Kongulu --
I lived in Kasongo in southwest Kivu (Maniema Province), teaching math
and physics at College Mala, a high school for about 300 students
(grades 9-12). Kasongo is on the edge of the rain forest and is
actually in an area that could be described as savanna. The town of
Kasongo was about 35,000 people at that time; a small regional center
with an agricultural base. It had a population that was about 40%
Moslem; 30% Christian (largely Catholic); and 30% animist.
During the 1974, I traveled from Kasongo to Kisangani to Bunia through
the Ituri. At that time the road from Kisangani to Bunia was
hard-packed dirt, covered with a thin layer of gravel. It was wide
and even paved for about 100 miles east of Kisangani. These
conditions may have changed dramatically since the rebellions which
ousted President Mobutu in the late 1990s.
The roads in this area suffer considerable damage during rainy
seasons. It makes it expensive to ship by truck, particularly because
of damage that can be suffered by the vehicle. During a trip from
Kasongo to Kisangani by bicycle, we'd often see trucks stuck in
mudholes which a bicycle could easily avoid.
There have been several U.N. studies of road infrastructure in Zaire,
though I don't know how up-to-date they are or if they are available
on the Internet.
Though they don't penetrate the Ituri, there have been several rail
links in eastern Zaire that were historically important in moving
goods, including a rail line from Lubumbashi to Kindu; and partway
between Kindu and Kisangani (for the balance of the distance the Congo
River is navigable). Kisangani's prime link to the rest of the
country has historically been river barge traffic to Kinshasa, a trip
downriver of about 4 days; upriver of about 10 days.
Best regards,
Omnivorous-GA |
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