There is a serious Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Our Congo River expeditions run in the Republic of the Congo, a different country, roughly 1,600 kilometres from the affected provinces. This page sets out what the health agencies themselves report, including the parts that are not reassuring.
Last checked 20 September 2026, against WHO, the US CDC, the ECDC and the DRC Ministry of Health.
Figures from the DRC Ministry of Health situation report of 17 September 2026. WHO's most recent published count, to 16 September, is slightly lower at 7,475 cases and 3,605 deaths, which is the normal lag between a national daily bulletin and international reporting. The outbreak was declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern on 17 May 2026. The virus is the Bundibugyo species. Uganda's linked outbreak was declared over on 25 August 2026.
The outbreak is in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and within it, overwhelmingly in the northeast. Our river route runs through the Republic of the Congo, the smaller country on the west bank, with its capital at Brazzaville. They are separate states with separate health systems, and the distances between them are continental.
Ituri province is the epicentre, holding about 5,800 of the confirmed cases. North Kivu is next. Together those two provinces account for the large majority of everything reported. The other affected provinces are Tshopo, Haut-Uele, Bas-Uele, South Kivu, where nothing new has been reported since late May, and Sud-Ubangi, where a single case and a single death were recorded in the town of Gwaka.
Gwaka matters to this page because it is the only reported case anywhere near the western side of the country. It is the closest the outbreak has come to our route, and it is still 362 kilometres from Ouesso, the northernmost town we use.
Travel material circulating this year has described the outbreak as several thousand kilometres from Congo Basin operations. Measured properly it is roughly 1,600 to 1,800 kilometres from the towns on our route. That is still an enormous distance, across rainforest with no direct road and no direct commercial flight, but we would rather give you the real number than a flattering one.
| Place on our route | To Bunia, Ituri | To Gwaka, the nearest single case |
|---|---|---|
| BrazzavilleStart and finish, Republic of the Congo | 1,789 km | 866 km |
| OyoTop of the river cruise, Republic of the Congo | 1,616 km | 544 km |
| The bonobo camp near NkalaThe one night in the DRC, on the 15-night expedition | 1,638 km | 684 km |
| OuessoNorthernmost town we use, Republic of the Congo | 1,578 km | 362 km |
| Bayanga, Dzanga-SanghaCentral African Republic, on the 15-night expedition | 1,562 km | 331 km |
Great-circle distances calculated by Waypoint Journeys from published coordinates, rounded to the nearest kilometre. Real travelling distance is far greater: there is no direct road and no direct commercial flight between the affected provinces and the Congo Basin.
The two trips are not in the same position, and the difference has nothing to do with how close either one gets to the outbreak. It is about which countries you set foot in, and what that does to your flight home.
Brazzaville to Oyo and back, entirely within the Republic of the Congo. You do not enter the DRC or any other affected country at any point.
Both cross the river into the DRC for the bonobos near Nkala, in the west of the country, far from anywhere the outbreak has reached. The local risk is very low. The paperwork consequence is not.
The CDC currently states that travellers who have been in the DRC within 21 days of their flight will not be allowed to board a commercial flight to a US destination. That rule applies to the whole country, so it catches the bonobo nights even though they are nowhere near the outbreak. It does not affect the 8-night river cruise, which never enters the DRC. If you want the bonobos and you are returning to the United States, the honest options are to take the 8-night cruise instead, to build in the 21 days elsewhere before flying home, or to wait for the rule to lift. Ask us and we will tell you what the position is on the day you ask, not on the day this page was written.
Ebola is frightening in a way that does not match how it moves. It is far harder to catch than measles or Covid, and far more dangerous if you do. Both halves of that are worth holding at once.
Transmission requires direct contact with blood or body fluids from a person who is already sick, or with their body, or with surfaces and bedding those fluids have touched. It is not airborne in the way a respiratory virus is.
Someone who has been exposed but has not yet developed symptoms cannot pass it on. This is why contact tracing works on Ebola in a way it never did on Covid, and why 87 percent contact tracing coverage is a meaningful number in the DRC bulletins.
Bundibugyo has historically been less lethal than the Zaire species, roughly 25 to 40 percent against 60 to 90. In this outbreak the ratio is 48.3 percent, and 68 percent in North Kivu. Describing it as a milder strain does not match what is being reported.
The licensed Ebola vaccine, Ervebo, protects against the Zaire species. WHO states it is not known whether it protects against Bundibugyo. There is no approved treatment for this species either. A clinical trial began enrolling in July 2026.
The people being infected are family members caring for the sick, mourners at burials, and health workers. WHO rates the risk inside the DRC as very high and the risk to the rest of the world as low. The ECDC calls the chance of the virus reaching Europe very low.
Even with the emergency declaration in force, WHO advises against any restriction of travel to, or trade with, affected countries. The CDC's own notice for the DRC outside the four named provinces is Level 2, its enhanced precautions tier.
Level 4, avoid all travel: Ituri and Nord-Kivu. Level 3, reconsider nonessential travel: Haut-Uele and Tshopo. Level 2 for the rest of the DRC and for Uganda. None of our trips goes into a Level 3 or Level 4 area, and we would not send you to one. The only stop that would, the Nyiragongo night in Nord-Kivu on our gorilla expedition, is paused, with days in Rwanda and Uganda in its place.
We read the WHO Disease Outbreak News items, the CDC travel notices and the DRC Ministry of Health daily bulletins directly, rather than relying on summaries from suppliers, and we re-check this page against all of them. The date at the top of the page is the date we last did it, and it is the only date on this page we control.
If the picture changes in a way that affects a trip you have booked, we will write to you and say so plainly, including when the news is bad. If a route needs altering we will alter it. If a departure should not run, we will tell you that rather than let you find out at the airport.
Medical evacuation cover is a condition of travelling with us in the Congo Basin, for reasons that have nothing to do with Ebola and everything to do with being ten hours from a hospital. Our booking terms set out where you stand if a departure is changed or cancelled.
Everything on this page comes from public sources, listed below with the dates they were published. We would rather you read them than take our word for it. If you find something we have got wrong or out of date, tell us and we will fix it.
Travel protection and evacuation cover
Booking terms
The Congo River expedition
If you are weighing up a Congo departure and this page has not settled it, write to us and say what is worrying you. We will give you the current position and what we would do in your place, including if that is to wait.