Djokupunda, also spelt Djoko Punda and known in colonial times as Charlesville, is a small town in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Democratic Republic of the Congo

The Democratic Republic of the Congo is a state located in Central Africa. It is the second largest country in Africa by area and the eleventh largest in the world...

. A Mennonite

Mennonite

The Mennonites are a group of Christian Anabaptist denominations named after the Frisian Menno Simons , who, through his writings, articulated and thereby formalized the teachings of earlier Swiss founders...

 mission of the Congo Inland Mission was founded there in 1912 and became a centre for establishing further missions in the region. The town is close to the upper Kasai River

Kasai River

The Kasai River is a tributary of the Congo River, located in central Africa. The river begins in Angola and serves as the border between Angola and the Democratic Republic of the Congo , then flows into the DRC, where it joins the Congo northeast of Kinshasa. The Kasai's tributaries include the...

, at the limit of navigation on that river, and is connected by dirt tracks to Luebo, 64 km east-north-east and Tshikapa

Tshikapa

Tshikapa is a city in Kasaï District in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The city is located about 40 miles north of the Angolan border and 120 miles west of province capital Kananga at the confluence of the Tshikapa and Kasai rivers. According to records published by the Utrecht University...

, 150 km south. Djokupunda has schools and health clinics but no paved roads and no facilities for travellers.