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Democratic Republic of the Congo

Bohm's Bee-Eater Merops boehmi ©Dylan Vasapolli Website
Birding the DRC

The Democratic Republic of the Congo (French: République démocratique du Congo), is a country in central Africa with a small length of Atlantic coastline. It is the third largest country (by area) in Africa.In order to distinguish it from the neighbouring Republic of the Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo is often referred to as DR Congo, DRC, or RDC, or is called Congo-Kinshasa after the capital Kinshasa (in contrast to Congo-Brazzaville for its neighbour).The name “Congo” refers to the river Congo, also known as the river Zaire. (The river name Congo is related to the name of the Bakongo ethnic group). The Democratic Republic of the Congo was formerly, in turn, the Congo Free State, Belgian Congo, Congo-Léopoldville, Congo-Kinshasa, and Zaire (or Zaïre in French). Though it is located in the Central African UN subregion, the nation is economically and regionally affiliated with Southern Africa as a member of the Southern African Development Community (SADC).DR Congo borders the Central African Republic and Sudan on the North; Uganda, Rwanda, and Burundi on the East; Zambia and Angola on the South; the Republic of the Congo on the West; and is separated from Tanzania by Lake Tanganyika on the East. The country enjoys access to the ocean through a 40-kilometre (25 mile) stretch of Atlantic coastline at Muanda and the roughly nine-kilometre wide mouth of the Congo river which opens into the Gulf of Guinea.

The Congo is situated at the heart of the west-central portion of sub-Saharan Africa and is bounded by (clockwise from the southwest) Angola, the South Atlantic Ocean, the Republic of Congo, the Central African Republic, the Sudan, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania across Lake Tanganyika, and Zambia. The country straddles the Equator, with one-third to the North and two-thirds to the South. The size of Congo, 2,345,408 square kilometres (905,567 sq mi), is slightly greater than the combined areas of Spain, France, Germany, Sweden, and Norway.As a result of its equatorial location, the Congo experiences large amounts of precipitation and has the highest frequency of thunderstorms in the world. The annual rainfall can total upwards of 80 inches (200 cm) in some places, and the area sustains the second largest rain forest in the world (after that of the Amazon). This massive expanse of lush jungle covers most of the vast, low-lying central basin of the river, which slopes toward the Atlantic Ocean in the West. This area is surrounded by plateaus merging into savannas in the south and southwest, by mountainous terraces in the west, and dense grasslands extending beyond the Congo River in the north. High, glaciated mountains are found in the extreme eastern region.The tropical climate has also produced the Congo River system which dominates the region topographically along with the rainforest it flows through, though they are not mutually exclusive. The name for the Congo state is derived in part from the river. The river basin (meaning the Congo River and all of its myriad tributaries) occupies nearly the entire country and an area of nearly one million square kilometers (400,000 sq mi). The river and its tributaries (major offshoots include the Kasai, Sangha, Ubangi, Aruwimi, and Lulonga) form the backbone of Congolese economics and transportation. They have a dramatic impact on the daily lives of the people.The sources of the Congo are in the highlands and mountains of the East African Rift, as well as Lake Tanganyika and Lake Mweru. The river flows generally west from Kisangani just below Boyoma Falls, then gradually bends southwest, passing by Mbandaka, joining with the Ubangi River, and running into the Pool Malebo (Stanley Pool). Kinshasa and Brazzaville are on opposite sides of the river at the Pool (see NASA image). Then the river narrows and falls through a number of cataracts in deep canyons (collectively known as the Livingstone Falls), and then running past Boma into the Atlantic Ocean. The river also has the second-largest flow and the second-largest watershed of any river in the world (trailing the Amazon in both respects). The river and a forty-kilometre-wide strip of land on its north bank provide the country’s only outlet to the Atlantic.The previously mentioned Great Rift Valley, in particular the Eastern Rift, plays a key role in shaping the Congo’s geography. Not only is the northeastern section of the country much more mountainous, but due to the rift’s tectonic activities, this area also experiences low levels of volcanic activity. The geologic activity in this area also created the famous African Great Lakes, three of which lie on the Congo’s eastern frontier: Lake Albert (known previously as Lake Mobutu), Lake Edward, and Lake Tanganyika. Perhaps most important of all, the Rift Valley has exposed an enormous amount of mineral wealth throughout the south and east of the Congo, making it accessible to mining. Cobalt, copper, cadmium, industrial and gem-quality diamonds, gold, silver, zinc, manganese, tin, germanium, uranium, radium, bauxite, iron ore, and coal are all found in plentiful supply, especially in the Congo’s southeastern Katanga region.

Top Sites

  • Important Bird Areas

    Information
    Straddling the Albertine Rift and the Congo Basin, Kahuzi-Biega National Park is an exceptional habitat for the protection of the rainforest and the eastern lowland gorillas, Gorilla berengei graueri. Extending over 600,000 ha, are dense lowland rainforests as well as Afro-montane forests, with bamboo forests and some small areas of sub-alpine prairies and heather on Mounts Kahuzi (3,308 m) and Biega (2,790 m).The country also holds a high proportion of species restricted to a number of biomes: 228 out of 278 Guinea-Congo forest species; 93 out of 228 Afrotropical Highlands species; 47 out of 67 species of the Zambezian biome; 29 of the 54 Sudan-Guinea Savanna species and 9 of 12 species of the Lake Victoria basin biome.See African Bird Club Website for detailed information
Contributors
Number of Species

  • Number of bird species: 1189

    (As at April 2020)
Endemics

  • Number of endemics: 20

    Congo Peafowl Afropavo congensis Itombwe Nightjar Caprimulgus prigoginei Schouteden's Swift Schoutedenapus schoutedeni Congo Bay-Owl Phodilus prigoginei Grauer’s Cuckooshrike Coracina graueri Yellow-crested Helmetshrike Prionops alberti Bedford's Paradise-Flycatcher Terpsiphone bedfordi Kabobo Apalis Apalis kaboboensis Congo Martin Riparia congica Prigogine's Greenbul Chlorocichla prigoginei Red-collared Mountain-Babbler Turdoides rufocincta Chapin's Mountain-Babbler Kupeornis chapini Yellow-eyed Black-Flycatcher Melaenornis ardesiacus Prigogine’s Sunbird Cinnyris prigoginei Rockefeller's Sunbird Nectarinia rockefelleri Congo Sunbird Cinnyris congensis Yellow-legged Weaver Ploceus flavipes Lake Lufira Masked-Weaver Ploceus ruweti Golden-naped Weaver Ploceus aureonucha Black-lored Waxbill Estrilda nigriloris
Checklist

  • iGoTerra Checklist

    iGoTerra Checklist
    Fatbirder Associate iGoTerra offers the most comprehensive and up to date birds lists on the web
Useful Reading

  • Birds of Western Africa

    | By Nik Borrow & Ron Demey | Christopher Helm | 2014 | Edition 2 | Paperback | 592 pages, 266 plates with colour illustrations; colour distribution maps | ISBN: 9781472905680 Buy this book from NHBS.com

  • Birds of Western and Central Africa

    | By Ber van Perlo | Princeton University Press | 2003 | Paperback | 384 pages, 109 plates with colour illustrations; colour & b/w illustrations, 1500+ b/w distribution maps, colour maps | ISBN: 9780691007144 Buy this book from NHBS.com
Organisations

  • African Bird Club

    Website
    The Democratic Republic of the Congo, DRC (previously Zaire) has a bird list consisting of 1,139 species following the ABC checklist mentioned below. This is probably the highest species count for any African country. Since 1996 a civil war and political instability have impacted the habitat adversely as well as limiting opportunities for visiting birders. There is much of interest for the birder to see in the DRC, so one can only hope that opportunities to visit will increase in the future

  • Democratic Republic of Congo Birding Association

    Website
    The Democratic Republic of Congo Birding Association was formally constituted on March 3rd 1998 by Tommy Pedersen, with valuable help from Marc Languy and Greg Davies.The goal for this organization is to be a medium for people interested in the Congolese avifauna

  • West African Ornithological Society

    Website
    The West African Ornithological Society grew out of the Nigerian Ornithologists’ Society, which was founded in February 1964. Its object is to promote scientific interest in the birds of West Africa and to further the region’s ornithology, mainly by means of its journal Malimbus (formerly the Bulletin of the Nigerian Ornithologists’ Society). This journal is biannual and bilingual, a unique feature in Africa.The West African Ornithological Society grew out of the Nigerian Ornithologists’ Society, which was founded in February 1964. Its object is to promote scientific interest in the birds of West Africa and to further the region’s ornithology, mainly by means of its journal Malimbus (formerly the Bulletin of the Nigerian Ornithologists’ Society). This journal is biannual and bilingual, a unique feature in Africa.
Reserves

Abbreviations Key

  • NP Garamba

    InformationSatellite View
    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, hippopotamus and above all the white rhinoceros…

  • NP Kahuzi-Biéga

    InformationSatellite View
    Straddling the Albertine Rift and the Congo Basin, Kahuzi-Biega National Park is an exceptional habitat for the protection of the rainforest and the eastern lowland gorillas, Gorilla berengei graueri. Extending over 600,000 ha, are dense lowland rainforests as well as Afro-montane forests, with bamboo forests and some small areas of sub-alpine prairies and heather on Mounts Kahuzi (3,308 m) and Biega (2,790 m).

  • NP Maiko

    InformationSatellite View
    It lies in one of the most remote forest areas of the country and covers 10,885 km2 (4,203 sq mi). A new approach to conservation has been the implementation of compensation measures for Simbas willing to leave the Park. In 2010, FFI initiated the construction of health centers and schools in villages falling inside the zone of influence of the Simbas. The same year FZS launched an ambitious project aiming at turning the Simbas problem around by recruiting some of them as park rangers and allowing a de facto social reintegration which would directly benefit nature conservation in Maiko.

  • NP Odzala-Kokoua

    InformationSatellite View
    Odzala-Kokoua is an approximately 13,500-square-kilometre (5,200 sq mi) national park and biosphere reserve in northwestern Republic of the Congo, established in 1935. Odzala-Kokoua has approximately 100 mammals species, and one of the continent's most diverse primate populations. Approximately 440 bird species have been recorded in the park...

  • NP Salonga

    InformationSatellite View
    The park is in an area of pristine rainforest[citation needed] about halfway between Kinshasa, the capital, and Kisangani. There are no roads and most of the park is accessible only by river. Notable birds include: the endemic Congo Peafowl Afropavo congensis, Yellow-billed Stork Mycteria ibis, and Black Stork Ciconia nigra as well as a good number of endemics.

  • NP Virunga

    WebsiteSatellite View
    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, and from lava plains to the savannahs on the slopes of volcanoes. Mountain gorillas are found in the park, some 20,000 hippopotamuses live in the rivers and birds from Siberia spend the winter there…

  • NR Western Congolian swamp forests

    InformationSatellite View
    This ecoregion, combined with the neighboring Eastern Congolian Swamp Forests, contains one of the largest continuous areas of swamp forest in the world…

  • WR Okapi

    InformationSatellite View
    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, is one of the largest drainage systems in Africa. The reserve contains threatened species of primates and birds and about 5,000 of the estimated 30,000 okapi surviving in the wild.
Guides & Tour Operators

  • Mission Africa Safaris

    Tour Operator
    Mission Africa Safaris is a leading tour company registered in Uganda. We help put together exciting safaris in Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and DR Congo. Our expereinced and knowledgeable guides/office personnel will ensure you have a memorable time while on your tour. Our packages include bird watching, game drives, nature walks, mountain hiking, gorilla tracking. cultural visits among many other. We give affordable rates to our clients and incorporate a personal touch and quality while dealing with our clients - You can be one of them.
Trip Reports

  • 2010 [09 September] - Sjef Öllers - Cameroon, Congo and Central African Republic

    PDF Report
    ..I more or less accidentally found a tour to Congo and Central African Republic offered by Steppes Travel. The tour schedule looked excellent with almost two weeks spent in the Dzanga-Sangha area and the adjoining Nouabalé-Ndoki national park. Although normally we don’t like joining group tours, the interesting tour schedule convinced us to give it a try….

  • 2017 [09 September] - Mark Van beirs

    PDF Report
    We did it again! On the fourth day of our stay at the Lomako-Yokokala Faunal Reserve, deep in the heart of Congo, we all managed to admire a splendid male Congo Peafowl on his roost! What a bird! This very special and decidedly unusual tour focused on two extremely rarely observed Congolese specialities: the truly enigmatic Congo Peafowl and our closest next of kin, the gentle Bonobo.

  • 2019 [06 June] - Mathias D’haen

    PDF Report
    I visited the Okapi Fauna Reserve (Reserve Faune Okapi, RFO) during the first week of June 2019 with the goal to try to see as many of the unique mammal and bird species that occur in the region. Moreover, I wanted to get an understanding of what it would take to see some of the more elusive species that I did not expect to see on a one-week trip
Blogs

  • Andrew Hester - Katanga Birding

    BLOG
    Last updated 2009 - Welcome to Katanga Birding, a blog on my birding experiences in the Katanga Province of the Democratic Republic of Congo. I hope to post regular trip reports, lists, interesting sightings and other items of interest from my local patch..

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