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March 28, 2011

270 Days - Congo to Namibia – Tough on suspension but easy on the eye




Countries visited – Congo, DRC, Angola & Namibia
Miles travelled –  2667 miles
Sunny days – 27 days
Coldest night – 18’C Kamanjab, Namibia
Warmest day – 38’C Purros, Namibia
Highest mountain pass travelled – 4879ft, Van Zyl’s Pass
Cheapest fuel – £0.27, Angola
Best food tasted – Meat (of known origin) & Wine!!! We treated ourselves to the best steak and chips at the Luanda yacht club, it was delicious.
Best wild camp – Kimassa Nord Village, DRC
Most useful things – Knowing that once we got to Namibia we no longer had visa constraints/deadlines, our waffle boards were invaluable on our Congo crossing, a spare jerry can of diesel which ended up being our ferry ticket across the Congo as they had no diesel for the ferry!!
Least useful things – the humidity on our Congo crossing & ZERO Portuguese for our time in Angola


 LOWLIGHTS…

1) The challenging road that was built during the Belgian Congo era that has had no maintenance since it was built – it was also a highlight looking back.
2) Being stamped on the wrong day entering Angola which nearly left us 1 day short with 4 days to transit 2000km cross country…..the official then wrote over the stamp which caused a little patience/fretting exiting Angola. Luckily we got the phone number for the official at the border post, this was our get out of jail free card!!
3) The craziest tsetse flies in Angola that just wouldn’t die & Nick got bitten (they like the colour blue). The worst was when we had just got them out the car or killed them that we had to stop at a checkpoint and 5 more flew in! The official at the checkpoint then told us that there was no problem with tsetse flies (he lied)!


HIGHLIGHTS…

1) Crossing the mighty Congo at a rarely used ferry crossing. Although the road was a lowlight, this experience was quite unforgettable. We met amazing people along the way and saw very remote & beautiful countryside.
2) Being the first tourists in a village called Kimassa Nord in DRC. We even got a full village send off the following morning.
3) Getting a police escort to a fuel station in Luanda. We got a bit confused with a one way system so asked a policeman on a motorbike (white leather boots & gloves styleee) for help and he showed us the way in a traffic stopping way, absolutely priceless.
4) Nick having a catapult contest with some village boys near Quilengues in Angola where we camped overnight – the Black Widow catapult was no match for the local weapons…..  the kids were 10x more accurate than Nick! (I let them win….honest!)
5) Van Zyl’s Pass and all the scenery getting there.  Passing through Marienfluss, big wide spaces – the horizons just got bigger and bigger.
6) Seeing wild animals in the wild!! We have seen Springbok, Ostrich, Baboons, Giraffe, Aardwolfs, Porcupine, Warthogs, Oryx & Zebra in Namibia so far.
7) Visiting a Himba village near Purros. We had interesting chats with the Chief and some of the Himba ladies who are admirably very good, bare chested,  business ladies who drive hard bargains (Nick only managed to get £1 knocked off the curios).


RANDOM FACTS…

1) We had no problems/ hassle from anybody in Congo & DRC if anything we had one of the best times in these countries despite the ‘bad’ press you hear.
2) Angola is spectacular!!! We would definitely love to come back here on a hopefully longer visa. We did try and extend our visa in Benguela but they have stopped extending them here, you can only do this in Luanda now.
3) We were quite overwhelmed with choice when we went into our first shop in Namibia. You never realise this living in a modern world although we have become very fond of small village shops and street vendors, long live these great African entrepreneurs.


Nick & Vicks
Stonehenge to Cape Town

Namibia, 4th: The Bradt Travel Guide  Angola (Bradt Travel Guide)  Nature Parks ETOSHA Namibia 

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