Congo Republic Shopping Guide

The markets and shops in the main urban centres of the Congo stock local crafts such as wooden masks, paintings, wooden sculptures and ceramics, the kind of stuff that travellers love to carry back with them. In Brazzaville, the Arts and Crafts Centre at Poto Poto both sells and displays a variety of ethnic crafts made in the country. Also located in the capital are two other markets, the Moungali and Ouendze. For a bit of the chaos, clamour and colour of a typical African marketplace, take a walk down the Avenue Foch and slalom your way past crowded pavements full of hawkers and street vendors. A little distance out of the city of Brazzaville are the open-air markets in the villages of Makana and M'Pila – their specialty is pottery and basketry.