Places Never Visited

I just wrote the first draft of a story that takes place in the Congo. I've never been to the Congo, so I'm worried about making the location convincing. Especially since I found myself drawing inspiration from the Amazon to write about an African village. I don't think a village in a flooded South American rain forest is going to be very much like a village in the African mountains. 

 I have a couple references that will help, though I need to go over them again to pull out helpful information. For example, Jane Goodal's writings of studying chimpanzees on Lake Tanganyika. And the Wildlife Conservation Network has some videos from an okapi conservation group in the Congo.

I wish I could go to the Congo easily. Though it's a rather troubled area (surprise, because Europeans screwed up the area). I need to do more research.

But research can never substitute for experiencing something first-hand.

And now I'm working on a short story that takes place in Kenya. All the same problems. But I have some potential research sources for this too.