UGANDA, CENTRAL EAST AFRICA AND DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO

DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO

Aside the Democratic Republic of the Congo is a massive country that is completely surrounded by water on all sides save for a TINY FINGER'S WORTH of land on its southern coast. The Congo River, which meanders its way across the country, is an important source of water for the country's population. The climate is hot and muggy, and the bulk of the people who live there work in agriculture. Since it gained its independence from Belgium in 1960, the Democratic Republic of the Congo has been through a number of difficult times, including a ruthless dictator, a civil war, and falling prices for its exports. As a direct consequence of these problems, it is today counted among the world's most impoverished countries.

\ The Democratic Republic of the Congo is famous across the world for its one-of-a-kind artwork. Shells, pearls, and raffia are strung together in intricate patterns by the Kuba people, who live in the country's central region and can trace their ancestry back several generations (fibers made from palm leaves). In order to tap into the power of a powerful ghost, a Kuba chief would have had to wear the horrific mask pictured above.

\ In this part of the world, the Congo River is more commonly known as the Zaire. This wide river, which is one of the largest in the world, helps to construct the nation's transportation network by cutting an enormous inverted "U" across kilometers of forested territory all throughout the country. People are traveling from one location to another in motorized boats, dugout canoes, and other types of watercraft. On some of the world's largest boats, passengers can even find floating bars and medical facilities. The fish in the river provide a crucial source of food, while the land along the river's lush banks is used for agriculture. \n

It would appear that the mining industry in the Democratic Republic of the Congo holds the key to the country's future economic success. There are enormous deposits of copper, cobalt, gold, uranium, silver, and diamonds to be discovered in this region, in addition to offshore oil reserves. Copper mining, which can be seen in the graphic below, is an essential part of the economy; yet, in the 1970s, when copper prices fell, the economy nearly came to a total halt.

\ River ports that are bustling with activity and are located along the Congo River serve as hubs for commerce and transportation. Shops that provide camping gear and farming implements are tucked away in the corners of the same areas as the markets where residents of riverfront communities come to sell the goods they have made. Real estate does not serve as the foundation for every market. Traders typically do business directly out of their dugout boats, selling fresh food and fish to customers. \n

CENTRAL EAST AFRICA

This region is characterized by a line of breathtaking highlands, volcano-filled mountains, deep gorges, and large lakes that runs from Uganda in the north to Malawi in the south. This particular region is a part of the Great Rift Valley, which is a huge fracture in the crust of the Earth. Flat grassland, often known as savanna, makes up a significant section of the remaining topography. Savannas provide the ideal environment for big game animals, which in turn attract large numbers of tourists to countries such as Kenya and Tanzania. The cultivation of coffee and tea is an important source of revenue for the seven countries that make up this region. Agriculture and mining on a smaller scale have been important for a long time, and now other types of companies are expanding. \n

The grasses in the savanna are golden in color and can reach heights of up to four meters (13 feet) in certain places. Because rain only falls once a year, the grasses must make the most of the little water that is available by sending their roots as far as possible into the ground. The needlelike leaves of acacia plants help to limit the amount of water that is lost, while the swollen trunks of baobab trees are able to store water. Massive portions of this landscape, including the Serengeti in Tanzania and the Masai Mara in Kenya, have been turned into game parks in order to protect the ecosystem and the animals that live there.

\ In the savanna, many animals such as rhinoceroses, giraffes, elephants, antelopes, and zebras search for food and water. They are constantly monitored by leopards, lions, and cheetahs, all of which are on the lookout for any vulnerable prey. Last but not least, jackals and vultures will swoop down upon the ruins.

\ The vast majority of farmers in this region produce only enough food to satisfy the needs of their own households by tending cows or cultivating small pieces of land on which to grow crops. The highland regions have an environment that is chilly and humid, and businesses hold huge fields where tea and coffee are produced in order to be exported. The volcanic soils in these places are extremely rich. As a result of the rise in population, however, farms have been subdivided into landholdings that are almost impossible to manage. The land has begun to deteriorate as a result of farming practices that involve cultivating even the most steep hills.

\ The length of the Great Rift Valley is 4,350 miles (7,000 km), stretching from Syria in Asia to Mozambique in Africa. Over millions of years, this breathtaking panorama was created by friction between two crustal plates. Some of the valleys in Kenya, like the one along the Mau Escarpment, have very steep sides because of this migration. In some locations, such as Kenya's Athi Plains, vast plateaus were formed when volcanoes erupted and lava seeped through the Earth's surface.

\ Nomadic people migrate with their herds of cattle, sheep, goats, and occasionally camels and donkeys in search of water and grazing in the lowland areas of central and east Africa. This is because a lack of rainfall makes it difficult to cultivate crops in these areas. The Masai people of Kenya use the region to the south of Nairobi that borders Tanzania as grazing land for their humpbacked zebu cattle. Animals are kept by the Masai for their milk and blood, which is extracted from a vein using a thin reed and then consumed by the tribe.

\ Large bodies of freshwater and salty water can be seen strung around the Rift Valley like pearls along a necklace. Along the shores of Lake Albert (Mobutu Sese Seko), Lake Nyasa (Lake Malawi), and Lake Tanganyika, there are many people who make their living by fishing with small nets or spears. These lakes are home to vast populations of fish.

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UGANDA

BEFORE THE STATES BECAME INDEPENDENT Winston Churchill referred to Uganda as the "Pearl of Africa" in 1962 because of the country's prosperous economy. In spite of this, the country was completely ruined and bankrupt by the year 1986. President Idi Amin dominated Uganda as a dictator from 1971 until 1979. There have been tens of thousands of victims of persecution or homicide. Deportations of Europeans and Asians occurred along with the seizure of their property. As soon as other nations saw how corrupt Amin's leadership was, they severed all aid from the international community. The dictator Amin was removed from power in 1979, but civil strife continued until President Yoweri Museveni seized office in 1986. His administration has started the process of rehabilitating the economy and has successfully brought peace back to the country.

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LAKE VICTORIA FISHING

Lake Victoria is a huge but rather shallow body of water that is shared by Uganda, Tanzania, and Kenya. It has been thirty years since large Nile perch fish were introduced into the lake in order to enhance the production of fish and provide chances for recreational fishing for tourists. Since that time, perch have colonized every area of Lake Victoria, where they are responsible for the extinction of the vast majority of the lake's native species.

\ Because of its fertile volcanic soil and high levels of rainfall, more than four fifths of Uganda's land is suitable for agricultural use. Large plantations are used to cultivate coffee, cotton, and tea, which together make up the majority of the country's exports. Even though ninety percent of Ugandans have agricultural jobs, the majority of them are subsistence farmers who raise crops such as corn, millet, cassava, and sweet potatoes for either their own consumption or for sale in the neighborhood markets.

\ Because of the frequent and heavy downpours that occur in the afternoon, residents of Kampala, the capital city of Uganda, almost never go outside without an umbrella. In Kampala, there are frequent violent thunderstorms on every single day of the year. At dusk, the rain had ceased, but the air was still quite chilly. The city of Kampala was left in ruins during and immediately after Amin's rule, but with the assistance of international investment, it is currently undergoing reconstruction.

\ Ruwenzori National Park offers visitors the opportunity to observe tens of thousands of hippos and pelicans by taking a boat ride along the Kazinga Channel. There aren't many other areas in Africa where you can expect to see as many hippos as you do in Uganda because so much of Uganda's wildlife was wiped off during the conflict. \n

Uganda's HIV/AIDS infection rate is among the highest in the world. Since no effective treatment exists, HIV (which can lead to AIDS) is mostly a sexually transmitted disease. The medical community is making an effort to inform the people about preventative measures to take. Infection rates have dropped drastically because to educational campaigns targeting children, such as this UNICEF poster.

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