The Kibara mountains were once part of a continuous plateau in northern Katanga that also included the Mitumba and Kundelungu blocks, and has now been divided by deep valleys.

The Upemba depression lies to the west of the Kibara mountains.

The Lufira River separates them from the Mitumba Mountains to the east.

The fragmented surface from the end of the Cretaceous at Lumbele occurs at an elevation of 1,890 metres (6,200 ft), above the Mid-Cenozoic pediplain at Mkana at an elevation of 1,800 metres (5,900 ft).

In 1931 Robert studied the mountains and introduced the terms "Complexe des Kibara" and "Système des Kibara" to describe his theory of their origins, a mountain-building process that followed a geosyncline episode.