Explore Democratic Republic of the Congo in Africa

Description and Basic Information

Democratic Republic of the Congo with its capital Kinshasa is located in Africa (Central Africa, northeast of Angola). It covers some 2,345,411 square kilometres (slightly less than one-fourth the size of the US) with 60,085,004 citizens. French, Lingala and Kongo are the official languages spoken in Democratic Republic of the Congo (consider regional differences). Tanzania, Central African Republic, Sudan, Rwanda, Zambia, Burundi, Uganda, Republic of the Congo and Angola are bordering countries.

Parts of the Democratic Republic of the Congo are not safe for independent travel or sightseeing.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo is a country in Central Africa. The country has formerly been known as Congo Free State, Belgian Congo, Congo or Zaire. The country is also known as Congo-Kinshasa to distinguish it from its northern neighbor, the Republic of Congo (Congo-Brazzaville). The Democratic Republic of the Congo (formerly known as Zaire) is no longer considered risky, however tourism is not recommended at this time. The country has had a tumultuous recent history. The annual rainfall can total upwards of 80 inches (2,032 mm) in some places, and the area sustains the second largest rain forest in the world. Everyone traveling to the Congo for any purpose will need a visa. You will need the completed application form, one passport-sized photograph, vaccination certificates, and evidence that you have sufficient funds to cover your stay, which includes evidence of a hotel reservation. Note that if you have a Rwandan or Ugandan stamp on your passport you might have trouble entering the country. The currency is the Congolese franc. The only Congolese bank notes currently in circulation in most places are the 50, 100, 200 and 500 franc notes. They are almost worthless, as the the 500 franc note is worth only about US $0.90. Congo has one national dish: moambe. It's made of eight ingredients (moambe is the Lingala word for eight): palm nuts, chicken, fish, peanuts, rice, cassave leaves, bananas and hot pepper sauce. Do not drink the local water. Bottled water seems to be cheap enough, but sometimes hard to find for a good price. You will need a yellow fever vaccination in order to enter the country. There are health officials at entry points, such as the airport in Kinshasa who check this before you are allowed to enter. Never under any condition photograph government buildings or structures which include but are not limited to police stations, presidential palaces, border crossings, and the anywhere in the airport. You will be detained by police if caught and unable to bribe them for your transgression.

Pictures from Kinshasa (Capital)

Photos provided by Panoramio are under the copyright of their owners.

About Democratic Republic of the Congo

The landscape features vast central basin being a low-lying plateau and mountains in east. The average density of population is about 25 per km². The climate in can be described as tropical with hot and humid in equatorial river basin, cooler and drier in southern highlands, cooler and wetter in eastern highlands, north of Equator - wet season (April to October), dry season (December to February), south of Equator - wet season (November to March), dry season (April to October). Potential threats by nature are periodic droughts in south or Congo River floods (seasonal) or in the east, in the Great Rift Valley, there are active volcanoes.

To reach someone in Democratic Republic of the Congo dial +243 prior to a number. There are 40,000 installed telephones. And there are 10,163,000 registered mobile phones. The cellular networks operate on frequencies of 900 Mhz. Websites typically end with the top level domain ".cd". If you want to bring electric appliances (e.g. battery charger), keep in mind the local 220V - 50Hz.

The country consists of 11 regions/states which are listed below.

Regions/States of Democratic Republic of the Congo

Democratic Republic of the Congo Tourism Information

Unesco World Heritage Properties

Garamba National Park

The park's immense savannahs, grasslands and woodlands, interspersed with gallery forests along the river banks and the swampy depressions, are home to four large mammals: the elephant, giraffe,...

Kahuzi-Biega National Park

A vast area of primary tropical forest dominated by two spectacular extinct volcanoes, Kahuzi and Biega, the park has a diverse and abundant fauna. One of the last groups of eastern lowland...

Okapi Wildlife Reserve

The Okapi Wildlife Reserve occupies about one-fifth of the Ituri forest in the north-east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Congo river basin, of which the reserve and forest are a part,...

Salonga National Park

Salonga National Park is Africa's largest tropical rainforest reserve. Situated at the heart of the central basin of the Congo river, the park is very isolated and accessible only by water. It is...

Virunga National Park

Virunga National Park (covering an area of 790,000 ha) comprises an outstanding diversity of habitats, ranging from swamps and steppes to the snowfields of Rwenzori at an altitude of over 5,000 m,...

Demographic Information

Age Distribution in Democratic Republic of the Congo

Each pair of bars represents a single age group (male/female). Each group is spanning 5 years. E.g. 0 to 5 years, 5 to 10 etc. and group "0 to 5" being at the left end and "100 +" at the right end of the chart.

Natural Population Growth

Population, Migration and Growth: The population in Democratic Republic of the Congo is growing at an rate of 3.17% (or by 2,243,796 citizens). Each year 54,606 people enter this country (or 0.80 per thousand citizens) - making it an immigration country. This leads to an absolute natural increase rate of the population of 3.09%. Or an total increase of 2,189,190 citizens.

Based on content from wikitravel.org. The original article can be found here based on the work of these users.
Geographic information is based on the data provided by geonames.org, CIA factsbook and Unesco.