Meet The People of Zaire
Living in Kinshasa didn’t provide me many opportunities to explore the beauty of the country. Beside the unstable political situations, many places couldn’t be accessed by public transport requiring visitors to rent a car to travel.
Therefore, I won’t miss any opportunity given by anyone to see the other sites that I haven’t seen in the country. One of them was cruising trip in Congo River provided by organization where I worked for, as one of welfare program purposed for its staf.
So, in Sunday morning, my best friend from work, Oliva, picked me up at the house to go to to the harbor together.
We arrived at the harbor in 10 minutes. The harbour itself was closed to our headquarter office, and apparently it was the particular harbour. A big boat was there, belongs to organization which had no schedule to patrol in that moment, waited for us, to give us another experience to see the real life of river people of Congo.

Kinshasa, seen from Congo River

The commercial harbor, seen from the river.

Primus, the biggest beer factory in Kinshasa
Congo River, which also known as Zaire River, is the second longest river in Africa, after Nile. It starts to run from its sources in the mountain and highlands of the East African Rift and end in Atlantic Ocean. In addition, the river is also known as the deepest river in the world, where the deepest part is reaching 230 m from the water surface. Even though it was called as Zaire river, but at the end, its name was changed into Congo river, refers to two countries it passes: Republic of Congo and Democratic Republic of the Congo. At the other hand, the river is powerful that could create hydropower plants along the river to provide energy within the continent.

Congo River, Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo

Congo River, Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo
Furthermore, the river is also the main transportation source within Central Africa region , providing more than nine thousand miles of navigable shipping routes in Central Africa. Big amounts of goods are also transported though the river. Many people still use this river to travel from one place to another. It become main media to transport people to some regions since many places still couldn’t be accessed by road.

Congo River, Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo

Congo River, Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo
First 3o minutes were not so impressive since we just passed some areas that we were used to pass. But afterwards, the real life was began when we starts passing the villages along the river.
People lived in super ordinary condition, in a small wooden house occupied by many families in the same time. They don’t have any access to electricity and clean water is something luxury. Most of people did fishing to get their income. Normally, fishermen sail with their wooden boats, consist 2 or 3 passenger in one canoe, depends on the measurement of the canoe too, and used the wide net to catch the fish. Thanks to Congo River providing them variety of fishes for the food. Knowing this, I could take my deep breath. At least, those people will not be starving to death.

Settlements along the river. Congo River, Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo

Settlements along the river. Congo River, Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo

Settlements along the river. Congo River, Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo

Congo River, Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo

A man, busy with his mobile while sitting at the bank of river

Settlements along the river. Congo River, Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo

A fisherman doing fishing in Congo River

Fishermen looking for fishes

A couple doing fishing together. Congo River, Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo
While we were on half way, one big ship passed our boat. That boat was full with passengers going to Kinsangani (that’s what Papa Pascal said, one of my Congolesse colleague who was also on board with me).

A ship traveling from Kinshasa to Kinsangani through the river

A ship traveling from Kinshasa to Kinsangani through the river

A ship traveling from Kinshasa to Kinsangani through the river

A ship traveling from Kinshasa to Kinsangani through the river

A man, enjoying his day and protecting himself with colorful umbrella from the heat of African sun
That boat was terribly full, I am not joking, and it always released the black smoke from its machine. I could imagine when they arrived in Kinsangani, the ashes adhered on the face of passengers. It didn’t just take the people but also looked like take the whole their houses and belongings with them. Some men enjoyed the sunny day with their drink (perhaps beer, but I was not so sure), in the mean time some women did some cooking on the boat, using brazier and charcoal to burn the fire. The children astonishingly stared at us. One of the kids started to lift his hand, gave us some waves and followed by the other kids. At the end of the day, all passengers gave us the biggest smile they had for that day. One lesson learnt I got from this trip, “always try to be happy even in the worst situation. Smile and the World will smile for you“.

New Nice Settelements

Not far from the real world, nice settlements had been built for the richies
Great intro to the life in Congo.
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Thank you, Arv. And I have no idea why your comment came into the spam..
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Already reported this issue to wp team. They say that they don’t find any reason for marking my comment in spam….
Confusing! Thanks for updating me.
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You’re most welcome, Arv. Perhaps it was done by mistake by them..
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It’s all automated. Better luck… Next time ☺
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Rivers always have something magical- you definitely brought this across!
Amazing pictures as always 🙂 Thank you for sharing this story 🙂
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Thank you, Franzi. I am glad you found it interesting. I agree with you that rivers alway give you magical feeling. I am sure you got that feeling while visiting the Nile in Uganda..
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Yes you are totally right! Especially the source of the nile! 🙂 Have a great day!
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Thank you, Dear. And you too 😊
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I love the picture with the man and the umbrella!
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Thank you, very much Seona. I got the same feeling with you. His umbrella really caught my eyes. He knew how to enjoy the life 🙂
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These are wonderful photos. Some so clearly show the poverty of the region. My favourites are of the people, the man with his phone and the man with his umbrella.
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Thank you, Anne. Yes, it is. I had the mixed feeling when I did the trip. People lived in poverty, but not far from there, another luxury life is also exist.
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Beautiful and so interesting post!
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Thank you very much for your comment. And thanks for visiting my blog 🙂
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Welcome!
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Your pictures left me speechless, Nurul! This is an awesome post and the river there looks breathtaking!
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Thank you, Agnes. You’re right. The river is so huge. Sometimes, when I was in the middle of the river, it was even hard to see the edges..
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The Congo has always fascinated me for some unknown reason. It might have to do with my thought that of wilderness and jungles, but cannot say for sure.
One thing is for sure, it is interesting to follow your journeys in the country. I guess that many wouldn’t dare to even go there. The way of traveling reminds me a little bit of what we saw along the Gambia river last year. Old boats carrying a lot more people than they were built for.
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Thank you, Jesper. I m glad that you found it fascinated. Some areas of Congo are even hard to access due to many reasons. Unstable politic could be the reason too. Therefore, there are not so many people to put this country on their list to visit. Well, if it’s not my work brought me there, I assume that I would not have changes to visit Congo too..
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Beautifully photography!
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Thank you very much. I do really appreciate your comment..
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Wow, you’ve really captured the characteristic and lives of the people. Well done
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Thank you, Jasmine. I’m glad that you got it.. Thanks for stopping by.. I really appreciate it…
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