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Expedition Diary - Congo Basin

Education for Nature

Judith Mashinya
© WWF

Conserving the Congo: Education for Nature

For almost 15 years, WWF’s Education for Nature (EFN) Program has been equipping conservation leaders with the training and practical experience to take on challenges in their home countries. Follow Judith Mashinya of WWF’s EFN Program as she travels through the Congo Basin to visit conservationists supported by WWF. Along the way, she travels across lagoons teeming with crocodiles and learns how to avoid a buffalo attack.

Here I am on a hotel balcony in Kinshasa pointing to the Congo River that I had just crossed by boat from Brazzaville.
© WWF/Judith Mashinya

Part 11: Chaotic Crossing

My final destination was the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Unfortunately, there are no convenient flights from Libreville to Kinshasa. The options are to fly a lengthy, expensive and circuitous route through Cameroon and Kenya or to fly to Brazzaville in the Republic of Congo and then take a boat across the Congo River. I decided to try and cross the river.

I was a little nervous about it and my French is limited. There is also no WWF presence in Brazzaville to provide support and the U.S. State Department warns that the route is unpredictable. On the other hand, as an African (I am from Zimbabwe) and an experienced traveler, I wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to see the mighty Congo River close up.

Nothing could have prepared me for the river crossing and I must say I will never forget the experience. It was a bewildering mix of chaos, bureaucracy and the kindness of strangers. The boat ride itself only took 15 minutes but my arrival in Kinshasa was confusing and time-consuming. I was left waiting in the hallway as people in a small room studied my passport over and over again. After a long wait, an immigration officer emerged from the office to ask me about my occupation. I told him that I worked for the environment and pointed to the panda and WWF on my t-shirt. The officer smiled and handed me my passport.

Once I passed the customs inspections, I found out that the guards had padlocked the gates and gone away. I was locked inside! After waiting another ten minutes, guards came and unlocked the gates and Olivier – the WWF-DRC person who was going to meet me on the Kinshasa side of the Congo River – spotted me. I had my panda t-shirt and he had a WWF cap -- that is how we recognized each other.