Wamba is a town in Haut-Uele province of the

Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), also known as the DR Congo, Congo-Kinshasa, or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Republic of the Congo), is a country in Central Africa. By land area, it is t ...

that is the administrative centre of

Wamba Territory Wamba Territory is a part of the Haut-Uele province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The administrative center is the town of Wamba. Mining As of 2011, Kilo Goldmines was active in a joint venture with Somituri sprl, a local company, in ...

Location and people

The area around Wamba consists of a rainforest-derived mosaic of dry, swamp and secondary forest with cultivated fields. Altitude is between and . Annual rainfall is around . Both Wamba and nearby Mungbere are inaccessible because of the very poor roads in the region.

History

The Apostolic Vicariate of Wamba was established in 1949 and was promoted to the Diocese of Wamba in 1959. During the Simba Rebellion, in December 1964 rebels held 250 white hostages in Wamba. Two mercenary rescue columns reached the town at the end of the year. They found that 28 whites had been brutally killed, mostly Belgians, including the Bishop Monsignor Joseph-Pierre Albert Wittebols. 121 whites were still alive, mainly Greeks who had provided cash and cooperated with the rebels in exchange for their lives.

Today

The town is home to a station of the ''Centre de Recherche en Ecologie et Forestiere''. Many of the people in these towns rely for their livelihoods on the

Okapi Wildlife Reserve The Okapi Wildlife Reserve () is a wildlife reserve in the Ituri Forest in the north-east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, near the borders with South Sudan and Uganda. At approximately 14,000 km2, it covers approximately one-fifth of ...

, a

World Heritage Site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...

. The reserve is home to the rare

Okapi The okapi (; ''Okapia johnstoni''), also known as the forest giraffe, Congolese giraffe and zebra giraffe, is an artiodactyl mammal that is endemic to the northeast Democratic Republic of the Congo in central Africa. However, non-invasive gen ...

species, a relative of the giraffe. Efforts have been made to train the people in alternate ways to make a living and to educate them in the importance of conservation. As of 2011, the Bishop of Wamba was Janvier Kataka Luvete.

References

Populated places in Haut-Uélé {{DRCongo-geo-stub