Qibla direction in Kalemie

How to face the Qibla in Kalemie

Stand where you will pray and find north first. Then turn towards north and move a further 20.6° towards east: the result is the bearing of 20.6°. A small error of a few degrees is forgiven by most scholars, but aiming simply at north would leave you about 21° off.

Facing the Qibla is a condition of the prayer. Whoever prays inside the Sacred Mosque faces the Kaaba itself; whoever is far away, as in Kalemie, faces its direction and makes a sincere effort to be accurate. A nearby mosque is a handy reference, because its prayer rows were aligned when it was built. Once you know the direction at home, a discreet mark on the wall saves you from checking again.

Why a flat map shows a different direction

On a flat (Mercator) map, the straight line from Kalemie to Mecca points to 20.9°, only 0.3° away from the true Qibla. Here the two methods practically agree, so a map gives a usable first idea, although the 20.6° bearing remains the exact one.

How is the figure of 20.6° obtained? From the coordinates of Kalemie (5.9475° S, 29.1947° E) and of the Kaaba (21.4225° N, 39.8262° E), spherical trigonometry gives the starting bearing of the great circle joining them. Mosque architects and astronomical Qibla tables rely on exactly the same calculation.

Distance from Kalemie to Mecca and Medina

Mecca is 3,257 km from Kalemie as the crow flies, and Medina, the city of the Prophet ﷺ, is 3,565 km away. A direct flight would take roughly 4 h 20 min, although most pilgrims from Kalemie connect through Jeddah or Medina airport.

Clocks in Kalemie run 1 hour behind Mecca all year. Prayer times, however, depend on the sun at your own location, so always use the prayer times of Kalemie rather than those of Mecca.

Finding the Qibla with the sun in Kalemie

On 217 days of 2027, the sun passes exactly through the Qibla direction of Kalemie while it is well above the horizon. At that moment, facing the sun means facing Mecca. The effect is most frequent in May (31 days); for example, on 15 March 2027 it happens at 12:07 local time.

On 148 days the sun stands exactly opposite the Qibla: then the shadow of any vertical object, a pole, a door frame or a plumb line, points straight towards Mecca. This is most frequent in January (31 days), for instance on 1 January 2027 at 12:34.

Twice a year the sun passes directly over the Kaaba, on 28 May 2027 and 16 July 2027. Both moments are in daylight in Kalemie: at 11:18 and 11:27 local time, face the sun and you face the Qibla exactly, anywhere in the city.

Kalemie compared with other cities

Compared with Kinshasa, 1,548 km away, the Qibla in Kalemie is turned 21.5° further anticlockwise (20.6° against 42.1°), and Mecca is 658 km closer. The nearest city with its own Qibla page, Uvira (284 km), prays towards 22.4°, a difference of 1.9°.

Across the 37 cities in the DR Congo on this site, the Qibla ranges from 20.2° in Lubumbashi to 45.4° in Gemena, a spread of 25.2°. That is too large to use one national direction, so each city has its own bearing.

See all cities on the Qibla page for DR Congo.

Qibla in cities near Kalemie

• Uvira22.4° · 284 km
• Bukavu23.7° · 386 km
• Kindu28.5° · 493 km
• Bukama24.0° · 516 km
• Kabinda28.2° · 522 km
• Kamina25.6° · 557 km