Traveled: 0 km
Cumulative: 3062 km
The morning was spent trying to find a boat to Kinshasa. We were shown a tiny dirty boat with a fat captain. And that one would only leave in about a month’s time. The Beltexco VI had a beautiful cabin, but we waited for 2hrs to get a price. Finally, they changed their minds saying that we needed permission from Beltexco Society in Kinshasa to allow us to board as foreign visitors (and not members of the society). Emmanuel says that they are just jerking us around. The last boat we visited, Osongo, was the third and, apparently, the charm. It would leave Monday or Tuesday at the latest, which was in 2-3 days. The only drawback would be that we would need to pack and unpack in the steering room every day because we would not have the cabin in the daytime when the boat is moving. However, after 6pm, when the boat is docked, we could set up our mattresses on the floor and sleep there. The cost was 60$ per person for tickets, 80$ for the motorcycle, 45$ for the temporary steering room cabin and 5,000 FC (5$) for the motorcycle freight taxes. This came up to more or less 250$ for about 2 weeks of travel. Not a bad deal.
We tasted a nice restaurant called S.I.E.M. in Kisangani center, next to the Post Office. It was supposedly Lebanese but the food portions were ridiculously tiny for the price. The shawarma I got could have been eaten in 2 bites and cost me 3,500 FC (4$).
Then, we went to Wagenya Fishery which is apparently “incontournable” (not to be missed), but I could’ve done quite well without the hassling and the screaming. These people clearly only fish for fun now, even if they may have started out as fishermen tribes in 1884. Now, they live off of wooden fishery replicas, 50$/1hr demonstrations, 25$/person 30-min guided tours, 10$ cooking demonstrations of the fish and unsolicited car washes. Also, men walk up to you every 5 minutes to sell you something else during the guided tour.
After watching the fishermen fight over who was to guide us for a good 15 minutes, we told them we were leaving and we would not stay for a tour. Also, the price was much too high. They begged for us to stay and said that they had solved the conflict. They asked us how much we wanted to pay for the guided tour and we offered 10$. They accepted. The guided tour lasted less than 20 minutes and included only a brief history of their tribe and a look at the fishing nets. For everything else, they would point at the village across the river and say that if we wanted to go there, we would have to offer a gift of money to their leader and pay for the pirogue ride. Tom and I rolled our eyes in disbelief. My recommendation: don’t make the mistake of coming here. It is a giant waste of time and a tourist trap!
We skipped dinner at Marie-Louise’s as we had already eaten at the Fishery. The food that was made by the fishermen there was delicious, but they made us pay for all of the ingredients (fish, spices, oil, tomato paste, chicouane) and the cooking demonstration. On top of that, when came time to serve the food, the guides sat down with us at the table and gobbled down more than half of it before we could even touch the food. They left Emmanuel, Tom and me with the scraps – just incredible. Every time that I think it could not get any worse, it does!
Nomad Mari 