Blogs from Goma, East, Congo Democratic Republic, Africa

My legs were more than a little wobbly after the five plus hour climb, one that took me up an increasingly steep gradient, made all the more difficult by alternating stretches of slippery smooth rock and loose, jagged gravel. But now I was nearly at the top, just a few feet away from my goal. Before I mustered the energy to climb the last stretch, I turned to look at the surrounding vista. From my perch, more than 11,000 feet above sea level, I had an unhindered view of Lake Kivu, with the rambling outlines of distant Goma spread along its shore, and the wide, surprisingly flat plain at the base of the mountain, which quickly gave rise to another chain of mountains that mark the beginning of Rwanda. All looked verdantly healthy; all appeared peaceful. ... read more

After a couple of days in Goma we were offered to stay one more day and visit surrounded villages. To come out of the city and go deeper into the country was quite tense, stressful and a breathtaking event for us. We were driving on a bad but good for DR of the Congo road and in few hours we reached our goal – a village where originally has been a refugee camp just one year ago and rebels attacked and burnt it to the ground. After a calm ride suddenly the energetic children began to run after our car when we entered a small village road and the driver was forced to put on the brakes again and again so kids would fall of the car. ‘Mzungu, mzungu… Give me food, give me money, please’. ... read more

This was a detour that we both were not expecting and to be sleeping on the rim of Africa’s most active volcano, which happens to be in not so safe DR of the Congo, was a chance we grabbed. How we come to this adventure started a couple of weeks prior to this when we read a blog of another blogger ‘Freespirt’ who has done this earlier and left some contact details at the bottom of the blog. We thought about it, forgot about it and then went to a town called Gisini on the Rwandan border where we could see the glow from the volcano from this town, we were thinking again. Where we were staying we meet a couple of Americans who were trying to get into DR of the Congo but at ... read more

As you pass a United Nations sniper tower, a truck loaded with mercenary’s thunders past holding rocket launchers, machetes and AK47′s. While political activists rally for the looming elections, Congolese soldiers dressed like Rambo carry mounted machine guns to protect road blocks around the city. With armoured vehicles at every intersection, and police patrolling the streets, helicopter gunships hover above watching your every move. Attempting to enter a conflict zone on a tourist visa is surreal, the fact that it is even possible a mind-blowing experience. Realizing that the British Foreign Office has travel restrictions in place invalidating your insurance policy the reality. With tourist visa #479 it quickly becomes clear that only Non Government Organisations and the most intrepid travellers dare visit the Kivu province in the Eastern Congo. Delayed at the Gisenyi border for ... read more

After numerous obstacles encouraging me to give up I couldn’t help but grin myself to sleep. I just hadn’t given up on a destination I had craved to see. Yes I finally gave into corruption but it was so worth it. The sounds of waves crashing into each other, the strong breeze hitting our tent with such force I thought I was going to be lifted off and boiled to death. But we were in the middle of Africa and nowhere near the ocean. We were close to a timid lake and 3470m high. It took 5 hours to hike it, two attempts to enter it but at last after never giving up the thought. I had finally reached Congo and I climbed, than slept on the craters edge of a live bubbling volcano. As previously ... read more