Congo is a 1980 science fiction novel by Michael Crichton.
The novel
centers on an expedition searching for diamonds and investigating the
mysterious deaths of a previous expedition in the dense rain forest of Congo.
The expedition teams are attacked by an unknown creature, causing
everyone to lose contact. The expedition involves searching for
valuable diamonds. The crew eventually discovers a lost city, which
reveals a grey-haired gorilla living there. The gorilla is the one
responsible for the murders. Crichton introduces another expedition
headed by Karen Ross. She launches an investigation to find out the
truth about the city of Zinj. It is here where Crichton introduces more
characters: an African mercenary, a female gorilla, and a trainer. By
the end of 'Congo,' Ross's crew encounters danger which includes
predators. She also discovers that the city is devoid of life
John Michael Crichton (October 23, 1942 November 4, 2008) was an
American best-selling author, physician, producer, director and screenwriter,
best known for his work in the science fiction, medical
fiction and thriller genres. His books have sold over 200 million copies
worldwide, and many have been adapted into films.
Characters:
Dr. Karen Ross, an electronics expert for TraviCom, and a former CIA
operative, who hopes to find her ex-fianc lost in a previous expedition to
the Congo.
Dr. Peter Elliott, a primatologist of Berkeley, California who wants to
return his gorilla, Amy, to her birthplace in the Congo's Virunga region.
Captain Munro Kelly, the "Great White Hunter" and mercenary who
leads the group.
Amy, a female mountain gorilla, born in the Virunga region, who is
studied by Peter in the United States. She likes to draw scenes from her
dreams, in which the Lost City of Zinj often appears.
Herkermer Homolka, a supposedly-rich Romanian man who offers to
finance the expedition. He poses as a philanthropist, but it's soon
revealed that he isn't at all wealthy and his real aim is to find the mythical
Lost City of Zinj, where he lost another expedition some years before.
Richard, Peter's research assistant.
R.B. Travis, TraviCom's CEO, Charles' father and Karen's boss. He
wants to find the diamond mines to finance and expand his satellite
technologies.
Charles "Charlie" Travis, Karen's ex-fianc and R.B.'s son.
Jeffrey Weems, Charlie's friend who was in the previous expedition
with Charlie.
Kahega, Munro's deputy and leader of the expedition's African porters.
Eddie Ventro, an American living in Central Africa who hires Munro,
and organizes the group's transportation and materials.
Captain Wanta, a corrupt African military officer who offers safe
passage through his country (and a few humorous words) for a price.
SUMMARY:
The novel starts with an abrupt end to an expedition sent by Earth Resource
Technology Services Inc. in the dense rain forests of Congo (Zaire) when the
team is attacked and killed by an unknown creature and all contact with
them is lost. The expedition, searching for deposits of valuable diamonds,
discovered the legendary lost city of Zinj (in Arabic Zinj or Zanj refers to the
southern part of the East African coast). A video image taken by a camera
there, and transmitted by satellite to the base station in Houston, shows a
peculiar race of grey haired gorillas to be responsible for the murders.
Another expedition, led by Karen Ross, is launched to find out the truth and
to find the city of Zinj, where there are believed to be deposits of a certain
diamond,which are naturally boron-doped and thus useful as
semiconductors, though worthless as gemstones. This time the searchers
bring along the famous White African mercenary Charles Munro, as well as a
female gorilla named Amy, who has been trained to communicate with
humans using sign language, and her trainer Peter Elliot. Time is of the
greatest essence, as a rival consortium from corporations in Japan, Germany,
and Holland are searching for the diamonds, turning the entire expedition
into a race to the city of Zinj. Unfortunately for Ross and her team, the
American expedition encounters many delays along the way, including plane
crashes, native civil wars, and jungle predators.
Eventually, Ross and her expedition reach the City of Zinj and discover the
consortium's camp, like the original expedition's camp, in ruins and devoid of
life. Ross and her team lose contact with the ERTS HQ due to a massive solar
flare, then encounter the killer gorillas and are attacked. A brief battle
ensues and several gorillas are killed. After studying the corpses and
performing a rudimentary field autopsy, it is concluded the animals are not
"true" gorillas by modern biological standards, but presumably a gorillachimpanzee or gorilla-human hybrid: their mass and height is closer to
humans than gorillas, their skull is greatly malformed (the "ridge" that makes
gorilla heads look "pointy" is nearly nonexistent) as well as their
pigmentation is on the border of albinism: light gray fur and yellow eyes.
In addition, they exhibit different behavior: they are much more aggressive,
ruthless and partially nocturnal (attacks are always at night, yet a very large
group was observed feeding during the day). Peter Elliot intends to name
them Gorilla elliotensis after himself. Afterwards, Ross, Elliot, and Munro
explore the ruins and discover that the killer gorillas were bred by the
ancient inhabitants of Zinj to serve as guard dogs to protect the diamond
mines from intruders. After several more attacks, Elliot, with the help of Amy,
finds a way to translate the language of the new gorillas (she refers to them
as "bad gorillas") and piece together three messages ("go away", "don't
come", "here bad"); they stop fighting the humans and become confused,
leaving the camp. Their victory is cut short by the eruption of the nearby
volcano, accelerated by the explosives placed by Ross for her geological
surveys, that buries the city, the diamond fields and all proof of the "new"
species under 800 meters of lava. Ross, Elliot, Munro, and the rest of the
team's survivors are forced to run for their lives. The team then manages to
find a hot air balloon in a crashed consortium cargo aircraft and uses it to
escape. In an epilogue, it is revealed that Munro was able to retrieve a few
hundred carats of the valuable diamonds and sold them to Intel for use in a
revolutionary new computer processor, while Amy was reintroduced into the
wild and was later observed teaching her offspring sign language.
Democratic Republic of the Congo also known as Congo is a country
located in Central Africa. From 1971 to 1997 it was named Zaire. It is the
second largest country in Africa by area and the eleventh largest in the
world. With a population of over 75 million, the Democratic Republic of the
Congo is the most populated officially Francophone country, the fourth most
populated nation in Africa and the nineteenth most populated country in the
world.
Top Nature & Parks in Democratic Republic of the Congo
Mount Nyiragongo is an active stratovolcano with an elevation of
3470 m (11382 ft) in the Virunga Mountains associated with
theAlbertine Rift. It is located inside Virunga National Park, in
the Democratic Republic of the Congo, about 20 km (12 mi) north of
the town of Goma and Lake Kivu and just west of the border
with Rwanda.
Lola Ya Banobo is the world's only sanctuary for orphaned bonobos.
Since 2002, the sanctuary has been located just south of the suburb
of Kimwenza at the Petites Chutes de la Lukaya, Kinshasa, in
the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Zongo Falls are located in Bas-Congo at 130 km from Kinshasa. The
falls are simply spectacular and thats probably one of the top
destinations in Congo. Good idea for a Relaxing week-end out of the
always busy Kinshasa.
Lake Kivu is one of the African Great Lakes. It lies on the border
between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda, and is in
the Albertine Rift, the western branch of the East African Rift. Lake
Kivu empties into the Ruzizi River, which flows southwards into Lake
Tanganyika.
Garamba National Park,is one of the continents oldest national
parks and was primarily formed in order to protect the dwindling
population of the northern white rhinoceros.
VOCABULARY WORDS:
1. Abrupt- very sudden and not expected
2. Peculiar-not usual or normal
3. Consortiom-a group of people, companies, etc., that agree to
work together.
4. Gemstone-a stoned that can be used in jewelry when it is cut
and polished.
5. Ruthless-having no pity
6. Nocturnal-happening at night
Lola Ya Banobo
MOUNT NYIRAGONGO
Lake kivu
Garamba National park
Zongo Falls
