Road to Kisantu

Today we are going to Zongo Falls. We pass from the province of Kinshasa to Bakongo. Here there are mountains and rivers, everything is still very green. After the border, we stop to pay a toll. Now the toll is designed like ones in the States, where vehicles can drive through and pay out the window. But instead of doing anything efficiently, everybody parks on the highway and gets out to wait in a pedestrian line which takes forever. Now, maybe we can continue. They make everything so difficult!!! They need rules like “you can’t stop on the highway”, “don’t back up!”, or “you have to stay inside your vehicle.” 

This stretch is more highway funded by the World Bank. As we drove, the discussion was about energy that DRC provides to Zambia, Republic of Congo, and South Africa. There are plans to build an even larger dam which may supply Central African Republic and Egypt. First, we stopped at the Jardin Botanique de Kinsantu, which is huge. It was started by a Jesuit priest in the 1920s. Unfortunately, we did not have all day to explore as we had to be on our way. Kisantu, is a rather small town, is entirely red, covered in the fine red dust of the roads. 

The houses of this countryside are amazing to me. They have made bricks with which to build. I wonder how they make the houses square or how they make the bricks straight, or in fact, how they make the bricks at all! The landscape here is interesting because it is quite steep. The hills are covered with grass like a savannah, but the valleys are palm trees and thick vegetation. Finally we made it to the dam and Zongo Falls! It was getting too dark to walk the paths tonight, but we are staying at a resort named Seli Safari. They served us a wonderful dinner where I actually ate the fish called peoisson capitaine. This place even has hot water!! I am so excited for tomorrow to see the La Chutes de Zongo!

Seli Safari