Afrinkong
Nature & LandscapesThe Albertine Rift
Glaciers on the Rwenzori, volcanoes in the Virungas, and the deepest forest in Africa between them.
DR CONGO · Tourism
Nyiragongo
An active lava lake you can camp beside on Nyiragongo, the only mountain gorillas outside Rwanda and Uganda, the okapi that lives nowhere else, and five World Heritage sites — a country of superlatives and of serious constraints on reaching them.
Central & West AfricaRegion
27Tourism experiences
Virunga, Nyiragongo, and the okapiKnown for
01
Featured destinations
Where the country actually takes you.
Nature & Landscapes
MountainsThe Rwenzori
5,109 metres at Margherita, glaciated, on the equator, and the Mountains of the Moon.
Photo Gia / Pexels
Boyoma and Lofoi
The seven cataracts at Kisangani, and Lofoi with a single drop of 340 metres.
Lakes & RiversThe Congo River
Four and a half thousand kilometres, and the deepest river in the world at 220 metres.
Photo Victor Chijioke / Pexels
Beaches & CoastMuanda, and the Lakes
Forty kilometres of Atlantic at the river mouth, and beaches on Kivu and Tanganyika.
Forests & RainforestThe Ituri and the Salonga
Salonga is the largest tropical rainforest reserve in Africa, and mostly unentered.
Photo Soulful Pizza / Pexels
02
Wildlife & safari
What lives here, and how you see it without disturbing it.
Wildlife
Mountain Gorillas and Okapi
Virunga's gorillas in the east, and the okapi in the Ituri forest, which lives nowhere else.
Photo Isaac Naph / Pexels
SafariGaramba and Upemba
Northern savanna with elephant and Kordofan giraffe, being brought back after decades of loss.
Photo Kyama Kilonzo / Pexels
Eco TourismVirunga's Rangers
Over two hundred rangers have died protecting this park. It is the oldest in Africa.
Photo james Hassan / Pexels
03
Culture & heritage
The part of a country you cannot photograph from a vehicle.
Culture
Two Hundred and Fifty Peoples
Four national languages, and a music that has set the terms for the whole continent.
Photo K / Pexels
Traditional PeopleThe Mbuti
Forest hunter-gatherers of the Ituri, with a relationship to that forest going back millennia.
Photo Şeyhmus Kino / Pexels
Fufu, Pondu and Liboke
Cassava fufu, pondu cassava leaf, and fish steamed in leaves over a fire.
Photo Sue Hsu / Pexels
Rumba and Ndombolo
Franco, Papa Wemba, Koffi Olomide — Kinshasa has exported dance music for seventy years.
Photo Yan Krukau / Pexels
Traditional Arts & CraftsMasks, Raffia and Copper
Kuba raffia cloth, Pende and Songye masks, and Katangese copper crosses.
Kisangani and the River Stations
Stanley's route up the river, and the Wagenia fishing structures that predate all of it.
Photo Elvis KAMBIRE / Pexels
HeritageFive World Heritage Sites
Virunga, Garamba, Kahuzi-Biega, Salonga and the Okapi Reserve — all five on the danger list.
Photo Tuan Vy / Pexels
04
Cities & everyday life
Where people actually live between the landmarks.
Kinshasa and Lubumbashi
One of the largest cities in Africa, facing Brazzaville, and the mining capital in the south.
ArchitectureBelgian Colonial and Cite
Art deco Kinshasa from the 1930s, and the cite quarters that grew around it.
Photo K / Pexels
Local LifeSAPE
The Society of Ambianceurs and Elegant People — dressing as a discipline and an argument.
Photo Vika Glitter / Pexels
Family & CommunityNot for Families
The east requires current advice and the distances are enormous. This is careful travel.
05
Adventure & outdoors
For travellers who would rather walk it than watch it.
Adventure
Nyiragongo Overnight
Six hours up, a night in a hut on the rim, and the lava lake below you all of it.
Photo Edu Raw / Pexels
Outdoor ExperiencesVolcano and Gorilla
Nyiragongo, then gorillas in Virunga's lowlands, from the same base at Goma.
Photo Ana Kenk / Pexels
Luxury TravelVirunga's Lodges
Mikeno and Tchegera, run by the park itself, and the money goes back into it.
Photo Serg Alesenko / Pexels
06
Travel inspiration
The frames people come home with.
Photography / Scenic ViewsLava at Night
The Nyiragongo crater after dark, when the lake is the only light there is.
Lake Kivu
Volcanic islands, terraced hills and calm water, between Goma and Bukavu.
Photo Edouard MIHIGO / Pexels
Why Visit This Country
Why DR Congo
A lava lake, mountain gorillas, glaciers on the equator, and the okapi.
Why DR Congo
A lava lake, mountain gorillas, glaciers on the equator, and the okapi.
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