Bujumbura, capital of Burundi

[brisavoine]

A city rarely heard of, and extremely rarely seen on SSC. Yet Bujumbura (English pronunciation: [ˌbuːdʒəmˈbʊərə]; French pronunciation: [buʒumbuʁa]) is one of the most scenic cities in Africa, located on the shores of Lake Tanganyika, with a rather pleasant climate due to its altitude.

Bujumbura is the capital of Burundi, the twin of Rwanda that didn't go through a genocide contrary to Rwanda, but that has nonetheless experienced lots of ethnic tensions. Bujumbura currently has about 500,000 inhabitants. Here are a few pictures showing this rarely seen city. Pics are from Flickr and from Cédric Kalonji's blog.

The airport:


Inside the airport:




The beaches along Lake Tanganyika:






Gambling!






Bujumbura's cathedral:










You be warned!


Ixelles is a district of Brussels. Some remaining Belgian influence in Bujumbura it seems...




Café Trianon:


"Let's get rid of weapons to avoid tragedies."






In the suburbs: Restaurant Shanghai Chinois. Just in case people don't know Shanghai is located in China.




Swimming at your own risk!


Blue and white taxi:


This is what the blogger Cédric Kalonji, from Kinshasa, wrote on his blog about taxis and public transportation in Bujumbura when he went there on a visit (in a nutshel, they are much more professional and efficient than taxis in Kinshasa, and he wishes he could bring them back with him):

Le transport en commun marche a bujumbura. J’ai cru rêver en voyant qu’il y avait plein de bus, de taxis bus et de taxis. Tous les véhicules de transport doivent avoir la même couleur et le nombre limite des passagers est imprimé visiblement Pas question de dépasser le nombre maximum.

Il suffit de lever le doigt pour voir un taxi tout beau s’arrêter. J’en ai pris un et le conducteur m’a emmené jusqu'à destination tout seul. C’est vraiment différent des taxis de Kinshasa ou il faut se mettre jusqu'à 4 sur la banquette arrière et deux devant à coté du conducteur.

Cool ! J’en profite pleinement et je me demande comment faire pour emmener avec moi ces taxis à Kinshasa.

http://cedric.uing.net/1802/page_d_a...mbura&b_o=DESC

The photos below were taken by Cédric Kalonji during his visit to Bujumbura.

Taxis waiting for customers in front of Bujumbura's central market:






Cows in the city!








Some factory (beer factory?)


Banque de Crédit Burundaise (BCB) :


A 2,000 Burundan franc Telecel telephone card called "juice", which also means electricity/energy in French slang:

[vogriphach]

Interesting!

One of those places we don't get to see often.

[isakres]

Very interesting city, thanx for sharing.......Were those pics taken recently?..cause sometimes reminds me the 80's a lil bit,

[christos-greece]

Interesting and really very nice photos from Bujumbura city of Burundi

[brisavoine]

Originally Posted by isakres

Were those pics taken recently?

Yes, they were taken recently.

[CasaMor]

I have a friend from Burundi studying in Casablanca!
Nice pics!

[tatun]

Fascinating pictures...One of the more obscure places, and I am glad we have some pictures now...Thank you....

[Shezan]

Airport, beaches and Chinois Restaurant are so nice