Democratic Republic of Congo ,on the opposite side of the Congo River, Congo,which is officially known as Democratic Republic of Congo is a bubbling cauldron of untamed wilderness carpeted by swathes of rainforest and punctuated by gushing rivers and smoking volcanoes. Rendered almost ungovernable by the central administration in Kinshasa, the country remains closed to all but the most brave-hearted travellers. The nation’s history reads like something out of Dante’s Inferno from the brazen political folly of King Leopold of Belgium to the hideously corrupt ‘kleptocracy’ of maverick megalomaniac Mobutu Sese Seko, and the blood-stained battlegrounds of Africa’s first ‘world war’.The Democratic Republic of Congo isn’t all failed politics and wasted natural resources, however. Somewhere in the midst of this proverbial heart of darkness lies a lumbering African giant. With ground-b¬reaking national elections in July 2006 giving voice to 60 million shell shocked inhabitants, a corner may have been turned. Despite early post-election violence in Kinshasa, incumbent president Joseph Kabila took office in October 2006 under the watchful eye of the world’s largest UN peacekeeping force.Once touted as Kin la belle ,the 21st-century incarnation of the chaotic capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo is regrettably anything but. Huge, sprawling, grimy and confusing, the city – which, with over six million inhabitants, is Africa’s third largest is a long way from being a traveller’s haven, though with multiparty elections ushering in a new era of hope and reintegration this situation could soon change.Built up on the banks of the Congo River and infested with shabby shantytowns and myriad opportunist con merchants masquerading as street salesmen, this polluted megalopolis couldn’t be called pretty by anyone. That said, there are a number of surprisingly deserted areas where exhausted visitors can escape from the traditional mayhem, such as the once-grand colonial neighbourhood, or the city centre on a Sunday.Lumbumbashi ..........
