Vegetation close to older crater of Mount Nyiragongo in the eastern highlands region, the Virunga Mountains, Congo (Democratic Republic)

The eastern highlands region is the highest and most rugged portion of the country. It extends for more than 1,500 kilometers from above Lake Albert to the southern tip of Katanga (formerly Shaba) below Lubumbashi (formerly Élisabethville) and varies in width from eighty to 560 kilometers. Its hills and mountains range in altitude from about 1,000 meters to more than 5,000 meters. In this region, changes in elevation bring marked changes in vegetation, which ranges from montane savanna to heavy montane forest. This photograph was taken when Eliot Elisofon was on assignment for National Geographic and traveled to Africa from January 19, 1972 to mid April 1972.