IMPORTANT NOTICE!
WELCOME, You are in the old website section up to 2011, please click HOME to view the website in the new 2012 design and system. THANK YOU!
WAYNE BATCHELOR in Congo
Published Date
17 September 2009
Home Town in SA
Johannesburg
Now Living in
Lubumbashi, DRC
Occupation
Project Manager
Best Thing About the Country?
The Belgian Club boasts a two lane bowling ally and a ping pong table and there is also a very well kept golf course.
Biggest Cultural Difference?
The unavailability of almost anything – no fast food at 2am after an absolute bender in town! And the main language is French, which is a bummer!
Top Things to Do or See?
1. The DRC is home to the famous Gorillas, a sight to see
2. The Lubumbashi Zoo hosts a range of animals
3. The Grand Karavia Hotel
Article Image
I was born and bred on the Eastrand of the big JHB, schooled in Edenvale, followed by a five year stint at Wits University.
I started working as a project manager in January 2007 and in April this year I was commissioned to build a hotel in Lubumbashi – a small city at the very southern tip of the DRC.
The hotel I am working on is a full refurbishment and extension of an existing seven story hotel built in the early 50s. It is also privileged to be considered one of the five ‘high rise’ buildings in the city.
Things here are quite interesting. The streets are controlled by ‘canneries’ – traffic officers in a yellow and blue uniform using only a whistle in their meek attempt at trying to direct the traffic – which can only be described as absolute anarchy. The house I am staying in is a simple three bedroom place which has a kitchen roughly the size of a small bath and the bedrooms are approximately the size of a small country. I’ve been told that that’s the norm in Lubum!
Images (1)
Prev
Next
