Guest Post: Luki Biosphere Reserve

[Note from Crazy #3: we were contacted by a new adventurer who discovered what seems like an amazing place to visit! We hope you all get a chance to go, and who knows – maybe we’ll come back just to check it out ourselves 🙂 ]

We weren’t quite sure what a “Biosphere” entailed but we had heard good things about Luki from friends who had already made the trip on the way back from a beach trip to Muanda. Luki didn’t disappoint and we extended our planned one-night stay because we loved it so much.

We slithered up a steep hill to an
awesome view point overlooking
the biosphere

The reserve was created in 1976 and is 33k hectares (endless hiking opportunities here). Ernestine, the fabulous Cameroonian PhD researcher permanently based at the site, had already given the local guides a heads up that we wanted to do some hiking so they were all ready to roll when we staggered out of the car. After convincing them that we needed a break before hiking commenced, we settled down to our first delicious meal cooked by Mama Germaine who lives in the local village and served the BEST food we have had in DRC. It’s all local, she grinds her own coffee, makes her own peanut butter and served up the most delicious fresh fruit – she is basically my dream woman. We were also able to drink the water from the well on site after it had been through a basic stone filter with no ill effects!

We did one hike of about three hours each day we stayed, the rainforest was incredible and the guides from the local village were very knowledgeable and explained how areas were being reforested and which tree species was which. They ended up encouraging us to go and see a flying fox cave where it was necessary to pass within centimetres of a wild bee hive which was a good laugh (!).

A good place to enjoy a beer

We heard about a new (or recently re-discovered) chimpanzee family living 18km from the main Luki accommodation base and the team has ambitions to habituate the group and offer over night hikes and camping to visit them. We would definitely consider trying to get back and do this.

The accommodation was clean and peaceful, we had a double room for $20 per night and a shared basic bathroom with one other bedroom (there wasn’t anyone else there). There are at least four double bedrooms with two bathrooms so you could bring quite a big group if you wanted and you give them a heads up. One of our favourite bits was just relaxing in the evenings with a beer on the veranda and admiring the forest.

The peace and quiet, awesome local guides, exceptional local cook and the resident PhD researcher Ernestine made this the most memorable DRC trip we’ve done so far. It genuinely felt like good eco-tourism too as we paid lots of small amounts – to the guides ($10 per guide per walk), to the cook (circa $150 for three days full board and drinks for two people), to the reserve itself ($10 each), to the guy that runs the accommodation ($20 double room per night).  Hugely recommend going to support and relax in the forest. When else do you get to visit a “humid tropical rainforest biosphere”?

Our guides told us “He goes all the way up the tree to find food, if he doesn’t find it he comes all the way down then does it again!

A machete is only useful in the jungle if you know how to use it, otherwise it’s a liability!

Logistics:

What to bring: Lots of long-sleeved tops and trousers for hiking, getting sweaty, and avoiding small black flies in the evening (harmless but annoying and itchy). Bug spray.

When to go: We went at the end of the rainy season in April and the off-road section (7km) was easy for 4×4. Dry season should be fine even without 4×4

How to get there:

Turn right on the N12 at this sign

• (from Muanda) Turn north at Boma on the N1, instead of taking the turn off to Matadi take the N12 north to Luki. After about 7km on a good road, take a right at the sign pictured here. Double check with someone in the village if you are unsure, they will point you in the direction of a bit of rough track that heads sharply south again. The road is actually worse closest to the village, after about 1km it gets much better again as you head into Luki reserve.
• Follow this road for about 6 km, take the right fork at the first point you see a fork in the road (left fork looks disused anyway)
• Then there is a second fork point, here you need to take the left fork (again the right fork looks disused).
• Pass by a village on your left with a UniKin building, continue on for another 1km. Then you will reach the Luki site with lots of billboards where you turn left to get to accommodation and turn right to get to the main offices. You’re at the end of the road here so you can’t go past it.

Travel Time: About 8 hours from Kinshasa (depending on traffic) or 2.5 hours from Muanda

Risk assessment: Other drivers!

Contact: Ernestine: +243 818 628 735

África Park Aventure (Lac de Ma Vallée)

As of October 2016, Lac de Ma Vallée has transformed into an outdoor adventure park! This place is honestly amazing and pretty great for all ages. We arrived early, around 9am, which was perfect. We did not have to wait in line for any of the activities, which seem to form later in the day. It was just a blast. We raced each other in the treetops park (which is an obstacle course 20 feet up) as well as took turns on the Playclimb and zip line. It was very well-established, with the employees making sure we were following safety protocol each step of the way. The only drawback was that a sit down restaurant was the only option for food. It took forever to order and get the food, which prevented us from doing any other activities. I’d bring my own food next time, but could definitely envision going back many times. The activities available at this park are:

Volcano Trekking – Mt. Nyiragongo

Virunga Park, with Mt. Nyiragongo in the background.

I did it. I climbed a volcano.

You know, Congo has a lot going against it. There’s extreme violence, there’s severe corruption, there’s absolute poverty. But there is beauty. There are things you can’t even dream of doing in other places, like seeing gorillas, camping by the Congo River, or floating down rapids. And climbing a live volcano to see the pool of lava at the top.

It was a long trek, took us six and a half hours to get to the top, though a lot of the delay was a result of the rain storm that decided to grace us with its presence towards the top of the mountain. I seem to have a tendency of attracting said storms during hard hikes, such as in Kimpese [note to self – be better prepared for the rain in a rain-heavy country].

A Day at the Beach, on the River Congo

    \  Wait, where is Kinshasa?

Spending the day on a sandbank may be one of my favourite escapes from Kinshasa. Buy some drinks and make some food (or not, maybe bring some raw meat and just grill it there), get on a boat, arrive at a sandbank a nice distance upriver from the city, have the tents, chairs, tables and BBQ set up for you, and just enjoy the rest of the day. What’s not to love?

There are the typical Congolese adventure-inducing things such as getting stuck on sandbanks (how many expats does it take to push a boat?), hand print sunburns, running out of gas before making it back to shore and only having one paddle to make it back, etc, but really, what is Congo without those?

The Pagoda and Satellite

A view from inside the pagoda complex.

As you leave Kinshasa on the road to Kikwit (or Bombo Lumene), you pass two bizarre remains of the Mobutu era, the large pagoda and even more imposing satellite dish.

Mbanza Ngungu

Train yard

While most people visit Mbanza Ngungu for the caves, the town itself is incredibly interesting to explore, with its colonial architecture and train station and repair yard.

The Marché Central

We never bring a camera with us to the marche, so Google Earth is the best you get.

Each trip to Kinshasa’s Marché Central promises a new adventure. Some days we’ve come away overjoyed with purchases of baby clothes, Halloween costumes, RDC track suits, seeds to plant, or soy beans, while others we’ve been followed by rowdy teenagers, or for one our friends, knocked over and had bones broken by similar groups.

Lac CEMKA

The lake

While Lac de ma Vallée is always packed on a Sunday afternoon, Lac CEMKA, which you pass along the way to Lac de ma Vallée, is almost always empty, and it’s a beautiful place to spend an afternoon.

When you turn off the paved road, you’ll experience a bit of up and down bumpy road before it flattens out and you circle around the lake to the restaurant area. The lake is in the midst of a pretty open valley punctuated by a big hill rising to a plateau with a Catholic church on top in the distance.

Chez Tatem and the Island

While not a great photo, the limos are definitely Chez Tatem’s claim to fame.

While Chez Tintin is undoubtedly the most popular place in Kinsuka to grab a beer and watch the raging rapids, Chez Tatem a little farther down the river has its own claim to fame. In the grassy parking area lie two rusty limousines that were purportedly brought to Kinshasa for George Foreman and Muhammad Ali to use while they were here for the Rumble in the Jungle.

Mbanza Ngungu Caves – Dry Season Update

Entering the Ngovo cave

Following Crazy #1 and Crazy #2’s adventures to Mbanza Ngungu, a group of us headed to the caves during dry season to see what all the fuss was about.  We are so glad we did, because really, the roads are horrendous – I’m not sure I would have been as brave as the other two Crazies to make it all the way to the last cave, but it was totally worth the trip.

During the dry season (June-September), the dirt road is completely passable (though you would still need a high-clearing 4×4), but you can clearly see where the dirt will turn into clay mud and turn really slippery if there’s even a little bit of rain.