River, with Kamina as its capital. One of the 26 provinces created by the 2015 repartitioning, it covers 108,204 km² and had a projected population of about 3,662,800 in 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Capital<\/th>\nKamina<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Population<\/th>\n3,662,800 (projected, 2020)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Area<\/th>\n108,204 km²<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Territories<\/th>\n5<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Cities (villes)<\/th>\nKamina<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Languages<\/th>\nFrench (official), Swahili (national), Kiluba, Kisanga<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Neighbours<\/th>\nHaut-Katanga, Lualaba, Tanganyika, Lomami, Kasaï-Oriental<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Towns, Cities and Territories<\/h2>\n

Haut-Lomami has five territories. Each is named after its headquarters town, and Kamina also holds city status.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Territory or city<\/th>\nHeadquarters<\/th>\nNote<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
Bukama<\/td>\nBukama<\/td>\nLualaba River port, Upemba park<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Kabongo<\/td>\nKabongo<\/td>\nSeat of a Luba muLopwe<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Kamina<\/td>\nKamina<\/td>\nProvincial capital, rail hub<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Kaniama<\/td>\nKaniama<\/td>\nWestern farming territory<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Malemba-Nkulu<\/td>\nMalemba-Nkulu<\/td>\nUpemba depression, fishing<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Kamina<\/td>\nCity (ville)<\/td>\nAirport and air base<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Other towns worth knowing: Luena and Kapando in Bukama Territory, both on the rail corridor; Mulongo and Kinkondja in the Upemba wetlands north of Malemba-Nkulu; and Kitenge in Kabongo Territory. Away from the railway most settlements are village-scale, strung along the Lomami, the Lualaba and the roads between them.<\/p>\n

Geography<\/h2>\n

The province is high plateau country, mostly between 900 and 1,400 m, covered in miombo woodland and grass. It has no international border. Haut-Katanga<\/a> lies to the south-east, Lualaba<\/a> to the south-west, Tanganyika<\/a> to the north-east, and Lomami<\/a> and Kasaï-Oriental<\/a> to the north-west.<\/p>\n

Two great rivers run through it. The Lomami crosses the west; the Lualaba, the main headstream of the Congo, crosses the east and becomes navigable at Bukama. Between them the Upemba Depression spreads into a belt of lakes and marshes fed by the Lualaba. Upemba National Park, created in 1939 and once Africa’s largest, covers the depression and the Kibara Plateau behind it; the park straddles Haut-Lomami, Lualaba and Haut-Katanga, and its main protected block is about 10,000 km².<\/p>\n

Demographics<\/h2>\n

Density averages roughly 34 people per km², concentrated along the railway and the Upemba lakes and thin everywhere else. As with the rest of the country, the last census was in 1984, so every figure here is a projection.<\/p>\n

This is the Luba-Katanga heartland. The Baluba are the dominant people, with Basanga and Bakalanga communities alongside them. Kiluba is the home language of most households; Swahili serves for trade and travel, and French for administration and schooling.<\/p>\n

Economy and Local Life<\/h2>\n

Haut-Lomami is farming and fishing country, not a mining province, which sets it apart from its Copperbelt neighbours. Cassava, maize, groundnuts, beans and sweet potato are the staples; palm oil, honey and charcoal are traded. Cattle do well on the plateau grass, and Kaniama has long been a ranching area.<\/p>\n

The Upemba lakes support a serious fishery. Fish from Kinkondja, Mulongo and Malemba-Nkulu is smoked and carried by rail and road to Kolwezi and Lubumbashi, and that trade is the biggest earner in the north of the province. Bukama works as the transhipment point where river barges meet the railway. Kamina’s economy runs on administration, the railway junction, the air base and its markets.<\/p>\n

History<\/h2>\n

Haut-Lomami was created in 2015 when the old Katanga province was divided into four — Haut-Lomami, Haut-Katanga<\/a>, Lualaba<\/a> and Tanganyika<\/a> — and it took the boundaries of the former Haut-Lomami district, with Kamina as its seat. Long before that, the Upemba Depression was the cradle of the Luba kingdom, and Kabongo remains the seat of a muLopwe of the Baluba royal line. Kamina itself grew around the railway and, after the Second World War, a large Belgian military complex whose pilots’ school ran from 1953 to 1960.<\/p>\n

Getting There<\/h2>\n

Kamina has two airfields, the civilian Kamina Airport and the Kamina Base military field, with flights to Lubumbashi and Kinshasa. The railway is the province’s real artery: three lines leave Kamina, running north to Kabalo and Kindu, south-east to Tenke and Lubumbashi, and west, and Kabongo and Bukama sit on branches of the same network. National Road 1 passes through Kamina and Regional Road 630 feeds it. River barges work the Lualaba upstream from Bukama. Unpaved roads to Kaniama and Malemba-Nkulu are hard going in the November–April rains.<\/p>\n

FAQ<\/h2>\n

What is the capital of Haut-Lomami?<\/h3>\n

Kamina, a railway and air-base town that had 156,761 residents in 2012.<\/p>\n

How many territories does Haut-Lomami have?<\/h3>\n

Five: Bukama, Kabongo, Kamina, Kaniama and Malemba-Nkulu.<\/p>\n

What language is spoken in Haut-Lomami?<\/h3>\n

Kiluba at home for most people, Swahili for trade, and French in schools and government.<\/p>\n

Which river is Haut-Lomami named after?<\/h3>\n

The Lomami, a left-bank tributary of the Congo that crosses the western half of the province.<\/p>\n

Does Haut-Lomami border another country?<\/h3>\n

No. It is entirely interior, surrounded by five Congolese provinces.<\/p>\n

What is Upemba National Park?<\/h3>\n

A park covering the Upemba Depression lakes and the Kibara Plateau, shared between Haut-Lomami, Lualaba and Haut-Katanga. It was founded in 1939 and its main block runs to about 10,000 km².<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Haut-Lomami (“Upper Lomami”) is a landlocked province in the south-east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, named after the Lomami River, with Kamina as its capital. One of the 26 provinces created by the 2015 repartitioning, it covers 108,204 km² and had a projected population of about 3,662,800 in 2020. Capital Kamina Population 3,662,800 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"Haut-Lomami: Towns & 5 Territories in DR Congo","_seopress_titles_desc":"Haut-Lomami province, DR Congo: capital Kamina, all 5 territories with headquarters towns, plus population, Kiluba, the Upemba lakes and farming.","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-81","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-dr-congo","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/dr-congo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/dr-congo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/dr-congo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/dr-congo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/dr-congo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/dr-congo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":132,"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/dr-congo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81\/revisions\/132"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/dr-congo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/dr-congo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/dr-congo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}