The Yellala Falls (''Rapides de Yelala'' or ''Chutes Yelala''; also spelled as ''Ielala'') are a series of waterfalls and rapids on the
Congo River
The Congo River ( kg, Nzâdi Kôngo, french: Fleuve Congo, pt, Rio Congo), formerly also known as the Zaire River, is the second longest river in Africa, shorter only than the Nile, as well as the second largest river in the world by discharge ...
just upstream from
Matadi
Matadi is the chief sea port of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the capital of the Kongo Central province, adjacent to the border with Angola. It had a population of 245,862 (2004). Matadi is situated on the left bank of the Congo River, ...
in the
Democratic Republic of the Congo
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...
.
The falls are the lowest of a long series of rapids that render the river unnavigable, forcing colonial explorers to travel by foot as far as the
Stanley Pool upstream.
The Congo is the second largest river in the world by volume of water discharged, and the deepest in the world.
The section of river that ends with the Yellala falls has over 300 species of fish, many found nowhere else.
Location
The region drained by the Congo River covers one eighth of Africa, including both tropical rain forest and savanna, much of it in a huge, shallow basin. The present system of rivers seems to date from around five million years ago, not long ago on a geological time scale. At that time the Atlantic continental margin was lifted up and formed a barrier between the basin and the sea. A large lake formed before the Congo River broke through this barrier, running through a narrow, rocky channel about long from
Kinshasa to
Matadi
Matadi is the chief sea port of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the capital of the Kongo Central province, adjacent to the border with Angola. It had a population of 245,862 (2004). Matadi is situated on the left bank of the Congo River, ...
. The river is navigable both above and below this stretch, called the lower Congo.
The upper portion of the Lower Congo starts with the steep
Livingstone Falls
Livingstone Falls (French: ''Chutes Livingstone''; Dutch: ''Livingstonewatervallen''), named for British explorer David Livingstone, are a succession of enormous rapids on the lower course of the Congo River in west equatorial Africa, downs ...
just below Kinshasa and continues for through a number of smaller rapids. The central portion of about is navigable, at times lake-like and at times narrow and as deep as . The lower portion of about is the steepest, with huge rapids at the
Inga Falls and again at the Yellala falls, after which the river is navigable to the ocean.
About of water flows over the falls each second.
First European discovery
![Matadi, Congo, pedra de Ielala, Diogo Cão](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e0/Matadi%2C_Congo%2C_pedra_de_Ielala%2C_Diogo_C%C3%A3o.jpg)
The Yellala Falls were reached by Europeans as early as 1485, when the Portuguese explorer
Diogo Cão
Diogo Cão (; -1486), anglicised as Diogo Cam and also known as Diego Cam, was a Portuguese explorer and one of the most notable navigators of the Age of Discovery. He made two voyages sailing along the west coast of Africa in the 1480s, explori ...
took a group of men as far as the falls before they were forced to turn back by disease, probably
malaria
Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects humans and other animals. Malaria causes symptoms that typically include fever, tiredness, vomiting, and headaches. In severe cases, it can cause jaundice, seizures, coma, or death. S ...
. In that place he set a
padrão
A ''padrão'' is a stone pillar left by Portuguese maritime explorers in the 15th and 16th centuries to record significant landfalls and thereby establish primacy and possession. They were often placed on promontories and capes or at the mouths o ...
, a large stone cross-shaped marker, customary during the
Portuguese Age of Discovery. The stone, which was not rediscovered until 1911, bears the words: "Aqui chegaram os navios do esclarecido rei D.João II de Portugal - Diogo Cão, Pero Anes, Pero da Costa." ("Here arrived the ships of illustrious
John II John II may refer to:
People
* John Cicero, Elector of Brandenburg (1455–1499)
* John II Casimir Vasa of Poland (1609–1672)
* John II Comyn, Lord of Badenoch (died 1302)
* John II Doukas of Thessaly (1303–1318)
* John II Komnenos (1087–1 ...
, King of Portugal – Diogo Cão, Pero Anes, Pero da Costa".)
Later European visitors and descriptions
Captain
James Hingston Tuckey
James Hingston Tuckey (August 1776 – 4 October 1816) was an Irish-born British explorer and a captain in the Royal Navy. Some sources mistakenly refer to him as James Kingston Tuckey.
Tuckey was born at Greenhill, near Mallow, August 1776 ...
visited in 1816. He said that the local people thought the falls were the residence of an evil spirit, and that anyone who saw them would never see them again. Visiting in the dry season, he was disappointed by the falls. He described the site as comprising a large hill of
syenite, a course-grained
igneous rock
Igneous rock (derived from the Latin word ''ignis'' meaning fire), or magmatic rock, is one of the three main rock types, the others being sedimentary and metamorphic. Igneous rock is formed through the cooling and solidification of magma o ...
, on the south side. The northern side, made of the same material, was not as high, but steeper than the south. He described the river as having forced its course and within the middle of the river an island of slate "still defies its power, and breaks the current into two narrow channels; that near the south side gives vent to a great mass of water, over which the torrent rushes with great fury and noise, as may easily be conceived".
Tuckey, who was sponsored by the
Royal Geographical Society of London to obtain information on the slave trade, noted the brutality of the Portuguese slave trade and gathered valuable information about the geography, animals, plants, minerals and people of the region.
Talking of the people who lived above the falls, Tuckey said that fowls, eggs,
manioc
''Manihot esculenta'', commonly called cassava (), manioc, or yuca (among numerous regional names), is a woody shrub of the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae, native to South America. Although a perennial plant, cassava is extensively cultivated ...
and fruits were the property of women. The items were never dealt with by the men without a discussion with their wives. Beads were given as presents from the men.
In 1848 the Hungarian
László Magyar ascended the Congo to the Yellala falls, before spending five years exploring the region to the south. Due to his lack of contact with the outside world, the valuable information that he gathered received little circulation.
![Yellala Falls 1883](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ab/Yellala_Falls_1883.png)
Sir
Richard Francis Burton
Sir Richard Francis Burton (; 19 March 1821 – 20 October 1890) was a British explorer, writer, orientalist scholar,and soldier. He was famed for his travels and explorations in Asia, Africa, and the Americas, as well as his extraordinary kn ...
, who first saw the falls in 1863, wrote a description of the great Yellala. Waves developed in the course of the river "for a mile and a half above". Afterwards, the water heads down a slope of around thirty feet "in 300 yards, spuming, colliding and throwing up foam, which looks dingy white against the dull yellow-brown of the less disturbed channel - the movement is that of waves dashing upon a pier". He went on: "The old river-valley, shown by the scarp of the rocks, must have presented gigantic features, and the height of the trough-walls, at least a thousand feet, gives the Yellala a certain beauty and grandeur. The site is apparently the highest axis of the dividing ridge separating the maritime lowlands from the inner plateau".
The explorer
Henry Morton Stanley, who visited the falls on April 6, 1880, wrote that over a five or six mile stretch the incline was only , but that the "general fury of the water is caused by the obstructions which the giant volume meets in the bed of the narrow defile." Sir
Harry Johnston
Sir Henry Hamilton Johnston (12 June 1858 – 31 July 1927), known as Harry Johnston, was a British explorer, botanist, artist, colonial administrator, and linguist who travelled widely in Africa and spoke many African languages. He publishe ...
, who visited the falls in 1883, called the river "the last grand fall of Yellala" and detailed the sight and sounds of his impression of the falls.
Ecological importance
![Steatocranus gibbiceps](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0e/Steatocranus_gibbiceps.jpg)
The Yellala Falls and the other falls and rapids upstream have largely isolated the aquatic fauna of the Congo Basin for around five million years, a significant period on an evolutionary timescale.
The
cichlid genera ''
Steatocranus
''Steatocranus'' is a genus of small rheophilic cichlids mostly native to the Congo River Basin in DR Congo/ Congo Brazzaville, although one species, '' S. irvinei'', is restricted to the Volta River in Ghana and Burkino Faso, and it belongs in ...
'', ''
Nanochromis'', ''
Lamprologus
''Lamprologus'' is a genus of fishes from the cichlid family. They are native to Lake Tanganyika (where several species are shell dwellers) and the Congo River Basin in Africa. The type species for this genus is ''Lamprologus congoensis'', a spec ...
'' and ''
Teleogramma
''Teleogramma'' is an African genus of cichlids with five species. These dark and slender fish barely reach in length and are limited to rapids in the Western Congo River basin in DR Congo/Congo Brazzaville.Froese, R. and D. Pauly, Eds''Teleog ...
'' are found only in the Congo basin. Several dozen species in these genera are found only in the lower Congo. ''Steatocranus'' are
rheophilic
A rheophile is an animal that prefers to live in fast-moving water.
Examples of rheophilic animals
Insects
*Many aquatic insects living in riffles require current to survive.
*'' Epeorus sylvicola'', a rheophilic mayfly species ( Ephemeropter ...
, meaning they have adapted to living in fast water. The four species of ''Teleogramma'' are found only in the lower Congo rapids. Genetically distinct populations have been found on opposite sides of the river. Although only apart, powerful currents that may exceed have prevented interbreeding.
Notes
References
Sources
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External links
*{{cite web , url=http://collections.smvk.se/pls/em/rigby.VisaObjekt?pin_masidn=1461360 , title=Fiskare - Fishermen on the falls , year=1915 , access-date=2011-12-25 , publisher=Etnografiska museet Carlotta , archive-date=2013-04-18 , archive-url=https://archive.today/20130418133424/http://collections.smvk.se/pls/em/rigby.VisaObjekt?pin_masidn=1461360 , url-status=dead
Congo River
Waterfalls of the Democratic Republic of the Congo