Category Archives: Kinshasa

Martyrs for the Wilds of Congo

These Garamba Park guards and warden were wounded fighting the Lord’s Resistance Army in Garamba in 2009. How can the sacrifice of today’s heroes guarantee “the tomorrows” for Congo’s forests, wild savannas and the Parks meant to protect them?   This was the unspoken challenge at the Abraham Conservation Award Ceremony in Kinshasa on the 29th […]

Kinshasa: It’s a Dog’s Life

Georg was a street dog. Our chauffeur picked him up at a road side pet market, one of those places with about 40 parrots stuffed in a cage and forlorn monkeys chained to a tree. Georg was probably about 6 months old. Not full grown and quick to learn. Four years later Georg is wise, […]

Remembering Wally in Kinshasa

Wally with daughters, Kristel and Nathalie, in the 1980s. Wally was friend, landlord, and fellow annotator of life as seen from the center of the world, i.e. Kinshasa.  His shop got the news of his death last Tuesday; strange, how quickly a place can feel empty and abandoned with everyone still standing around. That changed […]

Lizard Kingdoms in Kinshasa

I have many interesting neighbors here in Kinshasa, but polygamous Ralph is the most flamboyant.  I spy shamelessly. Ralph patrols in his full glory from a stepping stone. Actually Ralph has a few cousins with similar habits.  One displays amidst the barbwire on the back wall and one suns himself on the roof of the […]