3 Days in Brazzaville — Essential Highlights

Basilique Sainte-Anne du Congo (free — the most beautiful church in Central Africa): the Byzantine-inspired red-and-white brick basilica built by the Spiritan (Holy Ghost Fathers) missionaries 1943–1949 in the Poto-Poto neighbourhood. The Spiritans: the most important Catholic missionary order in sub-Saharan Africa (the order that Christianized the largest part of French-speaking Catholic Africa from the 19th century). The architecture: Byzantine structural tradition (central dome, semi-circular apse, drum windows) + West African red laterite brick-building tradition + French missionary practical architecture for the tropical climate. The Byzantine mosaics: the apse wall depicting the Virgin Mary and the Christ Child in the full Byzantine iconographic tradition. The African-themed stained glass: the most important sacred art commission in the Republic of Congo — the Congolese landscape, the Congo River and the Congolese people depicted in the Gothic stained glass medium.

Maquis lunch (the outdoor informal restaurant — the most important restaurant format in Francophone Central Africa): saka-saka (the most important dish in the Republic of Congo — the "pondu" in Lingala). The preparation: the raw cassava leaves (Manihot esculenta leaves — the most consumed leaf vegetable in the Congo Basin: the leaves contain toxic cyanogenic glycosides that must be removed by grinding and soaking before cooking: the most critical food safety step in Congolese cooking) slow-cooked 3–4 hours with red palm oil (the most carotenoid-rich vegetable oil in the world, extracted from the Elaeis guineensis fruit), smoked Congo River fish (the Nile tilapia or the Congo catfish), onion and garlic. The result: the most intensely flavored and most nutritionally complete dish in the Central African culinary tradition. With Primus beer ($2 USD). Total: $5 USD.

Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza Memorial ($5 USD): the most important historical monument in Brazzaville. Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza (1852–1905): the Italian-born French explorer (born Pietro Paolo Savorgnan di Brazzà in Rome to a noble family, became a French citizen and joined the French Navy in 1866). The "Makoko Treaty" (1880): the most important colonial treaty in the history of the French Congo — signed between de Brazza and Teke King Makoko (the paramount chief of the most important people on the north Congo River bank): Makoko placed his territory under French protection in exchange for French support against the slave traders — giving France its most important foothold in the Congo Basin. The most humanistic colonial administrator: de Brazza was known for signing treaties rather than using military force (the most humane approach to colonialism in the French African tradition). The mausoleum (built 2006): de Brazza's remains returned from Algeria after 101 years.

Poto-Poto School of Painting (free — the most important modern art school in Central Africa): founded 1951 in Brazzaville by the French artist Pierre Lods (1921–1988) who established the studio-school where he taught Congolese artists to use Western painting media (oil on canvas, gouache on paper) to express authentically African subjects in authentically African visual style. The Poto-Poto style (the most distinctive African modern art style in Central Africa): the flat, graphic, brightly colored depictions of Congolese everyday life (market scenes, Congo River fishing, ndombolo dancing, sapeur fashion), traditional village life and the Congo Basin landscape. Key characteristics: no perspective, no shadow, the most saturated colors from the Congolese environment (the red of the laterite soil, the green of the equatorial forest, the blue-grey of the Congo River, the bright yellow of cassava flowers). Paintings: $20–200 USD.

Parc Zoologique de Brazzaville ($3 USD): the western lowland gorilla (Gorilla gorilla gorilla — the largest non-human primate on Earth: the adult male "silverback" up to 250kg and 2.5m arm span. First described to the Western world by the explorer Paul du Chaillu (the Gabonese-born Franco-American explorer who encountered the gorilla in the Gabon forests in 1856 — the name "gorilla" from the Phoenician-Greek word "Gorillai" in the account of the Carthaginian explorer Hanno the Navigator, c. 500 BCE). The African forest elephant (Loxodonta cyclotis — the smaller, more compact elephant species of the Congo Basin rainforest: recognized as a separate species from the African savanna elephant (Loxodonta africana) only in 2001 by the most comprehensive genetic analysis of African elephant populations). The forest buffalo (Syncerus caffer nanus — the smallest subspecies of the African buffalo: the "dwarf buffalo" of the Congo Basin equatorial forest).

Congo River pirogue excursion ($15–30 USD — charter a pirogue at the Beach): the motorized dugout canoe (the pirogue à moteur — the dugout carved from a single tree trunk + outboard motor: the most important transport on the Congo River, used for at least 10,000 years). The Congo River: the second-largest river by discharge (41,000 m³/s — second only to the Amazon (209,000 m³/s): more water than any river outside the Amazon). The 4,700km main channel (the second-longest river in Africa after the Nile) + 2,000+ tributaries: the most important inland waterway network in Africa. The 700 fish species: the most fish species of any river in Africa (and more than any river except the Amazon — the most biodiverse river fish population outside the Amazon Basin). The most important protein source for 100 million people in the Congo Basin.

Poto-Poto neighbourhood walk (the cultural heart of Brazzaville — the "quartier indigène" of the French colonial period): the 80,000-resident, 3 km² neighbourhood that is the most densely populated in Brazzaville. The dual-city colonial legacy: the "ville européenne" (the wide colonial boulevards, the administrative buildings, the European housing for the colonial administrators) vs the "ville indigène" (the organically planned, densely built African neighbourhood — the lived reality of the Congolese urban population since the French colonial period). The neighbourhood market (the daily fresh produce market: the most important food source for the Poto-Poto residents). The hair salons (the "salon de coiffure" — the most important social institution in the Congolese neighbourhood: the women spend 4–8 hours for the most complex braiding, weaving and styling of African hair — the most elaborate hair culture in the world: the Congolese braiding tradition includes the most complex geometric patterns, the most intricate weaving techniques and the most creative sculptural hair forms of any hair culture worldwide).

Farewell Congolese dinner: poulet moambe (the most important festive dish in the Republic of Congo — the most important dish in the entire Congolese diaspora worldwide). The "sauce moambe": pounded and boiled oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) fruit flesh (the most nutritionally dense cooking sauce in Central Africa — the red palm oil is extracted in the process of making the sauce: the most carotenoid-rich sauce in any cuisine) + garlic + onion + salt. The free-range chicken ("poulet de brousse" — the farmyard chicken of the Congo Basin) slow-cooked in the sauce moambe for 45–60 minutes: the most richly flavored and most nutritionally complete chicken dish in the Central African tradition. The pondu (the cassava leaf stew — the daily accompaniment to the moambe). The Primus farewell beer: the Belgian-style lager that is the most consumed beer in both the Republic of Congo and the Democratic Republic of Congo — raised as a toast to the most extraordinary capital city pairing in the world: Brazzaville and Kinshasa, 4km apart across the Congo River.