Kivu

Kivu, region, Congo

Kivu (kē`v, kēv`), region, c.89,000 sq mi (230,510 sq km), E Congo (Kinshasa). It borders on Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, and Lake Tanganyika on the east. Kivu is divided into three provinces, Nord-Kivu, Sud-Kivu, and Maniema. Coffee, cotton, rice, and palm oil are produced, and tin and some gold are mined. The Ruwenzori Mts., Kahuzi-Biega National Park, and part of Maiko National Park are in the region. Most of Kivu was controlled (1961–62) by the breakaway regime of Antoine Gizenga, which was centered at Kisangani (then Stanleyville). Kivu was a base for various rebel groups beginning in the 1990s.

---

Kivu, lake, Congo and Rwanda

Kivu, lake, 1,042 sq mi (2,699 sq km), 55 mi (89 km) long, on the Congo-Rwanda border, E central Africa; highest lake in Africa (4,788 ft/1,459 m). It is drained by the Ruzizi River, which flows S into Lake Tanganyika. Beneath the lake lie vast reserves of methane gas which have not been exploited. Lake Kivu is a tourist center. Goma, Congo, on the N shore, is subject to the eruptions of nearby Mt. Nyiragongo.

---

Kivu

Lake. a lake in central Africa, between the Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Za?re) and Rwanda at an altitude of 1460 m (4790 ft.). Area: 2698 sq. km (1042 sq. miles). Depth: (maximum) 475 m (1558 ft.)

---

Kivu 

a national park in the Republic of Zaïre (formerly called Albert National Park) and Rwanda (Volcano National Park). It is located in the Great Rift Valley and occupies part of the Western Rift (trench) from Lake Kivu to the middle course of the Semliki River. In 1972 the park occupied an area of 800,000 hectares (ha) in the Republic of Zaïre and 18,000 ha in Rwanda.

Kivu was founded in 1925 in order to protect the disappearing mountain gorilla (Gorilla gorilla beringei). Today it also preserves the equatorial rain forest; vegetation on the slopes of Mount Ruwenzori; papyrus thickets on the shores of Lake Edward (Idi Amin Dada), with its colonies of birds, including cormorants, marabou, and jabiru); and the savanna and its heavy population of elephants and wild ungulates, including hippopotamuses, buffaloes, okapis, warthogs, and various antelope. The Kivu National Park is second in the world in secondary biological productivity (up to 236 kg/ha for 11 species of wild ungulates). The park also encompasses the massifs of active and extinct volcanoes. A small section of the park, Nyamuragira, is open to tourists. The park observes a strict conservation program.

---

Kivu 

a lake in East Africa, on the border between the Republic of Zaire and Rwanda, with an area of 2,700 sq km and a maximum depth of 496 m. The lake lies in a tectonic depression at an elevation of 1,460 m. It was created when volcanic outflows dammed up the flow of the depression’s ancient river network. The shores of the lake are steep and strongly dissected, and there are more than 150 islands in the lake. The lake drains into Lake Tanganyika through the Ruzizi River. The water is slightly salty, and at great depths the lake contains, in dissolved form, methane (deposits of industrial significance) and carbon dioxide. The lake is used for shipping, and the chief ports and landings are Bukavu and Goma in Zaire and Gisenyi and Shangugu in Rwanda. It was discovered in 1894 by the German traveler A. von Götzen. The region around the lake has been set aside as a national park.