The Bomlitz rises between Neuenkirchen and Soltau in the Stichter See, which was formed during the last ice age as a Schlatt (locally: Flatt) or wind-formed, heath lake with no outlet.

The sometimes well-preserved and historic Treppenspeicher-surrounded farmyards are hidden in small stands of old deciduous trees, surrounded by arable fields and, further away, by pastureland.

It then flows through the old Bomlitz estate and then, for two kilometres, through the factory facilities of Dow Wolff Cellulosics, one of the largest and oldest chemical industrial sites in Lower Saxony.

Here the Bomlitz forms what, for the North German Plain, is an unusual, very striking series of meanders with river banks up to 20 metres high.

In the triangle formed by the settlements of Walsrode, Bad Fallingbostel and Bomlitz the stream enters the Böhme at a point dominated by the ruins of a partially blown-up railway bridge.

Three small, mechanical sewage works could not prevent the Bomlitz from transporting noticeably heated, cloudy, grey-green water that only provided a habitat for bacteria and whose strong, chemical smell made the environment of the river bank unpleasant.