Things to see and do Bangui & Area

At the first intersection, an end-of-life fire stands ahead of the entrance of this ancient sanctuary, while huge Chinese bamboo montent over the other side. An imposing portal in rusty iron, vestiges of past splendour, serves as the main access. By this entry would enter all guests, but only the family of Bokassa had the right to borrow it. A first buffer zone, before crossing the walls of the Imperial Court, is still inhabited by the military, the court having been recycled into training and training centres for young recruits.
The roads are still there, the lights too, but the light bulbs like tracing on the ground have been missing for so long that the time seems to have stopped in Bérengo. Accompanied by the Chief of the military, the visitor finally enters the holy saints, where he suddenly finds himself almost nose with the immense metal statue of Bokassa. She has remained before her grave since it was removed from her base, as if she had been thrown out of the sky. Behind the statue, a huge white stele is dotted with some colorful plastic flowers. Here we are in the "lounge", symbolizing the entrance of the grave of Bokassa, whose skeleton is actually in the "chamber", after a long maze of underground. On the right, the ruins of the first house he built being a young soldier still standing, but there remains only the facade. On the left, the entrance of the large imperial courtyard is surmounted by a sun in rusty metal. In the interior, the Treasury building was accessible only by an underground, one of the secret tracks of which the entire basement is full. The former Council of Ministers, a few tens of metres, was also connected to underground for a failure in the event of force majeure. But the chances of getting one day the plans are minimal, Bokassa having executed most of the masters of work…

The first house, in the form of a boat and nicknamed the boat Saint-Sylvester - now inhabited by the military - housed his second wife. Just across the way, the old rotting wooden chalet was called Villa Mbata: Bokassa alone slept here. The most majestic house is its first woman, Catherine, who is still at the bottom of the courtyard, facing an Olympic swimming pool now filled with a brackish swamp, in which the metal reinforcement of a brinquebalant slide is poured. The splendeurs have been plundered, but the military are always inclined to evoke, with emotion, the memory of the good of yesteryear.

A broad white structure in the futuristic style of the 1970 s, this kitsch package finally houses a small carved wooden bust protected by a glass cage. A throne stone in her center, but, according to the villagers, Boganda is not buried here. The mausoleum, guarded by two fountains whose greenish water indicates that it has not from for a long time, is always good, given the road, and systematically provokes the interest of the Central Africans. Make sure to respect the speed limitation at 30 km/h in front of the mausoleum.

At KP 30, on the road to Damara, there is a slightly harsh rise, but which offers a gentle stroll through nature. Twenty minutes is enough to access the summit, from where the landscape is impressive.

Piroguiers keep their boats available to visitors at the bottom of the Oubangui Hotel or to the Rock-Club, for walks on the Monkeys island (central island that has not seen monkeys for a long time) or to the rapids of the Oubangui. We can also row up to the Saint Paul des Rapids mission, whose conical roof of green copper bouteille the river. It is an opportunity to walk around the unfinished cathedral: huge concrete arcades abandoned due to lack of means.

The Plage beach, accessible only in dry season, can be reached by road: take the direction of Ngaragba in excess of the Oubangui Hotel. Follow the Centrale central prison and cross the Marché market. Arrive at a junction of several tracks, take that on the right for a good kilometre, to Landja. Then there are 9 km to go to reach the village of Pama, where you will have to pay a guide to drive you to the river, if you come there for the first time. In dry season, sand benches of all sizes allow to swim without risk. For the less sports, it is also possible to rent one of the little cabana mounted by the villagers on the water.

Between Bangui and Pissa, the asphalt road passes through the Boyali Agricultural Centre (PK 76). Approximately hectares of hectares of the old Bokassa farm were transferred to Chinese cooperation for agricultural experiments. Villagers work with the Chinese to cultivate many varieties of vegetables and rice (storm rice and irrigated rice) and raise some sixty pigs. A rice décortiqueuse was installed on the spot. The proceeds of this farm are sold almost entirely to the Chinese community in Bangui.