Things to Do in Kisangani

Congo River sandbar picnic at Wagenia fishing rapids

You'll smell smoked tilapia before you see it, grilling on oil-drum barbecues above the roaring cataracts where the Wagenia fishermen still stretch their trademark wooden tripods. The river spray catches sunlight, throwing tiny rainbows over nets heavy with silver fish while kids dive for coins tossed by passengers in passing pirogues.

Sunset beers on the terrace of Hôtel Kisangani

From the first-floor balcony you watch bats flicker between the rust-red girders of the old railway bridge while the river turns from café-au-lait to polished bronze. The cold Primus arrives beaded with condensation, condensation that tastes faintly of maize from the nearby brewery, and the call to prayer drifts over from the mosque in Kabondo.

Bicycle taxi loop through Boyoma quarter

You perch on the padded rear rack, knees knocking the driver's elbows, as the bike rattles past stalls selling pyramids of red palm oil and heaps of caterpillar-like caterpillars smoked to a charcoal crisp. The driver rings his bell in a rhythm that seems to match the soukous guitar leaking from the barbershop radios, and every pothole sends a puff of laterite dust up your shins.

Thursday cloth market in Kabondo

Women develop bolts of wax-print under jacaranda shade, the fabric snapping like sails in the hot breeze. You can feel the stiff cotton still warm from the sun and smell the starch mixed with woodsmoke from nearby friture stalls. There's a soft roar of Lingala bargaining, broken by the metallic zip of shears cutting two metres of leopard-spot pagne for a bride's dowry.

Early-morning coffee at Café Royale overlooking Marché Central

Boats unload plantain by floodlight while you sip coffee so strong it leaves a creosote ring on the enamel cup. The smell of grilling goat skewers drifts up from alley vendors and the first taxis honk their way through puddles that mirror a bruised dawn sky.

Hôtel Kisangani (city centre) - faded Belgian-era block where the ceiling fans still work and the bar catches river breezes

Boyoma Hotel (near cathedral) - 1970s tower with generator that kicks in during blackouts, rooftop cold beer at dusk

Mission Catholique guesthouse (Kabondo) - simple rooms around a mango-shaded courtyard, cockerels for alarm clocks

Wagenia Rapides camp (riverbank) - grass-thatched huts run by local fishermen, basic but you fall asleep to the sound of the cataracts

La Belle Époque guesthouse (Petite Avenue) - family home with three spotless rooms, shared bucket shower, mama cooks plantain on request

Bangoka Airport motel - concrete cells good for one night if you're on the dawn flight, bar serves lukewarm Primus until the power cuts