13.3.2010 – Day 84 – Sonongolo, DRC
The 5 of us left Kinshasa this morning at 6.30 to beat the rush hour. The drive out was quiet and easy. I’ve been here a few days, but Kinshasa I’ve seen doesn’t equate to the 14 million mega-city I’d expected. We headed down a good road through grassy rolling hills toward the Angolan border. After a couple of hours we pulled over by the3 side of the road for a stretch, water and toilet stops. As we were getting ready for off again, I put the key into the ignition of the bike, turned the key, pressed the starting switch. Immediately a small puff of black smoke blew from under the ignition and the bike wouldn’t start. There was a clear smell of an electric burn. In an instant my mind flicked through the probable future – burnt out electrics, say goodbye to the others, find a truck to Kinshasa for the bike, go to Yamaha garage, get diagnosis, fly out parts, deal with customs, get bike fixed then start out for Angola again in a couple of weeks time. Nightmare!
I pushed my bike under a tree and talked about it to Rouven (mechanic) and Daniel (an electrical engineer). They told me to try and start the engine again. Miraculously it started once, started twice and didn’t smoke. Unbelievable! It must have been all the rain affecting the ignition causing a one-off spark. What a relief!
This part of the DRC has much more in common with the rest of Africa than Kinshasa 0 bustling little market towns: friendly, colourful and loud. Tonight we are staying in the small Catholic Mission. We spend the afternoon sleeping under a tin roof shelter, shading ourselves from the sun. The village is small and spread out with a network of muddy dirt roads connecting all corners. We found the bar later in the day which a lad opened for us to get warm cokes. We couldn’t find shops apart from the tiny mobile phone credit shop in a 2m x 2m reed shack. Everything in Africa is micro-distributed – coke is delivered to slums by hand cart, water is sold by the bag from the side of the road, fuel is sold by the bottle, electricity comes from generators, photocopying is done from a photocopy machine ON the street, a public phone is a mobile phone on a table under a parasol, a taxi is just a shared car, laughing cow cheese can be bought by the slice and hotels can be rented by the hour.
14.3.2010 – Day 85 – Tomboko, Angola
We’re staying in another Catholic Mission tonight, but in a new country! At a time when the Catholic Church is getting such bad press, coming to these missions shows Christianity at its best. Most are simple places, often in a compound which sometimes have rooms. Last night and tonight we’re not charged to use the bedrooms, although we like to give a donation. Some of the missions are in pretty remote settings and being welcomed in by a smiling priest feels like coming home. I particularly like the priests’ shirts here. The cut and print of the shirts are in traditional African style but the prints depict Christian themes – perhaps the local diocese with photo prints of the bishop integrated into the design.
The roads today have been mostly dirt. The first 80km or so was single track and a little rough. After a short section of Chinese built tarmac road (they do get everywhere!) it was first graded gravel road. Unfortunately, later in the day there was a huge thunder storm with the loudest bang of thunder I’ve ever heard. The rain in itself is fine but it makes the dirt roads very difficult at times. It’s still raining tonight. I really hope tomorrow’s roads are going to be OK.
The border crossing into Angola was easy but very slow. We were told the border would open at 7.30am but although most of the officials were on time, the important dudes rolled up at 9.30 in a merc with all the stamps and paperwork. It’s a bit of a problem really, as we only have a 5 day transit visa for Angola and with the late border opening and rain this afternoon we are already behind schedule.
Angola is a very friendly place. In the scattered villages amongst the rolling green grassy hills, most people wave and smile – amazing really for a country that has had a 40 year civil war which only finished just 8 years ago. Most of the older buildings seem to be derelict, covered in bullet holes or both. There is very little here but all the buildings of any size are new (garages, schools, offices, etc). The war must have taken a terrible toll on the country. I spotted my first shot down Russian helicopter today – but I couldn’t get a close look as we’re back in landmine country. Better get used to peeing on the road again then!
15.3.2010 – Day 86 – Luanda, Angola
Every muscle in my body aches. I’m tired and exhausted but happy. We set off this morning in the North of Angola at 6am. We arrived at an extremely expensive hotel in Luanda at 8pm: a 14 hour day. It seemed like all day thunder clouds surrounded us, but miraculously we never really got wet. Today I’ve motorbiked virtually ever possibly surface – let’s see: sand, deep sand, wet sand, graded gravel, ungraded gravel, compacted mud, wet mud, puddles, tarmac, broken tarmac, pot-holed tarmac, oh yes, and deep mud, corrugations and no road at all!
The countryside here is rather empty, I’m guessing partly due to the war emptying out the people into the safer cities. There is some wildlife though: snakes, monkeys, a multitude of birds and butterflies and some rodent-type things that I’ve got no clue what they are!? Most of the big wildlife was killed off during the war and today I saw a guy with a gun trying to kill off the rest of the animals – he had 3 monkey-type things (dead of course) around his neck. The few towns we passed through were desperate-looking places – again all old buildings were either riddled with bullet holes or burnt out and destroyed. We stopped at a small market for bread and avocado in one of these towns. A young pregnant lady came to talk to us. 2 guys with sticks and wearing the emblems of the Angolan Government started shouting and threatening her. Andrea put herself between them to try and calm things down. Next, when we were topping up our tanks with wine bottles of petrol from a house by the road, another guy came over acting like Jaja Binks, speaking a mixture of Portugese and English – he wasn’t right in the head at all. Both sets of men seemed unpredictable and volatile. The first 2 were how I’d imagine Mugabe’s ex rebel fighters – new heavies for the Government – maybe these guys were similar? What does 40 years of civil war do to a nation?
There is a lot of infrastructure going in at the moment in Angola – but Angola is starting really from year zero – there must have been absolutely nothing left after the war in this part of Angola. These men to me seemed like they had traumatic stress disorder – and I’m not surprised. One guy I met today told me he was glad I was visiting Angola. He wanted me to tell people at home how people suffer here. From what I’ve seen, I’d say he’s spot on. The houses in this bit of Angola are the most simple affairs – either sticks made into a frame then in-filled with mud or just made out of grass. There is rustic and beautiful, then there is the downright desperate. It seems in many of these African countries it doesn’t seem to be a problem for the police to drink on the job – it sure makes them chatty anyway!
16.3.2010 – Day 87 – Huambo, Angola
For the first time on this trip I’ve allowed myself the excitement to think I’ll actually finish my dream of crossing Africa. Southern Africa is feeling very close now and it feels like we’re leaving the lush green and steamy equatorial regions. I’m painfully aware though that ever day brings its dangers and one wrong move and the trip would be over. The traffic is the biggest hazard. This morning being particularly frightening while leaving Luanda – some drivers are absolute lunatics: idiots. The road sides and roads themselves are littered with old and new wreckage from horrific high speed accidents, despite the roads today being very quiet and in superb condition. We did another big push today, trying to get to the border before our 5 day transit visa expires. By mid morning we had climbed up onto the central plateau – a fantastically beautiful green landscape peppered with rock towers and hillocks.
The new tarmac road sweeps between the huge vistas – just stunning riding. Thunder storms were never far away today, sometimes in the distance, once catching the edge of a big downpour, and once we got a full soaking in the eye of the storm. Angola is difficult to understand – especially on such a fleeting visit. Today we passed more poor villages and passed towns with buildings covered with bullet holes or simply blown up during the war, but things here in the centre of the country are much better. So much infrastructure has been built since the cease-fire in 2002. 5 star hotels sit side by side with demolished war torn buildings. Highways have been built, banks opened, restaurants sell Moet and bridges are being repaired. I wonder if it is any coincidence that the Northern rebels lost the war and now live in an area with virtually nothing, while the centre and south are getting huge investment and help?
I’m enjoying Angola and its people – even if I don’t really understand what’s going on: it’s just a shame you can’t go wandering due to all the land mines. Oh – today we found the first fuel station in Angola (mostly filling up with black market petrol from bottles until now). It’s a bit confusing – diesel is called gaseleo and petrol is gasoelin! Diesel has a green pump handle and sticker and petrol has orange. Very confusing when you only speak Portugese sign language!
17.3.2010 – Day 88 – Lubango, Angola
I’m so tired tonight, I can hardly bring myself to write the diary. Another 12 hard hours of biking. Most of the miles were on fantastic new roads but mush of the time was spent bumping down dirt roads and half prepared new roads. Again, the landscapes are just fabulous. Huge rock towers push out of the ground. I really am struggling – so I’ll keep it brief. This part of Angola makes me feel like we are already in Namibia – or is it Portugal? So much infrastructure going in. OK – must sleep – last big push toward the border tomorrow on the last day of the visa! Nighty night.
PS – broke the video camera today – both cameras now damaged!
18.3.2010 – Day 89 – Oshikango, Namibia
Well, we got out of Angola just in time not to over-run our 5 day visa and into Namibia just before the border closed for the day. It’s been 5 long hard days, but Angola continued to surprise us. It really is a country on the move. Most people live in desperate poverty, but infrastructure is being put in at a hell of a rate. The north of the country seemed like a pretty desperate place, but the rest of the country looks like it’s on the up. The people are amazingly up beat, friendly and proud of their country. The Portuguese are back in force, regaining the position they had before the war. The Chinese are here also – like in much of Africa – I get the feeling that Angola will be a place of great change in the next 20 years.
We travelled 2000km down the entire length of the country – in the North rain forest and tropical grass lands and the central plateau (so beautiful) and the more arid south. Angola surprised us every day – such a place of contrasts – the cheapest fuel in Africa (but none at the pumps) and the most expensive hotels. We travelled on fabulous new tarmac roads and spent hours toiling on dreadful dirt roads with the Portuguese influence. Some towns remind me of spaghetti westerns or lovely red tile-roofed villages from the Portuguese countryside. Things are changing so fast.
I spoke to a Portuguese man who arrived back in Huambo in 2002 after the civil war had finished. He told me that there were only 3 cars in town at the time. Now there are literally thousands ploughing the streets. It’s a shame I only had 5 days for Angola, but at the same time I’m glad to be in Namibia and out of the bureaucratic web that surrounds travel through most of Africa.
I’ve arrived in the part of Africa that I remember and love and I’m looking forward to spending time here as well as showing Tracy around when I meet her down in Cape Town in 10 to 12 days times. So, first thing tomorrow? Buy some biltong! Yum!
Friday 26 March 2010
Congo into Democratic Republic of Congo
I've been editing most diary entries but this one is coming to you untampered-with - partly because I don't have much time or energy, but mostly because each entry is so fascinating (well, I think so!). So take your time - maybe you won't read it all in a one-er (it's rather long) - and enjoy it.
Angola will follow in hot pursuit and I can confirm that Andrew has already passed through Namibia into South Africa today having hand-fed a wart hog last night and been within 4 metres of a cheetah - he said he's "in heaven'! He is less than a week from Cape Town and the finish at the Cape itself. I'm flying out to meet him next week (!!) and so the final diary entries will probably be posted from out there...but the story's not over yet! So stay with us and enjoy the last few countries of his epic journey! - editor.
7.3.2010 – Day 78 – Brazzaville
It was an easy 70km into Brazzaville this morning on good tarmac (thank you European Union and French for building it). The locals don’t see to like the French ex-colonial power – but they have just built them the best road in the country. Brazzaville represents the start of the last major hurdle in bureaucracy between us and Cape Town. OK – so we are in Congo, we have a DRC visa (next country – just across the river), we have no Angolan Visa. We don’t need a Namibian or South African visa. Brazzaville’s Angola Embassy doesn’t issue Angolan visas. They tell you to get a transit visa in DRC. DRC won’t let you in unless you have an Angolan visa! Catch 22.
So tomorrow we start the battle to get from here, across the Congo River into DRC, get an Angolan visa, transit Angola (quickly) to get to Namibia, South Africa and the Cape. The big problem really is that the Angolan visa is the hardest to get in Africa.
On the way into town we scoped out the Angolan Embassy ready for Monday morning. Just as we were pulling over a landrover pulled up beside us. It was a French couple, Luke and Miriam, who are living in Brazzabille. Luke is in Congo training the Congolese Police force. At home in France they are keen motorcyclists and within minutes of meeting they had invited us to stay at their home for the night. They were both heading out for the afternoon, but first they escorted us into centre ville. The town (capital) was almost devoid of people and traffic – it was Sunday and shops were closed, but the whole place seemed weirdly devoid of life. The French left us at the boat club on the banks of the Congo River. It’s an enormous river – perhaps 3 mils across. On the way into town we passed some rapids, which with this amount of water flowing, looked truly intimidating.
The Boat Club is an ex-pat playground – there’s a restaurant with tables overlooking the river, a constant stream of new 4x4s training in and out and bunches of mainly-Europeans, Arabs and North Africans playing about in power boats and on jet bikes. There are a few people in Congo with masses of cash and millions of people with nothing.
We spent all afternoon at a table in the shade watching the comings and goings of this little oasis of wealth. Just next to the landing ramp, outside the Boat House land, local men hung around in the shade of trees, dug out fishing boats came and went with perhaps 3 people paddling, standing up with long pointed wooden paddles. The difference between the poverty of the locals and the wealth and decadence of the Boat House customers was extreme – it was about the biggest contrast and contradiction I think I’ve ever seen.
This evening at Luke and Miriam’s house Luke was telling us more about Congo. He said that during the civil war there was no food, electricity, transport, roads – nothing – except … beer! A strategic decision was made to distribute beer throughout the country to keep a constant supply to the people. The thought was that if people couldn’t buy beer, they’d defect to the rebels! Since the official end of the war there has been an arms amnesty. For each AK47 handed in, 150,000 francs was rewarded to the giver. The problem is, people started buying AK47s from the DRC at a cheaper rate than the amnesty pay out – so a mini arms trade developed! Luke also spoke about the roads. West of the capital is a fantastic stretch of new road for 75km, heading toward the ex Ninja Rebels’ strong hold (the route we came). The road stops just 5 miles from the capital and deteriorates into a dusty dirt pot-holed mess. The thought is that if the Ninjas attack Brazzaville, the bad road should slow the rebels down enough for the Congolese army to react (read – wake up and sober up).
8.3.2010 – Day 79 – Brazzaville
We headed out to the Angolan Embassy first thing to be told we couldn’t get an Angolan visa in Congo. We next headed to Congo immigration to see if we could get a Congo visa, so that we can show the DRC immigration our intent to exit their country, to avoid being turned back at the border. We were told we couldn’t get another visa, but the chief of immigration gave us his mobile number and told us to call him if we had trouble entering DRC and he would explain to them. We went down to the port to buy tickets for this afternoon’s crossing by ferry over the Congo River to DRC. It turns out that it’s ‘International Womens’ Day’ and the ferry won’t be running! So we try again tomorrow.
This afternoon was spent buying food, drinking coffee and trying to find decent internet, which he did find in the end in the ‘Centre Cultural Frances’. Two observations about the people in Congo … as well as the women wearing beautiful printed dresses in bright vibrant colours, many women also wear wigs. I knew that hair is a big thing in Africa, with plaiting, braiding, combing, dyeing and extensions all being popular - but I didn’t realise how popular wigs are. At first you don’t really notice, but when you get your eye in you start seeing them everywhere and in all sorts of styles. The wigs are really quite convincing. The men are also well dressed, with some of the richer men looking particularly dapper. Some of the outfits look like they come straight out of the 1970s and 80s American gangster movies. Some of the clothes worn include: pastel coloured slacks and jackets, flat caps, big sunglasses, cold jewellery, black and white shoes (spats), white suits, sequined hats (trilby and wide brimmed). It may look quite odd to our European style of dress, but I think they look particularly cool.
So, the 3 things that could create a Congo cliché are: good beer, good music and good clothes. By the way, there is a common belief here that most of the world’s music originates from the slaves that came from Congo. This includes Blues, Jazz, Rhumba and Rock and Roll.
This evening we had a recommendation for a restaurant in Brazzaville “Madam Momos”. The taxi couldn’t find it, which isn’t surprising as Madam Momos is just Madam Momo’s house, down a dark dirt residential street. She has no signage outside. Her garden is full of trees from which much of the food you eat comes from. Candlelit tables are beneath the trees on the compacted earth. Madam Momo welcomes you with a kiss on each cheek, then proceeds to fill your table with endless dishes of traditional Congolese food. Absolutely delicious. We had salad, peanut chicken, fish (Capitan) with sauce, fried rice, fried banana, bread and fruit that was similar to lychee but larger. She then comes and sits with you to make sure you’ve eaten enough like any good Italian mother would do – what a treat! After the meal she walked us down to the main road and hailed a taxi home for us – what a wonderful lady.
9.3.2010 – Day 80 – Kinshasa, DRC
Well, I’m in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The ferry across the river to Kinshasa is supposed to leave at 12 noon from Brazzaville, but crossing and the bureaucracy at each side is said to be an all-day affair, even though the crossing only takes 30 minutes. We set off from Luke and Miriams house at 8.30 for the port. There, we met the “Oasis Overland” truck on their journey through Africa on the Western route. There’s now only 2 companies who do the full Africa trup – Oasis and the Company I met in the Presbyterian mission in Yaounde, Cameroon.
We got out passport stamped by immigration, carnet stamped at customs and had a police check with more stamps. We couldn’t buy tickets until the ferry arrived from Kinshasa so we just hung around undercover, watching the rain get heavier – it never stopped all day. The ferry is a small roll on, roll off flat bed affair, which unsurprisingly looks worse for wear. As soon as the ferry docked, hundreds of people came running off onto the portside in what can only be called a stampede – totally frenzied with screams of delight and running, jumping people. It seemed like almost 1/3 of the passengers were blind, being led by a helper. Were they travelling looking for miracles and medicine? Or was it a scam – disabled people travel for free?
Many of the people transporting goods were polio victims with large handcycled wheelchairs full of sacks of materials being pushed by able bodied porters. There are virtually no vehicles on the ferry – all the goods are ‘run’ on and off the boat by a fleet of porters, who I swear must have been on drugs. Boarding, like everything else today was predictably chaotic and for a long time after, goods were still being run off the ferry. When it was time to leave, a line of police lined the gangway to the ferry. They had battons at the ready. As porters continued to try to take goods off, they would give them a beating with the battons.
The intensity of the experience is hard to convey – we even thought it was manic after months in west and central Africa. Unfortunately you can’t take any pictures as the officials would be more than happy to confiscate your camera. On board was money changing, gambling, arguments, dancing and selling, but mostly shouting. We had already decided between us what ‘our story’ was going to be for the immigration in DRC. We have heard of people being turned back to Congo because they haven’t got an Angolan visa (like us). We had arranged simply to say we were “going back to Congo!” after a weeks stay in Kinshasa.
The Kinshasa port was hectic until we got into the immigration office where we had the first hour’s wait. The office was 7 feet x 7 feet with 2 desks and 10 people inside. The guy in charge was wearing a pinstriped suit, blue shirt, pink tie and loads of gold jewellery – I wonder why? Young women occasionally walked in and the official handed them money, or an envelope from his desk – perhaps they were a mixture of family, friends and mistresses. We had the full question and answer thing, with all details written down by the admin guys on pieces of A4 paper. The passports were taken away, our thankfully came back eventually, with stamps, but the oasis team leader, with 23 passports was told their DRC visas they bought in Yaounde were invalid because the Embassy used the wrong visa number sequence! That visa cost them 100 Euros each. The obviously corrupt official told them that they would have to buy new visas as $60 each or be deported. Asked if they could phone the Embassy in Yaounde, he obviously said no!
After a carnet stamp and a yellow fever check we were told we had to pay ₤20 to get our bikes disinfected before we could leave. Somehow I don’t think the locals pay this fee! We’re now in the Catholic mission in Kinshasa. The room looks like it is from an old sanatorium. In fact, tonight I’m sleeping on a hospital bed. So – now only an Angolan transit visa separates us from the Cape.
PS – well I headed out this evening 100m down the road to a supermarket for a meal in the café there. Even going this far at night has a risk of mugging, so we emptied our pockets prior to leaving. We left the mission with its 12 foot perimeter wall decorated with razor wire to an unlit mud road. Only 2 teenagers approached us, and when we ignored them they told us to ‘F*!k o*!’.
The supermarket is such a huge culture shock from the port and mud streets and poverty. Some of the Kinshasan elite were there buying premier cru classe Bordeaux, $50 boxes of chocolates and $12 boxes of Kellogs Special K. You could buy an iPhone or a home cinema centre, but it would cost the earth. This is the crazy thing about Africa – most people have no money and go hungry while the elite have more money than sense. I’ve only just arrived in Kinshasa with its 14 million people, but at first appearances it looks like a possible future image of Africa. A huge city with a growing population, it has great wealth but more poverty, where the people with nothing are excluded and the only way to aspire is through crime. The rich live in luxury prisons, paying huge prices for the privilege and the poor live a disenfranchised life in the streets and slums. The have nots are the locals, whereas the elites are the black politicians, North Africans, Middle easterners and Europeans.
For your interest, this is what the Lonely Planet says about the DRC and Kinshasa:
“More of a geographic concept than a fully fledged nation. The nation’s history reads like something out of Dante’s Inferno – from the brazen political folly of King Leopold in Belgium, to the hideously corrupt kleptocracy of maverick meglomanic Mobutu and the blood stained battle grounds of Africa’s first world war … (Kinshasa) built upon the banks of the Congo River and infested with shabby shanty towns and myriad opportunist con merchants masquerading as street salesmen, this polluted megalopolis couldn’t be called pretty by anyone. Kinshasa could be worth a brief if tentative visit by the brave and well-travelled explorer armed with a close eye on security and a true sense of adventure”. Sound nice? Let’s see what tomorrow brings!
10.3.2010 – Day 81 – Kinshasa, DRC
Well, one more day in Kinshasa and I haven’t been mugged yet. I’m starting to treat this city like any other African city now, with a few changes – notably not carrying anything but cash on me into the streets. NGO scare stories are always too full of fear it seems. The one thing you can’t do very easily here though is take photos – as soon as a camera comes our people start shouting and police will come running, so I’m afraid no photos of Kinshasa either.
This morning’s job was to collect letters of recommendation from the Swiss and German embassies for Rouven, Christine, Daniel and Andrea. I was outside the German embassy waiting for Rouven and Christine in the leafy tree-lined street. It was relatively quiet bar a few land cruisers and the odd pedestrian. 3 ladies dressed well, one with a child on her back walked by carrying bags in their hands. A young lad of about 10 was walking next to them, intent on stealing. One of the women swung her handbag and hit him. The next thing I saw was a young man walk up and punch the boy twice straight in the face. I don’t know whether the young man was helping out hoping for money, or just helping out, but it was vicious. No one even batted an eyelid. Violence in Africa seems so close to the surface, just waiting to bubble over. In the UK that young man would have been arrested. Here, the incident was hardly noticed and certainly no one cared. I’ve seen more aggression and violence on this trip than I ever have before; I don’t know what to make of it. I can’t help but think about the 3.8 million people that were killed in the recent civil war here. Maybe one of the reasons many people enjoy travelling through Africa is that they just don’t understand it. I certainly don’t understand the inequality, violence and the apparent disregard the elite and authorities have over the rest of the people. It seems people just need to fight to survive – I don’t know really.
Well, we’ve eventually submitted our Angolan visa applications at the Angolan embassy after being told that we could have to wait 6 more days before we could submit. Christine used her French language and charm to convince the Angolan official to let us submit today – thank god! So we were told to come and collect our passports tomorrow at 12 – let’s hope they have the visas in them!
So Kinshasa isn’t as dark and scary as it first sounded – and this part of town is surprisingly pleasant. But you still have to have your wits about you to avoid being got by the muggers or the police (sometimes one and the same). That said though, this corrupt system can work both ways. I met a biker in town who is stuck here for a couple of weeks while his bike is fixed. He told me he got stopped by the police on his bike in town. The office charged him ₤100. After ½ an hour of chatting and negotiation he got the fine down to 2 cold beers, which the police man drank whilst on duty, by the side of the road. Could be an alternative to 3 points and a ₤60 fine back at home?
12.3.2010 – Day 83 – Kinshasa, DRC
Today was dominated by trying to get /collect the Angola visa. We were told to arrive at the Embassy at 12 noon – so of course arrives early at 11.30. We were almost immediately told that we should come back at 1.30. So we sat around in the shade by a few shops picking up bits of street food for lunch. We were joined by the other 2 tourists in town trying to pick up Angolan visas – 2 cyclists – Hans from Switzerland and Rob from the UK. Hans has been cycling for a number of years and has already cycled Asia and the Americas and now wants to cycle all the African countries. He’s a funny guy who’s a bit dower – not helped by him suffering from malaria, but this doesn’t stop the swearing.
Rob is a Ben Fogle/Mark Beaumont cross. He sports a terrific 5 month beard which has has grown during his extreme triathlon through Africa. He cycled from Cirencester to Gibraltar, swam (6 ½ hours) to Morocco, he’s now cycling Africa and will finish with the famous Comrades Ultra Marathon in Durban, South Africa.
Street food is sold from the heads of the vendors. Each type of ‘head shop’ is advertised by a sound. The baguette sandwich man taps his knife against his plastic bowl on this head. The grocery store on head man twangs an elastic band. Even the shoe shine boy clicks 2 pieces of wood together to let you know he’s coming by. We just sat and waited for the right food and drink shops to arrive. At 1.30, we sat outside the embassy again and we were soon ushered out of the mid day heat to the VIP reception room. White skin, for better or worse, still sets you apart, giving you privileges in this case. We sat on the white leather sofas watching French news on TV in the comfort of AC for the next tense 2.5 hours. Eventually we were called into an office and to our enormous relief got given our passports back with 5 day transit visas for Angola. If we couldn’t get these the trip would have been over!
The cyclists will struggle though to cover 1900km in 5 days!!
Next we searched for motor insurance – we ended up at the HQ of DRC’s only insurance company (I’m told). We got shifted between people – 6 in all, going up the ranks until we were sat round the board room table (big enough for 20 people) with the head of international insurance, the vice president and the president of the company. Each told us in turn during our visit that they couldn’t help us, but again, just the skin colour gave us IP treatment. Not quite sure what to make of it when some people in the street shout “Imperialist!” at you, whilst others treat you like VIPs – odd really.
13.3.2010 – Day 84 – Sonongolo, DRC
The 5 of us left Kinshasa this morning at 6.30 to beat the rush hour. The drive out was quiet and easy. I’ve been here a few days, but Kinshasa I’ve seen doesn’t equate to the 14 million mega-city I’d expected. We headed down a good road through grassy rolling hills toward the Angolan border. After a couple of hours we pulled over by the3 side of the road for a stretch, water and toilet stops. As we were getting ready for off again, I put the key into the ignition of the bike, turned the key, pressed the starting switch. Immediately a small puff of black smoke blew from under the ignition and the bike wouldn’t start. There was a clear smell of an electric burn. In an instant my mind flicked through the probable future – burnt out electrics, say goodbye to the others, find a truck to Kinshasa for the bike, go to Yamaha garage, get diagnosis, fly out parts, deal with customs, get bike fixed then start out for Angola again in a couple of weeks time. Nightmare!
I pushed my bike under a tree and talked about it to Rouven (mechanic) and Daniel (an electrical engineer). They told me to try and start the engine again. Miraculously it started once, started twice and didn’t smoke. Unbelievable! It must have been all the rain affecting the ignition causing a one-off spark. What a relief!
This part of the DRC has much more in common with the rest of Africa than Kinshasa - bustling little market towns: friendly, colourful and loud. Tonight we are staying in the small Catholic Mission. We spend the afternoon sleeping under a tin roof shelter, shading ourselves from the sun. The village is small and spread out with a network of muddy dirt roads connecting all corners. We found the bar later in the day which a lad opened for us to get warm cokes. We couldn’t find shops apart from the tiny mobile phone credit shop in a 2m x 2m reed shack. Everything in Africa is micro-distributed – coke is delivered to slums by hand cart, water is sold by the bag from the side of the road, fuel is sold by the bottle, electricity comes from generators, photocopying is done from a photocopy machine ON the street, a public phone is a mobile phone on a table under a parasol, a taxi is just a shared car, laughing cow cheese can be bought by the slice and hotels can be rented by the hour.
Angola will follow in hot pursuit and I can confirm that Andrew has already passed through Namibia into South Africa today having hand-fed a wart hog last night and been within 4 metres of a cheetah - he said he's "in heaven'! He is less than a week from Cape Town and the finish at the Cape itself. I'm flying out to meet him next week (!!) and so the final diary entries will probably be posted from out there...but the story's not over yet! So stay with us and enjoy the last few countries of his epic journey! - editor.
7.3.2010 – Day 78 – Brazzaville
It was an easy 70km into Brazzaville this morning on good tarmac (thank you European Union and French for building it). The locals don’t see to like the French ex-colonial power – but they have just built them the best road in the country. Brazzaville represents the start of the last major hurdle in bureaucracy between us and Cape Town. OK – so we are in Congo, we have a DRC visa (next country – just across the river), we have no Angolan Visa. We don’t need a Namibian or South African visa. Brazzaville’s Angola Embassy doesn’t issue Angolan visas. They tell you to get a transit visa in DRC. DRC won’t let you in unless you have an Angolan visa! Catch 22.
So tomorrow we start the battle to get from here, across the Congo River into DRC, get an Angolan visa, transit Angola (quickly) to get to Namibia, South Africa and the Cape. The big problem really is that the Angolan visa is the hardest to get in Africa.
On the way into town we scoped out the Angolan Embassy ready for Monday morning. Just as we were pulling over a landrover pulled up beside us. It was a French couple, Luke and Miriam, who are living in Brazzabille. Luke is in Congo training the Congolese Police force. At home in France they are keen motorcyclists and within minutes of meeting they had invited us to stay at their home for the night. They were both heading out for the afternoon, but first they escorted us into centre ville. The town (capital) was almost devoid of people and traffic – it was Sunday and shops were closed, but the whole place seemed weirdly devoid of life. The French left us at the boat club on the banks of the Congo River. It’s an enormous river – perhaps 3 mils across. On the way into town we passed some rapids, which with this amount of water flowing, looked truly intimidating.
The Boat Club is an ex-pat playground – there’s a restaurant with tables overlooking the river, a constant stream of new 4x4s training in and out and bunches of mainly-Europeans, Arabs and North Africans playing about in power boats and on jet bikes. There are a few people in Congo with masses of cash and millions of people with nothing.
We spent all afternoon at a table in the shade watching the comings and goings of this little oasis of wealth. Just next to the landing ramp, outside the Boat House land, local men hung around in the shade of trees, dug out fishing boats came and went with perhaps 3 people paddling, standing up with long pointed wooden paddles. The difference between the poverty of the locals and the wealth and decadence of the Boat House customers was extreme – it was about the biggest contrast and contradiction I think I’ve ever seen.
This evening at Luke and Miriam’s house Luke was telling us more about Congo. He said that during the civil war there was no food, electricity, transport, roads – nothing – except … beer! A strategic decision was made to distribute beer throughout the country to keep a constant supply to the people. The thought was that if people couldn’t buy beer, they’d defect to the rebels! Since the official end of the war there has been an arms amnesty. For each AK47 handed in, 150,000 francs was rewarded to the giver. The problem is, people started buying AK47s from the DRC at a cheaper rate than the amnesty pay out – so a mini arms trade developed! Luke also spoke about the roads. West of the capital is a fantastic stretch of new road for 75km, heading toward the ex Ninja Rebels’ strong hold (the route we came). The road stops just 5 miles from the capital and deteriorates into a dusty dirt pot-holed mess. The thought is that if the Ninjas attack Brazzaville, the bad road should slow the rebels down enough for the Congolese army to react (read – wake up and sober up).
8.3.2010 – Day 79 – Brazzaville
We headed out to the Angolan Embassy first thing to be told we couldn’t get an Angolan visa in Congo. We next headed to Congo immigration to see if we could get a Congo visa, so that we can show the DRC immigration our intent to exit their country, to avoid being turned back at the border. We were told we couldn’t get another visa, but the chief of immigration gave us his mobile number and told us to call him if we had trouble entering DRC and he would explain to them. We went down to the port to buy tickets for this afternoon’s crossing by ferry over the Congo River to DRC. It turns out that it’s ‘International Womens’ Day’ and the ferry won’t be running! So we try again tomorrow.
This afternoon was spent buying food, drinking coffee and trying to find decent internet, which he did find in the end in the ‘Centre Cultural Frances’. Two observations about the people in Congo … as well as the women wearing beautiful printed dresses in bright vibrant colours, many women also wear wigs. I knew that hair is a big thing in Africa, with plaiting, braiding, combing, dyeing and extensions all being popular - but I didn’t realise how popular wigs are. At first you don’t really notice, but when you get your eye in you start seeing them everywhere and in all sorts of styles. The wigs are really quite convincing. The men are also well dressed, with some of the richer men looking particularly dapper. Some of the outfits look like they come straight out of the 1970s and 80s American gangster movies. Some of the clothes worn include: pastel coloured slacks and jackets, flat caps, big sunglasses, cold jewellery, black and white shoes (spats), white suits, sequined hats (trilby and wide brimmed). It may look quite odd to our European style of dress, but I think they look particularly cool.
So, the 3 things that could create a Congo cliché are: good beer, good music and good clothes. By the way, there is a common belief here that most of the world’s music originates from the slaves that came from Congo. This includes Blues, Jazz, Rhumba and Rock and Roll.
This evening we had a recommendation for a restaurant in Brazzaville “Madam Momos”. The taxi couldn’t find it, which isn’t surprising as Madam Momos is just Madam Momo’s house, down a dark dirt residential street. She has no signage outside. Her garden is full of trees from which much of the food you eat comes from. Candlelit tables are beneath the trees on the compacted earth. Madam Momo welcomes you with a kiss on each cheek, then proceeds to fill your table with endless dishes of traditional Congolese food. Absolutely delicious. We had salad, peanut chicken, fish (Capitan) with sauce, fried rice, fried banana, bread and fruit that was similar to lychee but larger. She then comes and sits with you to make sure you’ve eaten enough like any good Italian mother would do – what a treat! After the meal she walked us down to the main road and hailed a taxi home for us – what a wonderful lady.
9.3.2010 – Day 80 – Kinshasa, DRC
Well, I’m in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The ferry across the river to Kinshasa is supposed to leave at 12 noon from Brazzaville, but crossing and the bureaucracy at each side is said to be an all-day affair, even though the crossing only takes 30 minutes. We set off from Luke and Miriams house at 8.30 for the port. There, we met the “Oasis Overland” truck on their journey through Africa on the Western route. There’s now only 2 companies who do the full Africa trup – Oasis and the Company I met in the Presbyterian mission in Yaounde, Cameroon.
We got out passport stamped by immigration, carnet stamped at customs and had a police check with more stamps. We couldn’t buy tickets until the ferry arrived from Kinshasa so we just hung around undercover, watching the rain get heavier – it never stopped all day. The ferry is a small roll on, roll off flat bed affair, which unsurprisingly looks worse for wear. As soon as the ferry docked, hundreds of people came running off onto the portside in what can only be called a stampede – totally frenzied with screams of delight and running, jumping people. It seemed like almost 1/3 of the passengers were blind, being led by a helper. Were they travelling looking for miracles and medicine? Or was it a scam – disabled people travel for free?
Many of the people transporting goods were polio victims with large handcycled wheelchairs full of sacks of materials being pushed by able bodied porters. There are virtually no vehicles on the ferry – all the goods are ‘run’ on and off the boat by a fleet of porters, who I swear must have been on drugs. Boarding, like everything else today was predictably chaotic and for a long time after, goods were still being run off the ferry. When it was time to leave, a line of police lined the gangway to the ferry. They had battons at the ready. As porters continued to try to take goods off, they would give them a beating with the battons.
The intensity of the experience is hard to convey – we even thought it was manic after months in west and central Africa. Unfortunately you can’t take any pictures as the officials would be more than happy to confiscate your camera. On board was money changing, gambling, arguments, dancing and selling, but mostly shouting. We had already decided between us what ‘our story’ was going to be for the immigration in DRC. We have heard of people being turned back to Congo because they haven’t got an Angolan visa (like us). We had arranged simply to say we were “going back to Congo!” after a weeks stay in Kinshasa.
The Kinshasa port was hectic until we got into the immigration office where we had the first hour’s wait. The office was 7 feet x 7 feet with 2 desks and 10 people inside. The guy in charge was wearing a pinstriped suit, blue shirt, pink tie and loads of gold jewellery – I wonder why? Young women occasionally walked in and the official handed them money, or an envelope from his desk – perhaps they were a mixture of family, friends and mistresses. We had the full question and answer thing, with all details written down by the admin guys on pieces of A4 paper. The passports were taken away, our thankfully came back eventually, with stamps, but the oasis team leader, with 23 passports was told their DRC visas they bought in Yaounde were invalid because the Embassy used the wrong visa number sequence! That visa cost them 100 Euros each. The obviously corrupt official told them that they would have to buy new visas as $60 each or be deported. Asked if they could phone the Embassy in Yaounde, he obviously said no!
After a carnet stamp and a yellow fever check we were told we had to pay ₤20 to get our bikes disinfected before we could leave. Somehow I don’t think the locals pay this fee! We’re now in the Catholic mission in Kinshasa. The room looks like it is from an old sanatorium. In fact, tonight I’m sleeping on a hospital bed. So – now only an Angolan transit visa separates us from the Cape.
PS – well I headed out this evening 100m down the road to a supermarket for a meal in the café there. Even going this far at night has a risk of mugging, so we emptied our pockets prior to leaving. We left the mission with its 12 foot perimeter wall decorated with razor wire to an unlit mud road. Only 2 teenagers approached us, and when we ignored them they told us to ‘F*!k o*!’.
The supermarket is such a huge culture shock from the port and mud streets and poverty. Some of the Kinshasan elite were there buying premier cru classe Bordeaux, $50 boxes of chocolates and $12 boxes of Kellogs Special K. You could buy an iPhone or a home cinema centre, but it would cost the earth. This is the crazy thing about Africa – most people have no money and go hungry while the elite have more money than sense. I’ve only just arrived in Kinshasa with its 14 million people, but at first appearances it looks like a possible future image of Africa. A huge city with a growing population, it has great wealth but more poverty, where the people with nothing are excluded and the only way to aspire is through crime. The rich live in luxury prisons, paying huge prices for the privilege and the poor live a disenfranchised life in the streets and slums. The have nots are the locals, whereas the elites are the black politicians, North Africans, Middle easterners and Europeans.
For your interest, this is what the Lonely Planet says about the DRC and Kinshasa:
“More of a geographic concept than a fully fledged nation. The nation’s history reads like something out of Dante’s Inferno – from the brazen political folly of King Leopold in Belgium, to the hideously corrupt kleptocracy of maverick meglomanic Mobutu and the blood stained battle grounds of Africa’s first world war … (Kinshasa) built upon the banks of the Congo River and infested with shabby shanty towns and myriad opportunist con merchants masquerading as street salesmen, this polluted megalopolis couldn’t be called pretty by anyone. Kinshasa could be worth a brief if tentative visit by the brave and well-travelled explorer armed with a close eye on security and a true sense of adventure”. Sound nice? Let’s see what tomorrow brings!
10.3.2010 – Day 81 – Kinshasa, DRC
Well, one more day in Kinshasa and I haven’t been mugged yet. I’m starting to treat this city like any other African city now, with a few changes – notably not carrying anything but cash on me into the streets. NGO scare stories are always too full of fear it seems. The one thing you can’t do very easily here though is take photos – as soon as a camera comes our people start shouting and police will come running, so I’m afraid no photos of Kinshasa either.
This morning’s job was to collect letters of recommendation from the Swiss and German embassies for Rouven, Christine, Daniel and Andrea. I was outside the German embassy waiting for Rouven and Christine in the leafy tree-lined street. It was relatively quiet bar a few land cruisers and the odd pedestrian. 3 ladies dressed well, one with a child on her back walked by carrying bags in their hands. A young lad of about 10 was walking next to them, intent on stealing. One of the women swung her handbag and hit him. The next thing I saw was a young man walk up and punch the boy twice straight in the face. I don’t know whether the young man was helping out hoping for money, or just helping out, but it was vicious. No one even batted an eyelid. Violence in Africa seems so close to the surface, just waiting to bubble over. In the UK that young man would have been arrested. Here, the incident was hardly noticed and certainly no one cared. I’ve seen more aggression and violence on this trip than I ever have before; I don’t know what to make of it. I can’t help but think about the 3.8 million people that were killed in the recent civil war here. Maybe one of the reasons many people enjoy travelling through Africa is that they just don’t understand it. I certainly don’t understand the inequality, violence and the apparent disregard the elite and authorities have over the rest of the people. It seems people just need to fight to survive – I don’t know really.
Well, we’ve eventually submitted our Angolan visa applications at the Angolan embassy after being told that we could have to wait 6 more days before we could submit. Christine used her French language and charm to convince the Angolan official to let us submit today – thank god! So we were told to come and collect our passports tomorrow at 12 – let’s hope they have the visas in them!
So Kinshasa isn’t as dark and scary as it first sounded – and this part of town is surprisingly pleasant. But you still have to have your wits about you to avoid being got by the muggers or the police (sometimes one and the same). That said though, this corrupt system can work both ways. I met a biker in town who is stuck here for a couple of weeks while his bike is fixed. He told me he got stopped by the police on his bike in town. The office charged him ₤100. After ½ an hour of chatting and negotiation he got the fine down to 2 cold beers, which the police man drank whilst on duty, by the side of the road. Could be an alternative to 3 points and a ₤60 fine back at home?
12.3.2010 – Day 83 – Kinshasa, DRC
Today was dominated by trying to get /collect the Angola visa. We were told to arrive at the Embassy at 12 noon – so of course arrives early at 11.30. We were almost immediately told that we should come back at 1.30. So we sat around in the shade by a few shops picking up bits of street food for lunch. We were joined by the other 2 tourists in town trying to pick up Angolan visas – 2 cyclists – Hans from Switzerland and Rob from the UK. Hans has been cycling for a number of years and has already cycled Asia and the Americas and now wants to cycle all the African countries. He’s a funny guy who’s a bit dower – not helped by him suffering from malaria, but this doesn’t stop the swearing.
Rob is a Ben Fogle/Mark Beaumont cross. He sports a terrific 5 month beard which has has grown during his extreme triathlon through Africa. He cycled from Cirencester to Gibraltar, swam (6 ½ hours) to Morocco, he’s now cycling Africa and will finish with the famous Comrades Ultra Marathon in Durban, South Africa.
Street food is sold from the heads of the vendors. Each type of ‘head shop’ is advertised by a sound. The baguette sandwich man taps his knife against his plastic bowl on this head. The grocery store on head man twangs an elastic band. Even the shoe shine boy clicks 2 pieces of wood together to let you know he’s coming by. We just sat and waited for the right food and drink shops to arrive. At 1.30, we sat outside the embassy again and we were soon ushered out of the mid day heat to the VIP reception room. White skin, for better or worse, still sets you apart, giving you privileges in this case. We sat on the white leather sofas watching French news on TV in the comfort of AC for the next tense 2.5 hours. Eventually we were called into an office and to our enormous relief got given our passports back with 5 day transit visas for Angola. If we couldn’t get these the trip would have been over!
The cyclists will struggle though to cover 1900km in 5 days!!
Next we searched for motor insurance – we ended up at the HQ of DRC’s only insurance company (I’m told). We got shifted between people – 6 in all, going up the ranks until we were sat round the board room table (big enough for 20 people) with the head of international insurance, the vice president and the president of the company. Each told us in turn during our visit that they couldn’t help us, but again, just the skin colour gave us IP treatment. Not quite sure what to make of it when some people in the street shout “Imperialist!” at you, whilst others treat you like VIPs – odd really.
13.3.2010 – Day 84 – Sonongolo, DRC
The 5 of us left Kinshasa this morning at 6.30 to beat the rush hour. The drive out was quiet and easy. I’ve been here a few days, but Kinshasa I’ve seen doesn’t equate to the 14 million mega-city I’d expected. We headed down a good road through grassy rolling hills toward the Angolan border. After a couple of hours we pulled over by the3 side of the road for a stretch, water and toilet stops. As we were getting ready for off again, I put the key into the ignition of the bike, turned the key, pressed the starting switch. Immediately a small puff of black smoke blew from under the ignition and the bike wouldn’t start. There was a clear smell of an electric burn. In an instant my mind flicked through the probable future – burnt out electrics, say goodbye to the others, find a truck to Kinshasa for the bike, go to Yamaha garage, get diagnosis, fly out parts, deal with customs, get bike fixed then start out for Angola again in a couple of weeks time. Nightmare!
I pushed my bike under a tree and talked about it to Rouven (mechanic) and Daniel (an electrical engineer). They told me to try and start the engine again. Miraculously it started once, started twice and didn’t smoke. Unbelievable! It must have been all the rain affecting the ignition causing a one-off spark. What a relief!
This part of the DRC has much more in common with the rest of Africa than Kinshasa - bustling little market towns: friendly, colourful and loud. Tonight we are staying in the small Catholic Mission. We spend the afternoon sleeping under a tin roof shelter, shading ourselves from the sun. The village is small and spread out with a network of muddy dirt roads connecting all corners. We found the bar later in the day which a lad opened for us to get warm cokes. We couldn’t find shops apart from the tiny mobile phone credit shop in a 2m x 2m reed shack. Everything in Africa is micro-distributed – coke is delivered to slums by hand cart, water is sold by the bag from the side of the road, fuel is sold by the bottle, electricity comes from generators, photocopying is done from a photocopy machine ON the street, a public phone is a mobile phone on a table under a parasol, a taxi is just a shared car, laughing cow cheese can be bought by the slice and hotels can be rented by the hour.
Tuesday 9 March 2010
Gabon and Congo
28.2.2010 – Day 71 – Lambarene, Gabon
What a day! Most of it was spent on roads that surely must have been designed for motorbiking. If Top Gear thinks it’s found the best riding road in the world – think again. Today I’ve ridden 450km of back-to-back perfect turns on perfect tarmac. Rolling hills with no traffic, stunning jungle scenery, bubbling rivers and cool, for the tropics, weather. Having this much fun when locals are smiling and waving just doesn’t seem right. My first impressions of Gabon are pretty good. The rain forests are truly beautiful and although logging trucks are around, the forest I saw was in good condition. People are tremendously helpful and friendly with plenty of waving and open smiles. The villages are similar to Southern Cameroon – mainly tin roofed timber houses. There is no rubbish as it is all burnet and the clearings are often covered with grass, flowers and orchids.
I must mention that from arriving in Cameroon until now I haven’t been asked for anything – no bribes, presents or begging – what a relief! So far Central Africa is being quite the charmer.
I crossed the equator today, which incidentally is where, on the boat our family migrated on to South Africa in the 70s, is where I have my first memories. Neptune came on board and to a 2 ½ year old he was pretty scary! So all my memories before returning to the UK were of the Southern Hemisphere or Africa. Maybe this is why returning to the UK was so hard for me. My brother David thinks I’m daft, I’m sure, for thinking this – but we’re all different aren’t we?
I set off early this morning for the Gabon border – so early in fact that the Cameroon customs man was still at his football training and the Gabon customs guy had to be woken from his bed.
By mid afternoon the good road had turned decidedly worse, not helped by the storm from the night before (I hope all the dirt roads further south will be ok!). After an hour of these roads I arrived in Ndjole. After checking out the ropey accommodation choices I decided to fill up on fuel ready for the next day. The petrol attendant said a couple on a motorbike were staying just up the hill in a hotel. Had I caught up with the Swiss? I rode up the hill but couldn’t find a hotel. On the edge of town I asked after this elusive hotel, to be told by a friendly young man that the motorcycling pair had passed by ½ an hour ago. Maybe, I thought, the hotel was out of town. I headed out 5km – no hotel. Now should I carry on or go back into town. It was a bit late in the day but the map showed a town 50km away big enough for a hotel. Even if the Swiss weren’t there I should find accommodation.
I arrived in Bifoum to find no hotel but I did get a text from the Swiss saying they were headed to a town another 70km down the road! By now the sun was almost down and one thing you don’t do in Africa is ride at night! I decided to go for the 70km dash to Lambargue – another brilliant ride on amazing roads.
The sun had just dropped as I arrived in town to find the Swiss asking for directions to the Catholic Mission – result! Even more amazing is that the Germans arrived here today also. So what a massive day – 12 hours in the saddle. An absolutely classic motorcycling day. Gabon rocks!
1.3.2010 – Day 72 – Mouila, Gabon
Well so far I must confess that Gabon is turning out to be my favourite country so far. It would be top of my list of places worthy of more than a fleeting visit. I’m riding again with the Swiss South toward the Congo border. 90% of Gabon is tropical rain forest, so unsurprisingly most of the day was spent riding through the jungle, at first on newly built Chinese roads, then after the first 100km it was graded dirt roads being built by the Chinese. If the Chinese carry on at the rate they are you’ll be able to cross the African continent in a ferarri in a few years’ time!
The people I’ve met so far in Gabon are without a doubt the most genuinely friendly and hospitable people of all the 11 African countries I’ve passed through so far. Although Gabon is a beautiful country of jungle, incredible beaches, stunning wildlife and a cosmopolitan capital and clean and tidy villages (with no power cuts) – it’s the people that really make it stand out. I stopped to wait for the others in a tiny village by the road – in no time I was sat down in the shade being given fresh nuts and a warm welcome. I was introduced to the Chief, who like all village chiefs has a flag and a flag pole outside his house. I sat laughing and chatting. I offered some of my pop corn, which was appreciated, and sat contented until Daniel and Andrea arrived.
The guy that did most of the chatting explained that in Gabon people are comfortable – everyone has a roof over their heads, clothes to wear and food in their bellies. There is a gentle pride in the small country of only one and a half million people – and it shows. The dirt roads continued but were smooth and fast. There’s very little traffic, but when an empty logging truck comes past at 100km per hour, a plume of dust is kicked up that is so big that vision is lost completely, the only course of action is to slow down or pull over. The big days riding have taken their toll – I’m really quite knackered. Motorcycling really is physically and mentally exhausting.
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3.3.2010 – Day 74 – Dolice, Congo
What a classic day. At the moment it really feels like we’re living the ‘Africa Overland’ adventure that I dreamed of. All day was spent trundling down a small dirt road through small villages. There is virtually no traffic here. In a whole morning we only saw 2 mopeds – that’s it! By the afternoon there was the occasional logging truck with a steel frame on the back, with people piled inside and on the roof. Only one town was shown on our map for today’s route which, as it turned out, was only a small village with a bar and shop all rolled into one.
In the shop was shelving with sardines and blocks of washing soap. Two fridges contained a good supply of primus beer. Most of the residents seemed to be in and around the shaded seating area outside, with those with any money drinking beer. There was also a small garage which luckily had ‘super’ – so Daniel and I filled up. In the towns and villages many people proudly wear a t.shirt with a photo of Congo’s president. Apparently the civic war here really calmed down after the President was persuaded by U.N. to hold free elections – the President kept his position with 90% of the population voting for him! Popular guy!
By the afternoon the ruts in the road were getting bad and the bikes were getting a hammering. Daniel got his first puncture of his trip. By the afternoon here it’s baking hot and spending too long under it is disastrous. Luckily there were a couple of houses by the road with a couple of trees infront. We asked the locals who were sat in the shade if we could fix the bike there. They kindly waved us in. By working together, taking our time and drinking lots of water we got the puncture fixed and the bike up and running. It was good for me to be able to help Daniel and Andrea, who had done so much for me when my bike broke back in Benin.
4.3.2010 – Day 75 - not sure where - Ed
Today we headed east towards Brazzaville – the capital of Congo. From there we hope to cross the Congo River to the Democratic Republic of Congo and the mega city of Kinshasa. The road connects the main port on the coast with Brazzaville. It goes into the ‘Pool’ region which has had problems with armed militia until relatively recently. Last night we met up with Rouven and Christine (the Germans) and decided to go in convoy for extra security.
The route is National Highway One – extremely quiet with just the occasional vehicle passing by. Today we were on the road for 10 hours and managed just 75 miles. The dirt road is in terrible condition – some sections are badly rutted with deep muddy puddles – others rocky with a deep fine layer of silt on top. Just 10km out of Dolcie we came to a particularly bad section of road with 6 guys digging it up. They had placed 2 big boulders across the narrow road. They said they were repairing the road and demanded money – more like they were destroying the road and extorting money! I told them I only pay for good roads, not bad roads, then just rode on through past the rocks. By the afternoon the temperature was nearing 40 degrees c. At just 10mph, wearing all the motorcycle gear, Daniel, Andrea and I were really suffering. We had to stop in the shade of trees and cool down every 10km to avoid overheating. The riding was exhausting – our whole bodies being battered and minds concentrating continuously.
We started to make errors in judgement being almost drunk with exhaustion and the heat. Must of the last 5km Andrea had to walk, so I headed into town to find accommodation in which I immediately fell asleep on the bed. What a brilliant day – hard work but a great adventure.
5.3.2010 – Day 76 – Mindouli
We in 8 hours out on the road today we made 75 miles. We are still one day from Brazzaville but should arrive there tomorrow. The road is again bad – a single track dirt road that snakes through the grassy hills. Luckily for us it is dry which makes the road slow but passable. Very occasionally a truck will pass, throwing up such a huge plume of dust that it’s difficult to breath and visibility becomes just a few metres.
There is bird life everywhere – beautiful tropical birds with the most vivid of colours – Linda and Philip would just love it. In most parts of Africa it’s been the birds of prey that have caught my eye, but here it is the smaller birds, some with long flowing tails and others are almost illuminated with the vibrant colours.
I passed a young lady today by the track (sorry, Route National 1) carrying an aluminium bowl on her head, full of cleaning fishes which she was bringing back from the river. She had the most incredible tribal face decoration. Many people in Africa have scars on their cheeks as decoration, but this looked like it was straight out of National Geographic. Her face was painted with a collection of geometric light coloured thin lines. Absolutely stunning. I thought about stopping and asking if I could take her picture, but I think I would have scared the living daylights out of her skidding to a stop. We did make routine stops though to keep Daniel’s bike from overheating. He has an air cooled engine which really struggles to keep cool in these temperatures and at such slow speeds – quite similar to us riders I guess.
At about midday we came across a road block constructed with logs. Daniel and Andrea on their motorbike went straight through. I thought I’d better wait for the Germans in their 4x4. As I waited about 10 men came running down to me asking for money and cigarettes. I played dumb Brit who can’t speak French until the Germans were behind me, I then rolled one of the logs out of the way with my boot, making enough space for the car, and hit the gas! The Germans followed right on my tail before the guys could block their way.
This was only my second unofficial road block in Africa. We knew when we decided to do this route that there was a lot of trouble here with armed rebels during the civil war and beyond, but that the army had cleared the area 6 months ago. When we arrived in town tonight I met a French engineers who told us that the ‘Ninja Rebels’ were back. From this town onwards unoffocial road blocks bar our way.
To try to make things a little safer we are going to join a small convoy from a power company that are heading our way. One of the employees heard about our problem and has decided to help. As things have calmed down here very recently, not many tourists have have really travelled down here for years, if not decades. I guess this is why people are being so helpful and concerned. I don’t think we’ll have any real problems though – I think that the rebels are just trying to make some money and I doubt we’ll see any guns.
6.3.2010 – Day 77 – Kinkar (just outside Brazzaville)
Well where do I start? Last night and this morning we heard so many conflicting stories about our route East. Some people told us we would not have a problem at all. Others told us about an engineer who got stabbed in the leg – he’s still in hospital – but he got aggressive or rude: at all times patience, courtesy and smiles get you a lot further. 2 days ago some white man had a huge amount of money stolen from him by armed bandits. There are obviously road blocks at which you have to pay, but the armed robberies as far as we could gather are opportunists - perhaps rebel officers who aren’t yet ready to put down their arms. We realised that we were not in any physical danger – but our belongings were.
We had arranged to meet our contact for the convoy at 8am. He turned up, disappeared and never re-appeared! By 10.30 it was getting hot and we really should have been on our way – only 60km of terrible road separated us from a tarmac road to the capital. An elderly Italian contractor came to the hotel bar at around 10.30 for a couple of morning whisky and cokes. He has been here for many years and thought we wouldn’t come to any harm but thought we’d benefit from an escort. He want to see the “commissioner” of the district who came to see us with a couple of local lads on a moped in tow. He thought the first 17km was the most dangerous as it is so remote. So the lads would come that far with us.
By 12.30 we’d said goodbye to our escorts and given them cigarettes and a small bottle of wine from our bribe kitty. We’d packed away cameras, excess cash, cards etc and only carried small change and gifts for the road blocks. The road is in a terrible state. Sections of deep sand, sections washed away, huge ruts, mud and rubble and wooden bridges. It’s incredibly trucks actually get down here at all. The Italian man told us it can take 2 weeks to do the 60km section in the wet season - thank God it’s dry (it IS the wet season!).
Next we entered the region which is effectively out of control of the authorities – the first road block had poles across the road and about 15 guys hiding out of the sun under a hut. Amazingly they just let us through. One guy who was off his face on booze or drugs came over shouting at us – I think for money – we just drove on quickly before the situation changed. The next couple of blocks involved straight forward extortion. When we paid, they were very polite and let us through with no further hassle. We’d been advised by everyone we’d met that you ‘have’ to pay at the blocks so we didn’t even try to get out of paying. The small settlements of just 1 or 2 huts had people still waving, smiling and chatting to us as normal. The small villages on the other hand had groups of young men shouting at us – and very drunk – we just kept moving through. In 5 ½ hours we had covered the 60km and had hit the tarmac and safety of relative civilization and government control. I’m absolutely exhausted after 6 hard, long and hot days away from tarmac. I have never smelt so bad and my clothes could not be any filthier. I’ve just had a shower and washed some clothes – what a relief! This section of the trip has been every bit the adventure I’d imagined or hoped it could be.
What a day! Most of it was spent on roads that surely must have been designed for motorbiking. If Top Gear thinks it’s found the best riding road in the world – think again. Today I’ve ridden 450km of back-to-back perfect turns on perfect tarmac. Rolling hills with no traffic, stunning jungle scenery, bubbling rivers and cool, for the tropics, weather. Having this much fun when locals are smiling and waving just doesn’t seem right. My first impressions of Gabon are pretty good. The rain forests are truly beautiful and although logging trucks are around, the forest I saw was in good condition. People are tremendously helpful and friendly with plenty of waving and open smiles. The villages are similar to Southern Cameroon – mainly tin roofed timber houses. There is no rubbish as it is all burnet and the clearings are often covered with grass, flowers and orchids.
I must mention that from arriving in Cameroon until now I haven’t been asked for anything – no bribes, presents or begging – what a relief! So far Central Africa is being quite the charmer.
I crossed the equator today, which incidentally is where, on the boat our family migrated on to South Africa in the 70s, is where I have my first memories. Neptune came on board and to a 2 ½ year old he was pretty scary! So all my memories before returning to the UK were of the Southern Hemisphere or Africa. Maybe this is why returning to the UK was so hard for me. My brother David thinks I’m daft, I’m sure, for thinking this – but we’re all different aren’t we?
I set off early this morning for the Gabon border – so early in fact that the Cameroon customs man was still at his football training and the Gabon customs guy had to be woken from his bed.
By mid afternoon the good road had turned decidedly worse, not helped by the storm from the night before (I hope all the dirt roads further south will be ok!). After an hour of these roads I arrived in Ndjole. After checking out the ropey accommodation choices I decided to fill up on fuel ready for the next day. The petrol attendant said a couple on a motorbike were staying just up the hill in a hotel. Had I caught up with the Swiss? I rode up the hill but couldn’t find a hotel. On the edge of town I asked after this elusive hotel, to be told by a friendly young man that the motorcycling pair had passed by ½ an hour ago. Maybe, I thought, the hotel was out of town. I headed out 5km – no hotel. Now should I carry on or go back into town. It was a bit late in the day but the map showed a town 50km away big enough for a hotel. Even if the Swiss weren’t there I should find accommodation.
I arrived in Bifoum to find no hotel but I did get a text from the Swiss saying they were headed to a town another 70km down the road! By now the sun was almost down and one thing you don’t do in Africa is ride at night! I decided to go for the 70km dash to Lambargue – another brilliant ride on amazing roads.
The sun had just dropped as I arrived in town to find the Swiss asking for directions to the Catholic Mission – result! Even more amazing is that the Germans arrived here today also. So what a massive day – 12 hours in the saddle. An absolutely classic motorcycling day. Gabon rocks!
1.3.2010 – Day 72 – Mouila, Gabon
Well so far I must confess that Gabon is turning out to be my favourite country so far. It would be top of my list of places worthy of more than a fleeting visit. I’m riding again with the Swiss South toward the Congo border. 90% of Gabon is tropical rain forest, so unsurprisingly most of the day was spent riding through the jungle, at first on newly built Chinese roads, then after the first 100km it was graded dirt roads being built by the Chinese. If the Chinese carry on at the rate they are you’ll be able to cross the African continent in a ferarri in a few years’ time!
The people I’ve met so far in Gabon are without a doubt the most genuinely friendly and hospitable people of all the 11 African countries I’ve passed through so far. Although Gabon is a beautiful country of jungle, incredible beaches, stunning wildlife and a cosmopolitan capital and clean and tidy villages (with no power cuts) – it’s the people that really make it stand out. I stopped to wait for the others in a tiny village by the road – in no time I was sat down in the shade being given fresh nuts and a warm welcome. I was introduced to the Chief, who like all village chiefs has a flag and a flag pole outside his house. I sat laughing and chatting. I offered some of my pop corn, which was appreciated, and sat contented until Daniel and Andrea arrived.
The guy that did most of the chatting explained that in Gabon people are comfortable – everyone has a roof over their heads, clothes to wear and food in their bellies. There is a gentle pride in the small country of only one and a half million people – and it shows. The dirt roads continued but were smooth and fast. There’s very little traffic, but when an empty logging truck comes past at 100km per hour, a plume of dust is kicked up that is so big that vision is lost completely, the only course of action is to slow down or pull over. The big days riding have taken their toll – I’m really quite knackered. Motorcycling really is physically and mentally exhausting.
...
3.3.2010 – Day 74 – Dolice, Congo
What a classic day. At the moment it really feels like we’re living the ‘Africa Overland’ adventure that I dreamed of. All day was spent trundling down a small dirt road through small villages. There is virtually no traffic here. In a whole morning we only saw 2 mopeds – that’s it! By the afternoon there was the occasional logging truck with a steel frame on the back, with people piled inside and on the roof. Only one town was shown on our map for today’s route which, as it turned out, was only a small village with a bar and shop all rolled into one.
In the shop was shelving with sardines and blocks of washing soap. Two fridges contained a good supply of primus beer. Most of the residents seemed to be in and around the shaded seating area outside, with those with any money drinking beer. There was also a small garage which luckily had ‘super’ – so Daniel and I filled up. In the towns and villages many people proudly wear a t.shirt with a photo of Congo’s president. Apparently the civic war here really calmed down after the President was persuaded by U.N. to hold free elections – the President kept his position with 90% of the population voting for him! Popular guy!
By the afternoon the ruts in the road were getting bad and the bikes were getting a hammering. Daniel got his first puncture of his trip. By the afternoon here it’s baking hot and spending too long under it is disastrous. Luckily there were a couple of houses by the road with a couple of trees infront. We asked the locals who were sat in the shade if we could fix the bike there. They kindly waved us in. By working together, taking our time and drinking lots of water we got the puncture fixed and the bike up and running. It was good for me to be able to help Daniel and Andrea, who had done so much for me when my bike broke back in Benin.
4.3.2010 – Day 75 - not sure where - Ed
Today we headed east towards Brazzaville – the capital of Congo. From there we hope to cross the Congo River to the Democratic Republic of Congo and the mega city of Kinshasa. The road connects the main port on the coast with Brazzaville. It goes into the ‘Pool’ region which has had problems with armed militia until relatively recently. Last night we met up with Rouven and Christine (the Germans) and decided to go in convoy for extra security.
The route is National Highway One – extremely quiet with just the occasional vehicle passing by. Today we were on the road for 10 hours and managed just 75 miles. The dirt road is in terrible condition – some sections are badly rutted with deep muddy puddles – others rocky with a deep fine layer of silt on top. Just 10km out of Dolcie we came to a particularly bad section of road with 6 guys digging it up. They had placed 2 big boulders across the narrow road. They said they were repairing the road and demanded money – more like they were destroying the road and extorting money! I told them I only pay for good roads, not bad roads, then just rode on through past the rocks. By the afternoon the temperature was nearing 40 degrees c. At just 10mph, wearing all the motorcycle gear, Daniel, Andrea and I were really suffering. We had to stop in the shade of trees and cool down every 10km to avoid overheating. The riding was exhausting – our whole bodies being battered and minds concentrating continuously.
We started to make errors in judgement being almost drunk with exhaustion and the heat. Must of the last 5km Andrea had to walk, so I headed into town to find accommodation in which I immediately fell asleep on the bed. What a brilliant day – hard work but a great adventure.
5.3.2010 – Day 76 – Mindouli
We in 8 hours out on the road today we made 75 miles. We are still one day from Brazzaville but should arrive there tomorrow. The road is again bad – a single track dirt road that snakes through the grassy hills. Luckily for us it is dry which makes the road slow but passable. Very occasionally a truck will pass, throwing up such a huge plume of dust that it’s difficult to breath and visibility becomes just a few metres.
There is bird life everywhere – beautiful tropical birds with the most vivid of colours – Linda and Philip would just love it. In most parts of Africa it’s been the birds of prey that have caught my eye, but here it is the smaller birds, some with long flowing tails and others are almost illuminated with the vibrant colours.
I passed a young lady today by the track (sorry, Route National 1) carrying an aluminium bowl on her head, full of cleaning fishes which she was bringing back from the river. She had the most incredible tribal face decoration. Many people in Africa have scars on their cheeks as decoration, but this looked like it was straight out of National Geographic. Her face was painted with a collection of geometric light coloured thin lines. Absolutely stunning. I thought about stopping and asking if I could take her picture, but I think I would have scared the living daylights out of her skidding to a stop. We did make routine stops though to keep Daniel’s bike from overheating. He has an air cooled engine which really struggles to keep cool in these temperatures and at such slow speeds – quite similar to us riders I guess.
At about midday we came across a road block constructed with logs. Daniel and Andrea on their motorbike went straight through. I thought I’d better wait for the Germans in their 4x4. As I waited about 10 men came running down to me asking for money and cigarettes. I played dumb Brit who can’t speak French until the Germans were behind me, I then rolled one of the logs out of the way with my boot, making enough space for the car, and hit the gas! The Germans followed right on my tail before the guys could block their way.
This was only my second unofficial road block in Africa. We knew when we decided to do this route that there was a lot of trouble here with armed rebels during the civil war and beyond, but that the army had cleared the area 6 months ago. When we arrived in town tonight I met a French engineers who told us that the ‘Ninja Rebels’ were back. From this town onwards unoffocial road blocks bar our way.
To try to make things a little safer we are going to join a small convoy from a power company that are heading our way. One of the employees heard about our problem and has decided to help. As things have calmed down here very recently, not many tourists have have really travelled down here for years, if not decades. I guess this is why people are being so helpful and concerned. I don’t think we’ll have any real problems though – I think that the rebels are just trying to make some money and I doubt we’ll see any guns.
6.3.2010 – Day 77 – Kinkar (just outside Brazzaville)
Well where do I start? Last night and this morning we heard so many conflicting stories about our route East. Some people told us we would not have a problem at all. Others told us about an engineer who got stabbed in the leg – he’s still in hospital – but he got aggressive or rude: at all times patience, courtesy and smiles get you a lot further. 2 days ago some white man had a huge amount of money stolen from him by armed bandits. There are obviously road blocks at which you have to pay, but the armed robberies as far as we could gather are opportunists - perhaps rebel officers who aren’t yet ready to put down their arms. We realised that we were not in any physical danger – but our belongings were.
We had arranged to meet our contact for the convoy at 8am. He turned up, disappeared and never re-appeared! By 10.30 it was getting hot and we really should have been on our way – only 60km of terrible road separated us from a tarmac road to the capital. An elderly Italian contractor came to the hotel bar at around 10.30 for a couple of morning whisky and cokes. He has been here for many years and thought we wouldn’t come to any harm but thought we’d benefit from an escort. He want to see the “commissioner” of the district who came to see us with a couple of local lads on a moped in tow. He thought the first 17km was the most dangerous as it is so remote. So the lads would come that far with us.
By 12.30 we’d said goodbye to our escorts and given them cigarettes and a small bottle of wine from our bribe kitty. We’d packed away cameras, excess cash, cards etc and only carried small change and gifts for the road blocks. The road is in a terrible state. Sections of deep sand, sections washed away, huge ruts, mud and rubble and wooden bridges. It’s incredibly trucks actually get down here at all. The Italian man told us it can take 2 weeks to do the 60km section in the wet season - thank God it’s dry (it IS the wet season!).
Next we entered the region which is effectively out of control of the authorities – the first road block had poles across the road and about 15 guys hiding out of the sun under a hut. Amazingly they just let us through. One guy who was off his face on booze or drugs came over shouting at us – I think for money – we just drove on quickly before the situation changed. The next couple of blocks involved straight forward extortion. When we paid, they were very polite and let us through with no further hassle. We’d been advised by everyone we’d met that you ‘have’ to pay at the blocks so we didn’t even try to get out of paying. The small settlements of just 1 or 2 huts had people still waving, smiling and chatting to us as normal. The small villages on the other hand had groups of young men shouting at us – and very drunk – we just kept moving through. In 5 ½ hours we had covered the 60km and had hit the tarmac and safety of relative civilization and government control. I’m absolutely exhausted after 6 hard, long and hot days away from tarmac. I have never smelt so bad and my clothes could not be any filthier. I’ve just had a shower and washed some clothes – what a relief! This section of the trip has been every bit the adventure I’d imagined or hoped it could be.
Monday 8 March 2010
Cameroon
Apologies for the delay - I expected to receive updates from Andrew sooner but the bulk of his diary entries for Cameroon only came through yesterday, from near Brazzaville in Congo. He will pass into Democratic Republic of Congo tomorrow - but more on all that later.
I will load country by country (gives me time to type more up while you all catch up!). Gabon and Congo will follow in the next couple of days.
Happy reading!
20.2.10 – Day 63 – Douala, Cameroon
I crawled with my bike up to ‘mile 4’ to the motorpark to try find a vehicle to take me and my bike to Douala. I immediately met up with Samuel, a very pleasant driver who had a van that I could use. He asked me how much I wanted to pay. I said “35,000 CFA”. He said “40?”. I accepted and that was that. He pulled the seats out of the back of his old minivan and got the bike in and strapped it down. For 70km we drove through rubber, banana and palm oil plantations – all for export. Again, most of this area looks as if it was rainforest until recently. I picked up some hard boiled eggs, peeled with pepper sauce, at a truck stop for my breakfast. Occasionally we passed through road side markets selling fruit, veg, clothes and other foods. More frequently we passed police road blocks. Samuel stopped for some to show his papers, whilst others, he shouted, made some hand gestures, and accelerated hard. I asked him why he stopped at some and not others, but he couldn’t or wouldn’t explain.
We arrived in Douala through dusty broken up roads with heavy traffic on a ‘go slow’. Some guy with a stinger strip accepted a bribe from Samuel – as he hadn’t picked up the piece of paper he needed to drive in Douala. The bribe obviously wasn’t enough as the guy still threatened to burst our tyres with his stinger device.
I am now with Peter and his wife in their wonderful house. I’ve been given my own room and shower and the bike is safely parked up. Some friends of theirs are coming round tonight for a bbq and beers by the pool. How quickly things can change on a trip like this – welcome to expat heaven!
PS – well the rest of the afternoon was spent in the pool with cold beers. This was followed by the most wonderful bbq out on the patio. Tomorrow I’ll get a lift into town with their driver and jump on a bus to Yaounde to get visas.
21.2.2010 – Day 64 - Yaounde, Cameron
Well the bus here was fairly uneventful. The countryside is stunning – huge swathes of rainforest over low, steep sided hills. Yaounde is at 750m so although it is sticky and wet, the temperature is manageable – good thing really after the last day with Peter being air con all the way!
I’ve found myself in a large Catholic mission on a hill overlooking town. There are clusters of old wooden buildings around the courtyards, simple gardens, a small medical centre, wooden church, dining areas and lodging. Below is a huge Basilica made out of local wood. It looks like a cross between the Catholic Cathedral in Liverpool and the Sydney opera house. This afternoon there was a service on and the building was packed with parishioners. The acoustics are fantastic and the singing drifted up the hill – wonderful. I went to dinner tonight in the dining hall to find around 60 nuns sat around tables of 6 or 7, about to start their meal. No man in sight. It is a one-sitting affair, so obviously as I walked in I was given the ‘who’s the white man’ look by the 60 old ladies. One lady eventually sat me down and we enjoyed a meal of tomato soup, rice, fish in tomato, water melon and pawpaw.
All the women were here for a month long meet – most came from Africa but there were representatives from all the continents. After dinner we stood up behind our chairs for prayers before I was allowed to scuttle off! I don’t think I’ll be eating here tomorrow night!
I’ve just met up with the Germans again after 5 days separation – we’ll chat later to work out some plan of action.
22.2.2010 – Day 65 – Yaounde
I caught a taxi early into the centre this morning, intent on getting a certified copy of my passport. This is basically a photocopy of the passport visa and information pages that the police cover in stamps and signatures. After a short walk around the ramshackled city centre I found the main police station. I got asked a few questions at the front desk – a guy appeared from the back office in a red all-in-one baggy outfit and flip flops. I got shown into his office which had a TV blaring out African sitcoms (it seems TV and office work in Africa are compatible!). The guy introduced himself as the “Chief of Traffic” for the Yaounde region. I held myself back from pointing out to him that he’d be better switching off the TV and getting out there to try and improve Cameroon’s appalling traffic record. He called in a uniformed police man to help him with my request. He was wearing a big white holster from his hip. I had a sneaky look into it to see it was empty – no gun! Always good to know these things when driving through a country. This is much better than Nigeria! Maybe the police dogs have rubber teeth?
Next was a meeting with the German couple to try and get a Congolese visa from the Embassy here. Apart from them wanting a huge amount of money for a 15 day visa, the process was easy. Next we headed to a small café for a coffee and bread – both of which they had to go out and buy first. In the café was a guy in a suit having a beer – is was the Central African Republic Ambassador having his morning drink. He asked us if we wanted to come to his embassy to get a visa – we refused politely, rather than saying there was no chance in hell we would head to such a dangerous and unstable country!
It’s amazing how it’s often the most perverse things that we find interesting or amusing. On the way back we saw a coffin going down the road stuck out of the back of a taxi. Funny maybe, but what are you supposed to do? Lunch ended up being a street feast – chopped up pineapple in a bag was followed by 2 small bags of popcorn, a couple of bananas, a pawpaw and a couple of hard boiled eggs. Unusual mix I know, but good for the taste buds.
23-24.2.2010 – Days 66 and 67 – Yaounde
I headed out to the zoo yesterday, as I was waiting around for visas. It wasn’t such a good idea really. Like all zoos I guess it comes as a bit of a contradiction. There was a good selection of big cats, primates, eagles and snakes, all from Cameroon. The zoo is rundown and the cafes are too small, but it does provide education, especially to the children, about the benefits of conservation and the consequences of deforestation and the eating of bush meat, which is all too common.
The swiss on the motorbike arrived in town at lunch and I moved with them to a hotel nearer the embassies and the centre of town. This slightly more upmarket hotel has BBC news and Fox movies, so after collecting my Congo visa it was a TV night – Great!
...
26.2.2010 – Day 69 – Douala
Well I caught an early bus back to Douala and arrived at Peter’s house around 11am. I opened the package containing my swing arm for the bike to find some extra treats sent by Tracy – what a star. I strapped all the pieces I needed to fix the bike onto it and gingerly rode to the Yamaha garage. I brought 6 bolts, 1 chain, 1 sprocket, 1 chain ring, cush rubber set, chain links and the rear swing arm with the bearings ready fitted. The chief mechanic took the bike and told me to come back at 5.30pm.
When I returned I could hardly bring myself to believe it – my bike was fixed! Thank God! To celebrate, and as it’s Friday night, Peter organised meeting some of his friends for a sundowner. His driver took us past the flower market - full of beautiful tropical flowers, the craft market then along the dock road past all the oil infrastructure on the quayside. At the end is a peninsula jutting out into the estuary.
The bar is a wooden structure, open sided with a long deck jutting out over the water. The view is stunning – in the distance, just visable, is Mount Cameroon, 70km away and a perfect volcano cone at over 4000m. The banks of the estuary are covered in lush vegetation and we had a full moon. As the local Export 33 pression here is 2500 CFA as opposed to the usual 1000, most of the clientele here were ex pats. For dinner I went for the locally popular ‘captain’ fish which came as a huge steak much like tuna, but larger and white – absolutely delicious.
Many people say it of solo travel or expeditions – it really isn’t a solo affair. Without the help and support of many people along the way, such a trip just wouldn’t be possible.
For the end of this diary entry I’d like to make a few special thanks. This is by no means a comprehensive list, but includes a few people who need a special mention. I still may not make it to Cape Town, but without these people, I wouldn’t have made it this far.
Firstly, Tracy, for being so strong, for supporting me through everything and being the best expedition support and wife. Oche for helping me with my Nigerian visa and Kasey for the introduction. To Rouven , Christine, Andrea and Daniel who stuck with me when I had my crash. Peter Stacey who did so much for me in Cameroon, including welcoming a stranger into his home with open arms. Cactus and Keely who joined me as far as Morocco. Dave Lambert, XT specialist in the UK who provided exceptional service when I needed it. To Boni, the Belgian biker who, even in his own adversity helped me back on the road in Morocco. Alice, who has helped me network in Africas as did John Farmer.
The online networks also need a special mention – particularly The Hubb and from there, Chris Scott (Sahara Moderator) and Albert, the Belgian motorcyclist who is riding through Africa at one hell of a speed – Go Albert Go!
27.2.2010 – Day 70 – Ambam, Cameroon
After heading East and subsequently grinding to a halt, I am finally travelling South again. The first part of the day was heading East again to Yaounde, which felt familiar, but is always different when you ride it yourself. From Yaounde I basically turned South and will keep heading south all the way down to the Cape. I took some back roads to cut across to the North/South road through small villages and rolling hills. The ride from here down the main road to the Gabon border is wonderful. The tarmac is in good condition and the twists and turns through small hills makes for perfect motorcycling.
The countryside is so lush and green and villages are well kept and clean. Most houses are made from timber panels with tin roofs. The windows have decorative shutters and the ground is swept daily outside. All the rubbish is burned here, which makes the cleanliness conspicuous. There are no piles of rubbish, water bottles or plastic bags strewn across the countryside. I went through one town which proclaimed “Ville Propre” (clean town) and it was!
It is Saturday so I passed weddings and funerals – but mainly I passed road side bars full of men and women drinking beer. The atmosphere has changed here – children and some adults are waving and people are more liberal with their smiles. In my very limited experience it seems the happiest people live in areas of less inequality, whether rich or poor. In cities, people become hard – but venture further afield and the human spirit seems to be lifted, even if the living conditions are harsh.
Yes again I’m in a small hotel in a small town. The hotel is simple but clean and is oddly located about 1/2km down a dirt track. The rooms here are definitely rented by the hour! I asked for dinner – the lady of the house came out and offered the ubiquitous chicken and fried plantain. I accepted, as which point she sent out one of the boys to catch a chicken from the yard. He walked through reception with his hand around the chicken’s neck. At least dinner will be fresh, even if it’s not quick!
Tomorrow Gabon – the new chapter has begun, although the difficulties in obtaining an Angolan visa leave a large shadow over this next section of the journey. As my Swiss friend Daniel always says “One day at a time – this is Africa!!”
I will load country by country (gives me time to type more up while you all catch up!). Gabon and Congo will follow in the next couple of days.
Happy reading!
20.2.10 – Day 63 – Douala, Cameroon
I crawled with my bike up to ‘mile 4’ to the motorpark to try find a vehicle to take me and my bike to Douala. I immediately met up with Samuel, a very pleasant driver who had a van that I could use. He asked me how much I wanted to pay. I said “35,000 CFA”. He said “40?”. I accepted and that was that. He pulled the seats out of the back of his old minivan and got the bike in and strapped it down. For 70km we drove through rubber, banana and palm oil plantations – all for export. Again, most of this area looks as if it was rainforest until recently. I picked up some hard boiled eggs, peeled with pepper sauce, at a truck stop for my breakfast. Occasionally we passed through road side markets selling fruit, veg, clothes and other foods. More frequently we passed police road blocks. Samuel stopped for some to show his papers, whilst others, he shouted, made some hand gestures, and accelerated hard. I asked him why he stopped at some and not others, but he couldn’t or wouldn’t explain.
We arrived in Douala through dusty broken up roads with heavy traffic on a ‘go slow’. Some guy with a stinger strip accepted a bribe from Samuel – as he hadn’t picked up the piece of paper he needed to drive in Douala. The bribe obviously wasn’t enough as the guy still threatened to burst our tyres with his stinger device.
I am now with Peter and his wife in their wonderful house. I’ve been given my own room and shower and the bike is safely parked up. Some friends of theirs are coming round tonight for a bbq and beers by the pool. How quickly things can change on a trip like this – welcome to expat heaven!
PS – well the rest of the afternoon was spent in the pool with cold beers. This was followed by the most wonderful bbq out on the patio. Tomorrow I’ll get a lift into town with their driver and jump on a bus to Yaounde to get visas.
21.2.2010 – Day 64 - Yaounde, Cameron
Well the bus here was fairly uneventful. The countryside is stunning – huge swathes of rainforest over low, steep sided hills. Yaounde is at 750m so although it is sticky and wet, the temperature is manageable – good thing really after the last day with Peter being air con all the way!
I’ve found myself in a large Catholic mission on a hill overlooking town. There are clusters of old wooden buildings around the courtyards, simple gardens, a small medical centre, wooden church, dining areas and lodging. Below is a huge Basilica made out of local wood. It looks like a cross between the Catholic Cathedral in Liverpool and the Sydney opera house. This afternoon there was a service on and the building was packed with parishioners. The acoustics are fantastic and the singing drifted up the hill – wonderful. I went to dinner tonight in the dining hall to find around 60 nuns sat around tables of 6 or 7, about to start their meal. No man in sight. It is a one-sitting affair, so obviously as I walked in I was given the ‘who’s the white man’ look by the 60 old ladies. One lady eventually sat me down and we enjoyed a meal of tomato soup, rice, fish in tomato, water melon and pawpaw.
All the women were here for a month long meet – most came from Africa but there were representatives from all the continents. After dinner we stood up behind our chairs for prayers before I was allowed to scuttle off! I don’t think I’ll be eating here tomorrow night!
I’ve just met up with the Germans again after 5 days separation – we’ll chat later to work out some plan of action.
22.2.2010 – Day 65 – Yaounde
I caught a taxi early into the centre this morning, intent on getting a certified copy of my passport. This is basically a photocopy of the passport visa and information pages that the police cover in stamps and signatures. After a short walk around the ramshackled city centre I found the main police station. I got asked a few questions at the front desk – a guy appeared from the back office in a red all-in-one baggy outfit and flip flops. I got shown into his office which had a TV blaring out African sitcoms (it seems TV and office work in Africa are compatible!). The guy introduced himself as the “Chief of Traffic” for the Yaounde region. I held myself back from pointing out to him that he’d be better switching off the TV and getting out there to try and improve Cameroon’s appalling traffic record. He called in a uniformed police man to help him with my request. He was wearing a big white holster from his hip. I had a sneaky look into it to see it was empty – no gun! Always good to know these things when driving through a country. This is much better than Nigeria! Maybe the police dogs have rubber teeth?
Next was a meeting with the German couple to try and get a Congolese visa from the Embassy here. Apart from them wanting a huge amount of money for a 15 day visa, the process was easy. Next we headed to a small café for a coffee and bread – both of which they had to go out and buy first. In the café was a guy in a suit having a beer – is was the Central African Republic Ambassador having his morning drink. He asked us if we wanted to come to his embassy to get a visa – we refused politely, rather than saying there was no chance in hell we would head to such a dangerous and unstable country!
It’s amazing how it’s often the most perverse things that we find interesting or amusing. On the way back we saw a coffin going down the road stuck out of the back of a taxi. Funny maybe, but what are you supposed to do? Lunch ended up being a street feast – chopped up pineapple in a bag was followed by 2 small bags of popcorn, a couple of bananas, a pawpaw and a couple of hard boiled eggs. Unusual mix I know, but good for the taste buds.
23-24.2.2010 – Days 66 and 67 – Yaounde
I headed out to the zoo yesterday, as I was waiting around for visas. It wasn’t such a good idea really. Like all zoos I guess it comes as a bit of a contradiction. There was a good selection of big cats, primates, eagles and snakes, all from Cameroon. The zoo is rundown and the cafes are too small, but it does provide education, especially to the children, about the benefits of conservation and the consequences of deforestation and the eating of bush meat, which is all too common.
The swiss on the motorbike arrived in town at lunch and I moved with them to a hotel nearer the embassies and the centre of town. This slightly more upmarket hotel has BBC news and Fox movies, so after collecting my Congo visa it was a TV night – Great!
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26.2.2010 – Day 69 – Douala
Well I caught an early bus back to Douala and arrived at Peter’s house around 11am. I opened the package containing my swing arm for the bike to find some extra treats sent by Tracy – what a star. I strapped all the pieces I needed to fix the bike onto it and gingerly rode to the Yamaha garage. I brought 6 bolts, 1 chain, 1 sprocket, 1 chain ring, cush rubber set, chain links and the rear swing arm with the bearings ready fitted. The chief mechanic took the bike and told me to come back at 5.30pm.
When I returned I could hardly bring myself to believe it – my bike was fixed! Thank God! To celebrate, and as it’s Friday night, Peter organised meeting some of his friends for a sundowner. His driver took us past the flower market - full of beautiful tropical flowers, the craft market then along the dock road past all the oil infrastructure on the quayside. At the end is a peninsula jutting out into the estuary.
The bar is a wooden structure, open sided with a long deck jutting out over the water. The view is stunning – in the distance, just visable, is Mount Cameroon, 70km away and a perfect volcano cone at over 4000m. The banks of the estuary are covered in lush vegetation and we had a full moon. As the local Export 33 pression here is 2500 CFA as opposed to the usual 1000, most of the clientele here were ex pats. For dinner I went for the locally popular ‘captain’ fish which came as a huge steak much like tuna, but larger and white – absolutely delicious.
Many people say it of solo travel or expeditions – it really isn’t a solo affair. Without the help and support of many people along the way, such a trip just wouldn’t be possible.
For the end of this diary entry I’d like to make a few special thanks. This is by no means a comprehensive list, but includes a few people who need a special mention. I still may not make it to Cape Town, but without these people, I wouldn’t have made it this far.
Firstly, Tracy, for being so strong, for supporting me through everything and being the best expedition support and wife. Oche for helping me with my Nigerian visa and Kasey for the introduction. To Rouven , Christine, Andrea and Daniel who stuck with me when I had my crash. Peter Stacey who did so much for me in Cameroon, including welcoming a stranger into his home with open arms. Cactus and Keely who joined me as far as Morocco. Dave Lambert, XT specialist in the UK who provided exceptional service when I needed it. To Boni, the Belgian biker who, even in his own adversity helped me back on the road in Morocco. Alice, who has helped me network in Africas as did John Farmer.
The online networks also need a special mention – particularly The Hubb and from there, Chris Scott (Sahara Moderator) and Albert, the Belgian motorcyclist who is riding through Africa at one hell of a speed – Go Albert Go!
27.2.2010 – Day 70 – Ambam, Cameroon
After heading East and subsequently grinding to a halt, I am finally travelling South again. The first part of the day was heading East again to Yaounde, which felt familiar, but is always different when you ride it yourself. From Yaounde I basically turned South and will keep heading south all the way down to the Cape. I took some back roads to cut across to the North/South road through small villages and rolling hills. The ride from here down the main road to the Gabon border is wonderful. The tarmac is in good condition and the twists and turns through small hills makes for perfect motorcycling.
The countryside is so lush and green and villages are well kept and clean. Most houses are made from timber panels with tin roofs. The windows have decorative shutters and the ground is swept daily outside. All the rubbish is burned here, which makes the cleanliness conspicuous. There are no piles of rubbish, water bottles or plastic bags strewn across the countryside. I went through one town which proclaimed “Ville Propre” (clean town) and it was!
It is Saturday so I passed weddings and funerals – but mainly I passed road side bars full of men and women drinking beer. The atmosphere has changed here – children and some adults are waving and people are more liberal with their smiles. In my very limited experience it seems the happiest people live in areas of less inequality, whether rich or poor. In cities, people become hard – but venture further afield and the human spirit seems to be lifted, even if the living conditions are harsh.
Yes again I’m in a small hotel in a small town. The hotel is simple but clean and is oddly located about 1/2km down a dirt track. The rooms here are definitely rented by the hour! I asked for dinner – the lady of the house came out and offered the ubiquitous chicken and fried plantain. I accepted, as which point she sent out one of the boys to catch a chicken from the yard. He walked through reception with his hand around the chicken’s neck. At least dinner will be fresh, even if it’s not quick!
Tomorrow Gabon – the new chapter has begun, although the difficulties in obtaining an Angolan visa leave a large shadow over this next section of the journey. As my Swiss friend Daniel always says “One day at a time – this is Africa!!”
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