The Democratic Republic of Congo, located in Central Africa, covers 2,345,409 km² and shares borders with 9 other countries. The country is bordered in the north by the Central African Republic and Sudan; in the east by Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and Tanzania; to the south by Zambia and Angola, and to the west by the Republic of Congo, the enclave of Cabinda and the Atlantic Ocean. The DRC’s borders stretch for 9,000 km and are among the longest on the continent.
Due to its geographical location, the country is home to immense natural resources. Indeed, straddling the equator, between 5 degrees north latitude and 13 degrees south latitude, and between 12 and 31 degrees east longitude, the country enjoys a warm and humid equatorial climate in the center, and tropical north and south, favoring dense vegetation. Half of the country is covered by forests, and the other half by savannah. It is estimated that nearly half of Africa’s forest resources are in the DRC. Rainfall reaches up to 2,000 mm per year in some places. It rains 8 months out of 12 and during the dry season of 4 months, the temperatures can go down to 10 ° C in certain zones.
Third country in Africa by its size, after Sudan and Algeria, the country owns 2/3 of the African rainforest. The Congo River and its tributaries offer a network of 14000km of waterways and considerable hydroelectric potential The Democratic Republic of Congo includes most of the Congo River Basin, which covers an area of more than one million square kilometers. The only maritime outlet of the country is a narrow strip of territory on the north bank of the river (Moanda region in Bas-Congo).
Relief: Maximum altitude: 5,119 m in the Ruwenzori Massif, minimum altitude; 400 m in the Central Cuvette (Lake Tumba and Mai-Ndombe area) Climate: average temperature of 22 degrees Celsius Seasons: Generally two main seasons to know: – Dry season: dry and cool (from mid-May to mid-September) – Rainy season: hot and humid (from October to mid-May) However the climate is tempered by the altitude all the year in part of Kivu and Katanga. Main cities: Lubumbashi, Kisangani, Mbuji-Mayi, Kananga, Bukavu, Mbandaka, Matadi, Bandundu, Goma, Kolwezi, Gbadolite, Kikwit, Kindu, Lisala, Likasi, Borna, Tshikapa, Muene-Ditu, Butembo and Blessed.