The Petites Chutes de la Lukaya is a set of small waterfalls on the Lukaya River. They are just south of Kinshasa, the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. They are perhaps 1 metre (3.3 ft) high.[1]
During the colonial era, Jesuits who settled on the Ndjili River in June 1893 at Kimbangu, in what is now Masina, were the first Catholic missionaries in the area. Within a month of arrival they moved away from the unhealthy, swampy conditions that they found to Kimwenza, near the Petites Chutes de la Lukaya.[2]
The low waterfalls empty into a small lake with a beautiful sandy beach.[3] They is an attraction to tourists who come to swim or eat at the nearby restaurant.[4] The Lola ya Bonobo sanctuary for endangered Bonobos is just south of the falls, also of interest to tourists. The sanctuary was founded by Claudine André of the NGO Les Amis des Bonobos du Congo in 1994, and has been located at the Petites Chutes de la Lukaya since 2002.[5]