Guest writer # 21, Kennedy Nari – You have to visit Congo!
Jambo, habarigani, wazungu? I am Kennedy Nari from Hakuna Matata Tours! Let me first tell you about my beloved country Congo and why you should come here!
Very few people know about travel in this part of the world, but Congo DRC offers tourists many unique opportunities to see wildlife, indigenous cultures, and geological wonders not found easily or anywhere else in Africa. In the DRC, you can trek to see both mountain and lowland gorillas in wild, meet pygmies still practicing their traditional way of life in the forests, spot bonobos and okapi–two rare species not found anywhere else on earth, and climb to the summits of active volcanoes. The DRC has appeared frequently news the past few years because of unrest in the eastern past of the country, but thankfully the region has come to enjoy peace over the past year, and tourists from overseas have been coming in growing numbers to enjoy its attractions.
Mikael used our company when he recently visited Congo for his second time, I traveled with him from Rwanda, where we visited The Genocide Memorial and Nyungwe Forest, then we crossed the border to Congo Drc, where we visited the Low land Gorillas in Kahuzi Biega, Pygmies, Bonobo, Nyiragongo Volcano and the Congo river, we spent 2 weeks with Mikael together with Jeff “Bazooka” Willner, the boss of Kensigtotours.com, the number 1 adventure tour company in the world.
Mikael is the nicest guy I have ever met, funny he can make you laugh at any time. Mikael can help you reduce the level of stress hormones like cortisol, epinephrine (adrenaline), dopamine and growth hormone. He can help you increases the level of health-enhancing hormones like endorphins, and neurotransmitters for free, just by making you laugh. Yes because laughter increases the number of antibody-producing cells and enhances the effectiveness of T cells. All this means a stronger immune system, as well as fewer physical effects of stress. For all the 2 weeks I spent with Mikael I benefited from all the remedies from him, for free.
I think he would agree that Hakuna Matata Tours is a successful, and reputable safari and tour company operated by me and my wife Desange, employing a team of professional local tour guides across the region. One is the famous fly catcher and extra ordinary story teller Emmanuel Joseph Munganga. I come from the Great Lakes Region of Africa, being born in Congo, just 500 metres from the Ugandan and 10 km from the Rwandan borders, providing me with an international perspective from a very early age. I completed my secondary education in Goma. Goma is the administrative and business centre of east Congo, nestled on the Rwandan border. Here, I benefited from further cultural exchanges, forging yet more international community ties, this time with Rwanda, adding to my sense of being an international citizen while gaining the prized Diploma in Accountancy and Finance. I then moved to Kenya to spend two intensive years studying English, returning to Congo in 2003 as peace began to flourish.
A growing number of adventure tourists began arriving in Goma hoping to explore the wildlife especially within Virunga National park and the stunning landscapes around and on Nyiragongo Volcano. I became a well-known guide and translator, one of the few with fluent English in addition to Lingala, Swahili, Kinyarwanda and French.
Our company, Hakuna Matata Tours, is the most well established tour company in eastern Congo, having offered DRC tours since 2004. We are a Congolese owned and operated company based in Goma on beautiful Lake Kivu and we know the country better than any other travel operator. Congo need tourists to be able to develop and become a stable country again. Please come! AND, please see Innocent Balunde, my friend, who won the Congolese Idol competition!