Going from one capital to another by traveling a few kilometers is a fairly rare occurrence. In Europe, we will think of the proximity between Vienna and Bratislava, 50 km apart as the crow flies and connected in just an hour by road and rail. If we except Rome and the city-state of the Vatican in which it is landlocked, it is in Central Africa that we find the capitals closest to each other in the world.
Kinshasa, capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and the most populous French-speaking city in the world, borders Brazzaville, capital of the Republic of Congo. The two metropolises are separated by 4.7 km as the crow flies by the Congo River, one of the longest on the continent at 4,700 km. Today, the ferry is the only way to connect the shores of the two countries. The crossing takes between 5 and 30 minutes depending on the type of boat, but boarding and immigration checks can take time. A road-rail bridge should facilitate connections between Kinshasa and Brazzaville and open up Central Africa, but the project has been at a standstill for several years.
Primeval forests and primate sanctuaries
A gorilla in the Odzala-Kokoua National Park (Republic of Congo), recognized as having the richest primate diversity in Central Africa according to UNESCO. Roger de la Harpe - stock.adobe.com
Despite this geographical proximity, a common language (Lingala) and culture, Kinshasa and Brazzaville have followed different destinies. Their location was chosen in the 1880s by the Belgian and French colonial powers during the creation of the two states which obtained their independence in 1960. To avoid confusion, the two countries are commonly referred to with the name of their respective capitals: Congo -Kinshasa and Congo-Brazzaville.
Due to a lack of developed tourist infrastructure, foreign travelers are quite rare in both countries. Lovers of wild spaces, however, have something to be won over. The DRC is home to the last primary forests on the planet which cover two thirds of its territory, equivalent to four times the size of France. They can be discovered in particular in the Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park, classified by UNESCO, where lowland gorillas, pachyderms, panthers and antelopes flourish. In the Republic of Congo, the Odzala-Kokoua Forest Massif, UNESCO since 2023, is recognized as having the richest primate diversity in Central Africa.
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