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Zaire GEOGRAPHY
Size: Second largest country in sub-Saharan
Africa; about
2,344,885 square kilometers, roughly size of United States
east of
Mississippi River.
NOTE--The Country Profile contains updated
information as
available.
Topography: Major geographic regions include
central
Congo Basin, uplands north and south of basin, and eastern
highlands. Core region is central Congo Basin, large
depression
with average elevation of about forty-four meters,
constituting
about one-third of Zaire. North and south of basin lie
higher
plains and hills covered with mixtures of savanna grasses
and
woodlands. Southern uplands region also constitutes about
one-third
of Zaire, with elevations between 500 meters and 1,000
meters.
Eastern highlands region highest and most rugged portion,
bounded
by Great Rift Valley, with some mountains more than 5,000
meters.
Eastern border extends through valley and its system of
lakes.
Drainage: Most of Zaire served by Congo River
system.
Congo and its tributaries provide Zaire with Africa's most
extensive network of navigable waterways as well as vast
hydroelectric potential. Flow of Congo unusually regular
because
tributaries feed in from both sides of equator.
Climate: Ranges from tropical rain forest in
Congo River
basin to tropical wet-and-dry in southern uplands to
tropical
highland in eastern areas above 2,000 meters. In general,
temperatures and humidity quite high, but with much
variation; many
places on both sides of equator have two wet and two dry
seasons.
Average annual temperature 25°C. Average annual rainfall
between
1,000 millimeters and 2,200 millimeters, highest in heart
of Congo
River basin and highlands west of Bukavu.
Data as of December 1993
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