Congo Brazzaville Highlights 8Days /7Nights ( Comfort)

You will be met at the Maya-Maya airport by your guide upon arrival in Brazzaville. We will welcome and lend you airport assistance later transferred to Edmond hotel. Depending on your arrival time, you may either spend the evening relaxing from the long flight to Africa or embark on a PM sightseeing tour of Brazzaville if you have more energy left

Today you’ll discover “Brazza La Belle,” commonly known by locals. Stop at Brazzaville’s Museum, where you will learn about French sovereignty over much of western Central Africa. The museum is also a home for De Brazza’s and his family’s remains. ( highly recommended book to read Brazza by Maria Petringa. We’ll immerse ourselves in Brazzaville’s local markets, where you can buy West African fabrics. The artisanal market is open all week, a tin-roofed collection of dark, ramshackle stalls selling your best bets for souvenirs. Some of the vendors offer old Congolese artifacts as well. However, if you buy wooden products, you must purchase a customs clearance to take them c Visit Brazzaville’s Basilica Ste Anne’s. Proceed to National Theatre can watch traditional dance troupes or sign up for drum or msenza (thumb piano) lessons. L’ Ecole des Beaux-Arts in the Poto-Poto quartier is well worth a stop to look at their students’ paintings, which are for sale and superior to anything you can buy on the streets. Drive to Les Rapides, the set of cataracts that marks where the Congo River meets its tributary, the Djoue River. These are the same rapids that stopped Victorian-era explorers Stanley and de Brazza in their quests to find a navigable trade route from the Atlantic Ocean into the heart of Africa. Les Rapides is a popular place on weekends for beers, local foods, and music. Brazzaville’s Mpila quartier is where the ports are located for the large barges ply the Congo and Ubangi Rivers. Back to Edmond hotel in the evening for overnight.

Today we leave Brazzaville early in the morning and drive to Lésio-Luna Gorilla sanctuary, a beautifully located wildlife center just 3.5 h from Brazzaville. The road to this Park is partially paved and most practicable during the dry season. The Park boasts a clear-crystal Lake locally known as the Blue Lake. Upon arrival in Lésio-Luna, we check-in and go for a PM Gorilla Safari in the Park. Overnight at Iboubikro Camp

In the morning, we visit the Sanctuary, and its more than 30 members split into families/quarters. The Lésio-Luna has 55 Gorillas on the guardianship of adjacent local community and the support of N.G.O.s and the Congolese government. After visiting the Gorillas in the morning, we embark on a pirogue ride over the Blue Lake. Their waters offer the opportunity for a pirogue ride and a safari while sailing alongside the marshy forest. If lucky, you may spot a few of the animals that dwell in the Park, including monkeys, antelopes, hippopotamus, and birds squelching on the bank of the Lake. We board our car and drive back to Brazzaville, which we attain after more or less than 3 hours in the mid-afternoon. Overnight in Brazzaville.

Today, we’ll visit the cemetery of the tanks and go for a boat ride to the Stanley Pool over the mighty Congo River. We board a private motorboat from the pier and ride over the majestic Congo River, sailing downstream towards its most enormous mouth. The Stanley Pool, also known as the Malebo Pool, is a breathtaking highlight due to its geographic location in the vicinity of Brazzaville. It is a boundary lake that shares a frontier with the D.R.C. Created by the Congo River mouth’s widening for about 560 km. The pool hosts some unique ports and various touristic attractions, including the mascot museum of Karnataka, the Loufoulakari falls, the Djoué estuary, the Lefeni faunal reserve, the Lésio-Luna gorilla Sanctuary, the Hole of God in Nguéla, the Mbamou Islands, the Matsoua place, the Mayama tomb and much more. By the mid-day, we sail back to Brazza and drive to the Hotel for the rest of the afternoon

Today we’ll drive to the airport early, to catch our flight to Pointe Noire located about an hour or so from Brazza. Upon arrival in Pointe Noire, we’ll drive to the Kouilou region to visit the Diosso Gorges and the adjacent ethnographic Museum. The gorges are stunning and consist of the pink cliff of dramatic ridges that can attain 50 m high, all surrounded by a verdant forest full of birds. Vist the Museum, a collection of ancient objects and modern tools representing the history of the Kingdom of Loango, dating back from slavery to modern days. It is located a 10 min drive from the gorges and is surrounded by a verdant field of palm trees and thick rainforest. Form the Museum, we drive back to Pointe Noire, driving past the Grand Marché, the post office, the port, and finally stop at the railway station, a landmark of the Congo – Ocean Railway construction. Heading to Edmond hotel for the night, we may stop at the craft market for few minutes if you are interested in some souvenirs.

The Park lies about 155m from Pointe Noire and is attainable after approximately 5 hours’ drive over the unsealed road, so we leave Pointe Noire early in the morning. In the afternoon, we go for a couple of boat safaris around the Parc. The first safari is on the banks of the lagoon, followed by the ‘triangle,’ which is a field of researchers and the site where Chimps are released.
Overnight at the Conkouati Guest House.

In the morning, we join the parc staff and follow them to the core activity held in this Parc, the feeding of the chimpanzees. The Islands where the gorillas are in transit for their reintroduction in the wild don’t provide enough food for the primates. Therefore, staff and volunteers provide them with tropical fruits, vegetables, cereals, and the like twice a day from 9 – 11 am and 3 – 5 pm. As we have a flight to catch in Pointe Noire, we’ll then undergo the first excursion and then leave the park by noon. We arrive at Pointe Noire late at 1630hrs where you can catch your onward flight.