Kisangani

Kisangani stands at the point where the Congo becomes navigable, seventeen hundred kilometres upstream from Kinshasa, below the seven cataracts that end river traffic from the east. Founded as Stanleyville, it was the great inland port of the colonial river system and it retains the layout and some of the buildings: a cathedral, a university, wide avenues and warehouses along the water. Boats still leave for the long journey downstream, taking anything from a week to a month depending on what they are.

History

Before Stanley the area was home to the Wagenya, who fished at the falls now called Wagenia Falls; Stanley, who first passed the seven falls in 1877, recorded that some thousand fish were caught there each day and that the Wagenya traded smoked fish, canoes, nets, pottery and metalwork. He returned on 1 December 1883 and founded Stanley Falls Station on the island of Wana Rusari, the furthest point of the expedition, leaving the British engineer Adrian Binnie in charge, who cleared land and built a village with gardens. The settlement was known to Europeans as Stanleyville, but local people always called it Kisangani, a Swahili rendering of the indigenous name Boyoma, "city on the island". About 2,100 kilometres from the mouth of the Congo, it is the furthest navigable point upstream (Wikipedia, Kisangani).

What you'll find

• The riverfront - the port and the barges that work the long route down to Kinshasa.
• Boyoma Falls - the seven cataracts on the city's eastern edge, which end navigation.
• The colonial fabric - the cathedral, university buildings and warehouses from the port era.
• The market - a large river market handling fish, cassava and forest produce.

When to go

The drier windows, December to February and June to August, are marginally easier, though rain falls in every month this close to the equator. River levels are highest around November and May.

Before you go

The city has declined a long way from its colonial-era scale and much of the fabric is derelict. Infrastructure is limited and power supply intermittent. River travel downstream is genuinely arduous and not a scheduled service in any normal sense.

Nearby

Boyoma Falls are on the city's edge, and the Lomami park is far to the south.

Key facts