This story isn't news per se; apparently, these primates first were documented early in the 20th century but have been forgotten. But placing the villages associated with these lions has proven difficult. It appears that they are on the northern frontier of eastern Congo, presumably north of the dense swampy tropical jungles but still within the Congolese war zone. The largest Bondo on MSN map lies on a river at 3.8°N.
Even Bangassou, Central African Republic (4.8°N, longitude similar to Bondo) has a tropical savanna climate because of its notable "winter" dry season. The trees probably aren't dense enough and the ground not wet enough to prohibit these huge creatures from moving across vast tracts of tropical savanna (albeit rather lacking in tree-free space). The dense, swampy rain forests and jungles, which, like most of America today, have no dry season, are relatively tightly constrained to the Equator--including Kisangani.