Drumming Through the Jungle is loosely based around the Congo Basin rainforest region in Africa. To make the story more readable and easier for emerging readers to follow along, this link is not directly made in the story. More information is available below about this incredible region.  Ed Keegan (author of Drumming Through the Jungle) has designed some workshops through Young Audiences of Rochester, NY where he explores the rainforest link in greater detail. For more information or booking go to:
http://www.yarochester.info/services/artist.php?id=2059.

• Jungle or Rainforest?  These terms are often used interchangeably, but there is a distinction between jungle and rainforest.  A rainforest has a thick canopy created by all of the branches of really tall trees. This canopy allows very little sunlight through, and prevents many plants from growing on the ground.   A jungle is where the tall trees that make up the rainforest canopy are not as thick.  This allows more sunlight through, and causes many more plants to grow on the ground. Jungles typically surround rainforests.
• Name:  The Congo Rainforest is actually referred to as the Congo Basin and is a series of rainforests spread over six countries.
• Location:  The Congo Basin is located in Central Africa.  It encompasses the following countries: Cameroon; Central African Republic; Equatorial Guinea; Gabon; Republic of Congo; and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). 
• Size:  The Congo Basin is the second largest rainforest in the world, covering 1.5 million square miles (the Amazon in South America is the largest).
• Water: The Congo River flows through the Congo Basin, and is the second largest river by volume on the planet, boasting a powerful 1,500,000 cubic feet of water per second.
• Animals:  10,000 different animal species, representing about half of the animal species in Africa, live in the rainforests
• Plants:  There are over 600 different species of trees in the Congo Basin, which make up around 70% of Africa's plant cover for the entire continent.
• People:  The people of the Congo Basin are often referred to as "pygmies," due to there short height, which is generally less than 5 ft. tall.  Today, this is considered a derogatory term and they prefer to be identified with their tribal names:  Mbuti, Efe, Aka, Baka, or Twa Sua.   There are estimated to be between 130,000 - 250,000 native rainforest inhabitants today.