Congo 🇨🇬
Transafrica 2018 STOP 7
May 10, 2018
Kigali – Brazzaville
Flight distance: 937 nm
Hours in the air: 4.05
Congo – two nations apart
Leaving Kigali was swift and easy, the culprit from Monday wisely decided not to show up anymore, probably better for him. Our flight was a bit rocky but good, as was handling on the ground.
Brazzaville, with around 2 million population seems laid back and manageable. There is not much to see here. The most prominent attraction is the Congo river including the almost alluring skyline of Kinshasa, the capital of DRC (Democratic Republic of Congo) on the other side of the bank. Since it was Ascension today the streets were fairly empty. We walked around for a short while, had a look at the local market which is overstuffed with the cheapest Asian goods and paid the gym a visit. All in all an easy country point, so to say! The next days look like more serious “business”, but then again every day turns out to be a surprise. In any case, there might be no daily news for the next couple of days.
Facts &Â figures
The Republic of the Congo, also known as the Congo Republic, Congo-Brazzaville or just Congo. The country was until independence in 1960 part of the French colony of Equatorial Africa.
It is located in the central-western part of sub-Saharan Africa along the Equator an has a short (170 km) coastline at the South Atlantic Ocean. Congo is bordered by Angola (the enclave of Cabinda), Cameroon, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo (Kinshasa), and Gabon.
With an area of 342,000 km² the country is lightly smaller than Germany.
Congo-Brazzaville has a population of about 4 million people. Capital and largest city is Brazzaville, the city is located on the Congo River, in the south of the country, across Kinshasa, capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
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.
Upon independence in 1960, the former French region of Middle Congo became the Republic of the Congo. A quarter century of experimentation with Marxism was abandoned in 1990 and a democratically elected government installed in 1992. A brief civil war in 1997 restored former Marxist President Sassou-Nguesso, but ushered in a period of ethnic unrest. Southern-based rebel groups agreed to a final peace accord in March 2003, but the calm is tenuous and refugees continue to present a humanitarian crisis. The Republic of Congo is one of Africa’s largest petroleum producers with significant potential for offshore development.
Source: wikipedia.org / nationsonline.org
