Île de Mateba ''(Mateba Island)'' is the major

river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of w ...

island An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...

close to the river mouth of the great

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 ...

. The entire island lies within the DR Congo, whereas the southern river shore lies in

Angola , national_anthem = " Angola Avante"() , image_map = , map_caption = , capital = Luanda , religion = , religion_year = 2020 , religion_ref = , coordina ...

. There are at least two villages on the island, one on the island's south coast and one on the north coast.

Controversial wildlife introductions

On the Mateba Island,

Blue wildebeest The blue wildebeest (''Connochaetes taurinus''), also called the common wildebeest, white-bearded gnu or brindled gnu, is a large antelope and one of the two species of wildebeest. It is placed in the genus '' Connochaetes'' and family Bovidae, a ...

Waterbuck The waterbuck (''Kobus ellipsiprymnus'') is a large antelope found widely in sub-Saharan Africa. It is placed in the genus '' Kobus'' of the family Bovidae. It was first described by Irish naturalist William Ogilby in 1833. Its 13 subspecies ar ...

, Burchell's zebras and even giraffes have been introduced by the

Institut Congolais pour la Conservation de la Nature The ''Institut Congolais pour la Conservation de la Nature'' (English; "Congolese Institute for Nature Conservation") is a Congolese governmental partner tasked with the protection and conservation of the Virunga National Park and Kahuzi-Biega Na ...

. The animals where imported from Namibia in partnership with "Wildlife Vets Namibia". This move is controversial because Mateba Island is historically a rainforest reserve. And the partly savanne which occurs now is a result of deforestation. All founder populations established well except the 4 giraffes which died within 3 weeks of offloading due to the absence of Acacia trees like

Vachellia ''Vachellia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the legume family, Fabaceae, commonly known as thorn trees or acacias. It belongs to the subfamily Mimosoideae. Its species were considered members of genus '' Acacia'' until 2009. ''Vachellia'' ...

and

Senegalia ''Senegalia'' (from Senegal and ''Acacia senegal'' (L.) Willd.) is a genus of flowering plants in the family Fabaceae. It belongs to the Mimosoid clade. Until 2005, its species were considered members of ''Acacia.'' The genus was considered poly ...

References

Congo River Islands of the Democratic Republic of the Congo {{DRCongo-geo-stub