Congo is a river flowing in the heart of Africa. Her appearance is wild and mysterious, and her story is shrouded in mystery. It feels all the fantastic power of nature. Even a dry description of the Congo River allows you to feel its power. It is 4667 km long and carries 42450 cubic meters into the ocean. water per second, second only to the Amazon. The source of the Congo River is located in the savannas of Zambia, at a height of one and a half kilometers near the settlement of Mumena. In its upper course, it flows rapidly through narrow (30–50 m) gorges and forms rapids and waterfalls. The Congo (river) got its name from the name of the state that once existed at its mouth.
Long flow path
After a long winding through the territory of Zambia, the Congo (river) appears on the territory of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. There it merges with the Lualaba River and under this name after 800 km reaches the humid forests of Central Africa. Further, the stream flows directly to the north and, having traveled a distance of about 1600 km, crosses the equator for the first time. After that, it turns to the west, describes a giant arc on the territory of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and turns again, now to the south. Crosses the equator again, but flows in the opposite direction.
Legends of the African jungle
Here the Congo flows through the rainforests, which are the most impenetrable jungles in the world. Trees rise to a height of 60 m, and eternal dusk reigns at their roots. Under this swaying green canopy in a suffocatingly humid heat, in dense thickets, where a person cannot break through, there is a real hell inhabited by the most dangerous animals - crocodiles, poisonous snakes and boas, poisonous spiders and ants. Any person runs the risk of catching malaria, schistosomiasis or some other, more formidable disease here. Local residents have stories that it is in these suffocating swamps that the mokele-mbembe dragon lives. Back in the early 20th century, Europeans noticed that there were no hippos in one of the swampy areas. Locals reported that there is a strange animal there, which, being smaller than the hippopotamus, nevertheless attacks and kills them. Others, on the contrary, said that he looked like an elephant, only with a long neck and a muscular tail. If boats sailed close to him, he attacked them. But this animal ate plants. I must say that strange traces of an unusual animal are found here to this day.
Waterfalls and rapids
In the northeastern part of the arc are the Boyoma Falls. This is a series of waterfalls and rapids, along which, over 100 km, the river descends to a height of 457 m. From this place, already under the name of Congo, the river is navigable and very wide (over 20 km wide) for 1609 km. Behind the site separating the two capitals -Brazzaville and Kinshasa, are the Livingston Falls, formed by the South Guinean Uplands. This is 354 km, on which there are 32 waterfalls and a series of rapids. From the city of Matadi, the stream runs another 160 km and flows into the Atlantic Ocean. But a huge stream does not immediately slow down its run. On the ocean floor, it forms an underwater channel of the Congo, 800 km long. Its water in this segment is easily distinguished from the ocean by its red-brown hue, which gives the red soil carried away from the depths of Africa.
