MOBUTU RESIDENCE

Built on a hill in Kawele, 15 km south of Mbandaka, this vast estate was a real jewel, nicknamed "the Versailles of the jungle. Field Marshal Mobutu received most of the big names of the time here in the 1970s and 1980s. Today, parts of the walls are in ruins, stones appear under the vegetation that has taken over. Everything of value has been stripped away and the humid climate has taken care of the rest. This is all that remains of the luxurious residence of the chief in the leopard hat, located in his fiefdom of Gbadolite.