Virunga

• Geography
• Lower Secondary (Key Stage 3)
• Primary Education

UK curriculum lesson on the physical and human geography of the Democratic Republic of the Congo:

Physical Geography:

- Location - position in central Africa, bordering 9 countries (KS3)

- River system - Congo River basin, drainage patterns, flooding (KS4)

- Relief - highlands like the Virunga Mountains contrasting with basins (KS3)

- Climate - equatorial climate with hot temperatures and high rainfall (KS3)

- Ecosystems - tropical rainforests like the Congo Basin (KS4)

- Environmental issues - deforestation, soil erosion, mining impacts (KS3/4)

Human Geography:

 

- Population distribution and density - rural-urban contrasts, growth of cities (KS4)

- Settlement - types of rural settlements and rapid urbanization (KS4)  

- Economic activities - subsistence farming, commercial logging, mining (KS3/4)

- Development issues - impacts of conflict, poverty, lack of infrastructure (KS4)

- International issues - refugees, role of NGOs and foreign aid (KS4)

- Cultural diversity - ethnic composition, languages, religions (KS3)

There would be an emphasis on understanding the interactions between physical landscapes and human activities/settlement patterns. Case studies would be used to look at specific issues in depth.

Skills developed would include map work, interpreting data, research and empathy when looking at different perspectives on issues.

The content would build locational knowledge as well as understanding of processes, changes over time, sustainable practices and management strategies.

What do you know about Africa?

Virunga

Democratic Republic of the Congo

Kinshasa

Kinshasa formerly Léopoldville, is the capital and largest city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Once a site of fishing and trading villages situated along the Congo River, Kinshasa is now one of the world's fastest growing megacities.

Kampala

Kampala is reported to be among the fastest-growing cities in Africa, with an annual population growth rate of 4.03 percent, by City Mayors. Mercer (a New York-based consulting firm) has regularly ranked Kampala as East Africa's best city to live in, ahead of Nairobi and Kigali.

Kigali

Kigali is the capital and largest city of Rwanda. It is near the nation's geographic centre in a region of rolling hills, with a series of valleys and ridges joined by steep slopes. As a primate city, Kigali has been Rwanda's economic, cultural, and transport hub since it became the capital following independence from Belgian rule in 1962.

Lake Victoria

Lake Victoria is one of the African Great Lakes. With a surface area of approximately 59,947 km2 (23,146 sq mi), Lake Victoria is Africa's largest lake by area, the world's largest tropical lake, and the world's second-largest fresh water lake by surface area after Lake Superior in North America.

Indian Ocean

The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering 70,560,000 km2 (27,240,000 sq mi) or 19.8% of the water on Earth's surface.

Atlantic Ocean

The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about 106,460,000 km2 (41,100,000 sq mi). It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. 

The Democratic Republic of the Congo

The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), also known as Congo-Kinshasa and formerly known as Zaire, is a country in Central Africa bordered to the west by the South Atlantic Ocean. By land area, the DRC is the second-largest country in Africa and the 11th-largest in the world. With a population of around 112 million

The Congo River

The Congo River, formerly also known as the Zaire River, is the second-longest river in Africa, shorter only than the Nile, as well as the third largest river in the world by discharge volume, following the Amazon and the Ganges rivers.

Virunga National Park

Virunga National Park is a national park in the Albertine Rift Valley in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It was created in 1925. In elevation, it ranges from 680 m (2,230 ft) in the Semliki River valley to 5,109 m (16,762 ft) in the Rwenzori Mountains. From north to south it extends approximately 300 km (190 mi), largely along the international borders with Uganda and Rwanda in the east.[2] It covers an area of 8,090 km2 (3,120 sq mi).

Uganda

C.A.R

Tanzania

South Sudan

Republic of Congo

Angola

Zambia

Boulevard of June 30th

The Boulevard du 30 Juin ("Boulevard of June 30th") is a major 5‑km street in Kinshasa, capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is the city center's main transport artery, connecting the southern area of La Gombe (Kinshasa's political and business district) with Kintambo and the Ngaliema to the west.

Where  are the 5 top five French speaking cities? 

Kinshasa: 12.8 million

Yaoundé: 4.6 million

Paris: 11 million 

Abidjan: 5.4 million

Casablanca: 4.3 million

Staff Benda Bilili

Staff Benda Bilili are a group of street musicians in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. They used to live around the grounds of the zoo in the country's capital city, Kinshasa, and play music which is rooted in soukous, with elements of old-school rhythm and blues and reggae. The core of the band consists of four senior singers/guitarists, who are paraplegic 

Independence

On June 30, 1960, the Democratic Republic of the Congo gained its independence and elected its first prime minister, Patrice Lumumba.

Belgium

Kinshasa’s former name was Léopoldville, in honor of King Leopold II of the Belgians who controlled the Congo Free State, which is now known as the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Leopoldville

In 1966, Léopoldville was officially renamed Kinshasa.

What do you know about the DRC?

How does the wealth you see here make you feel?

Art in The DRC

Music

Music is by far the art form for which Congo is best known. Kinshasa is widely regarded as one of the great music centres of the world, and the influence of Congolese music is felt especially throughout sub-Saharan Africa. 

Art

Congo’s many ethnic groups and regions have developed a mosaic of traditional arts, including painting, sculpture, music, and dance. 

The Media

Radio is the primary media format in Congo; there are numerous private and public stations, several of which—including Radio-Télévision Nationale Congolaise (RTNC), which is state run—broadcast throughout the country. 

Sapeur

La Sape, an abbreviation based on the phrase Société des Ambianceurs et des Personnes Élégantes (French; literally "Society of Ambiance-Makers and Elegant People") and hinting to the French slang word sape which means "clothes" or sapé, which means "dressed up".

Rules

As a general rule all Sapeurs should aim to be polite and abide by the law. They should also be well dressed, fragranced and groomed, wear designer clothes, and sport a clean cut hair design. 

Fashion battles

During fashion battles most Sapeurs often open their suit jackets abruptly and stomp in an authoritative manner in order to show which brand/label they are wearing. Sapeurs also like to show off their shoes.

Founder

One of the founders of Sapeur movement and a highly respected figure amongst the Sapeur community is Strevos Niarcos, who sadly died just over 9 years ago. Niarcos strongly promoted, and was deemed by many as the “Father of Sapology”.

Agriculture

The main cash crops include coffee, palm oil, rubber, cotton, sugar, tea, and cocoa. There has been some success developing cocoa and coffee for export. Food crops also include cassava, plantains, maize, groundnuts, and rice.

Climate

Most of Congo lies within the inner humid tropical, or equatorial, climatic region extending five degrees north and south of the Equator. Southern Congo and the far north have somewhat drier subequatorial climates.

Mount Nyiragongo

Mount Nyiragongo — one of the world’s most active and dangerous volcanoes

Environment

Poaching threatens wildlife populations (for example, the painted hunting dog, Lycaon pictus, is now considered extirpated from the Congo due to human overpopulation and poaching); water pollution; deforestation (chiefly due to land conversion to agriculture by indigenous farmers[8]); refugees responsible for significant deforestation, soil erosion, and wildlife poaching; mining of minerals (coltan — a mineral used in creating capacitors, diamonds, and gold) causing environmental damage

Magma chamber

Secondary cone

Lava Flow

Vent

Ash Cloud

Subsistence farming

Subsistence farming involves four million families on plots averaging 1.6 hectares (four acres), usually a little larger in savanna areas than in the rain forest. Subsistence farmers produce mainly manioc, corn, tubers, and sorghum

Poverty

DRC is among the five poorest nations in the world. In 2022, nearly 62% of Congolese, around 60 million people, lived on less than $2.15 a day. About one out of six people living in extreme poverty

Housing

Traditional mud hut (wattle and daub) construction. Once the woven lattice of sticks (wattle) is completed, the gaps are filled and plastered (daubed) with sticky mud and stones. 

School

3.5 million children of primary school age are not in school, and of those who do attend, 44 percent start school late, after the age of six.

Location

Virunga National Park, formerly Albert National Park, park in northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. 

Formed

Created in 1925.

Size

It has an area of some 3,050 square miles (7,900 square km) and contains a vast diversity of habitats.

Wildlife

The park is home to elephants, whose numbers began decreasing in the late 20th century, and lions, which also face various threats. Hippopotamuses, rare mountain gorillas, okapis, antelope, warthogs, and pelicans all live in Virunga as well.

Habitats

Some of the mountains are permanently snow-capped, and glaciers exist at high elevations. The park also encompasses savannas, peat bogs, marshes, lava plains, eastern steppe vegetation, and various types of forests, including tropical rainforest and bamboo.

Virunga National Park

Virunga National Park is Africa’s most biodiverse protected area, home to over one thousand species of mammal, bird, reptile, and amphibian as well as 1/3 of the world’s endangered mountain gorillas. Located on the eastern edge of the Congo Basin, the world’s second-largest tropical rainforest, Virunga has become known as the park of fire and ice for its diverse habitats ranging from the Rwenzori peaks to savanna and volcanic plains. Despite being a UNESCO world heritage site, Virunga is constantly threatened by war, poaching and illegal activities as well as unpreventable natural disasters.

What do you know about gorillas?

Gorilla sounds

Mountain gorillas

This great ape is one of two subspecies of the eastern gorilla and one of the world's largest living primates. These apes have muscular arms, a massive chest, and broad hands and feet — and they have longer hair and shorter arms than their lowland cousins. Their thick black hair helps insulate them from cold weather.

Challanges

The biggest threats to the gorillas survival come from political instability, human encroachment, and forest degradation. Only about 1,000 of these great apes remain in the wild.  Virunga National Park is fertile and rich in biodiversity making it one of the most populated regions in Africa. As people move closer to these endangered apes, they also bring the risk of human diseases such as the flu, pneumonia, and even Ebola. Increasing human populations and continued encroachment pose serious threats to this great ape's habitat.

Diet

Gorillas can eat as much as 18 kg (40 lb) of vegetation each day. They favour celery, thistles, wood, and roots, and they rarely need to drink because they consume succulent vegetation which is full of water as well as morning dew.

Behaviour

Gorillas are social and live in groups of two to 40 led by the silverback, a dominant male that is the chief leader and protector. The majority of males leave their biological groups around 11 years old. Some move alone and others travel with other males for a few years until they attract females to join them. The silverback leads the group to the best spot for feeding and resting throughout the year. 

Forest sounds

Rangers

Virunga currently has 770+ male and female Rangers actively serving to protect the Park and the local communities.

Fatalities

200+ Rangers have lost their lives in the line of duty since 1925.

Patrols

In 2022, the Rangers conducted 4500+ patrols, covering 25,800 km on foot.

Threats

The Rangers serve in the Park’s four sectors (north, central, south and lake sector), often in extremely difficult circumstances. Virunga’s Rangers face threats from many fronts and risk their lives daily. 

Why are the gorillas threatened?

Mining

The income generated from natural resource trafficking from the Park is estimated at 175 million USD per year. Over 100,000 people derive their direct livelihood from these illegal activities.

Farming

Five million people live within a day’s walk of the Park boundaries, one of the highest rural population densities in Africa.

Oil

16 companies have bid for oil exploration rights for six blocks around Lake Edward.

Fighting

The number of armed groups’ members is estimated at 1,500 and 3,000 individuals in and around the Park. These groups engage in criminal activities including trafficking of charcoal, illegal fishing, illegal agriculture, poaching for ivory and bush meat

In your opinion what is the greatest threat to the gorillas?

Mining

Farming

Poaching

War

Oil

In your opinion what is the greatest threat to the gorillas and why?

1940s and 1950s

In the first two decades after the discovery of mountain gorillas, European and American scientists and trophy hunters killed over fifty of them. 

1960s and 1970s

In the 1960s and 1970s, gorillas were poached for sale to foreigners as trophies and captive specimens. None survived in captivity. 

Today

Tragic incidents of direct poaching, either the killing of mountain gorillas or capture of infants for the live animal trade, occurred throughout the mountain gorilla range in 2002, 2004, 2007. In 2007, an entire family of mountain gorillas was killed by locals, a political act aimed at forcing the park open to resource exploitation

Gorillas can cause great damage to farm crops

For subsistence farmers the loss of a crop can be devastating

Tourism

The annual revenue earned directly from gorilla tourism is an important component of funding conservation and management of the parks, as well as local and national economies.

Business

Revenue sharing schemes to ensure that these people benefit directly from tourism. In addition, small and large tourism enterprises have been initiated by cooperatives and associations.

How does tourism help the gorillas and the farmers?

Education

Encouraging children who live near the gorillas to love the environment can change their nations' conservation efforts, creating the forest-friendly farmers, conservationists, artists and eco-tour operators of tomorrow.

Women

The majority of the farmers are women. Some are learning skills that allow them to provide for their families, and to help other women. 

Miro Board

What have you learned about DRC?

Please add your thoughts here...

https://miro.com/welcomeonboard/ekxMcjVhd28zWUhnRVI0RjRIakx4c0xYOHN6UlhZbTBYRWpKQ1p1SXFXVTJoQUhYckVwVjJsbDdPSXFJTDJFVHwzNDU4NzY0NTUzNjIyODU4ODU4fDI=?share_link_id=980386909278

What is the capital city of the DRC?

1. Kigali
2. Nairobi
3. Kampala
4. Kinshasa

Which part of the DRC is Virunga?

1. North
2. East
3. South
4. West

DRC is in which part of Africa?

1. Central
2. West
3. Southern
4. North

Homework

1. Flags of Africa (game)

2. Countries of Africa (game)

3. Help the Gorillas (research)

4. Make a mask (art)

5. Learn a song from Uganda (music)

6. Write a newspaper article (Ukrainian or English)

Flags of Africa

How many can you name? 

Beat the clock

Прапори Африки. Скільки ви можете назвати? Збити годинник!

Name the country

How many countries in Africa do you know?

Online game. Race against the clock

Скільки країн Африки ви знаєте? Онлайн гра гонка на час!.

Help the gorillas

Допоможіть горилам

Adopt a gorilla                  Gorilla Fund

Make a mask

Creating A Low-Relief Cardboard Mask Inspired By African Masks

Створення картонної маски з низьким рельєфом на основі африканських масок

Learn and sing a song from Uganda

Вивчіть і заспівайте пісню з Уганди

"Tulo Tulo"

Tulo Tulo, go to sleep my pretty baby, dream sweetly through the nightIn your dreams you’ll dance in moonlight, in your dreams you’ll soar through the starry sky Tulo Tulo, go to sleep my pretty baby, dreamsweetly through the night

Tulo tulo kwata amwana, bwoto mukwate nga olimulogo, ssebo wulilaNjagala ngendeko kumazina nzine kundongo, nkyuse kubulamu obulamu wikulika

Write a story

Watch this video. Dunia was a young boy when he was attacked by chimps in DRC. He ended up becoming a wrestler in the USA. Imagine you are a journalist working for a Ukrainian newspaper. Write an article telling his story.

Подивіться це відео. Дуня був маленьким хлопчиком, коли на нього напали шимпанзе в ДРК. Зрештою він став борцем у США. Уявіть, що ви журналіст, працюєте в українській газеті. Напишіть статтю з його історією.