The Congo River
Cédric Gerbehaye
pour Geo France
The majestic Congo River, the second largest river in the world after the Amazon, is the spine of the country named after it, forming a link between the Katanga mines, the equatorial forest and the capital city, Kinshasa. As a waterway leading inland, it played a critical role during colonization. It is the only route across the country from the Swahili-speaking East to the West where both the Lingala language and Belgian colonial forces spread along the river banks. The only navigable section is between Kisangani and Kinshasa, covering a distance of 1 700 kilometers from Stanley Falls to the Pool, before the rapids upstream from the capital. The river looks like a huge, bulging vein in the heart of Africa, tied with a tourniquet at either end.
Preview
In the general hubbub of people calling out from the riverbank and the roar of the diesel engine, the Kotakoli sailed away from Kisangani, sending great clouds of black smoke into the sky. The vessel, which was launched in 1976, is a pilot boat running on a motor and steering a vast expanse of eight barges moored together two by two, guiding them carefully ahead, like a street vendor wielding a large tray. In all it is 30 meters wide and 200 meters long and can carry more than 5000 tons. It is the largest convoy of goods on the river and makes only one full trip a year, whereas in the past it could have done ten. Here is a magic carpet where a giant seems to have set up a display with a wondrous jumble of goods, looking like a cross between an industrial warehouse, a lively market and a refugee camp under tarpaulins. The passengers, some 400 at the outset, scurry around like ants, walking one behind the other along the slippery planks on the edge of the barges. Fifty years ago it took twenty days to sail between Kisangani and Kinshasa, but now, with the collapse of the national transport agency, Onatra, plus corruption and administrative red tape, it takes ten weeks to cross the country.
Cédric Gerbehaye
