Zongo Falls!

         We awoke this morning very refreshed and clean! We took breakfast in the resort before heading out to see the falls. I stood outside to watch and hear the rapids while everyone else finished eating. The water is very, murky brown and looks massively powerful against the rocks. When everyone was (finally) finished, we asked for a guide and began our trek to the falls. It is a steep path through the jungle, but every moment worth it to see what awaited us. First, we came across a tiny nonexistent pool, that only becomes a lake in the wet season. We continued our hike upwards and then we could hear the falls, view them through the trees, and begin to feel the mist. The trees fall away and suddenly we are standing on a cliff directly in front of the falls while we are bathed in the spray. It is a majestic and beautiful and awe-inspiring! Where we are standing, the rocks are constantly coated with mist blown from the falls. I love standing here with my arms outspread feeling the spray from the falls, like I’m on the edge of the world. Francois, very worried about me, kept telling us all to stand back from the edge, like any good mother! Clement, Jean-Pierre, Patrick, and I continued on while Francois and Nancy stayed behind. There was a steep rocky path down closer to the falls. I had been wearing sandals, but gave up at this point and just went barefoot which was much easier. This path got us completely soaked, but was well worth any inconvenience for the view. If you yell into the falls, the echo causes the spray to become even stronger for just a moment. This experience was awesome, I’m so happy we came here!

Falls!

Nancy and Clement

Getting Soaked by the Spray

               On to business…so there is already a dam on the Inkisi River, but construction is underway on a second, much bigger dam. As Patrick is a civil engineer, we could not pass up this opportunity to look in on this development. After a series of administrative hurdles (national security, energy source secrecy, Chinese companies, etc.), we (they) visited with an engineer from the company who explained and showed the plans for dam.

The dam is to be built below the first dam, but still at an elevation about the Congo River. A tunnel of water will run from the dam to the center on the Congo River where the turbines will be operated. We visited the construction site of the center on the Congo River. I’m sure there was lots of fascinating information about construction and capacity going on here, but I didn’t catch any of that. The construction is by a Chinese company, but apparently everybody speaks French. They expect it to be complete by 2015. Then we visited the construction site of the dam. Most of the electricity produced here will be sold to other countries, rather than used internally…better profits. Finally, we were on our way back to Kinshasa…just as my patience was running thin with how slow EVERYTHING runs here…we blew a tire. Of course! The perfect reward for my impatience. Thankfully we were only a short walk to the next village where the local boys were more than willing to have the tire off and spare tire on in about 30 minutes. Not without some moments of hopelessness as it took several trips back and forth from the village to acquire the correct tools and a long iron pipe.
               Now, we are really on our way! Several hours later, we were safely back in Kinshasa thanks to the wit and skillful driving on Jean-Pierre. The traffic still gets to me with all the sudden stops and close calls every 30 seconds, but alas, we continue to survive. After dinner at Jean-Pierre and Francoise’ house, we returned to the apartment for a restful night.