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Kinshasa 2007

 

In May-June 2007 I crossed over the river to work in the adjoining capital, Kinshasa, for a month while the correspondent took his vacation. It was quite a change from sleepy old Brazzaville. There’s a big change of pace – the streets are full of people, the currency is a mix of worthless dirty francs and dollars and there’s a sizeable ex-pat community. Looking back over the river, Brazzaville (seen in one of the night-time photos) looked very small.

Congo river trip, 2007

There isn’t a fantastic amount to do in Congo-Brazzaville, but you can make a short excursion outside the capital where there are a few river side options that are great for picnicking, swimming and camping. This particular spot was just a bit north of Brazzaville. There’s a nice bend in the river where you can be swept along by some gentle rapids and then get out downstream and walk back in no-time. I realise that if you’re not talking about the Serengeti or the jungle, it’s not always easy to know what African landscapes look like. Here there are rolling grass hills – largely without much sign of life – Congo has a very small population (4 million), concentrated in the two main cities, and yet the rest of the territory is vast.

USS Kauffmann visits Pointe-Noire, Congo, 2007

 

The visit of the USS Kauffmann to Congo’s main port, Pointe-Noire, on the Atlantic ocean made for an interesting ride out to sea and visit.

Kinshasa fighting, 2007

The first time I ever heard a shot fired in battle, I was walking to the American Cultural Center in Brazzaville. I thought it must have been something else, as the city seemed calm. As the day wore on it was clear what was going on – Brazzaville is on the north bank of the Congo river exactly opposite the DR Congo. The bodyguards loyal to the losing presidential candidate, Jean-Pierre Bemba, clashed with the presidential guard of Joseph Kabila. For two days the two forces fought in the centre of Kinshasa and dun of heavy weaponry was constant throughout this time. Some rockets even landed on the Brazzaville side of the river. One of my photographs of the explosions and fire was bought by AP (the Kinshasa photographers were under lock down), and made the pages of the Washington Post and Boston Globe among others.

African Cup of Nations Under-20s, 2006

 

Just a month after I arrived in Congo, the country hosted the under-20s version of the continent’s main football competition, the African Cup of Nations. Congo-Brazzaville is not a great footballing nation and no-one paid them much attention at the start. But little by little, they advanced through the competition, and like a fairytale they won the competition, beating Nigeria 1-0 in the final. It was great to follow the story and the coach from beginning to end.

Savorgnan de Brazza mausoleum

On my first full day in Brazzaville, I was fortuitously on the airwaves thanks to the opening of a multi-million dollar mausoleum for Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza, the colonial explorer whose name was given to the Congolese capital (and which remains there to this day). The government said the investment was a fitting tribute to a rare enlightened colonial era pioneer. Critics said it was a white elephant project that was a waste of scarce resources, while others said it was really a Masonic temple. Whatever the case, it is an interesting place to visit (and free) though I hardly ever saw any other visitors there.

East Africa research trip 2006

 

My second trip to Africa was a research trip to write my masters dissertation on the International Criminal Court. I flew into Nairobi and stayed with some good friends there before catching a coach down to Arusha in Tanzania, which is the home of the court. Afterwards, I came back up to Kenya and took a flight to Rwanda where I carried out some more research.

Travels in the DRC, 2005

In 2005 I made my first trip to Africa, though for a long time previously it had been my career aim to work here. In my mid-20s, I didn’t want to start with a safari, so I chose the DRC and flew into Rwanda to cross the border at Goma. I worked with a team from Northern Ireland building a Christian radio station in Kisangani in the middle of the country. On a memorable day beside Lake Kivu I also received a message from England that I’d received a place on a new masters course at Oxford in African studies.

Conkouati-Douli National Park

 

I’ll probably spend the next few months uploading a mix of recent and old material until I’ve exhausted my back catalogue. These are from a national park in the Republic of Congo, which almost no-one ever visits (the country and the park!). I recorded my first ever From Our Own Correspondent report on this trip, which you can read here.

Assouinde beach

I thought I’d start with some photos from Assouinde (Assinie) beach about 1.5 hours’ drive west of Abidjan, where I spent Christmas and New Year’s in 2007. Ivory Coast has about 500km of beaches on the Atlantic coast, much of it picturesque and quiet.