[2] The lake covers about 765 square kilometres (295 sq mi) depending on the season, connected via the Irebu channel with the Congo river.

Lake Tumba has 114 species of fish and supports an important fisheries.

[3] The lake lies at the center of the Tumba-Ngiri-Maindombe landscape, the largest Ramsar Convention wetland in the world, a vast area of forest and permanent or seasonal lakes and marshlands that has great environmental and economic value.

[4] Bikoro Territory is one of the remaining places where bonobos still survive, a close relative of humans.

The marsh forests are suffering from uncontrolled timber extraction and slash-and-burn agriculture.