Virunga

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)
1 / 47
next
Slide 1: Slide
GeographyLower Secondary (Key Stage 3)Primary Education

This lesson contains 47 slides, with interactive quizzes, text slides and 5 videos.

time-iconLesson duration is: 60 min

Items in this lesson

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)

Slide 1 - Slide

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.

Slide 2 - Slide

What do you know about Africa?

Slide 3 - Mind map

Virunga
Democratic Republic of the Congo

Slide 4 - Slide

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).

Slide 5 - Slide

Uganda
C.A.R
Tanzania
South Sudan
Republic of Congo
Angola
Zambia

Slide 6 - Drag question

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.

Slide 7 - Slide

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

Slide 8 - Drag question

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 

Slide 9 - Slide

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.

Slide 10 - Slide

What do you know about the DRC?

Slide 11 - Mind map

Slide 12 - Video

How does the wealth you see here make you feel?

Slide 13 - Open question

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. 

Slide 14 - Slide

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”.

Slide 15 - Slide

Slide 16 - Video

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

Slide 17 - Slide

Magma chamber
Secondary cone
Lava Flow
Vent
Ash Cloud

Slide 18 - Drag question

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.

Slide 19 - Slide

Slide 20 - Video

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.

Slide 21 - Slide

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.

Slide 22 - Slide

What do you know about gorillas?

Slide 23 - Mind map

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

Slide 24 - Slide

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. 

Slide 25 - Slide

Slide 26 - Video

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

Slide 27 - Slide

In your opinion what is the greatest threat to the gorillas?
Mining
Farming
Poaching
War
Oil

Slide 28 - Poll

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

Slide 29 - Open question

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

Slide 30 - Slide

Gorillas can cause great damage to farm crops
For subsistence farmers the loss of a crop can be devastating

Slide 31 - Slide

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.

Slide 32 - Slide

How does tourism help the gorillas and the farmers?

Slide 33 - Open question

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. 

Slide 34 - Slide

Slide 35 - Video

What is the capital city of the DRC?
A
Kigali
B
Nairobi
C
Kampala
D
Kinshasa

Slide 37 - Quiz

Which part of the DRC is Virunga?
A
North
B
East
C
South
D
West

Slide 38 - Quiz

DRC is in which part of Africa?
A
Central
B
West
C
Southern
D
North

Slide 39 - Quiz

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)

Slide 40 - Slide

Flags of Africa
How many can you name

Beat the clock

Прапори Африки. Скільки ви можете назвати? Збити годинник!

Slide 41 - Slide

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!.

Slide 42 - Slide

Help the gorillas
Допоможіть горилам

Adopt a gorilla                  Gorilla Fund

Slide 43 - Slide

Make a mask
Creating A Low-Relief Cardboard Mask Inspired By African Masks

Створення картонної маски з низьким рельєфом на основі африканських масок

Slide 44 - Slide

Learn and sing a song from Uganda
Вивчіть і заспівайте пісню з Уганди

Slide 45 - Slide

Tulo Tulo, go to sleep my pretty baby, dream sweetly through the night In 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, dream sweetly through the night
Tulo tulo kwata amwana, bwoto mukwate nga olimulogo, ssebo wulila Njagala ngendeko kumazina nzine kundongo, nkyuse kubulamu obulamu wikulika

Slide 46 - Slide

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.

Slide 47 - Slide