Public boats, with ample sleeping quarters, plied the Congo until the government of the DRC let them fall into disrepair. Now river traffic consists largely of barges (top) and pirogues (center).

On a four-week shoot that ambitiously took in the four corners of the country, from the mouth of the Congo river to its heart and on to the Kivus and Katanga, logistics was our greatest challenge.

An international team of researchers led by GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel and Durham University has ...