Congo is a 2001 BBCnature 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.
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 succeeded by Wild Africa later that year in 2001.
The Congo Basin is home to the largest number of non-human primates on earth, including three apes: gorillas, chimps and bonobos. At Nouabale-Ndoki National Park in the ROC, David Morgan investigates chimps in the "uncharted" wilderness of the Goualougo Triangle. Conservationist/ecologist Mike Fay studies the natural history of the Ndoki River and Sangha River regions, as well as Lake Tele, an even more remote area to the east. Families of western lowland gorillas are seen washing their food (a first) at Mbele Bai. Although uninhabited now, pottery shards on the banks of the Sangha attest to former human habitation, as do the 2,300- to 2,500-year-old oil palm nuts found nearby. Both gorillas and common chimps are contrasted unfavorably with bonobos: The latter are “new age” and "touchy-feely" apes. Moreover, because of their more amiable behavior, "feminists have taken bonobos to their hearts". As for the common chimps, they prowl like "teenage gangs" and "behave like thugs and villains". Unlike the bonobos, they kill other primates and one another, maybe even "for fun". It is speculated that the Congo Basin may be where humans originated – though no real evidence for this is presented. There are, however, thousands of petroglyphs (rock art) at Lopé in Gabon, to attest to early human habitation. Richard Oslisly, a French archeologist, believes he has found evidence of early "burn and chase" hunting at Lopé, a pattern which may explain the en masse migratory habits of mandrills in the local grasslands. The extraction of timber and bushmeat from this jungle area results in a continuous stream of traffic on the crude roads.
