T his was the view from the terrace of my house in Kinshasa, in what was then known as Zaïre but is now the Democratic (!) Republic of the Congo, 1n 1972.
We watched the moods of the river night and day, calm and stormy, every day for three years. This is at one of the river's widest points at what used to be called Stanleypool, which as you know very well was named after the famed explorer/journalist Henry Morton Stanley.
Normally overrun by the voraciously invasive water hyacinth, this is a portrait of the Congo at her mildest. Over there on the horizon is the city of Brazzaville, the capital of the Republic of the Congo. I guess they're not democratic. That was founded by some French guy named Henri de Brazza, if my history serves me well.
Imagine that for a view from your back yard.
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