Meat Market

Here are pictures taken at the Bush Meat Market in Brazzaville, here we have eels, turtles, smoked monkeys, crocodiles...

Yes indeedy, fresh monkey meat here, these are whole smoked animals, but the meat is also available cut up.

Sorry to say the bushmeat trade is alive and well in Congo Brazzaville. Today's foray into the Ouenze Marche' turned up this assortment of meat selections; also on offer were wild hog and antelope. Anything is fair game.

Air Travel in Congo

Our trip to the jungle required us to fly north to Ouesso

Pamela relaxes in the Airport Cafe at Ouesso while we called Brazzaville to see if the flight was coming..

The Cafe and VIP area, Ouesso Airport
I asked the location of the restrooms, the answer...... "Dans les arbes!" In the trees!

Departure Lounge, Ouesso Airport

Arrival of Air Congo flight, Baggage Claim area

Al above at the Baggage Check in Ouesso and the last two pictures are of the luxurious VIP Lounge, Brazzaville, oh-la-la, coat and tie required!

On the Streets of Brazzaville

Flame trees in bloom

As I spend my final days here, I am taking pictures of what I want to remember or forget depending on the image...



From the corniche, the River Congo facing Kinshasa, DRC...

Photos taken from the car...

Congolese fashion at its most colorful..

More Jungle Ramble

In the pirogue on the Mbeli River

More river hiking

At first sight of gorillas up close

Baby gorilla poses for us

Ramble in the Jungle part 2

The jungle hike came on day 2. After a night at Mondika Camp, we set out in the truck for our departure point for the 4-hour jungle hike, some of which was in high waters. We followed our guide and Tomo with wife Aniko brought up the rear, thankfully the Pygmy porters carried our backpacks. Arriving midday, we took turns going to see Kingo, the male gorilla and family in the habitat, after walking 15 km, it was only a few more to see them. After the night in tents there, we retraced our route, then boarded the truck again to take us to pirogues to float the Sangha and Mbeli Rivers to Mbeli Camp where we spent the next lazy day viewing gorillas and elephants in the natural grassy clearing. Returning from the viewing platform we got drenched, slid in mud to the comfort of our cabins, then dinner, and a delay before going to bed until a rambunctious forest elephant was chased away from the camp. We listened to him crash around until we could safely move to the cabins.

River Walking Through the Jungle



Kingo climbing


Kingo's baby






Gorilla in Mbeli Bai

Ramble in the Jungle part 1

Nouabale-Ndoki National Park in northern Congo (in the area near Ouesso in map at right) is one of the most remote primary forest areas in the world, and we were recently fortunate enough to travel there. Here I am pictured with one of our guides and Pygmy porters. An arduous 5-day journey, we five travelers were happy to experience life in the dense forest to visit the Wildlife Conservation Society's http://www.wcs.org/ research stations there and to view lowland gorillas in their habitat. Bill, Oi, Pamela, Al and I flew north to Ouesso on Air Congo, where we were met by Paul Telfer, director of WCS Congo on his way back to Brazzaville. We were turned over to Dr. Tomo Nishihara, Logistics Coordinator for WCS's northern Congo operations and expert on these gorillas. He led us to our first leg of the journey, a ride in a wooden pirogue up the Sangha River to be offloaded across the river from the Central African Republic and Cameroon borders. There we boarded WCS's vehicle for a bumpy ride on a logging road to Bomassa Camp, passing through logging operations of Congolaise Industrielle de Bois, (CIB) where we saw huge logs being cut, processed and hauled out of the forest. WCS works with the company, influencing them in the direction of preservation of forest and animals.

Baggage Claim at Ouesso Airport





Oi Shows the Way
Al and Outoing Logs - the trucks cross the Sangha River by ferry to Cameroon for export..

Good Fences...

Here are photos taken in a residential area of Brazzaville of some fences made from found articles - apparently mostly old car parts, sinks, anything goes that is sort of flattened out, or not...another art form put to good use.

Cafe' Societe'

Here are pictures of a few cafes in Brazzaville.

Fine for a stop during a stroll in the ville, some cafes serve only drinks and snacks, but many are restaurants as well. The French influence in the food offerings are a definite plus in a city without a lot going on in terms of things to do or places to go...one can always find a drink and a bite to eat to enjoy while watching the life on the street, as well as admiring the hand painted signs, my favorite form of Brazzaville art

Cathedral in Brazzaville

Looking around for old pictures of Brazzaville I came across these old undated postcards. The photos looked familiar, so today I took a picture of the Cathedrale de Sacre Coeur, and sure enough it is one and the same; the other pictures are of the exterior statues, and in the adjoining cemetery the oldest markers are from the late 1800's. The graves there appear to be those of nuns and priests both French and Congolese who have served the parish and community.