Bangui

Bangui sits on the north bank of the Oubangui looking straight across at Zongo in the Congo, and pirogues carry foot passengers between the two banks all day past the immigration posts. The national museum occupies the former house of Barthelemy Boganda, the country's founding figure, and holds instruments, pottery and hunting gear from across the territory. A red brick cathedral and the wide central squares survive from the French period. The Km five market is the commercial heart and also the most volatile quarter. Everything in the country radiates from here, and nobody arrives any other way.