The DRC’s capital city is seldom explored by international tourists. That’s a shame, because this sprawling megatropolis (Sub-Saharan Africa’s second most populous city with 16 million residents) offers the most intoxicating taste of life in the region. On the streets, horns honk at all hours, music drifts out of open windows, and street vendors hawk fragrant stews and sizzling meat skewers. Kin, as the locals call it, is big, loud, and simmering with life.

At the heart of it all, there’s a love of art and culture that has spawned some beautiful street art and excellent galleries. It’s all underpinned by the Académie des Beaux-Arts, an esteemed art school with an impressive sculpture collection. The National Museum of DRC is a must-visit – housed in a mammouth US$10 million building gifted by South Korea – for its 12,000-strong collection of priceless ethnographic objects.

Make time to venture outside of time for some of the most unique experiences in the country – like the Serpents du Congo, an educational snake farm housing the DRC’s most slithery citizens, and Lola ya Bonobo, a sanctuary for adorable orphaned bonobos. North of the city, the mighty Congo River leads you up to the Parc de la vallée de la N’Sele, where you’ll spot lions, impalas, zebras, giraffes, and more native species living almost completely undisturbed by human development.