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Central African Republic Travel Blogs

Background: The former French colony of Ubangi-Shari became the Central African Republic upon independence in 1960. After three tumultuous decades of misrule - mostly by military governments - civilian rule was established in 1993 and lasted for one decade. President Ange-Felix PATASSE's civilian government was plagued by unrest, and in March 2003 he was deposed in a military coup led by General Francois BOZIZE, who has since established a transitional government. Though the government has the tacit support of civil society groups and the main parties, a wide field of affiliated and independent candidates will contest the municipal, legislative, and presidential elections scheduled for February 2005. The government still does not fully control the countryside, where pockets of lawlessness persist.

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By Johnny One Eye
July 16th 2009

21 Pygmies, the Jungle, and Me Africa » Central African Republic » South

Jungle Camp 1

My sister had arranged for us to go camping with her BaAka (pygmies) workers in the jungle for a couple of nights. She couldn’t stay the whole time so she was going to head back after the first evening. In all it was going to be the 9 guys who worked for her, 4 of their wives, and 8 kids. We packed our stuff and walked about 5km to Mossapola one of the BaAka villages to meet up with some of her workers. Some people were going to meet up with us later so a few of us headed out it [View Full Entry]

By Johnny One Eye
July 15th 2009

To Congo and back in a tree Africa » Central African Republic

Hurban in the piroge

This was a some what of a spur of the moment trip. My friend the lonely planet writer wanted to head down to the Congo to continue the rest of his trip through central Africa via the Sangha River which runs along the borders of the Central African Republic, Cameroon, and Congo. He asked if I wanted to go with him down to the Congo. The plan was that that we would hire a pirogue and head to Bomassa in the Congo, which is about 80 km away. (A pirogue is nothing more than a hollowed out tree that has been [View Full Entry]

By Johnny One Eye
July 13th 2009

Elphants, Gorillas, and Sweat Bees .. Oh my Africa » Central African Republic

Elephants 1

Elephants One of the few tourist attractions in the Central African Republic is located down near Bayanga. Where there is a national park that has elephants and habituated gorillas (habituated means that after years of work researchers have been able to get one family of gorillas used to people enough so that you can get close to them). There is a big watering hole called Dzanga Bai where all the elephants come to drink because the area is rich in mineral salts. The place is more of a giant mud pit than anything else, surrounded by a dense jungle. To get [View Full Entry]

By Johnny One Eye
July 6th 2009

Bayanga Africa » Central African Republic

Sangha river

Bayanga Bayanga is a small town sitting on the banks of the Sangha River in the southern most part of the Central African Republic near the border of Cameroon and the Congo. There are several thousand people living here. Most came for to work for a logging company, which has closed leaving a lot of people with out jobs. Most of the buildings are made from wood with bamboo leafs for roofs, but here are a few concrete buildings. Outside of town is where a lot of the BaAka (pygmies) live. Their homes are often constructed from sticks and bamboo leaves [View Full Entry]

By Johnny One Eye
July 1st 2009

A long bumpy road Africa » Central African Republic

The way

Traveling from Bangui to Bayanga The drive from Bangui to Bayanga felt like you were in a movie, which had nothing to do with the fact that I got to ride down with the movie producer in his land cruiser. I guess this was because I was still not used to how different everything is here that it did not really sink in that this was real life. The distance we had to travel was about 250 miles and that took us about 12 hours. Only about 40 miles was on paved road. I did find it rather amusing that where [View Full Entry]

By Johnny One Eye
June 25th 2009

Bangui Africa » Central African Republic

Bagui roads

I have been on lots of planes before where you get off on the tarmac and walk to the airport, but it feels a bit strange when you are on something equivalent to a 747 and doing this. The next thing was customs. Fortunately I had some advance advice on this from previous travelers and the guy next to me on the plane. There are only a couple of unmarked desks where you are supposed to do some stuff. The problem is there are about 200 people trying to do the same thing at the same time. After about and hour [View Full Entry]

By Johnny One Eye
June 24th 2009

Munzu in Africa Africa » Central African Republic » South

Travel Blog 6-15-09 to 6-24-09 Munzu in Africa You know you are in a remote place when the Lonely Planet Travel Guide writer comes looking for you to see about transportation to the village where you are heading. Here is excerpt from the whole 8 pages the Africa Lonely Planet book has on the Central African Republic (CAR): If it’s the ‘real’ Africa you’re looking for, Central African Republic (CAR) may be it. A country of staggering rare natural beauty, with some of the world’s most amazing wildlife, it nonetheless remains underdeveloped, fra [View Full Entry]

By LOD215
April 4th 2008

Seven Companions on the Road to CAR Africa » Central African Republic » West » Bouar

Encounter
Carolyn with Pastor Antoinette

From February 15-26, 2008; I embarked in the challenging enterprise of facilitating a leadership travel for three companion synods. Six faithful but season travelers from Texas Louisiana Golf Cost, Western North Dakota and Eastern-North Dakota synods of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America responded to the “CAR 2,000 Challenge”. The challenge consisted in crossing 2,000 kms (1,000 each way) on dirt road from Douala (Cameroon) to Bouar (West of CAR); defying all odds, security risk and possible harassment at border crossing point to arrive on time at the dedication of both th [View Full Entry]

By LOD215
March 21st 2008

Visiting Bouar, CAR Africa » Central African Republic » West » Bouar

Young boys
Keep smiling

I frequently visit the Central African Republic (CAR) to foster the companion relationship between the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the CAR (ELC-CAR). Despite the political turmoil, civil conflict and political instability, I cannot find a good excuse for not visiting my companions, friends, brothers, and sisters in the faith. CAR is rich in natural resources and a beautiful country but ravaged by repeated military coups and successive violent civil conflicts. During my travel and encounters with the Central African peoples, I discove [View Full Entry]

By Sasha
October 5th 2006

CAR today, Congo Tomorrow. Africa » Central African Republic

Goodbye, Bangui!
For some reason these hippopotamus statues are everywhere.

I don't think anyone travels to the Congo without being well informed about it, but I don't think anyone who goes to the Congo fails to compare it to the Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, since it was the setting for this book. Yeah, it's fairly heart of darknessish, but so is all of Central Africa. This is where the guidebook ends, so I gave my guidebook away to a kid at the local restaurant. He wants to use it to help him learn English. Everyone wants to learn English here. This is an intense place to be, it [View Full Entry]

Travel Blog » Africa » Central African Republic