Landscaping the Gardens of the Presidential Palace at Gbadolite, DRC

Contributed by Koenie van der Walt

The well known horticulturist Keith Kirsten had a weekly television program on South African TV during the mid 1980s. Keith Kirsten was contacted by the Managing Director of a well know SA Company, asking if he would be interested in doing the landscaping of the gardens at the palace of President Mobuto Sese Seko at Gbadolite on the banks of the Congo River in the north of the former Zaire, now the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

We attended several meetings in Johannesburg, representing Safair during tat October. It was in either 1987 or 1988 I can’t be absolutely sure of the year. It was determined that there would be a “few” flights from Johannesburg, via Walvis Bay and Kinshasa, to Gbadolite. We were to carry all kinds of goods but mainly plants for Keith to use for his landscaping project.

Initially the “few” flights was set to be about 4 or 5 trips. We decided to base our quotation on using the only L100-20, ZS-GSK to perform this operation. ZS-GSK was the first aircraft in the Safair fleet, and unlike the rest of the fleet, it was a -20 and not a -30, meaning it had 1 pallet position less than the -30s.

We presented our proposal and a few days later and were informed that we had the contract to carry the cargo to Gbadolite. The only challenge was that the landscaping project had to be finished before Christmas due to the fact that President Mobuto had invited various dignitaries, including several Presidents, to his palace at Gbadolite for Christmas.

The first flight departed in November and the four or five flights increased well into the twenties. At a very late stage Mbuto decided he also needed a chicken hatchery to be added to the project. This operation was completed successfully with the last flight on the 23^rd December carrying live adult chickens, week-old chicks and eggs for the President to impress his guests at Christmas!