Congo River
This attraction is related to the countries:Democratic Republic of CongoCongoCongo , ZambiaAngolaCongo is the second longest river on the African continent (4,700 km), second only to the Nile. At the same time in the ranking of the world’s longest rivers Congo is in the top ten. But in terms of colossal volume of water discharge into the Atlantic Ocean, the Congo surpasses any river on the planet, except for the Amazon. On the banks of the Congo stretches humid tropical jungle and savannah, where extensive national parks with a rare variety of wildlife. Eight natural sites in the river basin are listed as World Heritage Sites.
Video: Congo
Contents- Highlights
- History of the Congo River
- Geography
- Climate
- Bridges and crossings over the Congo
Tourism - Souvenirs
- Local cuisine
- Where to stay
- Transportation
- How to get there
Highlights
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History of the Congo River
Modern archaeology indicates that tribes of primitive humans lived in the tropical jungles of the Congo Basin about 130,000 years ago. Their direct descendants are recognized as Pygmies, a stunted archaic hunter-gatherer ethnos that has inhabited Central Africa for over 25 millennia. It is interesting that in the written language of Ancient Egypt there was a special hieroglyph “daneg”, denoting the African Pygmy. Representatives of this people lived at the courts of pharaohs and could occupy high positions. The tomb of one of such officials was discovered in Abydos. The funerary inscription says that he was the keeper of the royal menagerie. Indeed, the Pygmies, “children of the forest,” were well acquainted with the habits of animals.
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About 2500 years ago, the indigenous inhabitants of the Congo River region were displaced by the Bantu people who migrated from the southeast of the African continent. However, the forests of the Congo Basin are still home to small Pygmy communities with traditional lifestyles. Genetic studies and comparative DNA analysis with the remains of Neolithic cave dwellers have confirmed the extremely ancient origin of the natives.
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At the end of the XIV century in the middle reaches of the river arose a vast empire of the Congo, which soon united the disparate kingdoms of the Bantu peoples of Central and West Africa. Local artisans were able to mine and skillfully work metals, jewelers and artists created amazing works of art.
.The first European to reach the mouth of the Congo River was the Portuguese sailor Diogo Can. On April 23, 1484, his caravel entered the channel of the great river, which flowed into the Atlantic Ocean gulf. The discoverer named the river “Rio do Padrao” and ordered the sailors to erect a stone stele with the coat of arms of the ruling king Joao II on the shore.
Captain Kahn declared the newly discovered lands to be possessions of the Portuguese kingdom. However, it soon became clear that the natives from time immemorial called the river Zaire, and the surrounding expanses belong to the rulers of the powerful Congo Empire. However, this African state soon fell into the sphere of influence of Catholic Portugal. Already in 1506, the local monarch Nzinga Mbemba Mpangu, who bore the traditional royal title of Mani Kongo, adopted Christianity and was baptized under the name Afonso I.
The Portuguese embarked on an intensive exploitation of the natural wealth of the Congo Empire. They loaded precious elephant tusks, copper and gold from the mountain mines onto merchant ships. Tens of thousands of slaves were exported from here, leaving the coastal regions devastated as the inhabitants fled in terror to the interior of the continent.
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Over the centuries, the region has been rocked by rebellions and wars with invaders. In the second half of the 17th century, the rulers of the Congo Empire decided to put an end to European expansion and announced the breaking of all treaties with Portugal. The decisive battle took place in October 1665, at the village of Mbwila, on the territory of modern Angola. The army of the last Congolese king Nvita-a-Nkanga was defeated, the ruler himself was killed. The imperial regalia of the defeated Mani Congo was sent to Lisbon and placed in the royal treasury.
.In the early 18th century, the Congolese prophetess Kimpa Vita, who came from an aristocratic family of the Bakongo ethnic group, spoke out against the Portuguese slave trade, preaching the expulsion of the enslavers and the restoration of the former power of the Congo Empire. She founded a syncretic religion that combined the Ten Commandments of the Bible and the just tenets of the Christian New Testament with ancient African mystical cults. The prophetess was visited by visions: she claimed that Jesus was actually born on the shores of the Congo, in the former capital of the Mbanza-Congo Empire, and that the Virgin Mary was the daughter of Congolese slaves. Many thousands joined the attractive teachings, but in 1706 Kimpa Vita fell into the hands of missionaries from the Capuchin order and was burned at the stake as a heretic and a witch. Now the locals, who have long embraced French culture, often refer to her as the Congolese Joan of Arc. A bronze monument to the legendary preacher has been erected in the town of Uige, Angola.
.The martyr’s teachings are popular to this day and have been transformed into the independent African Church of Jesus Christ on Earth, which has more than 20 million followers worldwide, with half of them now living in the Democratic Republic of Congo, making up about 10% of the country’s population. Services are conducted in the indigenous languages of Kikongo, Lingala or Swahili, and rarely in French. The priests’ sermons are accompanied by rhythmic music, dancing, hymn singing, and present a colorful religious show.
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Until the mid-19th century, European colonists settled in the lower Congo and on the Atlantic coast. The interior of the African continent, where the source of the great river is located, looked like a white spot on geographical maps. Only in the 1850s and 1860s the famous Scottish traveler David Livingstone visited the headwaters of the Congo, but he focused on finding the sources of the Nile and Zambezi.
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From the second half of the 19th century, the Congo Basin regions were colonies of France and Belgium. The colonizers’ spheres of influence were separated by the Congo River bed. For a long time they were called the French Congo and the Belgian Congo. In 1870, French naval officer Count Pierre de Brazza established a military outpost on the right bank of the Congo, directly opposite the Belgian Leopoldville, which soon became the bustling city of Brazzaville.
.It was not until the 1960s that the colonies in the Congo Basin broke free from oppression. The price of independence and freedom was regional wars that lasted for decades. The stumbling blocks were ethnic conflicts and territorial claims related to mining regions, particularly gold, diamonds, and uranium. Large oil deposits, copper deposits, and niobium, cadmium, tantalum, cobalt, and other rare earth metals needed for the production of a variety of electronics were discovered in the Congo Basin.
.Meanwhile, the cultural influence of Europeans in the region persisted. For example, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the official language is French. It is noteworthy that the capital of the country, Kinshasa, with a population of more than 14 million people in 2020 was recognized as the world’s largest French-speaking city, leaving far behind the former metropolis – Paris. But at home, residents of cosmopolitan Kinshasa use their native African languages – Swahili, Kikongo, Chilubi.
.Geography
The Congo is fed by rivers originating in 11 countries in Central and West Africa. The Congo’s huge catchment area extends over 4,014,500 km² – an area larger than India. The mighty river and its full-flowing tributaries form a dense network of shipping lanes leading to the heart of Africa. The Congo basin is irrigated by a vast rainforest, the second largest on the planet after the Amazon jungle. To the northwest, Congolese forests alternate with lowland savannahs dotted with sparse woodlands.
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In photographs taken by Earth’s orbiting satellite cameras, the Congo’s course resembles the arc of a taut bow lying in the middle of Africa. The source of the great river is on the mountainous Katanga plateau in the southeastern Democratic Republic of Congo, 1,435 meters above sea level. To the south is a mountainous watershed separating the upper Congo from the basin of the long Nile.
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The mountain stream tumbles down the steep slopes of Katanga, merges with a dense network of streams and becomes the turbulent rapids of the Lualaba River, the main tributary of the Congo. At the bend of the river stands Kisangani, the capital of Chopo province and the largest city in the Congo rainforest with a population of 1.3 million. Near Kisangani, the mountain rivers Chopo and Lindi flow into the Congo, their mouths decorated with 12-meter waterfalls. From here, the Congo is navigable for more than 1,000 kilometers, all the way to Kinshasa. The current heads north, crossing the equator. The river then makes a wide arc to the southwest, crossing the equator in the opposite direction and carrying its waters into the Atlantic Ocean. In some places the depth of the riverbed reaches 220 meters. In this abyss, inaccessible to sunlight, live endemic blind fish.
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The Congo is commonly divided into three conventional sections. The upper reaches up to the town of Kisangani are dotted with rapids and waterfalls. There is a group of active volcanoes and several large lakes. The Nyiragongo volcano erupted in 2002. At the top of the mountain (3470 m) a caldera with a diameter of 2 km was formed, filled with boiling magma. A wide flow of lava poured into Virunga National Park, reached residential neighborhoods in the city of Goma and flooded part of the runway of the local airfield. When the red-hot lava hit Lake Kiva, columns of carbon dioxide and methane gas erupted from the reservoir. Hundreds of locals died from suffocation and burns, and 400,000 people were evacuated across the border to neighboring Rwanda..
From Boyoma Falls the middle course begins, here the river is navigable for 1,600 kilometers. Along the way, the waters of the Congo are replenished by large tributaries, among them the Ubangi (1270 km). In many places the distance between the banks of the Congo is from 5 to 13 km. In the channel there are many uninhabited islands covered with tropical forests. This region is prone to catastrophic floods that inundate swampy valleys for tens of kilometers.
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The middle stream ends in a narrow channel 1.5 kilometers wide. This location is called Shenal (Canal) or Kuluar (Corridor). At the exit of the Couloir, the Congo River splits into two branches forming the Malebo Basin measuring 24 by 27 kilometers.
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Beyond Lake Malebo, the river narrows again and tumbles down rocky rapids that stretch 100 kilometers in the channel. This is how the lower Congo begins. The altitude difference here is 275 meters. At 8 km below the rapids, the port of Matadi is built, where ocean-going ships call. Here, containers with goods are reloaded into railroad cars and sent to Kinshasa, bypassing the rapids. From Matadi to the mouth of the river flowing into the Atlantic Ocean is about 130 kilometers. Dense mangrove forests grow at the mouth of the Congo. On the northern shore is the small port of Banana, 8 km northwest is the city of Moanda, where there is a regional airport. Moanda is known for its sandy ocean beaches.
.Not so long ago, researchers found out that the Congo’s channel does not end at the Atlantic coast, but continues on the coastal shelf, on the ocean floor, where the mighty river has washed a deep canyon 200 kilometers long.
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Climate
The Congo River region has a humid equatorial tropical climate. In the middle reaches of the river, the rainy season lasts from October to May. During this period, up to 2000 mm of rainfall is recorded and all the rivers of the Congo Basin overflow their banks. The short dry season lasts from June to September. During the year daily air temperature in the region varies from +23 °С (July) to +30 °С (January), sometimes reaching the maximum of +36 °С (December-April). Minimum temperatures are recorded in June and August, when winter comes in the Southern Hemisphere. During the day the air warms up to +20…+22 °С, and at night the thermometer columns fall to +14…+16 °С.
.Bridges and crossings over Congo
Almost all bridges across the Congo River bed were destroyed or dangerously damaged during the civil war and have yet to be rebuilt. Construction has been hampered by tensions between the ROK and DRC. Only two river crossings remain.
Upstream, near the town of Kongolo, another bridge crossing the main tributary of the Congo, the Lualaba River, is still in working condition. The 440-meter steel bridge was built in 1939 by the Belgians and reconstructed in 1968 by German specialists.
.There is a ferry between the neighboring capital cities of Brazzaville and Kinshasa across the Congo bed. The cost of the crossing is $5 to $15. When buying a ticket, you must also purchase a visa that allows you to cross the state border.
Tourism
Popular tourist centers on the banks of the Congo are Brazzaville and Kinshasa, as well as the city of Kisangani, which marks the upper reaches of the middle reaches of the river. From these cities, which have airports, travel in the Congo begins.
The main attractions on the banks of the river are created by nature itself. The tropical jungles and savannahs of the river basin are home to national parks inhabited by a variety of wild animals, birds and reptiles.The largest reserve is Salonga National Park in the middle Congo River valley. Its expanse of 36,000 km² is comparable to the size of Belgium.
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The park is home to elephants and buffalo, hippos and crocodiles. Flocks of endangered primate species – gorillas, dryas, colobus, bonobos – live in the trees. Here you can see rare ancient mammals – giant pangolins. The savannahs are home to countless herds of antelope, hunted by spotted leopards.
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There are no cruise ships on the Congo, but local tour bureaus offer trips down the river in motorboats. The multi-day tours and excursions can rather be called extreme expeditions with minimal amenities. The price of a trip down the river on a wooden motorboat with a canopy made of a piece of cellophane often exceeds the cost of a cruise on an ocean liner. For example, a four-day tour of the Congo from Brazzaville to Oyo will cost $1,999. On an open boat there are no cabins, tourists sit on benches all day, looking at the picturesque shores. Travelers have lunch in coastal villages. Often the food is prepared by the guide right on board the boat, and tarpaulin tents are set up for overnight stay on the shore. The diet is limited to omelet with sausage, canned goods, fresh fruits and vegetables, tea and instant coffee.
.Tours in Virunga National Park start in the town of Goma (DRC), located in the mountains on the border with Rwanda. The program includes jungle hikes accompanied by armed rangers, animal watching, and climbing the slopes of the Nyiragongo volcano. Tourists sleep in tent shelters, food is cooked on a fire. The trip lasts 3 days and the cost of the adventure is $1,346.
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There are many species of fish in the Congo River and its tributaries. Travelers with a passion for fishing do not miss the opportunity to enjoy their favorite pastime amidst exotic landscapes. In the river basin you can find calm pools with islands and stormy rapids, bottomless pools and swampy lakes, where masters of fishing have the opportunity to use the widest range of gear. European tourists prefer to fish in the usual way, using rods and spinning rods.
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But here you can try something new and extreme by joining a group of village fishermen of the Bantu people. On the rapids and river rapids in the Congo channel, the locals fish the old-fashioned way. They weave round seines from lianas that resemble large butterfly nets, build rickety planks from poles, and from there lower the seine into the rapids. In a couple of minutes the fish fall into the net. It remains to carefully pull out of the river liana net with a heavy catch, without falling into the water from the flimsy platform. In the same way the natives also fish from narrow boats hollowed out of tree trunks.
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Souvenirs
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When visiting Kisangani, stroll down Avenue de l’Eglise, where store windows and shopping center signs shine. Jewelry showrooms display African-style jewelry made of ivory, gold and silver, copper jugs and finely chased dishes.
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It is better to pay for purchases in local currency, although stores accept dollars. But the change is given in national bills at a very unfavorable exchange rate.
In the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Congolese franc (CDF) is the currency of choice. In 2023, the exchange rate to the U.S. dollar was: 1000 CDF = 0.48 $.
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In the Republic of Congo, the Central African franc is the means of payment. The same currency is accepted in the Central African Republic, as well as in Cameroon, Chad, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and Chad. All these countries are members of the organization “Financial Cooperation in Central Africa” (CFA). The international denomination of the currency is F.CFA. In 2023, 1,000 F.CFA = $1.66.
.Original African souvenirs are sold everywhere in riverside towns, but they are extremely overpriced. Experienced travelers go for such purchases to markets in coastal provincial towns and villages. Here artisans sell ritual masks, amulets, statuettes of demons and animals, spears and shields, stylized as ancient weapons. Real works of art often appear on the stalls. With a minimum of French vocabulary, you can bargain with sellers and drop the price 3-5 times.
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Local cuisine
Congolese cuisine is a motley mix of Central and West African cooking. The recipes were greatly influenced by immigrants from France and Belgium, as well as India. The recipes are based on river fish or chicken, more rarely beef, accompanied by rice, cassava, yams and vegetables. The fruits of tropical trees and local herbs are used to make amazing sauces with unusual flavors.
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In any cafe you will be served moambe – fried chicken with a thick creamy sauce made of palm nuts. The dish is flavored with pepper and garlic, garnished with green onions and red tomato slices. It is worth trying madesa – a hot plate of large beans stewed in peanut oil with tomato paste. It is served with ham, fried chicken, or dried fish.
The hallmark of Congolese cooking is the libike. It is an elegant bag of rolled up juicy leaves, resembling a turban, in which vegetables are stewed with pieces of fish fillet. The pouch itself imparts a forest flavor to the dish and serves as a kind of pressure cooker, and then it can be eaten with its contents.
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In cities, at every turn, you will find malewa – mobile stalls with street food cooked on a portable charcoal grill. A snack at a malewa can be had for 1,000 francs ($0.48). A solid portion of fried shrimp with nuts will cost 2,200 francs ($1). You can dine in a café for $8-15.
.In posh establishments, such as the Italian restaurant Hevea in Kinshasa or the French La Brasserie de la Mer in Pointe Noire, the cost of a pizza reaches $18-25, and for a portion of one of the main courses you will have to pay $27-36. The bill for lunch for two without alcoholic beverages will be 80-120 $, depending on the selected menu. Such restaurants in local tourist guides are grouped under the ironic rubric Splurge, which can be translated as “to blow dust in the eyes” or “to make a crazy act.”
.However, in the capitals and other cities on the banks of the Congo there are many decent and inexpensive restaurants with local cuisine and European menus. For example, in Kisangani you will find the restaurant Cactus with a range of prices for a hearty lunch of 20-30 dollars per person. At the Pointe Noire resort café, pizza costs 6000-9000 CDF, shrimp and avocado costs 8500 CDF, sandwiches cost 3500-5000 CDF, and fruit desserts cost 2500-4000 CDF.
.Where to stay
The cities of Congo-Brazzaville and Congo-Kinshasa have many hotels built by the French and Belgians during the colonial era. In most of them, the luxury suites have long since faded, but prices for a daily stay are kept between $180 and $250. Many old hotels are closed for reconstruction. In the provinces you have to pay an extra $20-30 $ per day for satellite internet connection. Recently, however, local tour operators have managed to attract foreign investment, and new hotels meeting high international standards are opening on both banks of the Congo River.
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In the port city of Pointe-Noire, the Doubletree by Hilton Pointe-Noire 4* chain hotel was recently built. Here travelers can expect friendly service and all the amenities inherent in this world brand. The hotel has 120 rooms, the cost of accommodation is $120-159. In the city of Pointe-Noire there are nightclubs, around the clock open the doors of the casino Golden City.
.In Pointe-Noire you can stay and cheaper, for example, in the hotel Résidence Saint-Jacques Bord de Mer 3 *. A standard room here costs 50 $, a double suite – 83 $. If you wish, you can pay for breakfast (4,83 $). Transfer to the local airport is offered for $12.
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Brazzaville (DRC) also has chain hotels. They include the luxurious Radisson Blu M’Bamou Palace Hotel 4*+ (272-328 $), GHS Hotel 4* (145-221 $). Fleuve Congo Hotel, built on the riverfront, overlooking Kinshasa, which is on the opposite bank of the Congo, stands out with high prices. Here a room will cost $346-433 per night.
.There are also quite budget hotels in the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo. For example, rooms at Hotel Le Parisien rent for $28-32.
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Transportation
Roads in the Congo Basin are mostly unpaved. During the rainy season, the paths are washed out, making it impossible to drive on them, even with a powerful off-road vehicle. It should be known that many of the routes marked on the maps have long since disappeared. The Kinshasa-Matadi highway (285 km), one of the few paved sections, is in satisfactory condition.
.Several regions of the lower and middle Congo had railroads built as early as the colonial era, but many of them are abandoned and the bridges over the rivers have been destroyed. There are some active sections as well. For example, the Congo-Ocean railroad (502 km) connecting Brazzaville with the port city of Pointe-Noire, located on the Atlantic coast. The main line is served by a comfortable passenger train La Gazelle with a restaurant car built in South Korea. The journey lasts 14 hours, the train stops at 9 intermediate stations.
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Regional airports in provincial capitals and centers offer transfers to any region of the Congo Valley by helicopter and private jets for 3-5 passengers. International flights to the EU are limited because the European Union and the International Civil Aviation Organization ICAO have banned Congolese national carriers from flying in European airspace for many years. The reason is that the airplanes of the fleet of Congolese companies are in a dangerous technical condition for passengers, and the service offered on board is of unsatisfactory quality. In addition, ICAO classifies Congolese airports as unsafe.
.How to get there
Tourists wishing to visit the banks of the Congo River should plan where to start their journey. If it is decided to familiarize first with the left bank regions, it is necessary to go to the international airport N’jili. It is located 20 kilometers east of Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
.Kinshasa is connected to Europe with only a few airlines from Paris (Air France), Marseille (Corsair International) and Brussels (Brussels Airlines). Airliners from Istanbul (Turkish Airlines), Cairo (Egypt Air) and Abu Dhabi (Etihad Airways) also fly to N’jili Airport. Kinshasa has air connections with cities in many neighboring African countries. There are direct flights from Casablanca, Johannesburg and Nairobi. Buses and cabs run from the airport to Kinshasa.
.If you decide to start your trip from Brazzaville, the capital of the Republic of Congo (ROK), which lies on the right bank of the river, there is only one Air France flight from Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport. The airliner arrives at Maya Maya International Airport, located within the city limits. There are shuttle buses to the city center, and cabs are available.
Another airport that receives direct flights from Paris and Istanbul is located in Pointe Noire. It is located near the mouth of the Congo, 3 kilometers from the Atlantic coast.
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