Monuments to visit Central African Republic

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.

For travellers who have already had the chance to travel north of Benin and the Somba country, the sultan's «tata» will not be a real discovery, since it presents similar architecture and thus bears the same name. Although built in the th century, this palace retained its original configuration thanks to remarkably conserved remains. Some walls, built with conical bricks, are particularly resistant to the whims of nature. Built on the plateau of the hill overlooking Ndélé, the Tata was the nerve centre of the slave trade organized by the sultan, who, from his palace, supplied the markets in North Africa, Sudan, Egypt and the Middle East. While Gorée Island in Senegal was one of the western traffic hubs, Sultan Sonosi's tata had exactly the same role for the East. As a centre for international traffic, his court saw men, women and children from all geographical and cultural backgrounds, traders, slaves, property dealers… Place of Civilizational brassage, the location of the Tata was not randomly chosen: to the northwest, a chain of hills, to the south and southeast, the Ndélé River called Méagoulou. The entrance is secure with a natural opening of about 6 m wide. Inside, life in autarky was possible in the event of an attack. The main residence of the sultan is on the bottom, jouxtée by the home of the household and the house of his first wife, Umm Diwan, followed by those of the other wives. Moving the sons of the Sultan, Djemel-Heddine and Kamoun, lies north of their father's residence. In the foreground, as a bulwark in the main building, we can see the houses of Allah Djaba, which was one of the sultan's main lieutenants, and his eldest son, Adoum. In the north-east, it is the neighborhood of craftsmen, such as Faki Issa, but also that of chiefs banda, blacksmiths, like chef Gbaga Yanda, famous dealer of the time. Inside the tata is also the descendants area of the Robes. The residence of Mercuri, French who lived with Sultan Sonosi, is in the west. Finally, in the north-west, there is the firing field, connected by a long underground corridor to the executing chamber and castration of the eunuchs. On a part of the plateau that borders on the terrace, villages were built that brought together many ethnic groups, such as the Bazinguer Krech, Kara, Rounga, etc. On another Portion of the Plains, some Muslim families and other populations have settled, such as Banda, Sara, Rounga, Ndouka, Djémé… The site has been subjected to the indicative list. UNESCO property.

A small bridge that residents cross to go from one river from La to the other.

A former place of relaxation for the French military, the Liberty Bar has an exceptional exhibition: its facade and beautiful terrace offer a panoramic view of the savannah depression that extends to the foot of the building. Some of the great hostel Auvergne, with its central dome and its half-moon opening, its high ceilings supported by beams and its huge fireplace, the Liberty Bar is now abandoned. Advice to prospective buyers!