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City in the northeastern DR Congo
Photo: Julien Harneis from Conakry, Guinea, CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Kisangani (formerly Stanleyville) is the third largest city in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and is the capital and largest city of the vast Orientale Province (roughly the size of Spain) in the Congo Basin. The city is found at the furthest navigable point on the Congo River upstream of Kinshasa/Brazzaville at the end of the Boyoma Falls, a series of cataracts along a 100-km stretch of the river. The city's name comes from Swahili for "the city on the island" because of the tributaries in the area that almost completely separate Kisangani into a collection of islets.
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On the edge of Kisangani, these are the last cataracts on the Congo until Kinshasa/Brazzaville. Fishermen set up conical traps for fish and can be seen tending to these traps. Fortunately, the fishermen have realized that tourists want to see them and reportedly will charge a large fee to see them (USD20!) and/or photographing them.
One of the white villas, falling apart, on the isles, is a former hotel and hosted the actors of the movie African Queen: Katharine Hepburn, Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall.
See the "get in" section for details. A trip by boat along the Congo is one of the world's greatest wild adventures. Trips by pirogue for a few hours or a few days can be arranged in most cities along the river. Only a couple of tour operators in the country offer these rides, but if you speak good enough French or Swahili, you can probably talk a pirogue owner into a short trip (make sure you understand what you're doing & where you're going).
Opened in 1967, this central hotel is closed for a complete rehabilitation.
satellite TV, air-con, fridges, hot water, pool, bar (limited selection), restaurant, and even a (slow) wired internet connection near reception.
Air-con, TV, pool, restaurant (expensive), & bar
By boat
As the end of the navigable stretch of the Congo River, Kisangani was formed largely to unload cargo and transfer it to train to bypass the cataracts.
Overland
Kisangani is difficult to reach by road. The only relatively "easy" route into the city is the newly rehabilitated National Route 4 which runs to Bukavu and the Rwandan border.
By train
A train line runs south from Ubundu, mainly to haul freight travelling by boat around the cataracts.
Given the city's isolation in the jungle (and relatively difficult routes to navigate here), there are surprisingly few vehicles in the city, aside from cheap motorbikes.
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Kisangani · International · FKI
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