When we conjure up mental images of the Democratic Republic of Congo perhaps inevitably those images are of a war torn and dangerous country. Whilst this is sadly true, and has been for decades since independence from Belgium in 1960, the country itself is home to an abundance of rainforests, rivers such as the Congo itself.

It is also home to active volcanoes such as Mount Nyiragongo (left) in the Great Rift Valley, all above a bed of an estimated twenty-four trillion US dollars of natural resources including cobalt, copper, niobium, tantalum, petroleum, industrial and gem diamonds, gold, silver, zinc, manganese, tin, uranium and coal.

This video shows images of the country as you have probably never seen it before. The Democratic Republic of Congo is about the same size as western Europe and is home to the famous Congo river with many still unexplored regions bursting with wildlife including mountain gorillas, white rhinos and, of course, the pygmy chimpanzees. It shares its borders with Angola, Burundi, Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia. The country also has a small 23 mile strip of coastline connecting it with the Atlantic Ocean.

After you watch it why not check out our satellite map of the Democratic Republic of Congo here and zoom in to explore other images and areas of interest.