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Zaire was renamed Democratic Republic of the Congo, in May 1997;
when the forces of Laurent Desire Kabila brought Mobutu's 32 year reign to an end.
Quick Links
DR Congo Travel and Tourist Information with
links to official travel and tourism websites and state resources for
visitors to Democratic Republic of Congo.
Belgian Congo and Mobuto, Democratic Republic of Congo, Independence, Kinshasa, Languages, Map, River Congo.
Countries neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo are: Republic of Congo, Central African
Republic, Sudan, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania,
Zambia and Angola.
The locals refer to their country as Congo-Kinshasa.
By Rail
The railway provides important connections within the country, as well
as with the port of Benguela in Angola, and other points in
eastern and southern Africa.
By Road
Most of the roads are not in good repair.
By Boat
Inland waterways are used extensively. There are schedules for river
steamers, but they are not always reliable.
Airports and Airlines:
The country has five international airports. Air Zaire is the national airline; providing
domestic and international services.
Weather in Africa:
Local weather forecasts for destinations around Africa.
Formerly the Belgian Congo, Mobutu changed the country's name from
the Republic of the Congo to the Republic of Zaire, in 1971, and the following year
ordered all Zairians to replace their Western names with African ones.
Mobutu showed the way by changing his given name of Joseph Desire
Mobutu to Mobutu Sese Seko Kuku Ngbendu waza Banga.
If that's a mouthful in African, in English it means: 'The
all-powerful warrior who because of his endurance and inflexible will to win will go from
conquest to conquest leaving fire in his wake'.
The capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo is on the southern
bank of the River Congo; opposite Brazzaville, Congo.
The Congo is not navigable between here and the sea because of a
series of cataracts, so passengers and freight have to continue by rail to the Atlantic
Ocean port of Matadi.
Sir Henry Stanley, an Anglo-American explorer, founded it in 1881 as a
Congo River trading post, and called it Leopoldville; after the Belgian King, Leopold II.
The railway to Matadi was completed in 1898, bringing in a period of
rapid growth for the transhipment port of the Belgian Congo.
Leopoldville replaced Boma as the capital of the Belgian Congo in the
late 1920s.
Hotels in
Democratic Republic of the Congo:
Find hotels in the DRC with special online rates.
Hotels in Kinshasa
  
Kempinski Hotel
Fleuve Congo:
119 Boulevard Colonel Tshatshi , Kinshasa, Democratic Republic
of the Congo.
Centrally located in Kinshasa, Kempinski Hotel Fleuve Congo is
convenient to Palais du Peuple and Brazzaville Cathedral.
 Guests at the Kempinski Hotel
Fleuve liked the luxurious rooms, great breakfast buffet, and nice swimming pool;
calling it the best hotel in Kinshasa.
A violent black-nationalist uprising in 1959 caused most of the
Europeans to leave the Belgian Congo.
The country became independent in 1960, and Leopoldville was
renamed Kinshasa in 1966; after a 19th-century village.
Most of the country comprises the rain forested basin of the River
Congo.
The Congo is the second longest river in Africa, and one of the
longest in the world. The total length of navigable routes on the Congo and its
tributaries is about 14,500 km.
The official language of the Democratic Republic of Congo is
French, although four local languages are widely spoken and considered as national
languages too:
Swahili in the east, Kikongo in the western regions, Tshiluba in the
south, and Lingala in and around Kinshasa, and along the Congo.
In all there could be as many as 200 languages spoken throughout the
country.
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