Qualla: Basankusu https://qualla.com/basankusu en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:29 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/s/2/n/n/basankusu-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Basankusu https://qualla.com/basankusu Basankusu: Introduction https://qualla.com/basankusu/ Photo credit Francis Hannaway, Public domain. The boat journey from Kinshasa takes several weeks. Seven hundred kilometers of river, passengers crammed onto barges, sometimes riding on top of the logs being pushed downstream. If a barge breaks down -- and breakdowns are frequent -- travelers may have to sell everything they own just to buy food while they wait. This is how you reach Basankusu, a town at the confluence of the Maringa and Lopori rivers in the Equateur Province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. There are no paved roads. The metal Bailey bridges that span the ravines around town are rusting and collapsing. Motor vehicles are rare. And yet Basankusu matters -- to primatologists tracking bonobos, to dog breeders seeking purebred Basenjis, and to epidemiologists who traced the first human case of monkeypox to this remote stretch of forest.

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Image: Francis Hannaway | Public domain

]]> Tue, 24 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/2/n/n/basankusu-wp/s2nn-basankusu-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Basankusu: Life at the Confluence https://qualla.com/basankusu/ Photo credit Francish7, CC BY-SA 3.0. The Mongo people are the dominant group in Basankusu, and their Bantu language, Lomongo, carries the community's proverbs and customs. Lingala serves as the lingua franca across tribal lines, while French -- a legacy of Belgian colonialism -- is spoken in schools and government o...

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Image: Francish7 | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Tue, 24 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/2/n/n/basankusu-wp/s2nn-basankusu-life-at-the-confluence.mp3 0:06 2 full Basankusu: The Barkless Dogs of the Congo https://qualla.com/basankusu/ Photo credit Francis Hannaway, CC BY-SA 3.0. Walk through Basankusu and you will likely encounter a Basenji -- a small, elegant hunting dog with erect ears, a tightly curled tail, and a sound unlike any other breed. Instead of barking, Basenjis produce yodels, howls, and undulating vocalizations sometimes called a barroo, t...

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Image: Francis Hannaway | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Tue, 24 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/2/n/n/basankusu-wp/s2nn-basankusu-the-barkless-dogs-of-the-congo.mp3 0:06 3 full Basankusu: Bonobos and the Vanishing Forest https://qualla.com/basankusu/ Photo credit Francis Hannaway, CC BY-SA 4.0. Basankusu sits at the western edge of the Maringa-Lopori-Wamba Landscape, a 74,000-square-kilometer conservation area that is home to the bonobo, humanity's closest living relative alongside the chimpanzee. The landscape harbors at least eleven species of diurnal primates, includ...

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Image: Francis Hannaway | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Tue, 24 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/2/n/n/basankusu-wp/s2nn-basankusu-bonobos-and-the-vanishing-forest.mp3 0:06 4 full Basankusu: Scars of War and Neglect https://qualla.com/basankusu/ Photo credit Francish7, CC BY-SA 3.0. During the military conflict of 1998 to 2003, the Movement for the Liberation of Congo captured Basankusu, cutting it off from trade and aid. The takeover on November 29, 1999 was quick and bloodless, but food was seized from household gardens. The broader consequences have been ...

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Image: Francish7 | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Tue, 24 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/2/n/n/basankusu-wp/s2nn-basankusu-scars-of-war-and-neglect.mp3 0:06 5 full