Kisangani
Kisangani, formerly Stanleyville, is the capital of Tshopo Province, located on the Congo River in the eastern part of the central Congo Basin in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
It is the country's fifth-most populous urban area, with an estimated population of 1,602,144 as of 2016, and the largest of the cities in the tropical woodlands of the Congo.
Getting to Kisangani
- 01Bangoka International Airport
Domestic flights to Goma and Kinshasa with CAA and Congo Airways along with service to Kindu with CAA.
Worth seeing
- 01Boyoma Falls
On the edge of Kisangani, these are the last cataracts on the Congo until Kinshasa/Brazzaville.
- 02Kisangani Cathedral
One of the white villas, falling apart, on the isles, is a former hotel and hosted the actors of the movie African Queen: Katharine Hepburn, Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall.
Things to do
Congo boat rides. See the "get in" section for details. A trip by boat along the Congo is one of the world's greatest wild adventures. Trips by pirogue for a few hours or a few days can be arranged in most cities along the river.
Where to eat
The food supply in Kisangani is heavily dependent on the arrival of barges. The few restaurants that can be found in the city are expensive. Food stores have very little refrigerated foodstuffs (and it's always hard to tell if these items have been properly transported to remain fresh). Street stalls serve up chicken & fish.
Getting around Kisangani the local way
- Get inThere are irregular ferry services running between Kisangani and Kinshasa which take about 2-3 weeks.
- Get inOvercrowded ferries are common and there have been a few instances of them capsizing, so choose carefully.
- Get inMany of these ferries are supplied with food from people who bring boats from shore full of goods to trade/barter.
- Get inOther roads in/out of the city are mostly muddy tracks only suitable for large 4x4 or 6x6 trucks.
From Wikivoyage: Kisangani, CC BY-SA. Not yet checked by us. Last edited 2026-03.
Text adapted from Wikipedia and Wikivoyage, CC BY-SA 4.0. Photograph: Serge HD (CC BY-SA 4.0), Wikimedia Commons.