Blogs from Goma, East, Congo Democratic Republic, Africa - page 2

Another early start, we leave the hotel at 6am. We drive to the base of the volcano again and pick up our armed escort, he is more protection from Congolese rebels... It's then another hour drive on very rough roads. At points it is proper 4WD territory, I am petrified that we are going to fall off the cliff side. Fidel doesn't help when he hits a bridge post and breaks the wheel arch off! We finally arrive at a remote building where the trekking will begin. We take one guide and 2 armed guards who also have machetes for cutting paths in the forest. We start with a short walk through some farmland then we enter the forest. The guide has a GPS monitor so he can take us to the place where the gorillas ... read more

I was up bright and early, despite having a hangover, not the best prep for what was in store! I left my big pack at the Auberge and set off with my day back to catch a boda-boda, to the border I had to wait a bit for my visa as the man with the stamp wasn't there. Once I had this I was walking off to get another boda-boda when I heard someone hissing at me (they don't whistle here), I knew this was trouble so I quickened my step but the guy started running and grabbed my arm. I looked round with a "Oh, you meant me expression" and he asked for my yellow fever certificate. I immediately knew I was doomed - I had left my form in my big pack - doh. ... read more

2009 Trip to DRCongo and Rwanda If you are planning a trip to Africa I would like to suggest you consider taking full advantage of the airline's excess baggage allowance. The airlines will allow up to ten 50lb boxes of supplies for $150 each. This may seem like a lot but it's pretty easy to ask friends and family for donations to cover the expense. And you will not believe the deep gratification you will feel delivering these supplies anywhere you go. There are several non-profit organizations that will donate medical supplies, medicines, vitamins etc if you can prove that you will deliver them to places in the world where they are desperately needed. It's best to buy your ticket 2 months in advance and quickly contact these agencies to acquire the donated supplies. I took ... read more

I broke a promise. Well, the lawyer that still lives somewhere deep inside me (despite my best endeavours to the contrary) would rather say that, actually, I have refined my approach to this particular promise and, while, yes, I did break the existing promise as then phrased, I can now re-cast it more intelligently. Semantics. Sorry, Mum. I walked across the border into the Democratic Republic of the Congo yesterday to stay overnight in the provincial capital of Goma. My promise had been that I would not travel to any country or any part of any country in respect of which the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office at that time advised against either all travel or “all but essential travel”. On a practical level, if the FCO has issued this kind of warning, it invalidates my ... read more

DRC Calling The Democratic Republic of Congo. What a crazy place. We crossed over the boarder early Monday morning and the difference between Rwanda and Congo was incredible. Gisenyi is a peaceful town on the water with a lot of nature and beaches. Goma on the other hand is full of people and chaotic. Goma is like a modern day Pompeii, the is a huge volcano about a 20 min drive (the roads are horrible though so you have to drive at about 30km/hour) which erupted in 2002 covering a large portion of the city with lava. Now there are a whole bunch of house that have been built on top of the dried lava with stone made of lava rock. For the first two nights we stayed in a hotel called Stella which was really ... read more