Travel Guide Dolisie

Surrounded by hills, overlooking the sumptuous landscapes of the Mayombe, Dolisie, named after Albert Dolisie, Savorgnan de Brazza's devoted companion, has an indisputable charm and the air of a health resort, with its elegant town center inherited from the colonial period, its working-class neighborhoods with an indolent but nonetheless incessant activity, and its huge multi-storey market, which never seems to end. To the south of the city flows the Loubomo River, after which the town was named from 1970 to 1991. From a simple station of a thousand inhabitants in 1950 on the route of the CFCO, it grew rapidly with the opening of Comilog, reaching 20,000 inhabitants by 1962. Today, it is the country's third-largest city. Dolisie, "the capital of green gold", had been dormant for a long time, but was beginning to regain a certain dynamism, as demonstrated by the opening of the country's second cement plant. It was also the focus of attention in 2013, thanks to the excellent results of its soccer team, AC Léopards de Dolisie, "les Fauves du Niari", which reached the African Champions League. Today, the road linking it to the capital has been completed, the Congo-Ocean railroad, now operational again, stops there once a week and a regional airport welcomes flights from Brazzaville once or twice a week. But unrest in the Bouenza and Pool departments has meant that the expected boom has yet to materialize...