My best cruise ever, was on the Kouilou River. This river is the main drainage path for the coastal basin of the Republic of the Congo. In the Niari region of The Congo, the Kouilou River is called the Niari River. The river combines with the Louess? River and flows into the Atlantic Ocean. It covers about 450 miles from its origin in the plateaus of The Congo to its mouth at the coast. The river has numerous waterfalls and is impassable at its mouth, which is blocked by multiple sandbars, formed primarily by the action of the Benguela current.

This cruise is organized by the Congo tourism department in Pointe Noire. The department has very little money and and a very small staff, but the organization is quite fantastic and the cruise really affordable ? we paid some $100 per person for a 5 day cruise. In fact, after the cruise we all agreed to leave a $200 tip per adult.

You don't prepare for a Kouilou River cruise as you do for a Panama cruise! First you have to understand that a Kouilou river cruise is a pirogue cruise. 15 seat motorized pirogues are carved trunks of huge trees. Two seats were sacrificed for luggage and two for our guides and pilots, leaving 22 seats for passengers.

The itinerary is quite simple: departure at 6am from Madingo-Kayes Bridge; a stop with lunch in a Kouilou island; later a stop for the night in an old palm tree plantation. Departure early next morning to our final destination, a lumberjack camp near the Chinese dam (which was fully paid but never built).

Arrival in the camp and three days to visit the forest and surrounding villages. The return to Madingo-Kayes takes 1/3 of the time to go because of the huge river current.

The preparation takes time as you need to understand that you get only 2 seats to put the entire luggage for 11 people. Meetings are run in a local church and are accompanied by music repetitions and food preparations for the priest and his staff. On my cruise, two families were present for the first meeting. All 22 passengers were present for the following ones! The itinerary meeting was based on 150 year old maps that collectors would pay fortunes to get but that were the only maps the tourism office had. Just preparing for the cruise is already a terrific adventure. Imagine working in an African church with the sounds of music, eating Missala (fresh water shrimp) using an original 150 years old map!

The cruise only got more and more unique.