Bundi River
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| Bundi River | |
|---|---|
  | |
| Location | |
| Country | Democratic Republic of the Congo |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Mouth | Congo River |
• coordinates | 5°32′40″S 13°33′08″E / 5.544539°S 13.552085°E |
| Basin features | |
| River system | Congo River |
The Bundi River is a river of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is a right tributary of the lower Congo River that enters the river below the Inga Falls. If the proposed Grand Inga Dam project goes ahead, the river valley will be flooded to form a huge lake.
In 1816 Captain James Hingston Tuckey of the British Royal Navy was the first European to visit the Bundi valley. At that time the Inga plateau was the base of a chiefdom with 300 people and 70 huts. The market in Inga prospered from imposing levies on British, Portuguese, French and Belgian slave traders going up river, and on slave caravans coming down to the Atlantic coast.[1]
Henry Morton Stanley visited in February 1880. He speculated that at some time in the past the Congo had run through the Bundi valley, leaving it almost completely level.[2] He wrote, "The Bundi is a beautiful stream of very clear water, brawling in the dry season over rocks and smoothly polished stones and pebbles at the bottom of a deep rocky valley.[3] He said that game was abundant, but unfortunately so were sand-flies, gad-flies and chigoes, while in the yellow creek the crocodiles were numerous.[4] He measured the distance from the Bundi to the Bula River as almost 16 miles (26 km).[5]
Guillaume Casman arrived in Vivi and joined an expedition led by Captain Edmond Hanssens. They left on 21 January 1884 with a column of 30 men, and reached the banks of the Bundi River on 23 January 1884. Rains had made it overflow its banks and turn its valley into a huge swamp.[6] The Swedish officer Peter August Möller passed the river when travelling from Vivi to Isangila. He wrote in 1887:[7]
During our march to Issangila we encamped in the valley of the Bundi river, which is known for its great richness in buffaloes and antelopes of different kinds. We could also observe numerous trails of these animals everywhere. Parts of the river-bed was moreover beaten by hippopotami, that obviously were grazing there [at] night. It was thus very tempting to me to stay there, but our journey did not allow it. I comforted therefore myself with my hopes of having the opportunity to come back to this rich hunting ground in the future.(Möller 1887:49)[7]