Image of Pool Malebo, as well as the cities of Kinshasa and Brazzaville, taken by NASA
The Pool Malebo (formerly Stanley Pool, also seen as Malebo Pool), is a lake-like widening in the lower reaches of the Congo River. It is about 35 km (22 mi) long and 23 km (14 mi) wide, and has an island (Bamu Island ) at its western end. The two Congo capitals, Kinshasa and Brazzaville, are on opposite shores.
The Pool is the beginning of the navigable Congo; just below it the river descends hundreds of meters in a series of rapids known as the Livingstone Falls.