Zinga

Zinga sits on the Ubangi south of Bangui, a village that was a river trading post in the colonial period and kept a number of the buildings from it: brick warehouses, a mission and administrative houses standing along the bank, weathered and mostly disused. The river is wide here and pirogues work it. It is one of the few places in CAR where that period is still visible in the fabric.

History

In the 1920s the French colonial government built a 6-kilometre railway from Zinga to Mongo, which stopped running in 1960, and the old line was placed on UNESCO's tentative list on 11 April 2006; the town is known for its wooden buildings and as a ferry port for boats to Bangui and Brazzaville (Wikipedia, Zinga, Lobaye).

The main sights

• The brick warehouses - the trading buildings along the river bank.
• The mission - the church standing among the older fabric.
• The Ubangi - the wide river the village works on.
• The pirogues - the dugouts moving people and goods on the water.

When to go

December to February is the driest window and the roads are best. River levels change considerably through the year. Access is much harder after rain.

Good to know

The buildings are derelict and there is no conservation work or interpretation. Access is by poor road or by boat and both need arranging. There are no facilities in the village.

Nearby

M'Baïki is northwest, and Bangui is north.

Key facts