The Pearl of Tanganyika

I will definitely remember the first fall days of 2011 by this most full of surprises visit I have embarked on in Congo: the nearly forgotten town of Kalemie. Back in colonial times, the Belgians had named it “The Pearl of Tanganyika”, since its strategic location - pretty much half way down Africa’s deepest lake – made it an invaluable resource. They built up a very important harbor here, where the trains with precious ores from Zambia (then Rhodesia) and Lubumbashi (the largest Congo city in this province, Katanga), were swiftly exchanging with merchandise coming by boat from Tanzania. A traffic hub it would have been, in today’s terms… Only that its present certainly does not live up to its illustrious past.

Not that Kalemie has had a positive history all throughout. Even before the Belgians arrived, the Arabs were wreaking havoc here with their slave trade. Then Livingstone and later on Stanley used Kalemie as a strategic base for their expeditions – the latter of which eventually led to the brutal colonization of Congo. At all times, however, this lake-shore town was well known and had its clearly marked spot on the map.

Today, following the total collapse of the Congolese state at all levels and the many wars and rebellions plaguing this country, Kalemie is a no-name. Further up East, where I am based, every property houses an NGO, but here, as the situation is now ‘calm’, not even the humanitarian workers crowd to establish their presence. MONUSCO also, with a battalion of Beninois, has a much smaller mission and mandate than in other parts of Congo. Kalemie, if anything, is marked only as a stop-over on UN flights from Goma or Bukavu to Lubumbashi.

My self-awarded mission here, of a forced 7-days due to the rare flights in-and-out, was therefore something of a conundrum. We have a lot of programs in the region, and my main interest was going to be education around the beginning of the new school year, but beyond that I was anticipating a bit of a bore. Little did I know that this place was going to take me by complete surprise – in the BEST way possible.

Already from the airport, driving the 6 kms. into town, I felt like I had landed not in a different province but in a different country. Surely, the scenery was completely special – the type of Vama Veche in Romania crossed with Monterrico in Guatemala, if I could combine two past experiences on different continents to define a place in Africa… Or, in another way -- the type of climate and easy-goingness that you can ONLY find in seaside/lakeside places. But it was something else that completely shook me. It took me a few hours to put my finger on it, but then I finally grasped it: it was a sense of NORMALITY, which I had not experienced anywhere else in this mad country. Despite the many apparent difficulties people act calmly, and life here is really established. Anywhere else, in the neighboring provinces, this would be a dream, considering their horrible chaotic state due to so many stages of wars and uprisings, with or without a cause and finality. The fact that very mean-looking soldiers and rebels are NOT pacing the town everywhere makes a HUGE difference, of course, and gives the people a chance to breathe and go about their daily businesses in a much more casual, tranquil way.

That AND the stunning beauty of the region – from perfect coastline into savannah and then the bush - should be enough arguments to have tourism flourish here one day. I can only imagine boats crossing from Tanzania, and then tourists embarking on some-day-hopefully-again functioning trains to start their adventure journeys inland, to the heart of Congo’s majestic rain forest. For now, though, a mzungu in town is a rarity, as I have observed over the past four days, and anything catered towards public service is virtually non-existent or completely run-down.

That said, I have had great company. As our American chef-de-mission is on vacation, I am left to share the lakeside house with five African expat men, from Cote d’Ivoire, Benin, Cameroon, Kenya and Tanzania. Incredibly respectful and fun, they have really made it their mission to take good care of me. I feel, again, quite humbled by Africa’s hospitality and charm. To me, the Pearl of Tanganyika certainly merits its name, and then some!