Burundi, officially known as the ‘Republic of Burundi’ is a country located in the Great Lakes region in the continent of Africa. Burundi has for its neighbors the countries of Tanzania to the east and the south, the Democratic Republic of Congo to the west and the country of Rwanda in the north.
Burundi, in terms of geographical area occupied, is only slightly smaller than the American state of Maryland.
Soon after Burundi gained independence from Belgium, the mountainous country enjoyed the distinction of being one of the first black republics in the world.
Burundi being a country that’s blessed with an abundance of tea and coffee plantations has for its single highest revenue earning economic activity the cultivation and sale of coffee.
For natural resources Burundi is blessed with varying amounts of uranium, rare earth oxides, nickel, copper, vanadium, limestone, tungsten, gold, tin, niobium, and tantalum.
Burundi is blessed with an abundance of wildlife and greenery too. Its countryside boasts of myriad plant and animal species that include crocodiles, antelopes, antelopes, and hippopotamuses.
Burundi is one of the smallest countries in Africa.
Lake Tanganyika in Burundi is an African Great Lake. It is estimated to be the second largest freshwater lake in the world by volume, and the second deepest, in both cases, after only Lake Baikal in Siberia; it is also the world’s longest freshwater lake.
Livingstone–Stanley Monument. This huge stone with gold inscription is in commemoration of Dr. Livingstone and Stanley camping here outside Bujumbura. This was not were they first met, which was at Ujji quite some kilometeres farther south. This was probably when they were searching for the source of the Nile. They believed Lake Tanganyika could be the source, alas, the found the Ruzingi river in the northern end of the lake flowing into the lake.
Perched on the top of Congo-Nile ranges, between 1550 and 2660m of altitude, Kibira Park is a majestic primeval rainy forest covering 40 000 hectares. Former sacred hunting reserve for the kings of Burundi, it is today instituted a protected area and is habitat to some 98 mammal species, a dozen of primates (numerous families of chimpanzees, baboons, tailed monkeys, black colobus), but also some 200 species of birdlife.
The Chutes de la Kagera (Kagera Falls) are a series of waterfalls in Burundi made up of six branches divided on three landings which provide a spectacular vision. The Kagera Falls’ features are: “On a first level, is a main fall subdivided into two parallel branches of a length estimated at 80 m about which pours on a basin. This fall consists of several waterfalls of different sizes intersected with two platforms. Another smaller waterfall is located roughly 50 m to the west of this main fall. Waters of these two falls converge on a second landing to form the third waterfall which pours on the valley.”