Lomami River

The Lomami River is a major tributary of the Congo River in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The river is approximately 1,280 km (800 mi) long.[1] It flows north, west of and parallel to the upper Congo.

The Lomami rises in the south of the country, near Kamina and the Congo–Zambezi divide.[1] It flows north through Lubao, Tshofa [fr], Kombe, Bolaiti, Opala, and Irema before joining the Congo at Isangi.

Henry Morton Stanley reached the confluence of the two rivers on 6 Jan. 1877, “the affluent Lumami, which Livingstone calls ‘Young’s river,’ entered the great stream, by a mouth 600 yards wide, between low banks densely covered with trees.”[2]:Vol.Two,176

In October 1889 M. Janssen, Governor-General of the Congo State, explored the Lomani river upstream from Isangi on the Ville de Bruxelles. After steaming for 116 hours he was stopped by rapids at a latitude of 4°27’2” S.[3]

The river has lent its name to a number of biological species, including the monkey Cercopithecus lomamiensis and the flowering plant Pavetta lomamiensis.