The Congo River Basin, or the green heart of the African continent, is home to indigenous peoples and a plethora of wildlife. This landform dominates the Democratic Republic of the Congo at about 1.4 million square miles in size. Home to the Congo River, this landform recycles 75-95 percent of its rainfall, where other rainforests only generate 50 percent of their own rain.
The Great Rift Valley is a series of geological faults caused by huge volcanic eruptions that tore apart the earth's crust. A wonder of the world, this landform stretches from the Middle East, through Africa as far as Mozambique. Eruptions of volcanoes centuries back created the Ethiopian Highlands, and a series of vertical cliffs, mountain ridges, valleys and deep lakes along the Great Rift Valley's entire length. Mount Kilimanjaro, Mount Kenya and Mount Margherita can all be found along this great African landform.
Sitting 16,795 feet above the borders of the Congo rainforest of Uganda are the Mountains of the Moon or Margherita Peak. Although not volcanic in origin, it is the third highest mountain in Africa after Mounts Kilimanjaro and Kenya. Part of the Rwenzori Range, you can climb this mountain between Lake Albert, otherwise known as Lake Mobutu Sese Seko, to the north and Lake Edward to the south on the Uganda border. During an expedition led by Luigi Amedeo Abruzzi, who named the peak for Queen Margherita of Italy, this landform was first climbed in 1906.
The Sahel, a wide stretch of land that extends completely across north-central Africa, is the border region of the rainforest. Named after the Arabic word for "border" or "margin," this unstable environment is a savanna-like vegetation of grasses and shrubs. Its people and their livestock are nomadic, moving according to the rain. A religiously torn area of conflict, this landform is often subject to civil wars.
