ZONGO FALLS!

 Early in August we had the opportunity to travel out of town for 3 hours to go to Zongo Falls overnight. We had heard it was beautiful, and one of the 3 best tourist spots in the country of the DRC. The other missionaries said we shouldn’t try to go without a driver because we could get lost, or could get in an accident, or be robbed or all kinds of unknowns. We tried to get a driver, but we really wanted to go alone. When none of our 3 Mormon drivers could go with us, we decided to go by ourselves. Because we drove to Dolisie alone so many times, on our first mission, we decided it would be a good adventure. Once we got out of the city, it was a beautiful drive. I will write more later on about the drive through the villages.

When we arrived (Long story made short… it took us almost 6 hours) we dipped down into a lush green valley that ran on both sides of the river.  

The only “civilization” was a nice resort right on the river. We checked into our room, which had a lovely little balcony.

Then we hiked down to see the falls. They were absolutely amazing! (Notice the rainbow on the photo above.)
We went on another hike, (not nearly as well traveled) just to enjoy the lush vegetation…

We rented a table with an umbrella and chairs and a barbque and cooked our own surf and turf dinner. It was delicious!!!

After a great night’s rest we woke up and cooked breakfast on our barbque.

Then we headed for about a 20 minute drive to an area called “The Beach” that was right on the Congo river. We hiked about 10 minutes, up a tributary river, to the “Massage Falls”. They were nothing like the big falls… but still fun to visit. It was early and chilly, so we didn’t go in the water. However, most people lay down on the rock at the bottom of the first falls and get a back massage.

It was a great adventure… and we are excited to take anyone who visits us on a return excursion!