Lodja

Lodja is a town in central Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is located at around 3°31′27″S 23°35′47″E.

For the village in Estonia, see Lodja, Estonia.

Lodja is home to the Lodja Airport. (IATA Code: LJA) Lodja Airport, located 7 km north of Lodja, has one 1600 meter natural surface runway, oriented 88/268°. The geographic coordinates of this airport are 3 degrees, 29 minutes, south (-3.483) and 23 degrees, 28 minutes, east (23.467). Lodja Airport is 1647 feet (502 m) above sea level.

Lodja has two active small aircraft strips, and a third inactive, as follows:

Ethnography and language

Lodja is at the center of the Sankuru Province, which comprises more or less the Otetela Bantu language tribal area. Atetela (pleural) people speak the Otetela (singular) language, often shortened to Tetela. The language is spoken by some 98% of the population, with perhaps 50-60% of the population speaking it exclusively. Lingala, the military and trade language from Equator and Kinshasa Provinces, is also spoken by 30-40% of Lodja residents. French, the language of government officials and the educated, is spoken well by perhaps 20-30% in Lojda. English and neighboring tribal languages of Tshiluba, Swahili, etc. account for 1-2%. Outside Lodja - in most of the Sankuru - Otetela is spoken almost exclusively and the other languages decrease rapidly outside the town; with the languages of neighboring tribes increasing as one approaches the frontiers of the Sankuru. (Estimates from a longtime resident)

According to a 1984 census Lodja had 28,671 people. Calculations done in 2006 brought that figure up to an estimate of 70,555.

gollark: OR DID YOU?
gollark: Sorry, find someone else.
gollark: Gaah crashiness.
gollark: It doesn't actually explain how to play.
gollark: The roads are quite wide, so free space exists for it.
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