What to see in Congo, Congo Attractions, Congo Animals, Congo rainforest, is the Congo safe? Brazzaville and Kinshasa sights. Le fouineur de la RDC est le journal de vos journaux qui publient des infos de la R. Travel In Congo - Congo Travel Information, & Tourist Guide. Brazzaville ? Today the region is going the way of Angola, or perhaps of Vietnam, Cambodia, and Colombia, and emerging from the long stagnation of civil war into an open environment for business, exceptional environment for adventure, and a volcanic upwelling of opportunities that sees Asia, Europe, and America grappling for a hand in the region. Congo has not been a classic tourist destination since the 6. Despite troubles in the Great Lakes district, thousands of miles from Kinshasa and Brazzaville and away near Goma and the borders of Rwanda, the region around the inlet and path of the great Congo River, and its forests, volcanoes, and mountains rippling out and sprawling ever eastward, constitute some of the most beautiful riches of Africa in resources, but moreover – in amazing scenery, beauty, and wildlife. Chinese and other investment and infrastructure building have meant that roads and trains link more of the Republic of Congo and the DRC now than ever before. Roads are better and more easily traversed. A host of airlines have scrambled in including not only Ethiopian, Kenya Airways, South African, and Asky (African Sky), but Lufthansa, Air France, Brussels Airlines, British Airways, and a growing que of new entrants from further afield in the Middle East and Asia, which means cash waiting to come in and boldly forge a future for what was once the foreign investor’s elusive “heart of darkness.” Kinshasa is growing at a furious pace, has about 2. New Events Magazine avec CONGO FASHION WEEK, bo tala ba vrai ch. New Events Magazine avec CONGO FASHION WEEK, bo tala ba vrai ch Get information, facts, and pictures about Democratic Republic of the Congo at Encyclopedia.com. Make research projects and school reports about Democratic Republic of the Congo easy with credible articles from our FREE. Africa. European, Western, Middle Eastern, and Asian cuisine are to be found all over the cities of Congo now. Its raucous nightlife and music, however, trumps the liveliness of the cities of any of those lands’ capitals. Discover an advanced range of wellness solutions and specialist gym equipment for home and business. See the entire selection at Technogym.com. Congo-Kinshasa, formeel Democratische Republiek Congo (DR Congo of DRC) of kortweg Congo (Frans: R From The Company That Brought You Wildblue Satellite Internet, Introducing Exede Internet By Viasat. Exede Internet Service is the newest high speed satellite service from viasat. IT Connects at broadband Speeds That Are not. Kinshasa, 04/10/2016 Soci. In the heart of the Congo Basin, the world’s second largest tropical rain forest after the Amazon Basin, the Congo offers the greatest river journey in the world. Even better according to shipping professionals and veteran tourists than the Amazon, of which the Congo was once a part of a long long time ago when the continents were linked. River cruises are now possible with the right homework, and trekking and safaris in the jungle are supported by the first lodges and comfortable hotels. Congo and there are now about a dozen tourist- class hotels as well. Hostels are not a concept understood here, as generally the price of a budget hotel room comes in at cheaper than a dorm in Europe or Asia anyway. Hotels in the capitals of Kinshasa and Brazzaville run from about $6. Hotel Africa and Ledger Plaza are known as the best hotels in Brazzaville by everyone excluding tripadvisor, who ranks Mikhael’s Hotel as the best, but most guests of ours refute this, as Mikhael’s is reliable and well- located but the service has fallen very far below the expectations of business travelers and tourists. In Kinshasa this is likely to change soon since American luxury brands and European rivals are poised to open some luxury chains in the capital of the DRC, with Kempinski already on the scene. Most of all of these hotels except the smallest ones can arrange an invitation letter and visa for you within a week. Visas are now relatively easy and have drastically been eased since 2. DRC is harder to obtain a visa for at your embassy than at the border with Zambia, Angola, or Republic of Congo. You can also often cross to the other side away from the capital without turning many heads, though of course it’s not advised and the best way is to pay what you must to go legally, which may amount to no more than a bottle of whiskey or a small bribe. On the question of money, you do not need to carry all your cash with you to the Congo anymore as a tourist (let alone a suitcase full for business.) Both countries have ready ATM’s, but carrying cash outside of the cities is still the only way to go. June to December is the best time to travel – It is cool and there are lots of active animals out to spot. The Chinese finished a comfortable train in 2. Atlantic Ocean to the interior, and conveys passengers (mostly businessmen and tourists) in plush first class seats. It has instantly become one of the greatest train journeys available today and the best in Africa. The future will see a bonanza of tourist companies, mainly from South Africa and France, rushing in to set up high end safaris or else link the long overland trail to rival the popular Cape Town to Cairo route. Right now it is only Angola that prevents such a “pan- African” highway for tourists, with its stubborn visa regulations and super- expensive hotels. There has never been a better time to visit the Congo, as popular and conventional wisdom and the press is out of tune and hasn’t caught up with the change and opportunities there yet. It is the cheapest place in Africa to have a truly incredible and totally unmanufactured journey, and by far the cheapest place to see the large African wildlife including, importantly, wild mountain gorillas. For detailed weather information, please contact us as the climate zones vary drastically and information about optimal viewing seasons across the DRC and ROC is very hard to understand on the internet and usually contradicts each other. For a good guide to the ROC, see the below, but always ask us first: In truth, for the micro- climates and ecological zones of the Republic of Congo, there are actually 2 dry seasons and 2 wet seasons, and weather is somewhat reversed between north and south, as if that isn’t confusing enough. All the year is good for most of trip, while only a part of the year is good for all of your trip. Also, the more important section of your tour to consider weather- wise is the weather in the equatorial jungle, where the roads are worst in the rain of course. Here are the real seasons, as the climate reality is the past 4 years in Congo: The (southern) long wet season is roughly from October to January The (southern) short dry season is roughly from February to March. The (southern) short wet season is roughly from March to June. The (southern) long dry season is roughly from June to October. The (northern) tropical wet season is roughly from June to January. The (northern) tropical dry season is roughly from February to June Therefore, (with recent climate change also experienced in the western seaboard of Africa,) knowing the cycles, and all things carefully considered, it is best to ask us or your embassy first to optimize both the convenience and the natural beauty you’d see along the way, under the best travel conditions. BRAZZAVILLETop. Brazzaville was named after the Italian navigator in the French Navy who “discovered” the Congo River and set up a French “embassy” to grant freedom to African slaves. Today it’s the quieter of the two rivertowns and has a great share of nightlife and dining, friendly locals, and none of the problems with police intimidation that Kinshasa does, not to mention it is much safer to walk around even at night as a foreigner. Taxis from the airport to anywhere in Brazzaville cost $4 (2. CFA) and taxis around the city anywhere cost $2 (1. CFA) Among the Congolese, many are afraid to take river rides because they believe the spirits of the dead reside and haunt the river. For the ones who make their living from it, however, the river is their home and distribution network, a nature- made distribution system of thousands of kilometers in total of navigable waterways and tributaries. The boatmen give rides ranging from 5,0. CFA down the river ($1. Port Autonome in Brazzaville is a dirty, squirming mass of humanity carrying strange and smelly cargo back and forth, while the boat launches in Kinshasa extend for easily a mile of different “ticket offices” and operators, belying the city’s sprawling population of 1. You can, yes, buy your own pirogue (boat) made from a tree, at 2. CFA if you know someone local who can help you (or ask us,) $4. You will need an engine and fuel, the latter of which is not very expensive except in the inner Congo tributaries, and then can steer your own way with the right papers and guide down the Congo river. Every small town in DRC has a “police” who may – and if they can, will check your passport, your yellow fever, make up some needed document, and delay you or scare you into payoffs. Speedboats or anything of that sort have to be imported. From Brazzaville cars, trucks, trains, and local domestic airlines go to Point Noire (Pointe Noire) and North all the way to Ouesso and as far as Central African Republic and Gabon or Cameroon. Owando, Oyo (the nicest place to stop,) and Ollombo are easy stopovers on the way north. They are all free- standing if not charming villages with surrounding forests and traditional homes and lodging can be found here for around 4. CFA a night ($8. 0- $1. Oyo and Owando are on tributaries of the Congo River and can arrange for a small price boat trips down the fingers of the Congo, deep in forest and away from the hurly burly of the main boatway. Etoumbi is about a further day’s drive on from these towns, and is a great springboard for visits to spectacular Odzalla National Park. Entrance fees are 2. CFA ($5. 0) and you can see lots and lots of different large and small African animals here and countless birds. Now, although Odzala looks very easy to access, it is not. At least, not cheaply. Wilderness Safaris, the lodge operator, for disclosure an affiliate with CTT, has (to lots of guests’ dismay) soared prices above the range of anywhere else in the 2 Congos, and far above the range of 9. However, a tourist here is treated to befitting luxury, and gets what he pays for – a truly upscale, unique, and out of this world safari experience that is not available in the most tourist- trodden nations of Africa anymore. According to African Parks Network, a superb outfit led by ex- special forces military from South Africa, Odzala was at first a dud – and the government took and looted everything. There were right thereafter 4 years where there was no funding. Republic of the Congo - Wikipedia. Coordinates: 1. It is bordered by five countries: Gabon and the Atlantic Ocean to the west; Cameroon to the northwest; the Central African Republic to the northeast; the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the east and south; and the Angolanexclave of Cabinda to the southwest. The region was dominated by Bantu- speaking tribes, who built trade links leading into the Congo River basin. Congo- Brazzaville was formerly part of the French colony of Equatorial Africa. The People's Republic of the Congo was a Marxist. Multi- party elections have been held since 1. Republic of the Congo Civil War and President Denis Sassou Nguesso has ruled for 2. The political stability and development of hydrocarbon production made Republic of the Congo the fourth largest oil producer in the Gulf of Guinea and provided the country with a relative prosperity despite the poor state of its infrastructure and public services and an unequal distribution of oil revenues. History. The Bakongo, a Bantu ethnic group that also occupied parts of present- day Angola, Gabon, and Democratic Republic of the Congo, formed the basis for ethnic affinities and rivalries among those countries. Several Bantu kingdoms. After centuries as a major hub for transatlantic trade, direct European colonization of the Congo river delta began in the late 1. Bantu societies in the region. In 1. 90. 8, France organized French Equatorial Africa (AEF), comprising Middle Congo, Gabon, Chad, and Oubangui- Chari (the modern Central African Republic). The French designated Brazzaville as the federal capital. Economic development during the first 5. Congo centered on natural- resource extraction. The methods were often brutal: construction of the Congo. Congo benefited from the postwar expansion of colonial administrative and infrastructure spending as a result of its central geographic location within AEF and the federal capital at Brazzaville. During these reforms, Middle Congo became known as the Republic of the Congo in 1. Fulbert Youlou ruled as the country's first president until labour elements and rival political parties instigated a three- day uprising that ousted him. The Congolese military took charge of the country briefly and installed a civilian provisional government headed by Alphonse Massamba- D. Nevertheless, Massamba- D. One year later, President Ngouabi proclaimed Congo Africa's first . Ngouabi survived an attempted coup in 1. March 1. 6, 1. 97. An 1. 1- member Military Committee of the Party (CMP) was then named to head an interim government with Joachim Yhombi- Opango to serve as President of the Republic. Two years later, Yhombi- Opango was forced from power and Denis Sassou Nguesso become the new president. Over the years, Sassou had to rely more on political repression and less on patronage to maintain his dictatorship. In June 1. 99. 6 the IMF approved a three- year SDR6. US$1. 00m) enhanced structural adjustment facility (ESAF) and was on the verge of announcing a renewed annual agreement when civil war broke out in Congo in mid- 1. As presidential elections scheduled for July 1. Lissouba and Sassou camps mounted. On June 5, President Lissouba's government forces surrounded Sassou's compound in Brazzaville and Sassou ordered members of his private militia (known as . Thus began a four- month conflict that destroyed or damaged much of Brazzaville and caused tens of thousands of civilian deaths. In early October, the Angolan r. In mid- October, the Lissouba government fell. Soon thereafter, Sassou declared himself president. His two main rivals, Lissouba and Bernard Kolelas, were prevented from competing and the only remaining credible rival, Andre Milongo, advised his supporters to boycott the elections and then withdrew from the race. International observers took issue with the organization of the presidential election and the constitutional referendum, both of which were reminiscent in their organization of Congo's era of the one- party state. Sassou Nguesso is backed by his own Congolese Labour Party (French: Parti Congolais du Travail) as well as a range of smaller parties. One French investigation found over 1. France; Sassou denounced embezzlement investigations as . The government claimed that the proposal was approved by 9. The opposition, who boycotted the referendum, said that the government's statistics were false and the vote was a sham. There is one government- owned television station and around 1. Human rights. This law is the first of its kind in Africa, and its adoption is a historic development for indigenous peoples on the continent. Departments are divided into communes and districts. To the south and east of it is the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is also bounded by Gabon to the west, Cameroon and the Central African Republic to the north, and Cabinda (Angola) to the southwest. It has a short coast on the Atlantic Ocean. The capital, Brazzaville, is located on the Congo River, in the south of the country, immediately across from Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The southwest of the country is a coastal plain for which the primary drainage is the Kouilou- Niari River; the interior of the country consists of a central plateau between two basins to the south and north. Forests are under increasing exploitation pressure. The average yearly rainfall ranges from 1,1. Niari Valley in the south to over 2,0. The dry season is from June to August, while in the majority of the country the wet season has two rainfall maxima: one in March. They suggest a population on the order of 1. Petroleum extraction has supplanted forestry as the mainstay of the economy. In 2. 00. 8, oil sector accounted for 6. GDP, 8. 5% of government revenue, and 9. The government has mortgaged a substantial portion of its petroleum earnings, contributing to a shortage of revenues. January 1. 2, 1. 99. Franc Zone currencies by 5. The reform program came to a halt in June 1. When Sassou Nguesso returned to power at the end of the war in October 1. However, economic progress was badly hurt by slumping oil prices and the resumption of armed conflict in December 1. The current administration presides over an uneasy internal peace and faces difficult economic problems of stimulating recovery and reducing poverty, despite record- high oil prices since 2. Natural gas and diamonds are also recent major Congolese exports, although Congo was excluded from the Kimberley Process in 2. Democratic Republic of the Congo; it was re- admitted to the group in 2. The country's rail system was built by forced laborers during the 1. There are also over 1. Maya- Maya Airport and Pointe Noire Airport) which have flights to destinations in Europe, Africa and the Middle East. The country also has a large port on the Atlantic Ocean at Pointe- Noire and others along the Congo River at Brazzaville and Impfondo. Demographics. Thus, Congo is one of the most urbanized countries in Africa, with 7. Brazzaville, Pointe- Noire or one of the small cities or villages lining the 5. In rural areas, industrial and commercial activity has declined rapidly in recent years, leaving rural economies dependent on the government for support and subsistence. The Kongo are the largest ethnic group and form roughly half of the population. The most significant subgroups of the Kongo are Laari in Brazzaville and Pool regions and Vili around Pointe- Noire and along the Atlantic coast. The second largest group are the Teke who live to the north of Brazzaville with 1. Followers of Islam make up 1. The presence of numerous ethnic groups and various political structures once (Kongo Empire, Kingdom of Loango kingdom Teke, Northern chiefdoms) provided an enormous amount of diversity in the traditional cultures as well as in many ancient artistic expressions. Vili Nail fetishes, Bembe statuettes which are very expressive despite their small size, the strange masks of the Punu and Kwele, reliquaries Kinabalu, Teke fetishes, curious cemeteries, with their monumental tombs, the Lari country. The Congolese also have a considerable colonial architectural heritage, which they are rediscovering today as part of their ancestry, and their tourist capital. They are also taking great pains to restore these artifacts, at least in Brazzaville. Tourism remains a very marginal resource in the Congo, reception facilities based out of Pointe- Noire and Brazzaville lack a sufficient and consistent communications network. Many sites are difficult to visit but, paradoxically, some of the South's most populous and developed locations are often the least accessible. For example, the massive Chaillu Mountains are almost impossible to visit. Many Congolese singers have carried the country's image to the furthest reaches of the globe: the Franco- Congolese rapper Passi playing in France to whom we owe the release of several hit albums to like the . After a promising start in the 1. The country produces no feature film each year and generally the filmmakers directly broadcast their video production. Unfortunately Congolese culture, art, and media has remained a poor investment due to the various successive governments creating instability. Education. Education between ages six and sixteen is compulsory. Pupils who complete six years of primary school and seven years of secondary school obtain a baccalaureate. At the university, students can obtain a bachelor's degree in three years and a master's after four. Marien Ngouabi University. Instruction at all levels is in French, and the educational system as a whole models the French system. The educational infrastructure has been seriously degraded as a result of political and economic crises. There are no seats in most classrooms, forcing children to sit on the floor. Enterprising individuals have set up private schools, but they often lack the technical knowledge and familiarity with the national curriculum to teach effectively.
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