#Kinshasa travel tips

[lionheartlr]

Travel Guide to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)

The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is a vast and diverse country located in Central Africa. From its rich history to its natural wonders, it offers travelers a unique experience filled with adventure, culture, and challenges. Here’s a complete guide to help you navigate this intriguing destination. Brief History The DRC has a turbulent history shaped by both its pre-colonial kingdoms…

[smidgen-of-hotboy]

Our Angel of Brahma, pt. x

This is my second time trying to post this, and I think- I think this may the point where I draw the line with the weird fucked formatting Travelers. Hellsite does not like it when I reach the character limit (and I'm tired of fighting it, curses...) CW for: mentioned animal abuse, mentioned assault towards a disabled character, genocide, homelessness. if there is something else you would like warned for, please reach out to me.

@ceaseless-watchers-special-girl @ananxiousgenz @demonic-panini @the-private-eye @gwenlena

SOUND: COMMS BEEPS. RECORDING BEGINS.

BAIRD (REVOLUTIONARY):

I apologized to Iris for my outburst a few days ago. They accepted it without any questions. I still feel guilty, but they aren't willing to drag this out any longer. 

The twins are off probation but they still need supervision. Talia goes out with them most days as part of her physical therapy. It's good for her. But she always comes back so tired and wiped out from just walking that she takes days to recover. We don't get days though. We don't know when New Kinshasa is going to change its mind on us again. Today they can give us an early curfew, and the next they can turn the Guardian Angel System on to target everyone old enough to remember the Angel. We don't have a damn clue what they're planning or going to do next...

Uh- this week on Brahma: the Rats gang in the north and the Rats gang in the south are at odds with each other. If the situation escalates any further there's going to a be a damn turf war. Ten years of relative peace and now they're at a tipping point? 

(BAIRD SIGHS)

I remember when a mischief of Rats scurried on to our block a few years ago. Charlie, Talia, and I had run a couple of them off years and years prior. And most knew better than to come looking for trouble down our block. Most everyone that was taken care of by Mrs. Darius or taught under Mr. Eber at some point or another knew not to come poking their nose around looking for trouble. But this mischief was new. They didn't know who's grounds they were stepping on or what apartments they were looking to squat in. 

When those new kids started making a mess of the streets and tried running circles around the market, I went and took care of them myself. Josie and Hank were so worried for me, but when I got back I just told them that it was no big deal. Just a bunch of homeless kids that needed a place to stay. I wrangled them into place and got them all sorted and now they’re running chores for old-timers like Hank and slipping messages to the other Revolutionaries across Brahma. 

Yesterday’s Rats weren’t those same kids though. The twins complained about a group of teenagers mucking around the old daycare. Josie and Iris couldn’t parse much of what they said so they’ve asked me to try talking to them and Talia one on one. And from what I understand, the girls were upset because the Rats kept calling them “Goodies”, and Talia was mostly ignoring them pretty well until one of them chucked a rock at her and Mischa. So now I gotta get involved in another rat problem and either rough ‘em up and shoo ‘em out, or knock enough sense into them they start behaving better. 

(BAIRD GROANS)

And honestly, I wanna do neither. I told Hank and Josie back then that I wasn’t scared but really. I was scared shitless. Those kids were easy to talk to though once they realized I’m like them. I’m not a fighter. I don’t go in fists-a-swinging right off the bat. That was always more Talia and Charlie then me… but, Talia can hardly walk most days, and Charlie’s gone. Josie is too busy distributing aid at the rec center, Hank is retired, the twins are afraid of them, and Iris is coordinating with the Old-Timers. Everyone’s either too old, too busy, or too young to deal with problems like these. 

(BAIRD TAKES A DEEP BREATH AND LETS IT OUT SLOWLY. HE STRUGGLES TO CLEAR THEIR THROAT)

In other news on Brahma: Ester is now taller than I was at ten. Meaning that I really was just short for being a ten-year-old. Hallie is as tall are Charlie was, but they’ll both probably need another year before they’re as tall as Talia was at their age. I don’t know much about Hank and his life before the Galatic Civil War, but I’m almost certain he came from one of the Solar Planets. Why in any Goddess good name he chose to stay in the Outer Rim and chose to stay on Brahma of all places, I don’t think I’ll ever understand. 

(BAIRD COUGHS, BEATS THEIR CHEST, AND COUGHS SOME MORE)

Good grief… I need to ask Iris about something to soothe my throat. Debris keeps falling from New Kinshasa. It burns up before it hits the Dome and can do any real damage, but when I was last in the market, I was talking with one of the vendors and she said her neighborhood was afraid of another Cleansing. The last one was… six years ago? That sounds about right. And the one before that was when New Kinshasa leveled a quarter of Brahma in one day. It still gives me chills just thinking about it. 

SOUND: COMMS BEEPS. RECORDING ENDS.

SOUND: COMMS BEEPS AGAIN. NEW RECORDING BEGINS.

BAIRD (REVOLUTIONARY):

Well, that went better than expected. 

I paid a visit to the squatters at the old daycare. The youngest looked to be about nine, the oldest gave me a black eye–

IRIS:

They did a lot more than that, now hold still while I stitch your face back together.

BAIRD (REVOLUTIONARY):

Oh c’mon Iris– can’t a guy catch a break? Do you think it’s gonna scar at least?

IRIS:

If it does, no one will notice unless they look for it. 

(IRIS GETS LOUDER, AS IF THEY PULLED THE COMMS CLOSER)

For the record: Baird’s brow split open because the Brat was wearing a ring. Baird does have a black eye, but that’s nothing a bit of pain meds can’t help him cope with. 

(BAIRD GAGS)

BAIRD (REVOLUTIONARY):

No thanks, I’ll pass. I can cope with the pain. 

(IRIS SNORTS)

IRIS: 

And… There. All done.

(MOMENTS PAUSE)

BAIRD (REVOLUTIONARY):

You can let go of my face now. 

IRIS:

Right, sorry. You look so much like your parents and I just– I miss them. 

BAIRD (REVOLUTIONARY):

Well it would kind of be a weird if I didn’t look a little bit like them…

IRIS:

Har-har– think you’re so fucking clever… you were saying though? About how it went better than you expected?

BAIRD (REVOLUTIONARY):

Oh yeah. It did. I got punched in the face and the others got freaked out when I fell backwards because they didn’t know how to get rid of a dead body. One of them came over to check on me and I was mostly fine after they helped me sit up. 

The one who punched me didn’t apologize and I don’t need ‘em to. I asked them why they were squatting in the daycare and they said that they didn’t feel safe anymore at their old spot. Apparently the Rats North and South from here drove them out and they each found one another looking for some place to go. I talked to them and they agreed to pack their shit up and get out of the daycare, but they want my help finding someplace they can stay. 

(IRIS HUMS)

IRIS:

It sounds like to me, that we’re past a plausible turf war, and are stuck smack dab in the middle of it. I’ll have to bring this up at the next Meeting you know… How do you feel about going to your first Meeting with the others?

BAIRD (REVOLUTIONARY):

Really! You mean that?

IRIS:

Yes. You’re an adult, I trust your decisions, and you have some experience from back when you helped run Talia’s little book club. Plus those meetings are so boring without someone there to keep you company. It’d be nice to have you around to take notes while I nap.

BAIRD (REVOLUTIONARY):

You’re such an ass, you know that?

(IRIS LAUGHS)

SOUND: COMMS BEEPS. RECORDING ENDS.

SOUND: COMMS BEEPS AGAIN. NEW RECORDING BEGINS.

BAIRD (REVOLUTIONARY):

What the fuck!

(IRIS LAUGHS)

No I’m serious! What the fuck was that for the last hour and a half! What the fuck!

IRIS:

Welcome to my world, Baird. I’ve been fighting those ding-bats for the last decade all on my own. They refuse to give me supplies to restock the only functioning Hanataba Clinic left because you live across town now, how are you supposed to take care everyone when you're all the way over in the Est Quarter? I would move back someplace closer if only you would fucking give me what I need! But no! Instead we run circles around and around, have the same passing contests between North and South, East and West, downtown and uptown, and no body fucking wins! 

(IRIS PANTS)

BAIRD (REVOLUTIONARY):

Oh. I… had no idea. Really? It's been like this this whole time?

IRIS:

Yes! Baird what’s wrong? 

BAIRD (REVOLUTIONARY):

Nothing it’s just… you would move back if they put effort into stocking the Hanataba clinic? You really would?

(A LASPE OF SILENCE. IRIS GASPS)

IRIS:

Oh no no no– no. Baird. Look at me. I would not leave you just like that. You’re my family. I gave up my dream to keep the clinic stocked because I wanted to be there for you and Cyrus. When Hanataba built the clinics, they left each one with a massive handbook covering all sorts of procedures. If the clinic was ever back to half functioning, I’d go back only to show someone else how to keep the lights on. 

(IRIS SIGHS)

But there isn’t anyone else, there aren’t more supplies, and the clinic’s generator was probably been siphoned for fuel years ago. 

(BAIRD MUMBLES SOMETHING INAUDIBLE)

BAIRD (REVOLUTIONARY):

What if… you weren’t the only Hanataba Clinician the Revolution had to rely on though? What if there was at least one other one? 

IRIS:

Come again? 

BAIRD (REVOLUTIONARY):

Quid pro quo. You help me get the Rats off the street, out of the daycare, and I help you find someone else to train to run the clinic and justify getting it operating again. 

IRIS:

You want to use the Brats?

BAIRD (REVOLUTIONARY):

Just the mischief that got ran off by the bigger gangs. I bet I could even talk them into running messages across the planet. Helping us organize a bit better. Make getting the word out easier… what’s wrong?

IRIS:

Nothing, it’s a great idea Baird…

BAIRD (REVOLUTIONARY):

But?

IRIS:

…but I think the Old-Timers won’t like it. They don’t like the Pests to begin with. 

BAIRD (REVOLUTIONARY):

Oh yeah no, they’ll hate this idea. But… I have to try. Right?

(FOOTSTEPS THROUGH AN EMPTY STREET. A FULL MINUTE PASSES)

IRIS:

Yeah. You have to try. I trust your decisions, and I trust you. 

BAIRD (REVOLUTIONARY):

So, lets try together. 

IRIS:

Yeah… we’ll try together. 

SOUND: COMMS BEEPS. RECORDING ENDS.

- This recording takes place a few days after “Decade”. - Baird has mentioned Talia a lot and based off their descriptions it’s likely the neglect and abuse she took from the Constables 10 years prior left her disabled. If not that, in lasting chronic pain. - Baird’s cough does sound very concerning. They sounded awful in the first one (“Belief”). Dust that settles in the lungs can cause scarring. It must have progressively worsened over the years. If they’re alive today I would be shocked. - “Talia’s Book Club” whatever happened to it after Charlie was executed? - Baird’s reaction after attending his first Meeting with other Revolutionary organizers is so much like Eevees’. - Est Quarter: the East Quarter of Brahma. - Baird and Iris’ relationship has changed and improved so much since they were a kid. They’ve clearly grown a lot closer and have a lot of a love for one another. Did Baird’s plan ever get off the ground? Was there another Cleansing? -Frannie’s friend (Ms. Rita) messaged me back with an update on her search for Eevee Bell and Baird Bell. She recommended that I look back through her list for Baird since she said it would take her a week at most to gather everything she could on Eevee Bell. Doing a preliminary search on my own turns up nothing. I don’t know how or where Ms. Rita is getting her information from, and I don’t think I want to know either. The less I know the better (I think). - Though now that I’ve had time to think about it, I could ask her to look into the name Peter Nureyev. I’ve tried searching myself and I haven’t really found anything. Even with the information I’ve gleamed from Camilla and Eevee’s recordings, I haven’t found dick anything. Whoever he is (was?), he very effectively disappeared.

[ericfruits]

How to get beer around Congo, a country with hardly any roads

Jan 18th 2020

MBANDAKA

THE BARGE, weighed down by half a million bottles of beer, pulls out into the middle of the Congo river. At its tip, breezy rumba music drifts out of a small radio and a group of young men sit around grumbling about the hardships of life on board. “We stay on this boat until death,” claims one sailor (pictured, right). In reality, the crew spends a total of only six months on the barge a year—although the risk of it sinking is not trivial. Laden with beer belonging to Bracongo, a brewery, the boat is travelling from Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo, to the city of Bandundu, 387km (240 miles) upstream.

Omar Barcat, the barge’s owner, has been running a fleet of five cargo ships for 20 years. He predicts that various apparatchiks, some wielding Kalashnikovs, will intercept the boat at several points along the river. They will try to extort payoffs that amount to around $500. Unruly sailors are another problem. Far away from their bosses back in the capital, they are sometimes tempted to stop off in villages and visit friends. Occasionally they drink beers they claim have exploded or broken (which can lead to worse misdemeanours). “But they know that if anyone is caught doing that he will immediately be fired,” he says.

Much is at stake for Mr Barcat and for Bracongo. The brewery, owned by Castel, a French firm that operates across Africa, has been competing with Bralima, owned by the Dutch company Heineken, for customers in Congo for 70 years. Both breweries have been around since colonial times; unlike most foodstuffs in Congo, beer is local. And yet the difficulty for both companies is getting bottles from the factory to the bar.

Congo is not an easy country to get around. China has three metres of road per citizen; Congo has three centimetres. Only four out of 26 provincial capitals have roads that reach Kinshasa. Some villages are so isolated that they still use a currency that was abolished in 1997. It is no surprise that, in the east, the government has little control and the people in power are those with guns. Millions have fled the violence there over the past 20 years.

For most people the only way to travel long distances is to go on boats that ply the Congo river and its tributaries. All the beers that reach the country’s dense, forested interior will have been shipped up the river. The journey on Mr Barcat’s boat will take a week. If the roads in Congo were made of tarmac instead of undulating mud and sand, then the beers would reach Bandundu in less than a day. But the rusting carcasses of overturned vehicles languishing in ditches serve as a reminder of what can happen if that journey is attempted by a lorry with a heavy load.

In 2019 Bracongo had the edge over its competitor: it provided 53% of beers in the country, compared with 47% from Bralima, according to the brewery’s own statistics. In Kinshasa the two companies race to load up trucks each morning. “We try hard to get everything out by 7.30am. Bralima’s lorries leave between 7.30am and 8am,” says Teddy Junior Mena, head of Bracongo’s distribution. “And we are also trying to get a beer to every last village in Congo,” he adds.

Indeed, despite the country’s abysmal infrastructure, beer gets everywhere. Like the rumba music which is blasted from fuzzy speakers at every run-down bar, it is one of the few things Congolese can rely on. To understand how one brewery gets its wares to thirsty customers, your correspondent embarked on a series of voyages.

The Congo river traces a huge arc across the country from the south-east, through the city of Kisangani, past Kinshasa and out into the Atlantic Ocean (see map). It is both the second-longest river in Africa and the deepest. If its roaring water mass was turned into energy through hydroelectric dams, it could light up most of the continent.

King Leopold’s ghost

For centuries the river has served as a trade route—for better and for worse. King Leopold II of Belgium, who ran Congo as his personal fief from 1885 to 1908, forced armies of villagers to harvest ivory, tap rubber and load these precious commodities onto boats. Wives were held hostage to ensure that their husbands submitted to forced labour. Those who did not work hard enough were killed or dismembered. Countless villagers hid deep in the forest to avoid enslavement. Fishing and subsistence farming collapsed. Deaths from starvation and disease soared; births plunged, since so many couples were separated. By one very rough estimate, Congo’s population fell by half, from 20m to 10m, between 1880 and 1920.

Leopold’s misrule attracted global condemnation. In 1908 the Belgian government prised Congo from his grip and ruled it somewhat less atrociously until 1960, when it became independent. Mobutu Sese Seko, a military despot, re-christened the country “Zaire” in 1971. In Kongo, a local language, this means “the river that swallows all rivers”. The name changed back when Mobutu was overthrown in 1997.

Today the river is a source of pride. Photos of fishermen in canoes on the river are stamped across the country’s banknotes. Just after setting out, Mr Barcat’s barge passes a man sitting astride four floating tree trunks, bound together with rope. Using a single oar, he guides his vessel towards the port where he will try to sell the wood. He has probably travelled from Mbandaka, a city in the heart of the Congo basin rainforest, some 586km upstream. If so, he will have spent two weeks punting down a wide stretch of murky water that is home to hundreds of crocodiles.

After a week Mr Barcat’s barge reaches Bandundu. From here, as in Mbandaka, smaller vessels carry the beers to tiny villages on the banks of the river. At the port in Mbandaka, Christine, a 40-year-old bar owner, picks up 70 crates of beer from the Bracongo depot. She travels to the city twice a month on one of these smaller vessels to collect beers for her bar and to sell to other bartenders. The trips are tough: she has to sleep out on deck in the rain and the muggy heat. “We are exposed to all the elements,” she sighs.

The second, spluttering wooden boat, which along with Christine and her beers carries around 150 people, 60 sacks of charcoal, palm oil, peanuts, two charred cobras (a regional delicacy) and a mournful-looking chicken, finally sets off, after a five-hour delay, at 9pm. Rumba music hums from several battery-powered radios. Modified Chinese generators power the boat. Fiston, a member of the crew in his early 20s, explains that there are five generators so the boat will not have to stop when one or two inevitably conk out. Indeed, a few hours into the journey, the first so-called engine splutters and dies.

It is not the only sign that this vessel is not entirely river-worthy. Fiston’s list of passengers, presented to the official at the harbour, has only 15 names on it. If the boat goes down and more than 15 people survive, he will have no problems with those in charge. Creative accounting like this makes it almost impossible to know how many people die in the river each year.

Soon after the boat starts off, the smell of marijuana wafts down from the upper deck, nicknamed “The United States”, because “it’s as high as you can go in life”, a passenger explains. Below, people huddle around smoky stoves and share saucepans of rice and stew. Old men nestle down for the night under their coats. Passengers step over them to get to the toilet, which is a hole in the deck and a bucket of river water.

In one of the four cabins available to passengers, your correspondent’s bed is a sagging foam mattress supported by slabs of plywood with a grubby mosquito net hanging over it. Sleep is elusive: the generator is so loud that it is hard to doze off.

The next morning bleary-eyed passengers shuffle, one by one, to the back of the boat, clutching toothbrushes. A woman fries dough balls and sells plastic cups of sugary tea for breakfast. An argument breaks out between the captain and a couple of young men. A group of boys on the United States deck lean over to get a better view of the ruckus. Angel, a peanut vendor, wags one of her fingers and shouts something in Lingala, a local language. Suddenly everyone cheers. A drunk man blows a whistle. “One of the boys was winding up the driver,” Christine explains. “But that woman put him in his place.”

Ça sent la bière, Dieu qu’on est bien

Your correspondent gets off, grateful for dry land, at a village called Lolanga. Christine will continue on the boat for three more days, to its final stop, a larger village called Akula. It is less than 350km—about as far as New York is from Washington, DC, a journey of around four hours in a car. Each round trip takes Christine just over a week. She dreads it, but knows that her bar will not survive without beer.

Christine’s travails are passed on to her customers. Her beers cost a third more than those in Kinshasa, at $1.80. She has to factor in her $60 boat ticket and the money she pays a friend to run her bar when she is away. Her profits are slim. She does not make enough money to save, she says, but enough to survive.

For many Congolese, potent home-brews offer better value for money than factory-made beer. Old ladies produce buckets of fizzing moonshine in the backs of their houses. One drink, called Mbandule, or “turn your mind upside-down”, is made from a fermented cereal crop and is particularly popular in the east, or with those seeking cheap oblivion. A glass costs just 30 cents.

Beer is a status symbol, observes Mr Mena, like owning a mobile phone. The two often go together, he laughs: “Nowadays people drink a beer with their phone in one hand.” Rumba musicians, too, are sponsored by different beer companies; when Werrason, a famous one, switched sponsor from Bracongo to Bralima in 2005, he prompted gasping headlines.

Partly as a result, beer sales in Congo do not reflect the state of the economy, which shrank by 1.5% in 2019. According to Bracongo people are drinking more beer than ever before. “Even we don’t understand it sometimes. This dry season [April to August] we have some of the biggest figures ever,” says Mr Mena.

Since 2010 Bracongo has started to promote different kinds of beers to different slices of the population. Those without jobs inevitably pick the cheapest in the market: small bottles of the weakest brew called Beaufort. Young people tend to go for lighter lagers, says Florent Muteba, head of Bracongo’s commercial analysis. Farmers and street vendors seem to like malty dark ales. Clever, aspirational marketing and Herculean logistics help explain why the company manages to sell alcohol even when people are getting poorer. (Its addictive qualities probably help, too.)

On the journey back to Mbandaka, this time on a wooden canoe which threatens to capsize as a priest and his friends get on board, your correspondent stops in a tiny riverside village. Here a woman complains that the nearest pharmacy is a three-hour boat trip away. Getting antibiotics quickly is impossible, but getting beer is not—just next door to her an old man, Garus, sells large, warm bottles of dark ale. Fishermen pool their day’s earnings to buy them. There is no electricity, but Garus turns his straw-roofed house into a bar at night, using torches to light it. He too pumps rumba music out of a battery-powered radio. “People here drink beer to forget their worries, to de-stress,” he explains.

Mr Barcat would be out of business if Congo had proper roads. Politicians keep promising to build them, but somehow never do. Mr Barcat jokes that he will be able to retire comfortably; his barges also take the empty bottles back to Kinshasa on the return journey, so he makes money both ways. The river will remain Congo’s main artery for years to come. And poor people will continue to club together to buy one of the few colonial relics that nearly everyone loves: clear, refreshing, temporarily worry-dispelling beer. ■

This article appeared in the Middle East and Africa section of the print edition under the headline "How to get beer around Congo, a country with hardly any roads"

https://ift.tt/361kT3K

[ernmark]

What happens next?

Good evening, traveler.

Juno Steel has finally gotten himself into a mess he can’t get out of. Now he’s lying comatose in a hospital bed, and it’ll take a miracle to wake him again.

Luckily, Peter Nureyev knows exactly where to go looking for a miracle: in the lair of the mysterious Blue Persephone, who may be able to tip the balance between life and death.

When last we saw our hero, he finally met Persephone herself. But will she help Peter save Juno?

And at what cost?

“Are you going to waste my time ogling the scenery,” drawls a voice from far away. “Or are you going to tell me what you came here for?”

It takes a moment to pick her shape out of the decor. When he does, he only manages by her palette. She’s shrouded in cobalt and azure, her face almost covered. Almost.

The woman on the other end of the chamber goes by many names. On Mars, though, they call her the Blue Persephone. She stands up, and Peter notices she’s missing her right arm.

“I’ll get right to the point then, shall I?” he says. “Someone very dear to me has fallen into a coma. I’m told it would take a miracle to wake him now. I’m also told that you deal in miracles.” 

“A coma,” she muses. “How original. Have you tried True Love’s Kiss? I’ve heard that works wonders.”

“This is serious.”

“It certainly must be. You march uninvited into my home and demand that I rewrite the laws of the universe for a man you can’t even be bothered to name. It’s all terribly persuasive.” 

Peter can feel his heart start to race. He came all this way. He can’t have ruined it all just like that. He can’t.

“My apologies,” he says, giving the word the weight it deserves. He’s not above begging, if that’s what it takes. “I didn’t intend to be rude. Only–” The woman tilts her head slightly, looking almost amused. She’s waiting to hear his excuses. He’ll give her none. “His name is Juno Steel.” 

Another slight tilt of her head. He chooses to believe it means she’s pleased. “And yours?”

“Mine?”

“Your name. Did you really think you could come here unannounced?”

She’s toying with him. He knows that, and he hates her for it. But this is for Juno.

“Peter.” Saying it feels like peeling off his own skin. He feels naked and exposed. “Peter Nureyev.”

“So tell me, Peter Nureyev.” She tests his name on her tongue, the way she might weigh coins in her palm. “Why should I care?”

What kind of a question is that?

“If you knew him, you would.”

“And yet I don’t.”

“He’s–” he almost chokes. “He’s the world to me. The whole galaxy.”

“And I’m sure you loved with a love that is more than love, just like every whimpering poet who comes down here to beg favors from me.” He can’t see her eyes, but he can feel them rolling. “Every day widows petition me to save their lovers. Every day grieving parents beg me to save their children. Why should I give you what I withheld from them?”

“Juno and I saved all of Mars,” Peter says. “I held hostage the city of New Kinshasa. I brought all of Brahma to its knees.”

She shakes her head, flippant. “The boy king Alexander conquered half the known world, and he still had to part with his Hephaestion. You have yet to impress me.”

Peter is floundering now. She’s losing interest, and the moment he loses her entirely, Juno is gone forever. 

Get inside her head, dammit. Get inside her head. What does she want?

She’s larger than life. Veiled to cover her face. Hidden by darkness and statues. She speaks in poetry and fairy tales. So he treats her like a fairy queen from an old story: she can’t be impressed, can’t be persuaded, but she can be bribed. “I can pay.”

“What makes you think you have anything I could possibly want?”

“I know for a fact that I don’t. But somebody out there does. And whatever it is, I can find it. I’m a master thief. One of the greatest in the galaxy. And if you return Juno to me, I will be at your disposal.”

She tilts her head, her lip edging into something that could almost be a smile. 

“Nadezhda will accompany you back to where you came from. She will see to it that Juno Steel makes a full recovery. And in exchange.”

She beckons him, and he crosses the room. Statues stare him down from every side.

“When I call you, you will come. And you will bring me everything I ask for. Anything. Without question or hesitation.” 

She extends her hand. When he reaches to take it, she grabs him by the wrist. He swears her hands were perfectly ordinary, but it feels like she has claws where her nails used to be, and he can feel them carving deep into his skin. His hand starts shaking, muscles and neurons spurred into actions with a violent surge of electricity. When she lets him go, his hand feels almost numb. There are three small cuts where her nails bit into his wrist, cauterized by electric burns.

“A little reminder, lest you forget. From this day forward, you belong to me.” 

[cleopatrarps]

Dozens Dead in Congo After Boat Capsizes

KINSHASA, Democratic Republic of Congo — Dozens of people drowned after a boat tipped over in the northern Democratic Republic of Congo, officials said on Friday.

The vice governor of Tshuapa Province, Richard Mboyo Iluka, said the boat was carrying passengers to the city of Mbandaka from Monkoto on Thursday when it capsized just outside Wafania, killing 49 people.

Mr. Iluka said that investigators had been sent to the area to assess the situation and confirm the death toll. He said he did not know how many people had been on the boat at the time of the accident, how many survived, or what might have caused the vessel to sink.

Deadly boat accidents are common in Congo, a vast, forested country that has few roads outside of major towns and that is carved up by a network of rivers that drain the Congo Basin. For most people, these rivers are the only means of traveling long distances.

Reuters contributed reporting.

The post Dozens Dead in Congo After Boat Capsizes appeared first on World The News.

from World The News https://ift.tt/2s7OGXz via News of World

[party-hard-or-die]

Dozens Dead in Congo After Boat Capsizes

KINSHASA, Democratic Republic of Congo — Dozens of people drowned after a boat tipped over in the northern Democratic Republic of Congo, officials said on Friday.

The vice governor of Tshuapa Province, Richard Mboyo Iluka, said the boat was carrying passengers to the city of Mbandaka from Monkoto on Thursday when it capsized just outside Wafania, killing 49 people.

Mr. Iluka said that investigators had been sent to the area to assess the situation and confirm the death toll. He said he did not know how many people had been on the boat at the time of the accident, how many survived, or what might have caused the vessel to sink.

Deadly boat accidents are common in Congo, a vast, forested country that has few roads outside of major towns and that is carved up by a network of rivers that drain the Congo Basin. For most people, these rivers are the only means of traveling long distances.

Reuters contributed reporting.

The post Dozens Dead in Congo After Boat Capsizes appeared first on World The News.

from World The News https://ift.tt/2s7OGXz via Breaking News

[newestbalance]

Dozens Dead in Congo After Boat Capsizes

KINSHASA, Democratic Republic of Congo — Dozens of people drowned after a boat tipped over in the northern Democratic Republic of Congo, officials said on Friday.

The vice governor of Tshuapa Province, Richard Mboyo Iluka, said the boat was carrying passengers to the city of Mbandaka from Monkoto on Thursday when it capsized just outside Wafania, killing 49 people.

Mr. Iluka said that investigators had been sent to the area to assess the situation and confirm the death toll. He said he did not know how many people had been on the boat at the time of the accident, how many survived, or what might have caused the vessel to sink.

Deadly boat accidents are common in Congo, a vast, forested country that has few roads outside of major towns and that is carved up by a network of rivers that drain the Congo Basin. For most people, these rivers are the only means of traveling long distances.

Reuters contributed reporting.

The post Dozens Dead in Congo After Boat Capsizes appeared first on World The News.

from World The News https://ift.tt/2s7OGXz via Everyday News

[dani-qrt]

Dozens Dead in Congo After Boat Capsizes

KINSHASA, Democratic Republic of Congo — Dozens of people drowned after a boat tipped over in the northern Democratic Republic of Congo, officials said on Friday.

The vice governor of Tshuapa Province, Richard Mboyo Iluka, said the boat was carrying passengers to the city of Mbandaka from Monkoto on Thursday when it capsized just outside Wafania, killing 49 people.

Mr. Iluka said that investigators had been sent to the area to assess the situation and confirm the death toll. He said he did not know how many people had been on the boat at the time of the accident, how many survived, or what might have caused the vessel to sink.

Deadly boat accidents are common in Congo, a vast, forested country that has few roads outside of major towns and that is carved up by a network of rivers that drain the Congo Basin. For most people, these rivers are the only means of traveling long distances.

Reuters contributed reporting.

The post Dozens Dead in Congo After Boat Capsizes appeared first on World The News.

from World The News https://ift.tt/2s7OGXz via Online News

[dragnews]

Dozens Dead in Congo After Boat Capsizes

KINSHASA, Democratic Republic of Congo — Dozens of people drowned after a boat tipped over in the northern Democratic Republic of Congo, officials said on Friday.

The vice governor of Tshuapa Province, Richard Mboyo Iluka, said the boat was carrying passengers to the city of Mbandaka from Monkoto on Thursday when it capsized just outside Wafania, killing 49 people.

Mr. Iluka said that investigators had been sent to the area to assess the situation and confirm the death toll. He said he did not know how many people had been on the boat at the time of the accident, how many survived, or what might have caused the vessel to sink.

Deadly boat accidents are common in Congo, a vast, forested country that has few roads outside of major towns and that is carved up by a network of rivers that drain the Congo Basin. For most people, these rivers are the only means of traveling long distances.

Reuters contributed reporting.

The post Dozens Dead in Congo After Boat Capsizes appeared first on World The News.

from World The News https://ift.tt/2s7OGXz via Today News

[the2travel]

* World Travel Tips : The Alluring Power Of Leopard Print, In Photos From Across The World

Travel Tips -

Leopards are carnivorous cats distinguished by their strength, adaptability and rosette-speckled fur, which acts as easy camouflage in their natural environments. If you’ve ever adorned yourself with some sort of leopard print clothing or accessory, you may have felt a certain power in its furry grip ― a connection to nature, a feline poise, the fearlessness of a predator. 

Haitian-Canadian photographer Émilie Régnier has long been fascinated by the eternally fashionable pattern, for both its history and the almost supernatural powers it endows those who don it.

For her series “Leopard,” the artist traveled to Dakar, Senegal; Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo; Johannesburg, South Africa; Paris, France; and a small town in Texas, documenting the diverse individuals who overlapped in their soft spot for the soft spots. 

The project began when Régnier was searching for new models in Paris. She encountered a woman there who showed up for a shoot wearing a leopard print boubou ― a long, African dress. “The image of this woman inhabited me for days onwards,” Régnier wrote in a statement to HuffPost. She then realized how frequently leopard print appeared in the world around her. “It was worn everywhere and by everyone,” she said. 

Leopard print has different connotations depending on the time and place in which it appears. In Africa, dating back to the kings under British colonialism, leopard fur equals power, derived from the image of the leopard as “king of the jungle.” A former president of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the dictator Mobutu Sese Seko, was known for donning a leopard print toque ― a tight fitting hat ― that henceforth associated the animal template with authority. 

One of Régnier’s subjects is a man named Samuel Weidi, who works as a professional Mobutu impersonator. It is undoubtedly the signature hat that makes Weidi’s identity legible, and it almost feels as if the print’s power makes the wearer stand up a bit straighter. 

The photo series introduced Régnier to a variety of individuals who gravitated toward leopard for very different reasons. For the wealthy fashionistas in Paris, leopard had been a sign of luxury since Christian Dior introduced animal print into his 1947 collection, officially dubbing it “haute couture.”

For a tattoo artist named Larry based in Texas, however, leopard print is literally a second skin. The man posed nude for Régnier, his entire body covered in spots thanks to over 1,000 tattoos.

Ultimately, Régnier’s project follows it single motif around the world, documenting the various individuals who, regardless of age, gender, profession or personal style, are drawn to leopard print’s alluring presence. 

Émilie Régnier’s “From Mobutu to Beyoncé” is on view until June 4 at the Bronx Documentary Center. See our previous coverage of her work here.

type=type=RelatedArticlesblockTitle=Related... + articlesList=58ebf7e8e4b0c89f9120b711,58e63de2e4b0fe4ce088a0d2,58e3e1fde4b0f4a923b2ad48,58d26e2fe4b0f838c62e0f44,58cc2213e4b0ec9d29dbdb28,58d52ba9e4b03787d35778cb,58dbf205e4b0546370645cc4 function onPlayerReadyVidible(e){'undefined'!=typeof HPTrack&&HPTrack.Vid.Vidible_track(e)}!function(e,i){if(e.vdb_Player){if('object'==typeof commercial_video){var a='',o='m.fwsitesection='+commercial_video.site_and_category;if(a+=o,commercial_video['package']){var c='&m.fwkeyvalues=sponsorship%3D'+commercial_video['package'];a+=c}e.setAttribute('vdb_params',a)}i(e.vdb_Player)}else{var t=arguments.callee;setTimeout(function(){t(e,i)},0)}}(document.getElementById('vidible_1'),onPlayerReadyVidible);

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

World Travel Tips : Find cheap flights, hotels and car rentals. Plan your trip with travel guides, personalized recommendations, articles, deals and more. When you travel, you want your bags to travel with you. Follow these tips from travel professionals on how not to lose your luggage.

[flightsglobal-blog]

New Post has been published on FlightsGlobal.net

New Post has been published on http://flightsglobal.net/dakar-secreted-treasures/

Dakar Secreted Treasures

Looking For Cheap Flights To Senegal

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Cheap Flights to Dakar

Origin Departure date Return date Find Ticket

Abidjan

03.02.2017

18.02.2017

Tickets from 357

Paris

07.03.2017

21.03.2017

Tickets from 378

Madrid

03.02.2017

10.03.2017

Tickets from 409

Lyon

03.02.2017

19.02.2017

Tickets from 418

Brussels

08.02.2017

09.03.2017

Tickets from 427

Barcelona

27.01.2017

27.06.2017

Tickets from 450

Bilbao

29.01.2017

05.02.2017

Tickets from 454

Milan

29.01.2017

02.04.2017

Tickets from 481

Nice

09.02.2017

26.02.2017

Tickets from 487

Istanbul

08.03.2017

22.03.2017

Tickets from 512

Cotonou

11.03.2017

14.03.2017

Tickets from 523

Moscow

10.03.2017

17.03.2017

Tickets from 534

Kinshasa

03.03.2017

10.03.2017

Tickets from 631

Tallinn

27.01.2017

12.02.2017

Tickets from 666

Saint Petersburg

18.03.2017

31.03.2017

Tickets from 704

Mumbai

31.01.2017

08.02.2017

Tickets from 782

Zagreb

18.02.2017

25.02.2017

Tickets from 789

New York

20.02.2017

05.03.2017

Tickets from 806

Miami

16.03.2017

26.03.2017

Tickets from 915

Raleigh

07.04.2017

16.04.2017

Tickets from 1 029

by Jeff Attaway

Dakar is the crucial and national capital city of African country Senegal. The city is just like a hidden treasure in Africa. The flights to Dakar will disclose the Senegalese city as one of Africa’s most electrifying cities, with some French touch in the taste that is an inheritance from its royal days. Senegal remained in French rule since three centuries and achieved independence in 1960. Dakar has been functioned as the capital city since the French rule. After independence the country preserved strong relations with France and the French persuade remained in the architecture and culture of the city, where well conserved regal buildings, the monumental houses and caf terraces rest as statement to its past.

Any interested traveler keen for an African urban venture, a mixed ambience, and striking entertainment options are required to book their seats in the flights to Dakar to have a great enjoyable time in Dakar holiday. Located on the very tip of the Cap Vert Peninsula, the modern city is crammed with energy and equipped with plush hotels, much stocked restaurants, beaches and a range of water sports and an active nightlife scene. It is also one of the favored ports for cruise tours in Africa. So, get now one of the cheap flights to Dakar and discover that amazing aspect of African tourism.

The energetic music scene, particular rhythms, some French impression perky street markets, and a specific aroma will surely remind tourists of the Dakar holidays and travel in flights to Dakar. Dont forget to have some shopping from the March Kermel that is a main shopping venue as well as a great tourist entertaining spot. Moreover, March Sandage is also a renowned market for beautiful African clothing and artifacts shopping. Do purchase one of them to take a Dakar holiday souvenir home.

When to take the Dakar flights for vacations is largely dependent on climatic situations. The climate is in general hot and moist, whereas in January and February the “harmattan” winds fill the atmosphere with sand, and late summer July and August is very wet and bears a lot of rainfall. The suggested time to plan a holiday to Dakar is between October and December.

The Goree Island of the city is the proud attraction of the Dakar trip that is affirmed as a UNESCO world heritage site as well. It was a great Slave port during slave trade, a huge cell named as door of no return is now a big attraction on the island.

Cheap flights to Dakar

People who search for Cheap Flights To Senegal also searches for :

cheap flights to senegal cheap flights to senegal dakar cheap flights to senegal from london travel to senegal senegal travel senegal travel advisory travel senegal dakar senegal travel travel to dakar senegal senegal travel advice

#CheapFlights

[flightsglobal-blog]

New Post has been published on FlightsGlobal.net

New Post has been published on http://flightsglobal.net/dakar-secreted-treasures/

Dakar Secreted Treasures

Looking For Cheap Flights To Senegal

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Cheap Flights to Dakar

Origin Departure date Return date Find Ticket

Abidjan

03.02.2017

18.02.2017

Tickets from 357

Paris

07.03.2017

21.03.2017

Tickets from 378

Madrid

03.02.2017

10.03.2017

Tickets from 409

Lyon

03.02.2017

19.02.2017

Tickets from 418

Brussels

08.02.2017

09.03.2017

Tickets from 427

Barcelona

27.01.2017

27.06.2017

Tickets from 450

Bilbao

29.01.2017

05.02.2017

Tickets from 454

Milan

29.01.2017

02.04.2017

Tickets from 481

Nice

09.02.2017

26.02.2017

Tickets from 487

Istanbul

08.03.2017

22.03.2017

Tickets from 512

Cotonou

11.03.2017

14.03.2017

Tickets from 523

Moscow

10.03.2017

17.03.2017

Tickets from 534

Kinshasa

03.03.2017

10.03.2017

Tickets from 631

Tallinn

27.01.2017

12.02.2017

Tickets from 666

Saint Petersburg

18.03.2017

31.03.2017

Tickets from 704

Mumbai

31.01.2017

08.02.2017

Tickets from 782

Zagreb

18.02.2017

25.02.2017

Tickets from 789

New York

20.02.2017

05.03.2017

Tickets from 806

Miami

16.03.2017

26.03.2017

Tickets from 915

Raleigh

07.04.2017

16.04.2017

Tickets from 1 029

by Jeff Attaway

Dakar is the crucial and national capital city of African country Senegal. The city is just like a hidden treasure in Africa. The flights to Dakar will disclose the Senegalese city as one of Africa’s most electrifying cities, with some French touch in the taste that is an inheritance from its royal days. Senegal remained in French rule since three centuries and achieved independence in 1960. Dakar has been functioned as the capital city since the French rule. After independence the country preserved strong relations with France and the French persuade remained in the architecture and culture of the city, where well conserved regal buildings, the monumental houses and caf terraces rest as statement to its past.

Any interested traveler keen for an African urban venture, a mixed ambience, and striking entertainment options are required to book their seats in the flights to Dakar to have a great enjoyable time in Dakar holiday. Located on the very tip of the Cap Vert Peninsula, the modern city is crammed with energy and equipped with plush hotels, much stocked restaurants, beaches and a range of water sports and an active nightlife scene. It is also one of the favored ports for cruise tours in Africa. So, get now one of the cheap flights to Dakar and discover that amazing aspect of African tourism.

The energetic music scene, particular rhythms, some French impression perky street markets, and a specific aroma will surely remind tourists of the Dakar holidays and travel in flights to Dakar. Dont forget to have some shopping from the March Kermel that is a main shopping venue as well as a great tourist entertaining spot. Moreover, March Sandage is also a renowned market for beautiful African clothing and artifacts shopping. Do purchase one of them to take a Dakar holiday souvenir home.

When to take the Dakar flights for vacations is largely dependent on climatic situations. The climate is in general hot and moist, whereas in January and February the “harmattan” winds fill the atmosphere with sand, and late summer July and August is very wet and bears a lot of rainfall. The suggested time to plan a holiday to Dakar is between October and December.

The Goree Island of the city is the proud attraction of the Dakar trip that is affirmed as a UNESCO world heritage site as well. It was a great Slave port during slave trade, a huge cell named as door of no return is now a big attraction on the island.

Cheap flights to Dakar

People who search for Cheap Flights To Senegal also searches for :

cheap flights to senegal cheap flights to senegal dakar cheap flights to senegal from london travel to senegal senegal travel senegal travel advisory travel senegal dakar senegal travel travel to dakar senegal senegal travel advice

#CheapFlights