In some places the Congo River is more than 220 metres deep. That is deep enough to swallow a 60-storey skyscraper! Scientists measure the water rushing out at the river's mouth and find it pours into the Atlantic Ocean at an almost unbelievable speed — so powerfully that the fresh water pushes the salty ocean water back far out to sea.
The river forms a giant loop through the DRC, almost like a question mark on the map. Hundreds of smaller rivers flow into it like roads joining a motorway. Many communities along its banks use canoes and wooden boats called pirogues to travel, trade and fish.
Beneath the surface live more than 700 species of fish, including some that glow in the dark and others found nowhere else on Earth. The deep, dark sections of the river are so isolated that fish on one bank have evolved to look different from fish on the other bank — the same species, but split into two separate groups by all that deep, fast water.
The Congo River is also one of the world's great power sources. The Inga Falls on the lower river are a stretch of wild rapids with more energy potential than almost any other site on the planet. Engineers dream of one day using that rushing water to bring electricity to millions of homes across Africa.