Emilio in Congo (DRC)

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Photography

Photos again – March 2021 – Kisantu, Matadi, Muanda

More DRC photos taken on the road between Kinshasa, Matadi, Kisantu, Muanda in March and April 2021. Enjoy 🙂 On the road between Kinshasa and Muanda, there are trucks, motorbikes, customs officials, police, toll gates. There isn’t much harassment if you’re lucky and don’t upset anyone… Motorbikes on the road Hills on the way to…

by K Emilio Noorani

More photos of Kinshasa and surroundings

I was able to take a few photographs of Kinshasa from various places without getting harassed. Here they are. I hope you like them! Some are from Chacha, a rooftop bar in Gombe. Others are from Mon Béguin another rooftop bar in Gombe (with a yellow sunset) There’s also a picture of a colourful weird…

by K Emilio Noorani

More photos of Kinshasa during Covid

More photos of Kinshasa during the curfew/Covid… Things haven’t changed much. Just masks, get home before 9pm. Parties start earlier now. Bars and restaurants are changing their hours. No one wants to sit at home.

by K Emilio Noorani

Golf

Golfing in Lubumbashi

The Democratic Republic of Congo. Wars. Corruption. Power problems. Crazy traffic. Water scarcity. Poverty. But there are also other things: generous, kind and helpful people, music, art, culture, nature, history and so many more beautiful things that are often overlooked. One of them will surprise you. It is the Lubumbashi golf course.

by K Emilio Noorani

Nicaragua

Pictures in Nicaragua again 2 – Gran Pacifica, Leon, Granada

Hey! Welcome to another wonderful post of mine! I’ll go through a few insights or information about the holiday resort Gran Pacifica and some pictures of the Cathedral in Leon and the islands of Granada. Gran Pacifica is a golf and beach resort with a beach front with houses and apartments for sale and for…

by K Emilio Noorani

South Africa

A day in Johannesburg and Pretoria

I drove around on a Monday to three popular sites: Zoo lake in Rosebank, the Union buildings and the Voortrekker monument in Pretoria. All of them were eerily quiet. I took these pictures.

by K Emilio Noorani

Restaurants and guides to the DRC

Recommended bars and restaurants in Kinshasa

Here are a few places I recommend in Kinshasa. You will quickly figure out that there aren’t too many places to go too but some are nice but somewhat overpriced compared to other places in the world! Avoid them when they are crowded! Try to go during office hours or really early. Most can…

by K Emilio Noorani

A list of NGOs and other organisations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

There are thousands of non-profits, for-profits, non-governmental organizations, foreign and national programs to help the DRC out of poverty, to end wars, to stop malnutrition or to end corruption (among many other projects). Here is a non-exhaustive list of various NGOs and for-profit projects that are or have done significant work in the country…

by K Emilio Noorani

Graffiti tour of Kinshasa

Have you seen graffiti in Kinshasa? Don’t think there is? Think again! Here are a few I saw around Kinshasa in Bandal. The artists I met, Chris and Malco, do it out of love for the art and need more fans and supporters. Drive around Kasavubu in Bandal on a Sunday to see these.…

by K Emilio Noorani

Luki rainforest biosphere near Boma

Last weekend, with some friends, L and T, we went to a rainforest biosphere or reserve called Luki near Boma in the Democratic Republic of Congo. We drove from Kinshasa on Saturday morning. We arrived at around 8pm in Mangala/Luki after several calls to find the place. It took us 12-13 hours with an…

by K Emilio Noorani

Music

Zamrock and Sahara blues

I discovered Zamrock today! So amazing! Thank you to the YouTube algorithm! From Wikipedia : “Zamrock is a musical genre that emerged in the 1970s in Zambia. It is…

by K Emilio Noorani

About me

Why do I write?

Why do I write? I don’t know. I guess I like it. Getting those thoughts on paper. Sharing ideas. Sharing thoughts. Trying to make sense of my life. Trying to write down messy ideas.

by K Emilio Noorani

“Where are you from?”

This question gets asked a lot when I meet someone new. I have many versions of the answer depending on the person asking, my mood or the immediate environment. I can’t seem to answer the same thing every time. Why is this question important in the first place? Why is it asked? Is my accent…

by K Emilio Noorani

Why I left the “West”

I wanted to leave the west so much that I left Canada even before properly finishing my studies. Don’t worry, I finished remotely!

It’s not that I didn’t like it. I enjoyed my studies, my friends and generally liked my life over there. But I wasn’t happy. Or rather, I wasn’t satisfied. I was bored.…

by K Emilio Noorani

A short summary of my family’s history in Congo

Everyone calls me Emilio but my full name is Khalid Emilio. It’s Khalid because I’m of Indian descent and also Nicaraguan on my mother’s side. My father and his father (my grandfather), Sultan, came to the Belgian Congo in the 1950s with his brothers Badhur and Sadru. They were among the first Indian Ismailis (Nizari)…

by K Emilio Noorani

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