The municipality of Bibala[clarification needed] covers 7,700 square kilometres (3,000 sq mi) with a population of 64,504 (2014).

[2] It is bordered to the north by the municipality of Camucuio, to the east by Quilengues, Cacula, Lubango and Humpata, to the south by Virei, and to the west by Namibe.

The village developed under Portuguese colonial administration with the arrival of the Namibe Train on February 1, 1912.

Residential houses for the workers of the Mozambique Railroad were built here, and from then on the settling families continued to farm and breed cattle.

After Angola's independence in 1975, the Portuguese place name Vila Arriaga was replaced with the current name, Bibala.