Blogs from Point Noire, West, Congo, Africa

We will be sailing soon. We are preparing to do checks for stowaways and some crew members are being trained to do pirate watch. We will be going through an interesting point - 0° longitude and 0° latitude. For those of you who may not know, it is the point at which the equator (0° latitude) and the prime meridian (0° longitude) intersect. It has no real importance. It is in the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean, about 380 miles (611 kilometers) south of Ghana and 670 miles (1078 km) west of Gabon. We are headed to the Canaries and dry dock where the bottom of the ship will be cleaned and routine maintenance will be done before departing for Benin. The Africa Mercy was to go to Guinea, but plans were changed because ... read more

Pigs, chickens, rabbits, wedding flowers, fish farming, soybeans, banana, mango, and passion fruit, and irrigation are some of the things I saw when I visited a farm about an hour from Point Noir. The farmer is a medical doctor, formerly with Doctors Without Borders. He last served in Rwanda. Several of the other doctors he worked with there were killed. He was wounded in an explosion while driving an ambulance. After his recovery he felt he needed to live a quiet life, but one that involved physical work. He moved to his home country and began farming. He has taught others farming skills. I went to this place with six other crew members. I was on the gangway as they were leaving the ship. I was invited to go since they had room for one more. ... read more

Tuesday July 10 We're in The Congo! Well, Republic of Congo to be exact; not too far from the Gabon border that we crossed earlier today. Our free camp isn't too far off the road and several youngsters found us but either they kept their little secret to themselves or the adults weren't interested. Driving along solid dirt roads again, the landscape was similar to yesterday. A small section of sealed road appeared in the border town where people frantically pointed to the building we'd driven past and listening to them, Suse turned the truck around and we found out it was immigration. Notes said it was 48km further down the track but here it was. Somehow we'd missed the tiny sign sitting under the window from the main road 100 metres away. Go figure. Filing ... read more

Initial reaction of intense disappointment. Where has the city so revered by Europeans and Congolese alike been hidden? True, the coast with its Atlantic waves and golden sand (just like light brown demerera sugar) is stunning. Yet the oil rigs and Disney style resorts invade the beauty. There is an air of something perverse, although that could just be the presence en masse of macho, chain smoking oil rig workers who expulse an aura that money is power. 21 July 2008 I have seen the light. Driving down Avenue Charles de Gaulle at night with the illuminated facades of shops, restaurants, casinos and night clubs shows Pointe Noire in a new light. It almost seems like a European coastal resort - save for the drone of generators and accompanying stench of burning diesel. Yet once beyond ... read more

Back once again to Pointe Noire in the Congo staying at exactly the same safehouse/hotel as I was the last time I ventured here. Not much has changed in a few months besides the food which seems to have gotten much better. Maybe all the meat I was eating was tasty because it was freshly killed? Or maybe it was because it wasn't loaded with chemicals. Bah, either way the grub was good, and the fruits are still fantastic. Head down any street in the city and you will come across some vender hawking their wares. There were these tiny ugly round greenish orange things that when bitten into would blow up in a juicy waterfall, oh man were they good. This time around though I had a few troubles along the way. Chief of which ... read more