The Cuvette Centrale is a region of forests and wetlands in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Democratic Republic of the Congo

The Democratic Republic of the Congo is a state located in Central Africa. It is the second largest country in Africa by area and the eleventh largest in the world...

. The Cuvette Centrale lies in the center of the Congo Basin

Congo Basin

The Congo Basin is the sedimentary basin that is the drainage of the Congo River of west equatorial Africa. The basin begins in the highlands of the East African Rift system with input from the Chambeshi River, the Uele and Ubangi Rivers in the upper reaches and the Lualaba River draining wetlands...

, and is bounded on the west, north, and east by the arc of the Congo River

Congo River

The Congo River is a river in Africa, and is the deepest river in the world, with measured depths in excess of . It is the second largest river in the world by volume of water discharged, though it has only one-fifth the volume of the world's largest river, the Amazon...

.

A lake covered the region during the Pliocene

Pliocene

The Pliocene Epoch is the period in the geologic timescale that extends from 5.332 million to 2.588 million years before present. It is the second and youngest epoch of the Neogene Period in the Cenozoic Era. The Pliocene follows the Miocene Epoch and is followed by the Pleistocene Epoch...

 epoch, which was gradually filled with sediments, and the surface of the basin is very flat. Slow-moving tributaries of the Congo, including the Lopori

Lopori River

The Lopori river is a river in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Lopori, and the Maringa River to the south, join near Basankusu to form the Lulonga River, a tributary of the Congo River....

, Maringa

Maringa River

The Maringa river is a river in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Maringa, and the Lopori River to the north, join near Basankusu to form the Lulonga River, a tributary of the Congo River....

, Ikelemba, Tshuapa

Tshuapa River

The Tshuapa River is a river in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, about 1000 km long. The middle Tshuapa is navigable and about 150 m across...

, Lomela, and Lokoro, drain westwards.

The region lies on the Equator

Equator

An equator is the intersection of a sphere's surface with the plane perpendicular to the sphere's axis of rotation and containing the sphere's center of mass....

, and the climate is tropical and humid, and rainfall averages 2,000 mm annually.

The Eastern Congolian swamp forests extend along the Congo River and its chief tributaries, and cover wide areas in the western portion of the Cuvette Centrale. These swamp forests are seasonally or permanently flooded. The Central Congolian lowland forests

Central Congolian lowland forests

The Central Congolian lowland forests are an ecoregion within the Democratic Republic of the Congo. This is a remote, inaccessible area of low-lying dense wet forest, undergrowth and swamp in the Cuvette Centrale region of the Congo Basin south of the arc of the River Congo.-Fauna:The region has...

extend across the remaining portion of the region.