Central Africa

Central Africa is a region of Africa bounded by the Atlantic Ocean in the west, the African Rift Valley in the east, the Sahel plains in the north, and the Zambezi basin in the south.

Countries

Angola

Former Portuguese colony which went through a brutal civil war. Now largely safe, it has been surprisingly slow to appear on the tourist radar.

Cameroon

Sometimes referred to as Africa in Miniature, the terrain includes rain forest, desert plains, mountains and high plateau.

Central African Republic

Dense jungle in the south and semi arid in the Sahelian north, this very unstable and poor country is very much off the radar for visitors.

Democratic Republic of the Congo

Huge, blessed with incredible natural wealth and beauty and culturally diverse, but is extremely unstable and dangerous.

Equatorial Guinea

Perhaps one of the world's most corrupt countries, where massive oil wealth is confiscated by a thuggish government, it is not a terribly safe place to travel, but it has great beaches, laid-back beach bars, and locals who speak Spanish.

Gabon

Has largely escaped the strife afflicting other Central African states; rich in oil and mineral reserves and a high biodiversity.

Republic of the Congo

Huge tracts of forest with a small population mean great potential for eco-tourism, but the country has not fully recovered from a terrible war in the 1990s.

São Tomé and Príncipe

Tiny islands in the Gulf of Guinea.

South Sudan

The world's newest country. It has been in a continuous state of conflict ever since it gained independence from Sudan in July 2011 and has little to offer to tourists.

Cities

Bangui — capital of the Central African Republic
Cabinda — Angolan exclave with large oil wealth and an active independence movement
Brazzaville — capital of the Republic of the Congo; contiguous with its much larger neighbour across the Congo river, Kinshasa
Goma — gateway town to wonderful volcano trekking and gorilla park in the Kivu region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Kinshasa— capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the most populous city in Africa
Libreville capital of Gabon and a major oil commerce centre
Luanda — the capital of Angola which has been through a huge renaissance in past decade
Malabo — capital of Equatorial Guinea, offshore on the island of Bioko
Yaoundé — the capital of Cameroon

Other destinations

Dzanga Sangha National Reserve — large rainforest park on the Sangha River in the Central African Republic.
Garamba National Park — a vast, isolated national park in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which has become relatively safe to visit, if you have enough time to actually get there!
Lesio Louna Gorilla Reserve 📍 — is dedicated to the protection of gorillas in the Republic of the Congo.
Loango National Park — a 100-km stretch of virgin beaches and adjacent rainforest in Gabon, both scenic and a place to view leopards, elephants, gorillas, & monkeys on the beach.
Maiko National Park — vast park in the Democratic Republic of the Congo which is off-limits for most tourists due to constant conflict in the area.
Manovo-Gounda St. Floris National Park — a UNESCO World Heritage Site and important national park in the Central African Republic.
Ngoketunjia — a beautiful grasslands region in Cameroon inhabited by semi-Bantu and Fulani people.
Virunga National Park — Africa's first national park, very important for the future conservation of the mountain gorilla, and threatened by the Democratic Republic of the Congo's conflicts.

Understand

While the climate is significantly tropical, warm around the year, the Congo basin has the most rainfall on the continent, with more arid savanna climate in the north and south.

Get in

Get around

Outside major cities, most of Central Africa has poor infrastructure. Offroad driving and general aviation are usually needed.

By train

Rail networks across Central Africa are fragmented and often oriented towards carrying freight from the interior to ports, meaning that they usually do not connect larger cities well. The last decade have seen a renewed interest in railways but decades of neglect means that there is still a very long way to go before passenger train can be useful for the average tourist. With that said, there are a few routes that might be useful when travelling.

Cameroon has perhaps the most well developed railway network in the region, with daily departures between Douala and the capital Yaoundé as well as overnight service to Ngaoundéré
The Transgabonais railway line in Gabon connects Owendo, a suburb of the capital Libreville with Franceville in the interior. There are several trains per week.
Within Democratic Republic of Congo the only reliable route is between the capital Kinshasa and Matadi. There are several departures per week.
The Republic of Congo has passenger services between Pointe-Noire and the capital Brazzaville.

Talk

The predominant languages in this region are mostly Niger-Congo and Nilo-Saharan languages. French and Portuguese are the most common official languages, and are often widely spoken as they are used as lingua francas within linguistically diverse countries. Except for South Sudan and parts of Cameroon where English is an official language, English is spoken by almost nobody, even in major cities.

See

Wildlife

Do

Eat

Drink

Stay safe

Much of Central Africa has an unfortunate history of severe armed conflict, including a variety of rebel militias and other violent groups. South Sudan and the Central African Republic are suffering from civil wars, and the DR Congo has long been dealing with a complicated and shifting set of rebel groups.

Large parts of the region are seriously underdeveloped; do your research and make thorough preparations.

In several of these countries, photography is heavily restricted or at least viewed with suspicion. If in doubt, get permission from an authority before taking pictures.