Some pictures of Matadi
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Click on the above picture to open a new window with a full size version of this panorama of Matadi as seen from the right bank of the River Congo. Several places of interest can be located on it (with descriptions).
This is how Matadi looks from the air. You can see a part of the port installations etc. Kinkanda is a fine outskirt aside the road towards the bridge and Boma. There’s a lot of construction going on, and there are hospitals, schools, and the Belgian consulate.
When looking back at Matadi from the hill you saw in the previous photo, you will see another part of Kinkanda with, on top of the hill, one of the hospitals. The word Matadi means ’rocks’ in kiKongo (the regional language) and the red rocks like in this photo can be found virtually everywhere. The Pont Maréchal suspension bridge is a huge construction that was accomplished in 1983 by a Japanese company. When you are at the terrace in this photo, you will be impressed by the sight of huge ocean steamers passing by under the bridge, and the bridge is so big it makes the vessels look tiny!
A truck coming from Boma passes over the bridge.
Another fine view of the bridge from upstream.
And those tiny looking vessels are in reality this kind of big things. Although Matadi is some 200 kilometers away from the ocean, the Congo River is so wide and deep (remember - it’s the worlds second after the Amazon) that Matadi can actually operate as a sea port. Here a smaller boat, a so called coaster, in the port of Matadi
The restaurant on the top floor of the Metropole Hotel offers a fine view on the constant activity in the harbour. In the back the Pont Marechal. Sunset at Belvedère, highest point of urban Matadi. A beautiful view over the town, and on the boards of the river you can regognize the port cranes. City center is ’down low’ near the riverside. By the way, the roads in Matadi tend to climb very steeply. Hairpins are not very common.
Having turned around, Belvedère offers an evenly beautiful view over the hills, penetrated by rivers, the road and railroad to Kinshasa, and small dwellings. There is a plaquette that explains the panorama, including what is still visible of the foottrails the first colonisators would walk. Guides of the Ministry of Tourism will explain to you. Some 20 car-minutes from Matadi the bridge over the M’pozo river can be used as starting point for promenades in the hills. There is also a nice terrace, if you are thirsty. This photo was taken at sunset (our photographer seems to like sunsets).
M’pozo river was not very willing to share its canyon (that starts just left of the picture) with the railroad. Several people got killed during construction. But the result is a railtrip that is of an astonishing beauty.
The famous Inga barrage, here a part of it during construction, is a very impressing site. It generates a very big amount of kilowatts; electricity is even exported to other countries.
Muanda is some 200 kilometers away on board of the Atlantic Ocean. We put in this picture just to show you that Matadi is also a very good place to start excursions from. Matadi in the old days: a hospital some 100 years ago. The river can be seen in the background.
panorama - Kinkanda - Pont Maréchal - port - Belvedère - surroundings - historic
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