Central African Republic

Check travel advice. Most governments advise against all travel

The advisory position first: the UK Foreign Office and most Western equivalents advise against all travel to the Central African Republic. The country has experienced repeated conflict and coups, armed groups control significant territory, and consular support is extremely limited. This page is reference material.

What CAR holds, largely unvisited, is Dzanga-Sangha in the southwest, part of a trinational protected forest shared with Cameroon and Congo. The Dzanga Bai is a large forest clearing where up to a hundred forest elephants gather at once to drink mineral-rich water, watched from a platform. It is one of the great wildlife spectacles in Africa.

The same reserve has habituated western lowland gorillas and BaAka communities whose knowledge of the forest underpins the research there. Manovo-Gounda St Floris in the north is a UNESCO site placed on the danger list after heavy poaching. The Chutes de Boali near Bangui are substantial waterfalls that were once a weekend destination.

Annual events and festivals

• Independence Day (13 Aug) — marks 1960 independence from France.
• Republic Day (1 Dec) — marking the 1958 proclamation.
• Christmas and Easter (Dec, Mar-Apr) — public holidays in a majority Christian country.
• Eid al-Fitr (varies) — observed by the Muslim minority.
• BaAka polyphonic singing (year round) — complex forest vocal traditions, widely recorded by ethnomusicologists.
• Boganda Day (29 Mar) — honouring the founding father of the nation.
• Traditional harvest ceremonies (Oct-Nov) — rural celebrations following the rains.
• Dzanga Bai elephant gatherings (year round) — not a festival, but the country great natural spectacle.
• Ngbaka and Banda initiation rites (varies) — community coming-of-age ceremonies.
• National Day of Prayer (varies) — marked at the cathedral in Bangui.