City Without a Map

Added to the list of things I should have done before I arrived in Brazzaville: print out a map of the city from Google Maps. Although I do have internet access at INCEF’s office, the connection is usually so slow that loading large graphics is nearly impossible. So, Google Maps are no good to me now. Nor can I just fire up the map app on my smartphone (I don’t have one here). I am going to have to do this the old-fashioned way.

It quickly became obvious that I was not going to be able to acquire a map after I arrived. The general response most people gave to any question about a map was a short chuckle, followed by a shake of the head. One immediate consequence of this fact is that no one navigates by street name, or any sort of specific address. One’s destination is just “next to” or “near” a well-known landmark or building. It’s very much like getting directions in rural areas of the US: “Just go down the road until the big barn on your left, then take your first right and go until you see a big hill. Then turn left at the blue mailbox.” So, the key question to ask anyone helping you to get around is, “what do I say to the taxi driver in order to get where I am going?” Also, “how do I get back here?” is another good thing to learn.

My usual approach to learning new cities has always been to walk around, get a little bit lost, and find my way back. I got an interesting response from one American expat when I asked about where it would be good to go for a walk: “We don’t usually walk around here.” The “we” in this answer clearly referred to “foreigners,” who don’t usually “walk around” in Brazzaville. A couple of days taking taxi rides around the city to accomplish my first chores provided ample evidence of this fact: lots of people walking, almost no foreigners on foot. Foreigners are not hard to spot, since they are almost always wearing an SUV.

Taking taxis everywhere, however, is both expensive and annoying once it becomes clear that the places I want to go are not really far away. So, yesterday I decided to walk around and have a look at the neighborhood immediately around INCEF’s building. I took my camera, but immediately realized this would be a little bit problematic since the vast majority of buildings in this area are government ministries and foreign embassies – not a good idea (or allowed) to take photos of these structures. The other buildings are homes of wealthy people, whether foreign or Congolese it is impossible to tell. Every building is surrounded by a high wall, which is often topped with broken glass or spikes. Each wall has a gate, and each gate has a gate-keeper or two, sitting on plastic chairs on the sidewalk. Some of these gate-keepers wear uniforms indicating their role as security guards.

For a pedestrian, the net effect of all these walls is to create streets like small canyons, bordered on both sides by virtually unbroken walls. Beautiful, tall trees are visible over the tops of the walls. Sometimes a roof, with its array of satellite dishes, is also visible. People are walking everywhere, although the taxis never fail to remind us pedestrians that they are available to hire by giving a short “bip” on their horn whenever they see someone walking and looking around, which is what I am doing. So, lots of taxi horns are provoked by my slightly aimless wandering.