Blogs from Congo, Africa
Croton
15:20 Today I went on a last visit round the site. I said goodbye to all the people in the village and to everyone who helped me. Someone even gave little souvenirs! 0ne was a Tropical Plant called a Croton and she also gave me a wonderful baked loaf of bread homemade that did not last as long as I had wished for! I can’t wait to go to Ethiopia! Secretly I’m quite glad to leave as here it’s the rainy season.... read more
Hippos!
22:07 The boat trip was sooooooo exciting! I got a great picture of hippos at the water’s edge. I wasn’t allowed to take full pictures of just the River though because authorities will confiscate any cameras or pictures…luckily I didn’t have my Camera confiscated but it did mean no pictures. (I got away with the Hippos, though, as they are not part of the river!) It’s a lot better in a boat than in the water! Me, and a couple of other tourists and guides set of at 13:30 in an 8 seated canoe. We had a wonderful time looking at animals, plants, special features and the guides were brilliant; telling us everything they knew about everything we passed or saw. I was an amazing experience. The River is wildly twisting and turning so much that ... read more
13:27 Hello again! I found loads out yesterday…I’ll tell u later but first I’m sooooooo glad I didn’t go swimming. According to the Village people not only crocodiles but water snakes, tortoises and hippos also are lurking in there somewhere! Joined by 200 species of fish, I wouldn’t want bump into any of those creatures while swimming! Anyway back to the amazing facts. Did u know that the Congo River is used mainly for goods and transportation? Unfortunately all this transportation of goods leads to pollution of the lovely Congo RiverL. The Congo River’s source is the Junction of the Lualaba and Luvua Rivers and its mouth is the Atlantic Ocean. The people of the village use the water from the River as a source of food, as they fish there, and also a place to ... read more
19:03 I went exploring today!! I had planned to go swimming in the River, and I was close to as well. Just as I was about to jump in, in swimsuit, the patroller told me to beware of the crocodiles…obviously that led to me quickly removing my feet from the water’s edge and pretending to rush of for a forgotten, booked activity! After that I went to a local visitor centre where I found out more about the rainforest along the Congo. The rainforest provides a home for the “forest people”. They live in groups or bands of around 15 – 70 people depending of course on the outside factors. E.g Hunting, Diseases, trading and Forest area. Most of the time they live near villages to ensure they have lots of food, and other things for ... read more
16:34 The Congo River is the largest river system south of the Sahara, it’s 2700 miles long! Also 10 million gallons of water rushes down it every second. It has a big potential for hydro-electricity. The Congo River flows through the 3rd largest rainforest in the world! Aren’t these cool facts! I never knew just how important the Congo River was. ... read more
04:25 L Sooooooo tired…I had to get up this early to catch the flight to the Congo. I’m going from the Capital of Chad (N’Djamena) to the Capital if Congo (Brazzaville) which is really near to the Congo River. I’ll let you know when I am there what it’s like!... read more
Congo Flag
17:41 I landed at the Brazzaville airport at 7 o’clock in the morning. By then I was very tired and went straight to the hotel (Hotel de ville Brazzaville), on the shore of the Congo River, for a quick nap! I was quite worried about the flight because the African Airways are not as safe and secure due to the lack of Political Stability and that flight in 1989 when the plane crashed after stopping at Brazzaville and N’Djamena…my destination and start point…luckily I had my guide, Abdoul, to convince me, with proof, that I wasn’t going to be blown to smithereens during my journey! My Journey was in fact very pleasant. I planned the rest of my Journey and researched some good activities to do in Congo. Tomorrow I am moving out of the ... read more
Kids in Site Falco
So Bétou is basically a village, though it’s referred to here as a “small city” because it’s the capital of a province. Aside from local mud or wood dwellings, it has a big Italian-owned timber company whose processing facility is a few steps from the UNHCR compound, a small market that for some reason has a large proportion of vendors from Mauritania (which is nowhere near the Congo), one "restaurant," and three bars/discos. I am particularly thrilled about the discos, because possibly one of my favorite kinds of music in the world is Congolese music - you may recall I took dance lessons in Malawi…those were with Congolese, who are possibly the best dancers in Africa. I didn’t know this until I came here, but apparently Mobutu (the former DRC dictator) played a large role in ... read more
Brazzaville Maya-Maya Int'l Airport
Bétou, Province Likouala, Congo I had my doubts about coming here. I was already on the fence about the idea of continuing what my friends in the field and I have come to term The International Life. The International Life being the life of humanitarian workers, whose lives I have come to realize are wholly dictated by a love of the field and little else. First there are the obvious disadvantages: moving from place to place, the inability to maintain a home or a relationship, the distance from loved ones, goat cheese and baguettes…the list goes on. Then there are the downsides that we tend to ignore or suppress, such as the truly depressing nature and inherent frustrations of the work, the constant questioning of why on earth am I off in some forsaken place, and ... read more
transport, congo style
The plunge into Central Africa brought us to a string of exotic-sounding places I’d never heard of in my life; places like Oyem, Ndjole, Lambarene, N’dende, Mila-mila, M’banza Kongo,Benguela and Lubango. The few that I had heard of - Brazzaville, Kinshasa, Luanda - did not fill my heart with delight, though there was a little buzz, a small flush of excitement, connected with each, because they seemed like cities of the imagination, places that had seen hard times, were or had been hard to live in, and were visited only by intrepid explorers, coffee swilling journalists and wary expats. The sense of adventure was with us as we headed south, though for me it came with some sleepless nights. Gabon was easy to travel through until we hit the equator, and the paved jungle road descended ... read more
