Republic of the Congo itineraries: 1 week, 2 weeks and 3 weeks

Match the trip to the time you have. Odzala-Kokoua is package-only: you buy fixed nights at a lodge, and the charter flight is usually part of the package. Everything else you can arrange as you go, but keep the Brazzaville buffer nights.

Start with the Odzala dates, not the flights. Lodge departures are fixed and the charter seats are limited, so pick a package window first, then build the rest of the trip around it. Most travellers fly into Brazzaville, spend two nights there to shake off the journey, and take the charter from the same city.

Then decide whether the coast is worth the extra days. Pointe-Noire is a short domestic flight from Brazzaville and works as a 2–3 night add-on: beaches, the Côte Sauvage, seafood, and day-trips north to Diosso Gorges, Loango and the Tchimpounga chimp sanctuary. If you have two weeks, put Conkouati-Douli after Pointe-Noire for lagoons and beaches.

Book the pieces in this order: lodge package and charter, international flights, domestic flights, then city hotels. Leave a spare night in Brazzaville before your international departure in case a light aircraft is delayed by weather. Arrange the visa at an embassy well ahead, and expect Ebola screening on arrival while the DRC outbreak lasts.

Two nights in Brazzaville, four in Odzala-Kokoua, one night back in the capital. In Brazzaville, the Basilique Sainte-Anne, the Poto-Poto painting school, the Mémorial Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza and Marché Total in Bacongo fill a day comfortably; go to the river rapids in the late afternoon and take a hotel taxi back after dark.

The Odzala nights usually split between Ngaga for western lowland gorilla tracking and Lango or Mboko for the bais, forest walks and river. This is the trip to choose if you have one week and one goal. It is also the most expensive week per day, because the lodge package and charter carry most of the cost.

The 14-day version adds Lésio-Louna, a gorilla reintroduction site with Lac Bleu, as an overnight from Brazzaville, then Odzala, then Pointe-Noire and Conkouati-Douli. Lésio-Louna and Conkouati are operator bookings with fixed dates, like Odzala.

From Pointe-Noire, hire a driver for a full day north: Diosso Gorges, the Loango memorial and museum, and the coast road. Tchimpounga, the chimp sanctuary, takes half a day and needs no overnight. If a flight home from Pointe-Noire exists, use it; otherwise return to Brazzaville the day before departure.

Distances look short on the map and are not: road travel between cities is slow, and the northern parks such as Nouabalé-Ndoki are reached by air via Ouesso, not by driving from Brazzaville. Fly between Brazzaville, Pointe-Noire and the park airstrips.

Carry cash. Cards work in Brazzaville and Pointe-Noire hotels and larger restaurants, but not at markets, small operators or on the road. Budget in Central African CFA francs and keep small notes for tips and drivers.

Pack for heat and rain, plus long sleeves and repellent for the forest. Park departures run in the drier windows, December to March and June to September; the coast is best June to September.