Photo of the Day

people aboard the Kwema Express traveling the Congo River
September 12, 2015

Engine Trouble

Travel on the Congo River, which flows through the world’s second largest tropical forest, requires patience. Progress can be as slow as a few miles an hour. Barges get stuck in silt. Engines break down. Time inches by. Here, engine trouble and other mishaps delay the Kwema Express during its voyage. After eight months the barge finally reached Kisangani in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

See more pictures from the October 2015 feature story “Lifeblood.”

Photograph by Pascal Maitre, National Geographic

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