Congo River – Lake Tumba and Jungle Rivers TP 8 Mbandaka area 14 – days 2025
Price conditions for 2025
- 1 pax : 6.494,- USD
- 2 pax : 4.664,- USD per person
- 3 pax : 3.987,- USD per person
- 4 pax : 3.649,- USD per person
Single supplement: 238,- USD
Maximum 4 passengers in 1 canoe
Included:
- - All transfers as mentioned in the program
- - Hotel in Kinshasa B&B
- - “Full board” in the interior
- - Crew: Sailor, guide, security guard, cook, rowers
- - 2 litres bottled water a day in the jungle
- - Airport pick up and drop off in Kinshasa
- - Tents
- - All taxes
Not included:
- - Visa
- - International flight
- - Other drinks
- - Lunch and dinner in Kinshasa and Mbandaka
PROGRAM
| No | Day | TP 8 Congo River - Lake Tumba out of Mbandaka | Meals | Transport | Overnight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Day 1 | Monday | Arrival Kinshasa airport - hotel - briefing | x,x,x | Car | Hotel Sultani 3* |
| Day 2 | Tuesday | Kinshasa visit y compris Bonobo sanctuary | B,x,x | Car | Hotel Sultani 3* |
| Day 3 | Wednesday | Transfer to Mbandaka | B,x,x | Air | Hotel Ndongolo |
| Day 4 | Thursday | Transfer to Mbandaka | B,x,x | Air | Hotel Ndongolo |
| Day 5 | Thursday | Departure down streams the Congo River | B,L,D | Dugout canoe | Tents |
| Day 3 | 29 | 7.138 $ | TP3 | Aug 01/Aug 29 | 535 $ |
| Day 5 | Friday Departure down streams the Congo River | B,L,D | Dugout canoe | Tents | |
| Day 6 | Saturday | Departure down streams the Congo River | B,L,D | Dugout canoe | Tents |
| Day 7 | Sunday | Arrival IRES - a flora research centre | B,L,D | Dugout canoe | Tents |
| >Day 8 | Monday | IRES visit | B,L,D | Tents | |
| Day 9 | Tuesday | Transfer Ikoko on the opposite side of Lake Tumba | B,L,D | Dugout canoe | Tents |
| Day 10 | Wednesday | Up to Bokoté or Saké | B,L,D | Dugout canoe | Tents |
| Day 11 | Thursday | Up river to Samba | B,L,D | Dugout canoe | Tents |
| Day 12 | Friday | Road transfer Samba to Mbandaka | B,L,x | Car | Hotel Ndongolo |
| Day 13 | Saturday | Return to Kinshasa | B,x,x | Air | Hotel Sultani 3* |
| Day 14 | Sunday | OUT | B,x,x | Car |
Day 1: Hotel Sultani on B&B
Arrival in Kinshasa airport, protocol, transfer to the hotel and briefing
After breakfast, we start with the Bonobo sanctuary about 1,5 hours, with all the traffic jams, out of the city. Arrival at around 10 h. and introduction + visit will take normally until noon. Back to the city for a fast lunch if required – Mausoleum of former President Laurant Kabila ( build by North Koreans ) – visit of the art market and transfer to the Kinsuka rapids before the sun goes down.
At arrival in Mbandaka, first check in in the hotel. Depending on arrival time maybe a fast visit of the town. Dinner in hotel
We travel by dugout canoe, without engines, without noise, without pollution, on the mighty Congo River till Irebo where we enter Lake Tumba. We travel like the local population with social contact on the road with fishermen, people transporting their goods and people from the villages. We overnight in villages and fishermen encampments and prepare our diner with fresh fish and/or poultry which we can buy at the local population during the trip.
We visit the reserve of IRES, take a look of what’s still existing from the former infrastructure, visit the Bantu and Pygmy village and we’ll have a guided night walk into the forest.
We continue our trip by canoe to the village of Ikoko at the border of the other side of the lake. Camp and overnight.
This day, we go further upstream to the village of Bokote or Nkake. The river becomes smaller and we enter slowly into the rainforest. Camp and overnight Our helpers will row till the village of Samba. This part of the trip is also with dense rainforest and often, you can’t see the sky anymore. Also here, we buy our food locally and we pass the night in the village, making our camp where the Chief allows us. For breakfast, we have bread with jam, cheese spread and sometimes: eggs. We buy all local fruit we can find for lunch and for diner, we have Congolese cuisine. On the road, we find fresh fish, chicken, duck and goat. We try the local vegetables and eat it with rice.
The car, coming from Mbandaka, will pick us up and bring us back to the city. We’ll use the rest of the day to discover the town of Mbandaka and visit also the Catholic mission, which is well conserved so far.
Transfer to the airport and flight to Kinshasa, hotel.
This is a difficult day to organise a fixed program. All depends on the wishes of our visitors and outgoing flight.