Lubumbashi

Travel / Flying

Lubumbashi has an international airport.

You can fly directly to Lubumbashi from Nairobi with Kenya Airways, from Adis Adaba with Ethiopian Airways and from Johannesburg with South African Airways.

There are also daily flights from Kinshasa with Congolese Airline CAA. Korongo Airlines are soon to open, connecting Lubumbashi travellers directly to the daily SNBrussels flight between Brussels and Kinshasa as well as Johannesburg.

If you want to fly into some of the more rural locations you can fly to Kolwezi and Kalemi with Itab.  Flights can also be chartered locally with MAF and other small airline operators.

Lubumbashi is accessible by road from Zambia via the border at Kasumbelesa which opens at 8am and closes at 6pm.  Allow plenty of time for crossing this border due to the high volume of traffic which passes through the border and the paperwork which needs to be completed on both sides.

It is also possible to enter via the border at Kipushi although this border is not open every day, it is important to verify which days crossings are allowed before starting your journey as there are no accommodation facilities close to the border.

The Taqwa bus services run daily buses between Lubumbashi and Dar es Salaam via Zambia.  This journey will take 36 hours or longer, be sure to carry plenty of provisions and water with you!

There are also coach services to Johannesburg via the Victoria Falls as well as the more local destinations of Likasi and Kolwezi.

The train services in D.R.Congo are not regular, the train to Dilolo via Kolwezi runs once a month and can take up to 2 weeks to arrive at the Angolan border. There are no facilities on the train, these journeys are for the more intrepid travellers. A visa is required before arriving at the Congolese border. A yellow fever certificate is also necessary for entry and occasionally typhoid and cholera are also requested at the border.