Film produced from the rushes we distribute, made for the first African conference on the management and protection of the Congo River basin.
The second largest river in the world by discharge, after the Amazon, the Congo River is the backbone of central Africa. Over 4,700 kilometres long, it flows through a humid tropical rainforest covering nearly two thirds of the territory of the Republic of Congo — one of the largest forest massifs on the planet, and the world's second green lung after the Amazon.
The river barges — On the Congo River, river transport is a daily reality on a scale difficult to imagine from Europe. Overloaded barges — some assembled from several vessels lashed side by side and pushed by a single tugboat — travel up and down the river for weeks, sometimes months, carrying everything that sustains life in this region : goods, building materials, motorcycles, live herds of animals, and hundreds of passengers who sleep, cook and live on board for the entire duration of the journey. Seen from the air, these barges form absolutely unique visual compositions — part floating city, part Noah's Ark — drifting slowly across the dark waters of the river.
An on-board shoot — To film these barges in 4K from the river itself, we boarded a DJI Inspire 2 drone onto a local vessel, following the river convoys at close range. A logistically complex operation in an environment where nothing is predictable — current, weather, flight authorisation, fuel availability — but one that produced sequences of an intimacy and authenticity impossible to achieve from a helicopter.
Brazzaville and the Loufoulakari Falls — The capital Brazzaville, facing Kinshasa across the river, offers from the air the striking spectacle of two megacities separated by just a few hundred metres of water — the shortest distance between any two capital cities in the world. A few hours' drive to the southwest, the Loufoulakari Falls plunge into a steep gorge at the heart of the savanna, in a landscape contrast typical of southern Congo.
Lake Télé — Deep in the equatorial forest, Lake Télé is one of the most isolated and least accessible lakes in central Africa, surrounded by swamp forest inhabited by populations of gorillas and forest elephants. Its perfectly circular shape, visible from the air, has long fuelled local legends about a lake monster — the Mokele-mbembé.
Oyo and the Alima River — The town of Oyo, on the banks of the Alima River, is one of the staging posts of the north, a departure and arrival point for river convoys heading deep into the interior through a roadless forest.
Pointe-Noire — The country's second city and economic capital, Pointe-Noire concentrates the bulk of Congo's oil and port industry. Seen from the air, its offshore installations, deep-water port and the sprawling urbanisation spreading inland form a striking contrast with the forested expanses of the rest of the country.
Aerial footage was shot using a Cineflex HD system from a helicopter, and in 4K using a DJI Inspire 2 drone operated from local vessels on the river. These two complementary approaches combine the height and stability of helicopter overflights with the close-range intimacy of drone sequences shot at river level.
Aerial footage of Congo
