The Amazon and the Congo are the two great rivers of the world that flow out of equatorial zones where heavy rainfall occurs throughout all or almost all of the year. Upstream from Malebo Pool, the Congo basin receives an average of about 60 inches (1, 500 mm) of rain a year, of which more than one-fourth is discharged into the Atlantic. The drainage basin of the Congo is, however, only about half the size of that of the Amazon, and the Congo’s rate of flow—1, 450, 000 cubic feet (41, 000 cubic metres) per second at its mouth—is considerably less than the Amazon’s flow of more than 6, 180, 000 cubic feet (175, 000 cubic metres) per second.

These cataracts render the Congo unnavigable between the seaport of Matadi, at the head of the Congo estuary, and Malebo Pool, a lakelike expansion of the river. It was on opposite banks of Malebo Pool—which represents the point of departure of inland navigation—that the capitals of the former states of the French Congo and the Belgian Congo were founded: on the left bank Kinshasa (formerly Léopoldville), now the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and on the right bank Brazzaville, now the capital of the Republic of the Congo.

CHAN 2023 match schedule, results, tables, teams for African

Its drainage basin, covering an area of 1, 335, 000 square miles (3, 457, 000 square km), takes in almost the entire territory of that country, as well as most of the Republic of the Congo, the Central African Republic, eastern Zambia, and northern Angola and parts of Cameroon and Tanzania. With its many tributaries, the Congo forms the continent’s largest network of navigable waterways. Navigability, however, is limited by an insurmountable obstacle: a series of 32 cataracts over the river’s lower course, including the famous Inga Falls.

Travel advice and advisories for Republic of Congo (Brazzaville)