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Congo (BBC TV Series)
''Congo'' is a 2001 BBC nature documentary series for television on the natural history of the Congo River of Central Africa. In three episodes, the series explores the variety of animals and habitats that are to be found along the river's 4,700 km (2,922 mi) reach. ''Congo'' was produced for the BBC Natural History Unit and the Discovery Channel by Scorer Associates. The series writer/producer was Brian Leith and the executive producer was Neil Nightingale. Series consultants were Michael Fay, Kate Abernethy, Jonathan Kingdon and Lee White. Little filming was possible in the Democratic Republic of the Congo which encompasses the vast majority of the river's watershed. (The one exception to this is the brief sequence of Livingstone Falls.) The reason for this is that the Second Congo War (1998–2003) was underway during filming (1999–2000). The series forms part of the Natural History Unit's ''Continents'' strand and was preceded by '' Andes to Amazon'' in 2000 and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nature Documentary
A nature documentary or wildlife documentary is a genre of documentary film or television documentary, series about animals, plants, or other non-human living creatures. Nature documentaries usually concentrate on video taken in the subject's natural habitat, but often including footage of trained and captive animals, too. Sometimes they are about wildlife or ecosystems in relationship to human beings. Such programmes are most frequently made for television, particularly for public broadcasting channels, but some are also made for the movie theater, cinema. The proliferation of this film genre, genre occurred almost simultaneously alongside the production of similar television series which is distributed across the world. Cinema Robert J. Flaherty's 1922 film ''Nanook of the North'' is typically cited as the first feature-length documentary. Decades later, Walt Disney Productions pioneered the serial theatrical release of nature-documentaries with its production of the True-Life A ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kongo Language
Kongo or Kikongo is one of the Bantu languages spoken by the Kongo people living in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the Republic of the Congo, Gabon, and Angola. It is a tonal language. The vast majority of present-day speakers live in Africa. There are roughly seven million native speakers of Kongo in the above-named countries. An estimated five million more speakers use it as a second language. Historically, it was spoken by many of those Africans who for centuries were taken captive, transported across the Atlantic, and sold as slaves in the Americas. For this reason, creolized forms of the language are found in ritual speech of Afro-American religions, especially in Brazil, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Haiti, and Suriname. It is also one of the sources of the Gullah language, which formed in the Low Country and Sea Islands of the United States Southeast. The Palenquero creole in Colombia is also related to Kong creole. Geographic distribution Kongo wa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shoebill
The shoebill (''Balaeniceps rex''), also known as the whale-headed stork, and shoe-billed stork, is a large long-legged wading bird. It derives its name from its enormous shoe-shaped bill. It has a somewhat stork-like overall form and has previously been classified with the storks in the order Ciconiiformes based on this morphology. However, genetic evidence places it with pelicans and herons in the Pelecaniformes. The adult is mainly grey while the juveniles are more brown. It lives in tropical East Africa in large swamps from South Sudan to Zambia. Taxonomy The shoebill may have been known to Ancient Egyptians but was not classified until the 19th century, after skins and eventually live specimens were brought to Europe. John Gould very briefly described it in 1850 from the skin of a specimen collected on the upper White Nile by the English traveller Mansfield Parkyns. Gould provided a more detailed description in the following year. He placed the species in its own genus ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
African Lungfish
''Protopterus'' is the genus of four species of lungfish found in Africa. ''Protopterus'' is considered the sole genus in the family Protopteridae, which is grouped with '' Lepidosiren'' in the order Lepidosireniformes. Taxonomy The earliest fossils of the Protopteridae come from the Late Cretaceous (Campanian-Maastrichtian) of Sudan, but phylogenetic evidence indicates that it and Lepidosirenidae split at the very beginning of the Early Cretaceous, around 145 Ma. Together, their common ancestor diverged from the only other extant lungfishes in Neoceratodontidae during the Late Jurassic. Some papers suggest grouping ''Protopterus'' and ''Lepidosiren'' together in the family Lepidosirenidae, as their Cretaceous divergence is relatively recent compared to the Carboniferous origins of other lungfish families. However, most taxonomic authorities retain them as distinct families. Description African lungfish are elongated, eel-like fishes with thread-like pectoral and pelvic fin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tsessebe
The common tsessebe or sassaby (''Damaliscus lunatus lunatus'') is the southern, nominate subspecies of ''Damaliscus lunatus'', although some authorities have recognised it as an independent species. It is most closely related to the Bangweulu tsessebe, sometimes also seen as a separate species,''Damaliscus lunatus'' MSW3 less to the , korrigum, and [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oribi
The oribi (; ''Ourebia ourebi'') is a small antelope found in eastern, southern and western Africa. The sole member of its genus, it was described by the German zoologist Eberhard August Wilhelm von Zimmermann in 1783. While this is the only member in the genus ''Ourebia'', eight subspecies are identified. The oribi reaches nearly at the shoulder and weighs . It possesses a slightly raised back, and long neck and limbs. The glossy, yellowish to rufous brown coat contrasts with the white chin, throat, underparts and rump. Only males possess horns; the thin, straight horns, long, are smooth at the tips and ringed at the base. Typically diurnal, the oribi is active mainly during the day. Small herds of up to four members are common; males defend their group's territory, large. It is primarily a grazer, and prefers fresh grasses but also browses occasionally. A seasonal breeder, the time when mating occurs varies geographically. Unlike all other small antelopes, oribi ca ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bemba People
The Bemba belong to a large group of Bantu peoples, primarily in the Northern Province, Zambia, Northern, Luapula Province, Luapula, Muchinga Province, Muchinga and the northern Central Province, Zambia, Central Province of Zambia. The Bemba entered Zambia before 1740 by crossing the Luapula River from Kola. Several other ethnic groups in the northern and Luapula regions of Zambia speak languages which are similar to Bemba language, Bemba, but have different origins. The Bemba people are not indigenous to Copperbelt Province; they arrived there during the 1930s due to employment opportunities in copper mining. Living in villages of 100 to 200 people, they numbered 250,000 in 1963. The ethnicities known today as the Bemba have a ruling clan known as ''Abena Ng'andu''. The traditional ruler of ethnic Bemba is Chitimukulu. The Bemba are one of the larger ethnic groups in Zambia, and their history illustrates the development of chieftainship in a large and culturally-homogeneous re ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Black Lechwe
The lechwe, red lechwe, or southern lechwe (''Kobus leche'') is an antelope found in wetlands of south-central Africa. Range The lechwe is native to Botswana, Zambia, southeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, northeastern Namibia, and eastern Angola, especially in the Okavango Delta, Kafue Flats, and Bangweulu Wetlands. The species is fairly common in zoos and wild animal farms. Description Adult lechwe typically stand at the shoulder and generally weigh from , with males being larger than females. They are golden brown with white bellies. Males are darker in colour, but exact hue and amount of blackish on the front legs, chest and body varies depending on subspecies. The long, spiral horns are vaguely lyre-shaped and borne only by males. The hind legs are somewhat longer in proportion than in other antelopes to ease long-distance running on marshy soil. File:Red Lechwe in the Okavango.jpg, Adult red lechwes in the Okavango Delta, Botswana File:Leaping Lechwe.jpg, alt ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bangweulu Swamp
The Bangweulu Wetlands is a wetland ecosystem adjacent to Lake Bangweulu in north-eastern Zambia. The area has been designated as one of the world's most important wetlands by the Ramsar Convention and an "Important Bird Area" by BirdLife International. African Parks began managing Bangweulu in partnership with Zambia's Department of National Parks and Wildlife with the establishment of the Bangweulu Wetland Management Board in 2008. Overview The Bangweulu Wetlands ecosystem was first described in the 1940s. Bangweulu, which means "where the water meets the sky", is located mostly within Zambia's Northern Province and recognized by the Ramsar Convention as one of the world's most important wetlands. The region has floodplains, seasonally flooded grasslands, woodlands, and permanent swamps fed by the Chambeshi, Luapula, Lukulu, and Lulimala rivers. The nonprofit conservation organization African Parks manages a area of the greater Bangweulu ecosystem. Flora and fauna The ecosys ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tanzania
Tanzania, officially the United Republic of Tanzania, is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It is bordered by Uganda to the northwest; Kenya to the northeast; the Indian Ocean to the east; Mozambique and Malawi to the south; Zambia to the southwest; and Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west. According to a 2024 estimate, Tanzania has a population of around 67.5 million, making it the most populous country located entirely south of the equator. Many important hominid fossils have been found in Tanzania. In the Stone and Bronze Age, prehistoric migrations into Tanzania included South Cushitic languages, Southern Cushitic speakers similar to modern day Iraqw people who moved south from present-day Ethiopia; Eastern Cushitic people who moved into Tanzania from north of Lake Turkana about 2,000 and 4,000 years ago; and the Southern Nilotic languages, Southern Nilotes, including the Datooga people, Datoog, who originated fro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kalambo Falls
Archaeological sites of Eastern Africa Archaeological sites of Southern Africa The Kalambo Falls on the Kalambo River is a single-drop waterfall on the border of Zambia and Rukwa Region, Tanzania at the southeast end of Lake Tanganyika. The falls are some of the tallest uninterrupted falls in Africa (after South Africa's Tugela Falls, Ethiopia's Jin Bahir Falls and others). Downstream of the falls is the Kalambo Gorge, which has a width of about 1 km and a depth of up to 300 m, running for about 5 km before opening out into the Lake Tanganyika rift valley. The Kalambo waterfall is the tallest waterfall in both Tanzania and Zambia. The expedition which mapped the falls and the area around it was in 1928 and led by Enid Gordon-Gallien. Initially it was assumed that the height of falls exceeded 300 m, but measurements in the 1920s gave a more modest result, above 200 m. Later measurements, in 1956, gave a result of 221 m. After this several more ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kalambo River
The Kalambo River forms part of the border between Zambia and Tanzania. It is a comparatively small stream which rises on the Ufipa Plateau in Rukwa Region,Tanzania north-east of Mbala at an elevation of about and descends into the Albertine Rift, entering the southeastern end of Lake Tanganyika at an elevation of about , in a straight-line distance of only about . This accounts for its main claim to fame, its waterfall, Kalambo Falls Archaeological sites of Eastern Africa Archaeological sites of Southern Africa The Kalambo Falls on the Kalambo River is a single-drop waterfall on the border of Zambia and Rukwa Region, Tanzania at the southeast end of Lake Tanganyika. The ..., which is Africa's second highest falls (after South Africa's Tugela Falls). Below the falls, the river runs in a deep gorge. The site of the river includes important archaeological sites. References * UNESCO, World Heritage CentreKalambo falls archaeological site (prehistoric settlement site ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
