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Published: April 2nd 2008
On the first of March left Pointe Noire, truck got stuck in the sand trying to get out of the camp so sand mats out right away, then off again to logging roads, scenery is beautiful dense forests, a few savannahs, logging trucks driving as fast as they could as if always in a hurry, it rained in the afternoon and made the roads tricky, we got stuck briefly as we try to get up the hill, another truck tried to zoom past us as we try to set us free and got stuck as well, tried to get out and in doing so narrowly missed us. Such assholes!!! Found a camping site next to the road again,nice breeze going, fantastic view of the valley below, lightning lit up the sky and we braced for more rain in the night but never came.
Another longday driving the next day,horrible logging roads good thing it is dry, big and deep potholes, found a campsitenext to a smelly stream,had a bath there, we have no choice as we dont know when our next shower will be,I could think of a dozen parasitic infection I could get from the water but let my
mind wander to distract me, it's either clean or stinky for god knows how long. We slept on a sloping ground, not a lot of real estate to chose from and it smells of shit as the locals probably use this for toilets,but sleeping ground for us for the night, lightning show on the horizon but yet no rain again. On this roads lots of check points again.
A mix of bad and good roads again as we head for Madingo, we stopped at Bouansa to do cook group shopping,we parked next to the railstation and we noticed sacks of manioc ready to load. At another dodgy check point, a stoned police climbed up the ladder and looking for something a gift perhaps, he noticed mypair of sunnies hanging on the net and wanted it, no way of course they have guns and they are inebriated so quite feeling uneasy but we got out of with some orange juice for a bribe,not before amachine gun was brandished towards Brian ashe looked out the window,quite an experience. At the end of the day we hit a newly built tarmac road about 70 km from Brazza we set upcampat a soil
quarry. There was an unofficial checkpoint that Tony drove through, one guy carrying a machete. Moments later after we set camp he came up and demanded beer and ciggies and Tony refused, meand Bry were thinkin,right we might get slaughtered tonight as they know where we are, but luckily nothing happened during the night except for some noise behind the quarry that sounds like people are gambling, these maybe the road workers passing the time by.
Early start the road is tarmac and so we breezed through but unfortunately does not comeallthe way to Brazza some tough roads then we hit the city, got lost a lot trying to find the port, eventually did and got in and parked near the street food vendors, the people are quite hostile the locals wanted something fromus and keeping an eye on our every movement, Audrey almost got her throat slashed when the locals noticed she was videotaping them from the beach, lots of shouting, no photos at all from then on. We learned that the Africa Trails truck is already in Kinshasa but is stuck at the port and being deported back to Brazza so stayed for 4 plus hoursin the
QUARRY CAMP SITE
NEAR BRAZZAVILLEstiffling heat and smell while waiting word on what actually happened, we eventually met up with them as they got out of customs, weboth drove through around the city trying to find accomodatiuon, the yacht club said no, a nice chic hotel said no and we ended up at a schoolyard next to the Basilique du St. Anne.
To killtime and get toknow the other group we proceeded toa bar and restaurant place within the schoolcompounds, go figure.. We got to know the other group and their story of how they got in and stamped without problems the evening before and was told tospend the night at the border post as their computer is down and needs toput in details the next morning plus the roads are dangerous. The border police seemsnice and allbut the next morning all hell broke lose, new shift and an asshole officer told them they willbe sent back coz they have ,no visa for Angola, their DRC visas were annuled andpushing and shoving camenext as they try to hold their ground tono avail, the guards are threatening them bodily harm and in theend not worth the risk sothey took the next boat over to the
other side. Now we have to figure out how to avoid this problem for us and Di will try to callall the contacts the next day hoping we can sort this out as we are basically stuck!!! That night was hot and muggy and we did not put the fly on to get some fresh air, around 4am the gates of heaven opened and the worst thunderstorm I ever experienced come to be, as if a squall is coming through, heavy rains,loud thunder, lightning piercing the sky and gusting wind. Drips started from the side of Brian's window and he started bitching about the fly, from now on fly will be on all the time regardless he repeated several times as I try to keep rain coming through the slit on his window by pushing the wall with my feet towards the window door to prevent a gap as it is pegged to the ground. We waited for the rain to dissipate to no avail and finally decided to go for it in a minute we had the fly on top of the tent both of us getting soaked when we got out and only in our boxers. Woke up
late the next morning having been exhausted with our effort to stay dry the night before.
Stilla bit of rain during the morning cleared up and walked intotown and found internet near the Russian Embassy. Walked back to camp and Dave and I joined Yap from the other truck to do cook group shopping, took awile to find the marche,the grocery stores are ridiculously expensive!!!
Dave haggled and we got meat for dinner!!!
Next morning we decided to do touristy stuff sowe walked tothe Brazza memorial,it was a cool building next to the immigration office, we visited mausoleum downstairs of Brazza and his family.
Then cameback to camp and ordered food at the restaurant which took only 2 hours to come,I had the river fish and was excellent, well worth the wait in the end. Found out the Angolan consulate in Matadi had faxed a letter at the Oasis office in the UK guaranteeing us of visas when we get there, at least we are making progress,tomorrow Di takes them to the DRC embassy to get assurance we do not get deported when we get to Kinshasa.The other group has to sort out whether they still need a new
visa as theirs got cancelled. Thunder and lightning threatened the sky again but luckily no rain.
UPDATE:
As I write this we've been here stuck camping at a school yard of a catholic school run by nuns in Brazzaville total of 12 days now, not really much has happened the past few days you do feel like living at a refugee camp, tents everywhere, nowhere to go, bored to death already but at least some progress , Oasis had decided to keep the truck here and not go to Pointe Noire to ship it, they were hoping eventually DRc will calm down and the truck be able to get through and drive all the way down south to Namibia, us the passengers bought our tickets out and flies to Windhoek via Luanda via TAAG airlines, costs us roughly 800 US but nothing we can do, Oasis was kind enough to pay half of the fare from Brazza to Pointe Noire, as we cant get there by train, from what the locals say the white people will get robbed, and since we will have all our valuable possessions with us, it is not worth a risk. Tension has been
BOUEA
ZOE AND BRIAN FOOD SHOPPING high among us, short fuses leads to a lot of arguments and hopefully we will all calm down once we get to Namibia, the long wait of doing nothing in the camp had taken its toll on all of us. Nothing much really to do in this city so our days usually constitutes going to internet, buy street food for lunch, chill at the camp, have dinner, go to bar for a drink then off to bed, so much to see in Africa i need to get going. One sad note is I will lose my tentmate Brian, he was asked to stay with Tony the driver to wait out and hopefully the border opens up again and they can drive accross. Big sacrifice on his part but knowing him he really has a good heart and is always willing to lend a helping hand so he stays and in a month we will catch up again in Cape Town to continue the next leg of the trip up to Nairobi then Cairo.
As for the Africa Trails, they will leave the truck here in Brazza and all of them just flew out today to Johannesburg, good people they are
and we'll miss them, am sure we see them again in the East Coast, funny their itinerary flies from Brazza to Kinshasa, a 20 minute flight, soon as you take off they are about ready to land again!!!As for us when we get to Windhoek another Oasis truck awaits us to continue on. The hard part is packing, have to leave some stuff in the truck and maybe see them again in Cape Town or if not in London months from now, all souvenirs I will bring with me just in case.
March 17, St. Pats day which coincidentally also is my 1st year anniversary travelling the world, we got leathered drinking at the refugee camp from noon till midnight, but we were very quiet and behaved, we do not want to upset the nuns who were kind enough to shelter us, celebrating with us were Dan and Lindsay, British bikers that have the same predicament as us, they are thinking of going back home if they cant cross into DRC. Packed my backpack for the 2nd time, sorted out things I can leave in the truck, Marky and I have a stash of 2 minute noodles I sadly
have to give it up and leave in the truck along with tons of sardines I hoarded since Morocco.Most alcohol left in the truck we consumed during the merriment celebrating St.Pats.
Flew from Brazza to Pointe Noire with TAAG airlines the Angolan carrier, have to sleep at the gym at the Cercle de Naval yacht club as we cant afford hotels, at least it was airconditioned and nice to be back in a familiar place then the next night we booked a hostel next to the airport , 2 rooms 5 persons per room but later on they retracted saying we need to book 4 rooms so we as a group decided to get to the airport and hope we can sleep there as our flight leaves at 7am the security guards were kind enough to let us in the passenr lounge and we tried aour best to slepp, then next am check in time was 4am, Jen surprisingly was on a stand by list for some reason but they eventually gave her a seat, all through we flew to Luanda in Angola and spent 6 hours there lots of Chinese in the airport something to do with them
BRAZZAVILLE
CONGO RIVER doing the infrastructure of the country and probably why it is so difficult to get across overland, no visa is given, quite weird as they are actually promoting tourism but i think the locals did not know how difficult for a foreigner to get a tourist visa, bureacracy crap really. Flew in to Windhoek delayed and full the flight was smooth, they sprayed something to kill mozzies in the cabin,...
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