On the western side of the delta in DR Congo is a broad grassy floodplain covering about 1600 km². Crocodile and hippopotamus are common and a hazard for fishermen and travellers. The roads in the city centre are even more impressive. There are four inhabited islands in the DR Congo part of the delta, including the largest in the system which is connected to dry land in the dry season. Oil palm plantations and processing plants are located along the banks; there are also rubber plantations with Para rubber trees which have been revived since the emergence of AIDS because of the demand for latex to make condoms, and precious woods (e.g. The journey is grueling and dangerous: by day, the sun beats down, heating the metal of the barges packed with travelers, mostly women and children, and by night there are often terrifying storms.A convoy of six barges pushed by two tugs which left Kisangani has reached Maluku with a load of precious timber taken on board near Lisala and which will now be unloaded and delivered to the Siforco processing plant. They are made from beautifully colored local timber, carved using an adze, a cutting tool with a thin curved blade. According to Greenpeace, France is Europe’s leading importer of wood from the DRC.
13,350 metric tons a year). Op Crocodile Major Louis Xenos is greeted by villagers from a small island community on the Congo River near the city of Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo as members of the United Nations travel along the Congo River in a fact-finding mission to gather information from the local population during Operation CROCODILE on June 9, 2007. Life for the tiny fishing community is one of poverty and anxiety.The barge arriving in Maluku has traveled 100 km (60 miles) from Kinshasa. Follow on JavaScript is disabled on your browser or it does not support this technology. The Congo River plays a key role, for society and for the economy, providing the vital connection across the country.For most people in the region, the river is the one and only means of transport, and it is a long trip (from five weeks to seven months) aboard one of the many barges carrying goods and passengers. Landscapes are seen as they pass by: landscapes of silence, nothingness, monotony, loneliness and distance, conjuring up thoughts of eternity, infinity, and the birth of the world, a world bounded by the horizon, the horizon of the river, the point of equilibrium. At the end of the rainy season the combined Luapula wetlands exceed 4000 km².The upper and middle reaches of the Luapula are quite sparsely populated. They will live in a small camp, in flimsy huts, on the edge of the vast equatorial forest.The weekly market near Gemena selling new dugout canoes (€50 to €1000 according to size). La 2.153 km de long Kasai est un affluent du fleuve Congo en Afrique centrale et juste derrière le Oranje le sixième plus long fleuve en Afrique. It took more than a month to reach Akula on the Mongala River. With no more passenger vessels, thousands of people travel illegally on barges, enduring the most appalling conditions.The convoy operated by JCM-Services (Jésus-Christ Merveilleux Services) has one tug pushing three barges (a total of 70 meters or 230 feet), sailing from Mbandaka to Lisala. Yes, Africa is still being plundered as if there were no rightful owners of the land.Any human plunged into the heart of this environment, surrounded by nature, by natural grandeur, is immediately conscious of the insignificance of the individual. C'est aussi un port sur le fleuve Congo. Locals are hoping to sell a crocodile (for €20), roosters and ducks.On the Congo River between Yangambi and Lokutu. The family is setting off on a fishing expedition that will last for months. Business on board is busy and goods are traded throughout the journey, and with some quite improbable deals such as dried fish as payment for pharmaceuticals, or a crocodile for trousers, shirts, sexy underwear or a radio, then pigs for cheap perfume, pineapples for salt, grubs for sugar, and so it goes on.