Lake · DR Congo
Lake Mai-Ndombe
Lake in the province of Mai-Ndombe, Democratic Republic of the Congo
- Area
- 2,316km²
- Max depth
- 10m
- Average depth
- 18m
- Elevation
- 292m a.s.l.
- Shoreline
- 847km
- Volume
- 41.0km³
Lake Mai-Ndombe is a lake in DR Congo. It covers 2,316 km². On average it is 18 m deep, and 10 m at its deepest point. Its surface lies 292 m above sea level.
Plan your visit
Stay, sail and get there
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The water
How warm is Lake Mai-Ndombe?
The water is warmest in November, around 27 °C at the surface, and coldest in January, around 27 °C. The surface averages 20 °C or more from January to December: comfortable for most swimmers.
It does not normally freeze in winter.
On the shore, afternoons reach 31 °C on average in July and 28 °C in November. The driest month is July (50 mm of rain), the wettest November (201 mm).
Average surface temperature measured by the Landsat 8 satellite between 2013 and 2021 at the point furthest from the shore (54 readings). Shallow bays and beaches are often warmer.
From above
The whole lake from space
Month by month
The year at the lake, month by month
Not a forecast: these are averages over many years. Water is the 2013–2021 average; air, rain, sun and wind are the 1991–2020 average.
Water: 2013–2021 averageClimate: 1991–2020 average
| Month | Water°C | Water high°C | Air high°C | Air low°C | Rainmm | Rainy daysdays | Sunh/day | Windkm/h |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 27 | 27 | 30 | 23 | 120 | 21 | 5.7 | 3 |
| February | 27 | 27 | 30 | 23 | 142 | 21 | 5.3 | 3 |
| March | 27 | 27 | 29 | 24 | 176 | 24 | 5.6 | 3 |
| April | 27 | 27 | 29 | 24 | 167 | 25 | 5.7 | 3 |
| May | 27 | 27 | 29 | 24 | 140 | 23 | 5.8 | 3 |
| June | 27 | 27 | 30 | 23 | 76 | 15 | 5.2 | 3 |
| July | 27 | 27 | 31 | 23 | 50 | 13 | 4.5 | 4 |
| August | 27 | 27 | 31 | 23 | 95 | 19 | 4.1 | 4 |
| September | 27 | 27 | 30 | 23 | 180 | 26 | 4.6 | 3 |
| October | 27 | 27 | 28 | 23 | 197 | 28 | 4.9 | 3 |
| November | 27 | 27 | 28 | 23 | 201 | 26 | 4.8 | 3 |
| December | 27 | 27 | 28 | 23 | 178 | 26 | 4.7 | 3 |
Water: LakeTEMP (Landsat 8, 2013–2021). Air, rain, sun and wind: NASA POWER, 1991–2020 averages. A rainy day has at least 1 mm of rain. Sunshine hours are derived from measured solar radiation.
Size & depth
How big, how deep
- On average, water stays in the lake for about 20 months before flowing out.
- Its catchment drains 48,905 km² of land.
- About 780 m³ of water flow out every second, on average.
- Its shoreline is 5.0 times longer than a circle of the same area: plenty of bays and inlets.
Around the shore
What's around Lake Mai-Ndombe
Counted within 1.5 km of the shoreline in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit.
- —beaches and swimming spots
- —campsites
- —boat hire and water-sport clubs
- 1marinas and slipways
- 9ferry piers
Bosenge and 8 more
- 1viewpoints
Chez MAMAN BISENGO
- 2hotels, B&Bs and chalets
Chez LELE IYOLO, Chez MARYLINE
- —fishing spots
- —restaurants and cafés
Towns on the shore
- Inongo68,852 people
Nearest airport with scheduled flights: Bandundu Airport (FDU), 196 km in a straight line.
OpenStreetMap is built by volunteers: when a number is low, it may just mean nobody has mapped it yet.
Recent years
How each month compared
Afternoon high on the shore. The first row is the reference, the 1991–2020 average in °C; the years below show the difference from it: warmer in orange, cooler in blue.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1991–2020 average | 29.8 | 29.9 | 29.4 | 28.9 | 29.3 | 30.1 | 31.3 | 31.0 | 29.6 | 28.5 | 28.0 | 28.3 |
| 2020 | −0.3 | −0.8 | −1.0 | −0.7 | −0.9 | −1.8 | −3.1 | −2.5 | −1.8 | −1.2 | −0.6 | −0.5 |
| 2021 | −1.7 | −1.2 | −1.7 | −1.1 | −1.3 | −1.3 | −2.1 | −2.5 | −1.6 | −0.9 | −0.4 | −0.2 |
| 2022 | −1.4 | −1.4 | −1.3 | −1.1 | −1.5 | −1.9 | −2.3 | −2.5 | −1.7 | −0.7 | −1.2 | −0.6 |
| 2023 | −1.8 | −0.8 | −1.4 | −1.1 | −0.7 | −1.7 | −1.2 | −1.7 | −0.6 | −0.5 | −0.4 | ±0.0 |
| 2024 | +0.5 | +1.5 | +1.3 | +1.8 | +1.5 | +1.8 | +2.8 | +2.1 | +1.4 | ±0.0 | −0.2 | +0.6 |
| 2025 | +1.5 | +3.1 | +3.0 | +0.8 | −0.6 | −0.9 | −2.3 | −1.6 | ±0.0 | −0.7 | ±0.0 | +0.2 |
+1 warmer than usual −1 cooler than usual
Republic of the CongoAbout these numbers
| Outline, area, depth, volume | HydroLAKES v1.0 (Messager et al. 2016) · CC BY 4.0 |
|---|---|
| Water temperature and ice | LakeTEMP v1 (Korver et al. 2024), Landsat 8 2013–2021 · CC BY 4.0 |
| Air, rain, sun, wind | NASA POWER, 1991–2020 · public domain |
| Names and description | Wikidata (Q683100) · CC0 |
| Around the shore | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
Every figure is an average or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.
