A long bumpy road

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Traveling from Bangui to Bayanga

The drive from Bangui to Bayanga felt like you were in a movie, which had nothing to do with the fact that I got to ride down with the movie producer in his land cruiser. I guess this was because I was still not used to how different everything is here that it did not really sink in that this was real life.

The distance we had to travel was about 250 miles and that took us about 12 hours. Only about 40 miles was on paved road. I did find it rather amusing that where ever there were pot holes (and there were many big ones) instead of fixing them they were just marked with paint so you could see them better. The rest of roads were dirt logging roads, and it was definitely more 4-wheeling than driving.

Leaving Bangui there were a few check points where the driver had to get out and show our paper work to the guards. Out side of Bangui things turned very quickly into what you stereotypically think things might look like. There were often small clearings on the side of the road where people lived in mud huts with hatch roofs. Some of the houses were made out of wood but they all looked very worn.

We did get one flat tire on the way, but that got changed in record time. The broken tire needed a patch so we stopped in the next town to take care of that. The only major industry in this little town was logging and that seems to be true of most of this part of the country. Also this town supposedly had diamond mining going on as well. After about 20 minutes we were on our way again. The rest of the trip was so bumpy on the washed out roads that I did not even consider trying to take any photos.

After about 12 hours we finally made it to Bayanga. Of course, my sister wasn’t there at the house to receive me as she was off in Bayanga celebrating Mother’s Day (nearly the second biggest holiday). Instead I was greeted by Gabbi (the neighbor and my sister’s close family) with a big smile on his face and speaking only Sango.

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Photos

Little girl by a trash pile
This was in a little town on the side of the road

Comments

[mom]

thanks
loved the pics and story.....

[Tom Daspit]

greeting
Amazingly I know EXACTLY what your reception felt like. When I got into Bayanga NONE of my family was there. I was instead greeted by all the neighbors who I was meeting for the first time. Lesley was in the market. Not exactly the grand reunion I had envisioned.