The Congo is also…
Over the past decade, it is the dramas in the Congo that have made the news, the sole exception being the holding of elections in the short space of a few months. After all, there is more to the Congo than negative headlines.
The two capital cities, Brazzaville and Kinshasa, on opposite banks of the Congo River.
© NASA, Earth from space
The extraordinary beauty of the country has all but been forgotten starting with the glowing crater of the Nyiragongo volcano which, between the grey sky and the anthracite lava, towers above the green banana fields. Then there is the majesty of the cathedral-like cloak of the equatorial forest soaring to a height of 30 metres with a rich palette of colours for every season and the equally majestic river with its drifting islands of water hyacinths and the unmissable magnificent sunsets over the blue mountains of Itombwe.
You are surrounded by endless imagination and skills of man. The joyous crystal-clear song of the Bambuti Pygmies welcomes the dawn in the Ituri forest and the huge fish traps overhanging the Wagenia Falls are like precarious scaffolding, upstream of Kisangani. Then there are the floating villages of the Lokélé fishermen on the River Tshopo. To overcome the fuel shortage in the unmechanised regions, ‘tolekas’ (bicycle taxis) have taken off in Kisangani, a town also supplied by ‘djubus-djubus’ (dug-outs), the giant scooters, or ‘tshkudus’, of the peasants of Kivu who come to the markets of Goma for their supplies. The bicycles supply half of all the goods in Katanga, the capital of Western Kasai. The truck drivers of Equator Province who run their engines on palm oil are another example of such limitless resourcefulness.
And what delights await the palate! Congolese cooking is one of the most varied in all of Africa. The ‘kossa kossa’ river prawns, safous, grilled or stewed caterpillars, antelope, monkey, boa, crocodile, ‘maboké’ (fish and vegetables cooked in leaves), ‘biteku-teku’ (vegetable purée) and chicken à la moambé are just a few of the dishes that are as surprising as they are delicious.
Then there are of course the better known attractions such as the Kubas carpets, the Kuba, Luba and Tshokwe statues, the popular painting, the Mangbetu hairstyles, the rumba and its descendants. Congo, five times as big as France, ten times as big as the United Kingdom, and 80 times the size of Belgium, is more than just a country, it is a whole world – a civilisation, a kaleidoscope of sensations. One of the most enjoyable aspects is the way the people are so welcoming to foreigners.
Apart from a few pioneers who are relaunching cruises on the River Congo, visits to the friendly bonobos, and ecotourism in Garamba Park near the Sudanese border, few foreigners encounter these pleasures. Red tape, a lack of security in some areas, health risks, logistical difficulties and the negative perception of the country combine to create real obstacles. But it is also worth saying that a skirmish in Kivu does not necessarily affect everyday life 2,000 kilometres away on the Atlantic coast or in the grasslands of Katanga.
This, too, is the Congo.
