CD · Curated travel guide
Okapi Wildlife Reserve, Mount Nyiragongo, Boyoma Falls and 7 more — what each one is, and why it is worth the detour.
Chosen from everything Wikidata knows about DR Congo and ranked by how many Wikipedia language editions describe them, which is about as close to "famous" as open data gets. One is on UNESCO's World Heritage list.
World Heritage
World Heritage Site
A wildlife reserve in the Democratic Republic of the Congo's north-east, near the borders with Uganda and South Sudan, covering about 14,000 km², roughly a fifth of the Ituri Forest in which it lies.
Photo: J. Doremus, Public domain
Active volcano in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
An active stratovolcano of the Virunga Mountains, on the Albertine Rift, 3,470 m (11,385 ft) high, in Virunga National Park, North Kivu, DR Congo. Goma and Lake Kivu lie about 12 km (7.5 mi) to its south, and the Rwandan border only 9.8 km (6.1mi) to its east.
Photo: Cai Tjeenk Willink (Caitjeenk), CC BY-SA 3.0
Congo River waterfalls in Orientale Province, DRC
Formerly called Stanley Falls, seven cataracts, none higher than 5 m (16 ft), stretching over more than 100 km (62 mi) along a bend of the Lualaba River between Kisangani and Ubundu, river ports in the Democratic Republic of the Congo's Orientale Province. Together the seven fall 61 m (200 ft).
Photo: Ad Meskens, CC BY-SA 3.0
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Shield volcano in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Also called Nyamulagira, an active shield volcano of the Virunga Mountains in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, about 25 kilometres (16 mi) north of Lake Kivu. Its name comes from the Mashi language.
Photo: MONUSCO Photos, CC BY-SA 2.0
Mountain in Central Africa
Also called Mount Ngaliema, a mountain of the Rwenzori range, 5,109 m (16,763 ft) high: the highest in both Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and the fourth-highest in Africa.
Photo: Sylwia Duda from Zurich, Switzerland, CC BY 2.0
Volcano in Africa
A stratovolcano of the Virunga Mountains on the border of Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. At 4,507 metres (14,787 ft) it is the highest of the range's eight major mountains; the range is part of the Albertine Rift, the western arm of the East African Rift.
Photo: No machine-readable author provided. Amakuru assumed (based on copyright claims)., CC BY-SA 3.0
Volcano in the Virunga mountains
An active stratovolcano of the Virunga Mountains, in the Albertine Rift, the western arm of the East African Rift. It straddles the Rwanda–DR Congo border, but its summit is in Rwanda.
Photo: Nickolayvladim, CC BY-SA 3.0
Lake in Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo
A lake in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda, first called Lake Mwitanzige by the Banyoro and Nam Ovoyo Bonyo by the Alur, and for a time Lake Mobutu Sese Seko. It is the sixth-largest lake in Africa and the second-biggest of Uganda's Great Lakes.
Photo: Ndalilo koli, CC BY-SA 4.0
Cataract on the Congo River in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Rapids where the Congo River drops 96 metres (315 ft) in 15 kilometres (9.3 mi), 40 kilometres (25 mi) from Matadi, in the DR Congo; they belong to a larger set of rapids on the lower river.
Photo: Alaindg, CC BY 2.5
Also called the DR Congo, the DRC, Congo-Kinshasa or simply the Congo, and once named Zaire, a country of Central Africa. It is Africa's second-largest country by land area and the eleventh-largest in the world. With about 124 million people, it is Africa's fourth-most populous country and the world's most populous French-speaking one.
Officially The Democratic Republic of the Congo. Known locally as Congo (Democratic Republic).
Based on the Wikipedia article, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0: the facts are Wikipedia's, the wording is this site's.
This guide lists 10: Okapi Wildlife Reserve, Mount Nyiragongo, Boyoma Falls and Nyamuragira and others. Okapi Wildlife Reserve is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
By machine, from open data, with no human ranking them and nobody able to pay for a place on the list. Everything Wikidata records in DR Congo that is a building, a landform, a protected area or a tourist attraction, has coordinates, a photograph and an English Wikipedia article, is ranked by how many Wikipedia language editions wrote about it. Provinces, cities, airports, stations and stretches of sea shared with the neighbours are filtered out.
1 of the 10 in this guide: Okapi Wildlife Reserve. That is not the full count for DR Congo, only the listed sites that made this guide.
French, Lingala, Swahili, Kikongo, Tshiluba. The currency is CDF.
A travel eSIM is usually the cheapest way, and avoids a roaming bill. The plans suggested at the foot of this guide start at $5.14 for 1GB for 7 days. The eSIM is data-only and sits alongside your normal SIM, so calls, texts and WhatsApp keep working on your own number.
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| Plan | Data | Valid | Price | Order |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1GB for 7 days Cheapest | 1 GB | 7 days | $5.14 | Get it → |
| 2GB per day | 2 GB | 1 day | $9.11 | Get it → |
| 3GB for 15 days | 3 GB | 15 days | $13.68 | Get it → |
| 3GB for 30 days | 3 GB | 30 days | $14.53 | Get it → |
| 5GB for 30 days | 5 GB | 30 days | $22.79 | Get it → |
| 10GB for 30 days | 10 GB | 30 days | $41.60 | Get it → |
No app needed. Install by QR code before you fly, keep your own number for calls, and it connects the moment you land.
A commission on plans bought through these links is what pays for this guide. Nothing above depends on it: the places are chosen before any price is looked up.
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