# Kinshasa, the second-largest city in the francophone world



## BUTEMBO21 (May 25, 2008)

Kinshasa's "Grand Hotel de Kinshasa"














































Kinshasa River port.


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## BUTEMBO21 (May 25, 2008)

Kinshasa view from Brazzaville ( Congo Brazzaville).


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## Taller Better (Aug 27, 2005)

I'm glad to see more pictures posted in this thread! I was thinking it had died....


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## christos-greece (Feb 19, 2008)

Very nice updates...


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## BUTEMBO21 (May 25, 2008)




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## Mahratta (Feb 18, 2007)

Bahnsteig4 said:


> I can hardly remember ever seeing anything so sick.


Perhaps the artificial skin-darkening (tanning) that's so popular in Western Europe and North America? That too can be damaging to the skin. Funny ol' world, ain't it?

Anyway, it's a refreshing thread - keep it up.


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## BUTEMBO21 (May 25, 2008)




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## Matthias Offodile (Apr 16, 2005)

why do you use the word francophone in your title , Butembo21...considering your strict antipathy that you harbour towards French Belgians/French-speaking world?

So contradictory!

Anyway, just keep adding the pics. Nice to see Kin portrayed here.


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## BUTEMBO21 (May 25, 2008)

Matthias Offodile said:


> why do you use the word francophone in your title , Butembo21...considering your strict antipathy that you harbour towards French Belgians/French-speaking world?
> 
> So contradictory!
> 
> Anyway, just keep adding the pics. Nice to see Kin portrayed here.


It's not me who opened this thread. It's BRISAVOINE. A Francophone Forumer.


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## Matthias Offodile (Apr 16, 2005)

but you are still posting pics into it, don´t you?

anyway, just keep on adding


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## BUTEMBO21 (May 25, 2008)

Matthias Offodile said:


> but you are still posting pics into it, don´t you?
> 
> anyway, just keep on adding


Yes i do people requested to see more of of it.


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## Matthias Offodile (Apr 16, 2005)

> Yes i do people requested to see more of of it.


Well, but you still posted it into the old thread instead of opening a new one with a new title!?

Well, it´s petty stuff but still a bit bewildering to me considering your attitude on General African forum when it comes to Europe-Africa-Europe.

No ill feelings, please..just an observation.


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## BUTEMBO21 (May 25, 2008)

Matthias Offodile said:


> Well, but you still posted it into the old thread instead of opening a new one with a new title!?
> 
> Well, it´s petty stuff but still a bit bewildering to me considering your attitude on General African forum when it comes to Europe-Africa-Europe.
> 
> No ill feelings, please..just an observation.


I didn't think of opening a new, i just wanted to continue this one.


I used to stay France , Belgium 2 months every summer vacations for 3 years and visited almost all western Euro, plus Russia . I don't have anthing against the people of these nations.
It's just when it gets political i get nuts sometimes about some countries. Just political. 
Colonial history especially and the view of some Euro countries toward thr continent can be irritaring sometimes . To my understanding.


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## Assemblage23 (Jan 6, 2008)

Interesting thread.

I like seeing pictures of this city, but I'd never think of going there.


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## brisavoine (Mar 19, 2006)

Things are improving in Kinshasa, little by little. Thanks to Chinese and Arab Gulf money, in a large part.





































New hospital:


















































Of course there is still a long way to go.


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## brisavoine (Mar 19, 2006)

A too-good-to-be-true urban island to be built over the marshes of the Congo River. It's called "La Cité du fleuve" ("the River's City"). It would be linked to Kinshasa by three causeways. Personally I remain extremely skeptical about this project. A relatively unknown Zambian company planning to build a mini-Dubai in one of the poorest cities in the world, and making ministers dream with a fancy video... I fear there'll be lots of disapointment on the Congolese side in the end.


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## brisavoine (Mar 19, 2006)

Here is a new batch of pictures showing daily life in Kinshasa (now 10 million people and growing). I know you wanted to see more of this mind-boggling city. As always, the pics come from the blog of Cédric Kalonji: http://www.congoblog.net/

This homeowner is protesting against corrupt officials who are trying to force him out of his house. On the gate he wrote in an almost phonetic French: "This lot is not on sale, crooks." Land ownership problems are very frequent in Kinshasa, with homeowners often lacking land titles.









Kinshasa is frequently subjected to power cuts due to the crumbling electricity network of Lower Congo. In order to cope with this, the ingenious Kinois (inhabitants of Kinshasa) have invented this little brasero which they've named "action rapide" (i.e. "rapid action"). They use it to cook food when there is no power. All you need is some sheet of metal, 4 batteries, a handful of coal, a match, and voilà!









The making of these "actions rapides" is another example of "article quinze" ("article 15"), i.e. the art of make do with nothing. In my first post at the beginning of this thread I showed other examples of article quinze.









In Kinshasa everybody makes fun of the crumbling SNEL electricity company of Lower Congo, once the pride of the country with its giant dam on the Congo River. In this caricature, a man comes to complain about power cuts, and the employee of the SNEL answers: "I'm sorry Sir, I can't register your complaint! Even I, I don't have power!"









"Article quinze" again. When there are power cuts in your district, you can charge your mobile phone in the street for a few francs. Those vendors use diesel generators.









The main avenue in Kinshasa's business district has been newly paved by the Chinese:









In Kinshasa, even old people have to practice article quinze. There is no retirement system in Congo, no pensions for old people. This old guy removes garbage from the streets in exchange of a few banknotes (in exchange of the garbage he's carrying in the picture, he'll get 3,000 Congolese francs, i.e. 2.5 euros/3.5 US dollars).









Unloading bread in the street.









The Congolese authorities have launched several major projects to renovate Kinshasa with the help of the Chinese. The Kinois are hesitating between hope of improvement and sarcasm at the corruption of officials.


















Still lots of improvements needed. It's mind boggling that the city could grow to 10 million inhabitants in such conditions.









In Kinshasa, it's unfortunately still like in the fable of Jean de La Fontaine: "La raison du plus fort est toujours la meilleure." The new authorities have promissed accountability for officials, but the democratic and civilian culture is still very much a work in progress...









Local handicraft for the rare tourists who venture to Kinshasa:









The Chinese have invaded Kinshasa. How long before the first ethnic riots?









Some people have planted corn (maize) in an unbuilt lot in the city, and they have placed red gris-gris (talismans) on sticks to repeal thieves.









Congolese food in a malewa (little restaurant in the street):









Préservons la salubrité de nos quartiers ! ("Let's keep our neighborhoods clean"). Courtesy of the European Union.









No matter the hardships, there is Christmas in Kinshasa too!









These children are the future of Kinshasa and Congo. As the saying goes: "Tant qu'il y a de la vie, il y a de l'espoir." ("So long as there's life, there's hope")


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## dutchmaster (May 23, 2007)

Great thread..I was never heard of Kinshasa(what crazy cause is one of the biggest towns in Africa) and could never imagine that is second-largest in the francophone world after Paris. Hope the city develop more and more over the years. As I see the Chineses are investing a lot in the country, i'm asking why, it's just commercial thing or China has some relations in Congo's history as well?

Do you live in Congo brisavoine?

Cheers :cheers:


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## Taller Better (Aug 27, 2005)

Thanks for the wonderful photos... many of us know so little about Kinshasa!


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## Parte del mundo (Sep 24, 2007)

Bisavoine, I love your sets, very urban and real at the same, not pretentious, but not stereotypical. Good job!!! And I love your comments you give!!!

This thread along with Mexiquebecois (Tijuana) are the best so far to my liking.


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## brisavoine (Mar 19, 2006)

dutchmaster said:


> As I see the Chineses are investing a lot in the country, i'm asking why, it's just commercial thing or China has some relations in Congo's history as well?


Congo has no historical relationship with China. The Chinese are investing in Congo for economic reasons, just like in the rest of Africa. They need Congo's raw materials, and in exchange they build cheap infrastructure.

This Congolese caricature says it all (Congolese are very good at political satire, probably because they go through so much hardship). The US eagle tells the Chinese dragon: "Step aside, hideous dragon! DRC, my preserve!" The dragon answers: "Me, I bring cash and concrete to the DRC... And you? So step aside yourself!" And the Congolese leopard below asks: "And me... who wants to step my debt aside?"












dutchmaster said:


> Do you live in Congo brisavoine?


No. 

My only (remote) connection with the place is a female classmate of mine (white girl, very hot girl) from my days in high school who had just returned to France after spending many years in Brazzaville (she returned to France due to the Congolese civil war). She told us so much about it, about her love for the place, the hot sticky tropical air, her swimming in the Stanley Pool in the mighty Congo River, the night which falls sharply at 6pm every day, how the hot night is the best part of the day (Congolose people, on both sides of the river, are known for their love of dressing up and partying... revellers are called "ambianceurs" in the local French slang, and people who like to dress up are called "sappeurs"). She also told us about the uggly things, the people lying dead in the ditches in the morning on her way to school, one of her white classmates raped by soldiers in front of her mother one day and contaminated with HIV. It gave me the impression of a place where life is like in the Bible, tragic and epic, life and death intertwinned, a place like no other, so far removed from our cosy and pampered western world.


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## PortoNuts (Apr 26, 2008)

I hadn't heard about this one before. It looks very poor, although it's improving, it has a long way to go, I wouldn't go there anytime soon.

Thanks for sharing anyway.


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## christos-greece (Feb 19, 2008)

Interesting and nice photos as well from Kinshasa


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## brisavoine (Mar 19, 2006)

PortoNuts said:


> I hadn't heard about this one before.


Kinshasa is the 3rd largest city in Africa, and you had never heard of it? That's rather odd.


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## Anderson Geimz (Mar 29, 2008)

brisavoine said:


> Kinshasa is the 3rd largest city in Africa, and you had never heard of it? That's rather odd.


Hmmm, ...well 3rd or 4th (impossible to tell really).
With Brazzaville it certainly is 3rd...


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## PortoNuts (Apr 26, 2008)

brisavoine said:


> Kinshasa is the 3rd largest city in Africa, and you had never heard of it? That's rather odd.


I don't find that odd. Most of the world doesn't know many things about Africa.

The way you speak it looks like Kinshasa is a major world city.


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## brisavoine (Mar 19, 2006)

PortoNuts said:


> The way you speak it looks like Kinshasa is a major world city.


Most people have heard at least of Cairo, Lagos and Kinshasa. And Kinshasa is indeed a major world city. A poor one, but a major one nonetheless (although not a global city in the economic sense of course). Kinshasa is expected to reach 17 million inhabitants by 2025 (without even including Brazzaville), passing both Lagos and Cairo to become Africa's largest city.

Latest UN forecast for African agglomerations in 2025:
1- Kinshasa: 16.8 million inhabitants (without Brazzaville); 18.9 million (with Brazzaville)
2- Lagos: 15.8
3- Cairo: 15.6
4- Luanda: 8.2
5- Khartoum: 7.9
6- Addis Ababa: 6.2
7- Abidjan: 6.0
8- Nairobi: 5.9
9- Dar es Salaam: 5.7
10- Alexandria: 5.7

Source: http://www.un.org/esa/population/publications/wup2007/2007urban_agglo.htm


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## PortoNuts (Apr 26, 2008)

brisavoine said:


> *Most people have heard at least of Cairo, **Lagos and Kinshasa*. And Kinshasa is indeed a major world city. A poor one, but a major one nonetheless (although not a global city in the economic sense of course). Kinshasa is expected to reach 17 million inhabitants by 2025 (without even including Brazzaville), passing both Lagos and Cairo to become Africa's largest city.


Most people have heard about Cairo, Lagos and Kinshasa and never hear anything about Cape Town or Johannesburg? Now that's odd.


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## brisavoine (Mar 19, 2006)

^^Twist people's words as much as you want if that makes you happy. It's really pathetic in the end.


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## PortoNuts (Apr 26, 2008)

brisavoine said:


> ^^Twist people's words as much as you want if that makes you happy. It's really pathetic in the end.


Where is the twist? If you were speaking about Africa you clearly forgot those two. South Africa is in Africa as far as I know.


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## dutchmaster (May 23, 2007)

brisvaoine, Kinshasa could has a huge population but i never heard of the city until this thread too..i think such cities like Nairobi, Lagos, Cairo and the big south african Johannesburg, Cape Town e etc are much more popular thant DR Congo capital. And its not just me that are saying that..


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## Benonie (Dec 21, 2005)

Very interesting thread with great pictures! kay:
We don't see Kinshasa here often...


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## Anderson Geimz (Mar 29, 2008)

brisavoine said:


> Most people have heard at least of Cairo, Lagos and Kinshasa. And Kinshasa is indeed a major world city. A poor one, but a major one nonetheless (although not a global city in the economic sense of course). Kinshasa is expected to reach 17 million inhabitants by 2025 (without even including Brazzaville), passing both Lagos and Cairo to become Africa's largest city.
> 
> Latest UN forecast for African agglomerations in 2025:
> 1- Kinshasa: 16.8 million inhabitants (without Brazzaville); 18.9 million (with Brazzaville)
> ...


These projections don't make _any_ sense...And where's Joburg?


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## brisavoine (Mar 19, 2006)

^^The UN applies strict rules for urban agglomerations. They considered that Johannesburg and Ekurhuleni (the East Rand) were two separate urban agglomerations. If you add them together, then in 2025 their combined population will be 7.6 million (from currently 6.4 million). If you also add up the agglomerations of Pretoria and Vereeniging, then the whole thing combined, which corresponds to the most part of the Gauteng province, will have 10.5 million inhabitants in 2025 according to the UN (from currently 8.8 million).


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## Anderson Geimz (Mar 29, 2008)

brisavoine said:


> ^^The UN applies strict rules for urban agglomerations. They considered that Johannesburg and Ekurhuleni (the East Rand) were two separate urban agglomerations. If you add them together, then in 2025 their combined population will be 7.6 million (from currently 6.4 million). If you also add up the agglomerations of Pretoria and Vereeniging, then the whole thing combined, which corresponds to the most part of the Gauteng province, will have 10.5 million inhabitants in 2025 according to the UN (from currently 8.8 million).


The UN does no such thing. The UN takes whatever data it is given by the individual countries. There's an incentive here for governments to manipulate the numbers.

The second thing is that is that "urban agglomeration" is not an accurate and comparable measurement of a city. Some cities have green belts, some cities have detached suburbs further away. Why should the populations of crowded slums and sprawling suburbs count, while other populations who have more interactions with the urban center don't, just because their house is seperated by 200 meters of gras?

Also, projecting current or past demographic trends 15 years into the future almost never gives a realistic outcome. The UN also predicted that Brazil would have 200 million in 1990.
Nairobi doubeling its population in 15 years time is just ludicrous! 
Cairo already is at 15 million.
Metropolitan Johannesburg is over 10 million also.
Luanda at 8.2 million is just ridiculous...

Just go through that list and you know something aint right.
They put Bangkok at 6.7m, Jakarta at 9.1m, Seoul at 9.8m, Osaka at 11.3, London at 8.6m and
Atlanta at 4.5m, Chicago at 9m, Miami at 5.6m.


But this is an awesome thread that is much appreciated, so let's not go too far off topic...


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## brisavoine (Mar 19, 2006)

A recent video showing the streets of Kinshasa (the video is about the recent westernization of women's clothes in Kinshasa). Interesting views of daily life in Kinshasa. The city really doesn't look like the hell it's made to be.


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## goschio (Dec 2, 2002)

Any new skyscrapers going up there?


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## groentje (Apr 15, 2006)

Thanks for showing is this big African city.


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## Jonesy55 (Jul 30, 2004)

What are the transport links to Brazzaville? Is there a bridge or is it overcrowded, rusting boats?


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## KaEL- (Sep 22, 2008)

Rusting boats, unfortunately. Beside, they called their ports : "beach". Recently, a boat sank with dozens of people between beach of Kinshasha and Brazzaville's one. Anyway, i don't think a bridge could be useful due to time spent in congolese Customs. From my experience, i spent one hours in Brazzaville Congo custom and one hours too in Kinshasa Congo custom. (well above, the journey which lasts forty-five minutes)


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## BUTEMBO21 (May 25, 2008)

Pius said:


> *Name*: Crown Tower
> *City*: Kinshasa/DRC
> *Location*: Boulevard du 30 juin/ Gombe District
> *Develope*r: Groupe Congo Futur
> ...



Congo Futur is building 3 Congo Buildings and they are almost Complete.






















..


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## BUTEMBO21 (May 25, 2008)

Kinshasa's famous Boulevard du 30 juin during the widening and rehabilitarion.


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## BUTEMBO21 (May 25, 2008)

Revamped Bld 30 Juin. Courteousy Topconco.info june 2010 on a sunday 


kaps76 said:


>


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## BUTEMBO21 (May 25, 2008)

Kinshasa is also rich in art. here some art from Academie Beau Arts (Academy of Fine Arts).


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## BUTEMBO21 (May 25, 2008)

Modernization de la Place de La Gare. currently u/c construction.


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## Koobideh (Jun 27, 2009)

Interesting images at the beginning! wow


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## BUTEMBO21 (May 25, 2008)

Edited.


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