diff --git a/ci/test_wheel.sh b/ci/test_wheel.sh
index f0afcd1159..23f3a13392 100755
--- a/ci/test_wheel.sh
+++ b/ci/test_wheel.sh
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 #!/bin/bash
-# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: Copyright (c) 2023-2026, NVIDIA CORPORATION.
+# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: Copyright (c) 2023-2026, NVIDIA CORPORATION & AFFILIATES. All rights reserved.
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
 
 set -euo pipefail
@@ -16,6 +16,17 @@ mkdir -p "${RAPIDS_TESTS_DIR}"
 # dependencies that can be installed later on when installing the wheel
 rapids-generate-pip-constraints test_python "${PIP_CONSTRAINT}"
 
+python -m venv libcuml-env
+. libcuml-env/bin/activate
+
+rapids-pip-retry install \
+    -v \
+    --prefer-binary \
+    --constraint "${PIP_CONSTRAINT}" \
+    "${LIBCUML_WHEELHOUSE}"/libcuml*.whl
+python -c "import libcuml; assert (libraries := libcuml.load_library()) and all(libraries)"
+deactivate
+
 # notes:
 #
 #   * just providing --constraint="${PIP_CONSTRAINT}" to be explicit, and because
diff --git a/python/libcuml/libcuml/load.py b/python/libcuml/libcuml/load.py
index 5e4a793756..5cbe58490a 100644
--- a/python/libcuml/libcuml/load.py
+++ b/python/libcuml/libcuml/load.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: Copyright (c) 2025-2026, NVIDIA CORPORATION.
+# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: Copyright (c) 2025-2026, NVIDIA CORPORATION & AFFILIATES. All rights reserved.
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
 #
 
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ def _load_wheel_installation(soname: str):
 def load_library():
     """Dynamically load libcuml.so and its dependencies"""
     try:
-        # These libraries must all be loaded before libcuml
+        # These libraries must all be loaded before libcuml, in dependency order
         import libcuvs
         import libnvforest
         import libraft
@@ -44,10 +44,10 @@ def load_library():
         import rapids_logger
 
         rapids_logger.load_library()
-        libcuvs.load_library()
-        libnvforest.load_library()
         librmm.load_library()
         libraft.load_library()
+        libcuvs.load_library()
+        libnvforest.load_library()
     except ModuleNotFoundError:
         # These runtime dependencies might be satisfied by conda packages (which do not
         # have any Python modules) instead of wheels. In that situation, assume that