If I haven’t said this before, allow me to clearly state it, on record, at this time. 

The expatriot community in Kinshasa is freakin’ awesome.

Not only are they sweet as sugar and willing to hang out at the drop of a hat with a random visitor to Kin, but they plan a WICKED party.

If you’ve been following along, you’ll know that my visit to Kinshasa started with Oktoberfest, so it’s only fitting that it end with another party. This time, we’re talking about the KinSandRave2015.

One of *the* things to do in Kinshasa is to go out on a boat on the Congo and check out the sandbars. I was actually pretty nervous that we wouldn’t get to do it, because it’s relatively expensive to charter your own boat for that kind of thing… but LUCKILY the KinSandRave and the Kinshasa party-crew saved the day!

Now, I’m sure you’re thinking… Sand Rave? Really?

Really.

Lawrence, Sean, and a few of their other awesome friends contracted several boats to take us out on the Congo. Not only that, but they orchestrated security, a generator, an entire sound system, tables, chairs, and an insane amount of mixers and beer.

But wait, I’m getting ahead of myself here!

The Sand Rave was scheduled for a Saturday afternoon through a Sunday afternoon, but KT and I weren’t feeling the overnight aspect, especially with the threat of rain. Luckily, a few other people felt the same, so we were able to have a boat prepared that would let us go and just stay for Saturday. Awesome!

We got to the Kinshasa Yacht Club, along with our impressive driver and companion, Azadeh, and we were ready to go! The group milled around for a while as all the details were getting finalized, so KT and I decided to check out the other vessels in the water. Needless to say, the view right off the pier of this seaworthy creature really inspired our confidence in the entire venture…

Worries aside, KT, Azadeh and I ended up on the second boat, which karma rewarded our patience for, since the second boat was a speedboat! We actually ended up beating boat one out to the sandbar, even though they left 45 minutes before we did. Sorry guys!

Once we got to the sandbar, everyone on both boats pitched in to create the party atmosphere from nothing into absolute awesomeness. The carrying seemed endless, but it was totally worth it. Why? Well… there were a lot of amazing things to bring ashore for an overnight sand rave!!

In addition to everyone’s food, towels, bathing suits and overnight camping gear, we even had a SICK “Congolese Cooler” for which I suffered an intense battle wound. Who knew gigantic blocks of ice, when dropped, can tear open your toe? WHOOPS. However, the casualty aside, the top row of drinks did end up cooling before the day-trippers left, and I was able to enjoy a cold vodka sprite or two or three… *innocent whistle*

After everything was set up, we got to chat, snack, drink, swim…and basically anything else relaxing that you can think of, we accomplished. To be honest, we were a little worried when we were heading out on the boat because it’s rained a *lot* recently in the Kinshasa area, and, as it does, when there’s more rain, the water level in the river rises and there are consequently less sandbars. Even though we only were able to find a single party-suitable sandbar in the area we wanted, and it was a bit smaller than everyone wanted, I think it suited us just fine. Hey, it was my first sandbar party, I wasn’t being picky! Plus, it was really awesome way to end my month in the DRC, especially because a few of the good friends I’d made were there, and also because there were lots of new people to meet and connect with as well! Plus, I got to drink with KT within my last 48 hours in the country… can you really beat that?

After several luxurious hours of nothingness, we unfortunately had to hop back on our transport to make it to shore by nightfall. Of course, Kristen, Azadeh and I realized that we hadn’t spent very much time in the water AND we hadn’t taken any photos yet together, so we delayed everyone by about 15 minutes while we splashed around in the Congo and took some lovely glamour shots. Because, well, that’s what we do! We finally had to board the boat back to shore, but we felt much more fulfilled having had those extra fifteen minutes!

As we pulled away from the sandbar, the lighting was excellent, so even my little point and shoot was able to take a few sweet shots.

The ride back to shore was only sliiiiightly terrifying, with hitting a sandbar, the engine shorting out, and nightfall coming more quickly than expected. Somehow though, we made it, and we survived to tell the tales of another day in Kinshasa…