It is located at the northwestern extremity of Lake Kivu, 25 km (15 mi) west-northwest of Goma on National Road No.

The adjacent bay, which is about 40 km2 in size, has almost been cut off by the lava and only a 160 m wide channel remains to connect it to the main body of Lake Kivu.

Sake has hosted Rwandans during the Great Lakes refugee crisis of the mid-1990s and Goma residents fleeing the 2002 eruption of Mount Nyiragongo.

[2] On 25 November 2006, fifteen to twenty thousands fled battles between Nkunda forces and the DRC army in an offensive waged by the former in the area of Sake.

The fighting took place nearly a day before the Supreme Court was to rule on the outcome of the highly contested 2006 presidential run-off.