BLOG

Officially, it's legal to take photos in DR Congo, although for professional purposes you are supposed to have a permit. Unofficially, it's a scorned practice.       This is the problem that I've been running in to while being here. If you want to take a shot, you need to be stealthy about it. Using point and shoots is advisable over hauling out the 30D with the 2.8 aperture lens on it that makes it looks like a gun.       If regular people see you taking a photo, they will get in your face about it. This can vary by region though. In the west, they are much more antagonistic than in the east, probably because the west has more people sitting on their asses with little to do but harass people.       The police are the worst of all. They won't let you off without a bribe. Friends of friends have actually been taken down the police station only to argue their way out of bribes though, as it is legal to take pictures. This is a practice that you just want to do for the purpose of being right as they'll detain you for for several hours before you get out of there. Passing off a dollar's worth of Francs will make life go a lot smoother if cops get in between your camera and a shot.       This attitude about taking photos dates back to the Mobutu times when it was absolutely forbidden to take pictures in what was then Zaire. As is the case with just about every aspect of modern society in DR Congo, these old habits are hell to kill off and thusly people get offended of your taking photos of things. Even if it's something as silly as taking a picture of an empty street, someone will get offended in the end if they see you, which can drive you crazy because it makes you think that they should focus more on fixing their streets than harassing a tourist with a camera.       So, here is the problem for me. I like to have photos to emphasize my blog posts, but for this series on DR Congo, the photos are going to be limited. Some will have them and some will not. I will have a nice selection of photos in the galleries once I get to posting them from Spain though.       It's a real shame that people are so assinine about this, as the country is beautifully colorful and the people vibrant and full of life despite their endless hardships that they've had to endure.

As you bump and bounce out of N'Djili Airport, you start to head in Kinshasa proper. It's a long trip of about an hour or so in moderate traffic, of which there is always at least moderate traffic in Kinshasa. The journey is not like that from American and European airports where you start in the middle of nowhere and slowly pick up more and signs of civilization until you are in the center of a bustling city.       Kinshasa is much different. You both start and end in the middle of nowhere. The end point has a great many more buildings, but it still feels dislocated and at odds with itself being a city of 10 million people and the largest French speaking city in the world. It feels like it is still trying to contend with the fact it started life as Leopoldville, a trading outpost on the river that is actually younger than West Coast American towns like San Francisco. It's a bend in the river that now is home to so many.       There are no bright lights of Kinshasa. While the city sits along the Congo River and there is a massive hydroelectric damn further upstream, electricty is very much an ammenity that most are forced to live without. While the center of town (like the Gombe District) has much better power connections, it is mostly expats and the wealthy living there. The endless sprawl of Kinshasans live quite literally in the dark.       The road from the airport passes all the bars and clubs that are packed with people no matter what the night is. They sit outside it in the stifling humidity, their evenings illuminated by candles and the passing lights of cars on the road. As I looked forward out the front window of the shuttle we were in, I could see the dark, smoky veil of cooking fires and pollution descending on the roadway. Silouhettes of people crossing the road were lit up by the streams of traffic, looking like these human shadow puppets strolling through the night.       We reached the center eventually and the building that we would call home for the next couple of weeks. The power was on here, as well as the water. A brief shower rinsed off one layer of the sticking, unwavering humidity before we plunged in to a deep sleep.

Upon arrival in Kinshasa, DR Congo, the first site for visitors in N'Djili Airport, which is definitely not the most pleasant of sites. It's rundown. It's smelly. It's crowded and it is overall a complete zoo.       Previous to visiting Congo, I read up a great deal on the country and this airport was one of my biggest fears. The endless delays in getting through it, the possbility of losing a great deal from your luggage when going through "customs", and then trying to get away from the airport and in to the center of Kinshas were all daunting problems not allowing me to sleep on the seven hour leg of the flight from Paris to Kinshasa.       Once we got there, my fears weren't fully lived up to. They have apparently cleaned up the airport a great deal in recent years and the need to have a "control" to usher you through the airport has lessened. It still sucks though and there are what I consider to be the five levels of purgatory before you are actually released upong Kinshasa.       1. Passport Inspection This is pretty minor and is just checking to see if you have a visa. The line is lengthy and stretches out on to the tarmac as naturally there are no true landing gates for the planes.       2. Passport Control A much longer process. You stand in lines with everyone else as you weed your way through a couple of booths checking each person's allowance to be in the country. This was apparently much faster in the past, but has been slowed down in the last month as the Congolese staff are learning to use some new computers that the EU got them. Once they get used to it, it will most likely speed up. One thing to note here is that no matter how seemingly stupid of a request the police might ask of you, go along with it. They have nothing else to do other than controlling that line and if you feel like giving them shit, they will give it right back. Just be patient and listen to them and respect them.       3. Health Control A minor step to make sure you have your yellow fever vaccination and your immunization card, which if your traveling here, you should most definitely have had.       4. Luggage... Sweet jesus almighty. This is the worst part. You stand along the luggage conveyor for something like two hours or more waiting for your baggage to come out. This may seem like a boring wait, except that there is no air conditioning in the space and there are all these random guys who want to "help" you grab your bags for a tip. It's sweaty and completely not fun, but is part of this journey. The biggest issue here is if you bag was lost, like one of ours was in the tight transfer in Paris. You don't find out that the bag is gone until the very end of all of this and then once you know, you have to register it as lost and then wait until the next flight, of which there are only three a week. Of course you have to get in a circular line (also known as a mobbing) to get in there to register your lost luggage.       5. Clearance and Onward Once you have your luggage, ignore every single person outside the airport. They will forcefully try to grab your bags to again "help" you carry them for a tip. Just cling on to them and keep going for either your ride, the taxis, or if you're lucky enough, the UN shuttle to the center. It should be noted that the taxis will be $50+ to get in to the center. Why? Because it's an hour ride on some of the worst roads ever conceived.       But that's it. Just a few simple steps. Just a few minor hours and you'll soon be in Kinshasa, home to 10 million people and a whole lot more craziness that I'll get in to again when I can get at the internet, which is scarce commodity in these parts.

As you read this, I'll either be on a plane in what is an 11 hour series of flights or I'll be on the ground, starting a two and a half week trip through the Democratic Republic of Congo, which is not to be confused with the Republic of Congo just to the north of it. For those not up on the last ten years of geographic shift in Africa, this is the country that used to be known as Zaire and was run by Mobutu (the guy with the leopard skin hat) for 30 years.       This is my first trip in to Africa and is probably one of the more odd choices in initial African landings seeing how this has been a country in Africa with one of the most storied histories. A more obvious choice would have been Kenya prior to the riots (I mean, even Virgin Atlantic flies there) or South Africa, which a good numbers of whities "venture" to.       Beyond the fact that I've never gone to Africa, the other big strike against me is that I don't speak Lingala, Swahili, or French. Thankfully, I have a very able guide in #1 Fan, who not only speaks French, but lived in Congo for two years. This should make the trip considerably easier. Even still, how in the hell do you prepare for a place that has rampant diseases, endemic unemployment, next to no ATMs, undrinkable water, and no reliable airlines? Well, first of all, you fly on glorious Air France (which only takes you to the capital of Kinshasa) and secondly, you hit the books.       DR Congo is not Croatia and there aren't 25 guidebooks on the country or many articles about the country in general. Lonely Planet had one, but it was from about nearly 20 years ago and yes, things have most definitely changed. There is a book that documents these changes exceedingly well, which is In the Footsteps of Mr. Kurtz. It's not a travel guide at all, but a book that documents the downfall of Mobutu. It prepares a visitor for the general cultural sense of DR Congo and might make a great many change their minds about going. Nonetheless, it's a great book to read even for those who have no intention of ever setting a foot in the country.       With a relatively stable peace established in 2003, this has brought about a couple of travel guides to actually pop up. One of the earliest was the one from, Petit Futé. It's big downside is that it happens to be written in French. But, it is a good entry to the country, especially if one is of the French speaking mindset. The other book which has only just come out in the UK and is set to be released in the US in May is from, Bradt. I love Bradt not necessarily because they're always the best guides, but because they publish guides on places like Congo (in this case both DR and R). This guide is in English and I have been reading it intently since getting an advanced copy of it. it's quite well written and based upon what prior knowledge I have of DR Congo, it is very accurate. The author pulls no punches and doesn't gloss over any of the ugliness of traveling there, showing the would be traveler what they are going to be up against, but at the same time showing the rewards of the trip. Things do change quickly in DR Congo and one of things that's already out of date is that Hewa Bora should not be flown on. That was the only Congolese airline that the author recommended and they've just been added to the EU's no-fly blacklist, which brings the total number of Congolese airlines not on the blacklist to a whopping zero.       But, this is how it is and I am going. This will be one of the tougher chunks of travel I've done and in the end I'm sure all will turn out fine. We'll just have to see what direction the path of the next two and a half weeks takes. I have no idea how often I'll be online, since internet is scarce, so if you see no posts here for some time, just remember that I am now in what I call Deep Travels.