Travel Guide Yangambi

Yangambi, a majestic river town 90 km from Kisangani, grew out of an agricultural research station (INEAC) founded in 1933 by the Belgians, and now renamed INERA. It is still one of the centers with enormous research potential for the development of the African continent.But Yangambi also impresses with its exceptional architectural features: conceived as a model city, it boasts a remarkably homogeneous Art Deco colonial style over an area of several hundred hectares. Composed of long avenues lined with villas and punctuated by imposing administrative buildings, the city also includes the remains of a hospital, a courthouse, schools, churches, a stadium, a farm, a rubber factory and an agricultural college. After decades of neglect, some of these structures are now back in operation. For scientific research is still the raison d'être of this complex located at the heart of a biosphere reserve covering a total area of 235,000 hectares.Among the site's treasures is the largest herbarium in Africa, with 150,000 species, including 6,500 national varieties. There's also a xylotheque (a collection of 1,250 wood samples); a library; a 1,000-hectare arboretum; a managed forest with scientific facilities covering almost 250 hectares; as well as a wood biology laboratory and a flow tower which, since 2020, have placed INERA at the forefront of climate change research in the Congo Basin.Together, the historical and new knowledge generated by these collections and instruments fills an enormous knowledge gap on the importance of African rainforests in maintaining their exceptional biodiversity, capturing greenhouse gas emissions, changing rainfall patterns and the effect of forest degradation and deforestation on global warming. All the data produced are available and open to the international scientific community.They are also available to policy-makers, who can benefit from the long history of climate studies carried out at the Yangambi station, combined with the newly produced data. This links the past to the present, re-launches Yangambi as a world reference for the study of tropical forests, and places the DRC at the forefront of research in the global fight against climate change, while becoming an instrument to inform national and international policies in this fundamental theme.Thanks to these revitalization measures, Yangambi is once again becoming a top-level site in international research and a unique scientific tool for studying and protecting Congolese plant diversity. Also to be seen on the site is the majestic "tree of authenticity", over three centuries old.Contact for further information or to visit the tower: Dieumerci Assumani, Director of the INERA Yangambi Research Center - [email protected]