CONGO
The Democratic Republic of the Congo, a country located in central Africa. Officially known as the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the country has a 25-mile (40-km) coastline on the Atlantic Ocean but is otherwise landlocked. It is the second-largest country on the continent; only Algeria is larger. The capital, Kinshasa, is located on the Congo River about 320 miles (515 km) from its mouth. The largest city in central Africa, it serves as the country’s official administrative, economic, and cultural centre. The country is often referred to by its acronym, the DRC, or called Congo (Kinshasa), with the capital added parenthetically, to distinguish it from the other Congo republic, which is officially called the Republic of the Congo and is often referred to as Congo (Brazzaville).
The Republic of Congo boasts some of the last true pristine wilderness areas on the planet. The lush Congo Basin rainforest supports charismatic fauna such as forest elephants and lowland gorillas in quantities not found anywhere else in the world.
Tourists can trek to see the mountain and lowland gorillas in the wild,
meet pygmies still practising their traditional way of life in the forests, spot bonobos and okapi—two rare species not found anywhere else on earth, and climb to the summits of active volcanoes and see a boiling lava lake in the crater of Mount Nyiragongo. The DRC has experienced frequent unrest in the eastern part of the country
Destinations.
- Virunga National Park
- Chegelle Island
- Nyiragongo Volcanoes
- Kahuzi Beirga