The area is covered in marshland and is partially within the Upemba National Park in Haut-Lomami District.

The Upemba Depression has been populated almost continuously since the 5th century AD, and is considered the origin of the Kingdom of Luba (1585-1889).

Chronology based on more than 55 radiocarbon datings and thermoluminescence shows periods of occupation since the Stone Age.

[2] Roughly translated, the citation for its inclusion as World Heritage Site states:This large depression has delivered the largest known cemetery in sub-Saharan Africa.

Their study allows tracing the complete sequence of the occupation of the region over two millennia, and thus reconstructing the history of a major ethnic group of Central Africa: the Luba.