A riverside capital on the Ubangi
Bangui lies on the northern bank of the Ubangi River, facing the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Its red-brick Notre-Dame Cathedral, the central market and the Boganda Museum, which displays musical instruments and crafts, are the main landmarks. The river is the city's lifeline, lined with pirogues carrying goods and passengers. The country's forests in the far south-west, around Dzanga-Sangha, are known for forest elephants and lowland gorillas.