Off the beaten track, Ferry Nightmares, Baby Gorillas & The Hippocampe – Congo Brazzaville 12th April 2010

Date: Thursday 29th April, 2010 | Country: Congo Brazzaville | Tags: africa, blogsherpa, Congo Brazzaville, Ferry, Goriila | 11 Comments »

After having gone through some tricky muddy terrain to reach the border at Mbalam both Reka and I were rather hoping for some dry scorching sun throughout the morning so that the road into Congo Brazzaville would be easier to travel through but what we weren’t expecting were that the guys at the border were off in another town having a meeting!  So we could either try and leave into Congo without the correct stamps in our passport and carnet or as we did, wait around drinking coffee with locals for the next few hours until some guys rolled up in a dirty old truck and finally give us something that resembled a formal entry stamp in our passports, the guy who was responsible for our carnet stamp was offsick to we entered Country #14 without it hoping that at another post somewhere we would get an official to stamp it!  The previous day we had decided to give a 12 year old boy a lift from a village close’ish to the border who was very shy but confident enough to get into a strange foreign vehicle and later I found out that instead of the border at Cameroun he in fact wanted to get to a Congo outpost a further 60-70km away but he was cool and amazing to see such a young boy do this kind of journey by himself, when we reached the Congo outpost he shyly said thanks for the ride and then went his own way.  It was at this outpost that we encountered a not so friendly army official happily holding is AK 47 who had a few gimps that wanted to search the entire contents of the vehicle and virtually every bag in Maggie.  It wouldn’t have been that stressful however we had not had that much sleep the night before due to the mud and the heavy rain and the wait to get through the border it was hard work in the scorching sun to empty everything and even open up the roof tent (so much for wishing for brilliant sunshine).  After an hour of these shenanigans we were able to leave, and then via some very recent excavations to the road manage to reach the closest town in Congo called Souanke.

History

Congo often mistaken for the Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire) has borders with Angola, Cameroun, Central African Republic (CAF), DRC and Gabon.  The Congo river that bisects most of these other countries has been part of a complex trading route between the peoples of Bantu origin.  The Portuguese were the first Europeans to make contact and established a slave system trading commercial goods for human cargo.  In 1880 the area came under French sovereignty when Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza managed to con the then Onkoo rulers to sign away their land rights.  The French very quickly made good use of Congo’s natural resources such as Ivory, hardwood and rubber.  By the early 1900’s Congo had been streamlined into French Equatorial Africa together with Chad, Gabon and CAF, but as the years went by despite copious amounts of natural resources being extracted the French chose to continually to ignore tribal differences everything came to a head in 1960 with independence.  Congo’s first president Fulbert Youlou was seen by many to be a puppet of the French, 3 years later he was ousted and Alphonse Massamba-Debat  was installed.  Introducing a one party state as the only legal political party, in 1968 he was ousted by Captain Marien-Ngouabi in a military coup.  Ngouabi was part of a new generation of political activists and in 1969 he announced the formation of the Peoples Republic of Congo, ushering in Africa’s first Marxist state (Angola and Ethiopia would soon follow).  As power transferred from the from the south to the north in 1977 Ngouabi was assassinated, in 1979 Denis Sassou Nguesso took the helm and despite pursuing a pro-soviet line he adopted a more liberal view post 1989 with the fall of the Berlin wall and opened the way for multi party elections.  In the 1992 elections Sassou was eliminated from the first round of votes and a former university professor Pascal Lissouba got into office with the promise to redress southern Congo’s years spent in exile from development and access to the countries top jobs.  Very quickly it was widely seen that Lissouba was fleecing the country from millions or billions while using his personal militia known as the Cocoyes.  In 1993 a full blown civil war broke out between the Cocoyes & the prime ministers militia called the Ninja’s with Sassou’s Cobra militia.  Lissouba clung onto power amongst this until in 1997 when Brazzaville was obliterated.  During this chaos many Congolese had fled into the forests to escape where many people died if not from bullets then by malnutrition.  A couple of years ago a new constitution allowed the president an array of new powers as well as being able to extend his term from 5 years to seven.  In an attempt to legitimise itself as one of the sub-Saharan Africa’s main oil producers, Congo has tried to improve financial transparency as well as have a freer press.

Souanke –> Sembe –> Ouesso

In Souanke we managed to find a presbryatarian church where the pastor allowed us to camp for free (thanks Pastor!), we had access to a shower and that’s all you need for a decent nights sleep.  The next day we set off for Sembe a town only 80km away hoping that the roads would be fairly ok to travel through but unfortunately the previous last few days rainfall had managed to create a few obstacles in our way such as pools of water and very muddy terrain.  The only life we saw were those working in the one or two logging companies that seemed to be Chinese owned and we saw many large trees already felled and awaiting their pickup along the side of the road.

Above: The Jungle roads to Sembe

It was becoming very clear that not many cars decide to drive through this region, during the next 4 hours I was starting to enjoy the off road experience splashing through metre deep puddles or sliding my way across 5 metre length muddy sections and Maggie seemed to be in her element driving in low range.  There was one occasion where it seemed we were stuck in a muddy pool and would have been hilarious for one of us to get out in that situation as the pressure of the water would have drenched the inside of the vehicle but I reversed off the hilly part and tried again and with some extra momentum was able to get out, it would have been nice to do this part of the journey with another 4×4 but we could have waited a long time before one was able to convoy with us.  By the midday it was roasting hot in Sembe, a quick cold beer and then after asking some locals that Ouesso would be another 4 hour drive we tried to leave the small town as quickly as possible, we were nabbed by the local douane and immigration officials as they wanted to write down our details in their ropey notepads and after asking us for money which we quickly told them where to go an hour later we had left Sembe.  Hoping that the offroad experience was almost finished as we were told that for another 60 km there would be ‘bad’ roads then the road would become levelled out then onto tarmac I again realised that 60km of bad roads means a lot of stopping, checking where the tyres are able to go, sometimes a lot of blind faith when the clearance is not visible and on a few occasions the sand ladders had to come out to be able to get across certain parts of the road.  The bush itself was very dense and as you drove through it both Reka and I would get whacked by some branches or leaves sometimes very painful and with the window up it would be very hot in the car so not an easy choice to make!

Above: The ‘road’ to Ouesso

It was quite an experience I have to say, I learnt a lot about driving tough roads this day and the fact that sometimes it pays to be patient and check the lie of the land ahead so you choose the most sensible path.  Driving in mud or through muddy pools can be unnerving as you don’t always know how deep some of these pools of water are and if both wheels are entering at relatively the same height which wasn’t always the case.  Towards the end of the day we were both tired but the driving still wasn’t getting any easier and at one point (no photos which is a shame) where the road bends it was full of deep clay like mud and water, previously 3rd gear low range had taken me steadily through this sort of terrain but on this occasion I was stuck and it was getting dark and I though ‘feck’ we are going to be stuck in the mud at the end of the day and what a way to end such a mammoth driving experience.  Luckily we had started to drive through a few small villages (10 people or so) and where we were stuck a few guys came through the mud and began to start pushing Maggie, the back wheel was turning and covering them in mud (sorry guys!) and then they called for more help and in the end there were 8-9 people all trying to push us out of this muddy situation, slowly but surely we felt the mud giving way and for a few seconds it felt as if the vehicle was swimming as we glided precariously through to the other side, what a relief that was, luckily just before it got dark we were able to bush camp in a wider clearance between the forest where it was dry and I can tell you that by far was the toughest drive of my life.  Baked beans and sardines never tasted so good!

Ouesso

The next day we set off early for Ouesso and luckily the majority of the remaining 100 or so km was on fairly flat dirt roads and we were able to give a few guys a lift on top of Maggie to save them a few hours out of their day and then when we saw the Tarmac it was a magical feeling to be off the dirt road and onto this smooth babies bottom!  To then be greeted by the To Tango restaurant which served cold beers and reasonable priced burgers was a welcoming place indeed (great sharwama’s as well).

Above: Ouesso

I also have to mention that for anyone doing this route via Cameroun to make sure you have enough reserve fuel on board if by car as there are no petrol stations for a good 3-400 km between southern Cameroun and Northern Congo, I ended up buying some Diesel off a guy with a land cruiser in Souanke for a reasonable price but that was by chance, otherwise the reserve and the spare jerry cans would all have been used.  In Ouesso there is a petrol station but as this is the last stop for anyone travelling to Cameroun, the station had run out of Diesel but the head worker there was a nice man and he managed to give us 40 ltrs from a reserve that he was not meant to give us, so take note!

Ferry Nightmares

We had to do 2 ferry crossings while in Congo Brazzaville and both were very different experiences:

Ferry Crossing # 1 – Le Petit

From Ouesso the roads started to get much better and we were heading to Brazzaville our end destination in Congo and all seemed to be going well, when we started to think of the road continued beyond Yengo as the Lonely planet had a road with no bridge but the Michellin map (a few years older) had a gap in the road, as soon as we approached this small village we were met by a lovely river in between where we had to be.  It was absolutely boiling hot that day and complete mayhem with the one ferry crossing which would load up with people heading to Brazzaville to the other side or vice versa heading to Cameroun towards us.  I finally managed to squeeze my way onto a fully loaded ferry and asked the captain how much for my vehicle (for a 5 min crossing) and he told me 50,000 CFA francs the equivalent of £70, I was amazed, we were in the middle of a tiny village and this one ferry boat was making big wads of cash off people with vehicles, I asked a local guy who happed to be a missionary and he told me that he too was asked for the same amount.  After some sweaty negotiations and shouting louder than the passengers so I could be heard we agreed on 30,000 CFA (£40) but it was still a lot of money for such a small crossing but what could we have done in this situation apart from seeing how well Maggie drives underwater!  After seeing a couple of crossing already go and come back and a few hours of waiting we were the last crossing to go over and luckily it was just Reka, Maggie and I (plus 2 crew) to go across.

Above: Rip off Ferry to the other side!

All we needed to do was to drive onto the ramp and then go onto the ferry.  This is where the problem was, the ramp was at the foot of a rather large hill and Maggie’s brakes are not fantastic at most of the time but anyway other cars have done it (I think) and Reka decided to take the helm while I took some photos on the ferry.  As she started to descend the ferry itself had it’s ramps nicely on the shoreline and Reka with the use of the handbrake was slowly coming down and as soon as the front wheels were on the ramp there was a slight hesitation and the ferry ramp started to move sideways…gulp!  Basically because there wasn’t enough momentum of the vehicle on the ramp the ferry with the additional weight moved in the water, the ferrymen were shouting that she should reverse but it didn’t seem possible without one or both of the front wheels from missing the side of the ramp and then going into the lake, I tired to calm these guys down but they were insisting that they could not adjust the Ferry to be in line with the wheels until we had reversed up the hill again, I asked Reka if she was up for it (hoping she’d say yes) but she got out of Maggie and her feet were shaking so dripping with sweat I got in and basically prayed to the 4×4 god that all would be well as I really didn’t want to end this journey sinking into a small lake, and then blasted into reverse up this narrow hill not caring who might have been in the way, within a few seconds we were back to square one again but at least at the top of this hill, phew!!  The photos below don’t really show the steepness of the situation but it was hair-raising even for my curly locks!

Easy does it!

After this we also then had to traverse some ropey bridges and wet sand but nothing compared to the ferry situation, I slept very well that evening!

Above: Left – The vehicle taking all passengers from the ferry to Brazzaville!

Lefini Reserve

After driving through Gambona then Ngo the villages started to become more frequent and we had seen on the map that there was a large reserve called Lefini but without any info as to what wasin the reserve we drove until we found the entrance, this wasn’t easy as many people directed us to several places but no one knew exactly where the main entrance was.  Around Etsouali we saw a sign that basically said Gorillas this way (finger pointing to the bush).  That was enough to be curious and check out the path, it was off road and getting late so hoped that the road was ok to either turn around if it led no where or reached somewhere that we could camp. After 10km we reached a small village and a few locals pointed us to a place that was a small camp with a tented area, as soon as we reached a guy came running over to us and started explaining that we should book this place through a tourist agency somewhere in Brazzaville, I tried to explain in my fantastic French that we had come from the north and would be impossible to go there first and then return, he made a few phone calls and then agreed that we could camp here this evening and then go to see some gorilla’s somewhere that would be signposted into the reserve.  The cost of entry was 30,000 CFA (£36) and then we would have to pay someone else an amount that we thought would be 10-20,000 CFA to be guided somewhere in the reserve but it wasn’t that clear due to the language barrier, it was worth a punt as I have read that gorilla permits now start around $6-800 depending on the country you are in.

It had rained quite heavily that evening but stopped by the time we had setoff, our guide (cannot remember his name) took us to a spot where we had a magnificent view of the reserve, it was a great spot if you have a head for heights.

Above: Lefini Reserve

As there wasn’t much information we were left to drive around this large reserve unguided which was nice but also slightly tricky as to know where the roads actually started and ended as sometimes you would see several tracks leading to many places.  Eventually we reached a camp whereby we could leave Maggie parked up and enter an area where we were told there were Gorillas.

Above – Entrance to the Aspinall Foundation Iboubikro site

It was here that we met some lovely staff that were able to explain to us that the foundation has been setup here for the protection of gorillas as well as reintroduce those that have been captured for bush meat.  To see one of the few Gorillas that were in the reserve would mean some serious communication with some village chiefs and to be able to organise a pirogue and a guide all of which would cost a lot of money as well as the availability of being able to do this he next day would be difficult with no guarantee of being able to see any gorillas.  With that in mind we spend a couple of hours talking to the staff who were very passionate and informative about the gorillas here and we were able to see a group of gorilla infants that were being looked after close to this site before they would be released after reaching a few years old in the correct location.  Initially I was disappointed as it sounded like a show to go and see the baby gorillas being fed but I was proven wrong when we saw them, their behavioural attributes that they showed was absolutely stunning, an older female (1 1/2 years old) was curious to see both Reka and a little closer so she left the others and climbed onto a large tree for a better look, the others were more sensitive to being near each other and a young male (1 year old) began to get agitated that one of the females had left his sight and he began to get very aggressive and pond his little chest and whack the floor in a way to call her back to him, amazing for a gorilla who has had no interaction with an older male before.  I won’t go on about it but it was a special thing to see,below are some photos of them.

Above: Les Enfants

On the way out of the reserve we went to Lac Bleu a natural lake in the reserve and it was a nice place to go and dip your feet in but was scorching hot, oh and on the way there on some very steep sandy roads we ended up taking the wrong road, got stuck but with the help of some jigging in low range was able to get out of the situation and carry on the journey!

Above: The smaller creatures of Lefini, Below: Lac Bleu

Brazzaville

I won’t talk too much about Brazzaville as I didn’t spend too much time here apart from the fact that we stayed at the Hippocampe a Vietnamese restaurant that allowed Reka and I to camp there for free, the owner had travelled the world and his car par was a small refuge for many overlanders over the years.  It was here that we met Joni the German cyclist, 9 months on the road from Germany to here (crazy but a great guy!), Maureen and Henk a dutch couple in their ‘small’ DAF truck kitted out very luxuriously for their trip around Africa, Andrew and Christina from the UK (Via Angola and Sierra Leone from the past) and Canada in their 110 Defender (plenty of problems along the way with their vehicle) and Darren a kiwi travelling solo throughout Africa.  For the next few days we chilled eating good Vietnamese food and drinking beer, the Hippocampe is a dangerous place for the budget though as the more time you spend there, the more money comes out of the pocket on good food, all worth it in the end after weeks of tinned sardines and pasta!  I also met Benjamin there a French world traveller who has been working in various jobs around the world and could be the next owner of Maggie if he decides to do an overland journey next year (the offer is there Benjamin!).  Close to the Congo river you see a very wealthy side to Brazzaville and its full of cafe’s and restaurant’s at prices you’d expect in London, the outskirts of the city are where the majority of people live and Brazzaville looks very different there compared to the centre (like most cities I suppose).

Above: Brazzaville, and the friends we met at the Hippocampe, Dont ask about the last one!

Ferry Crossing # 2 – Le Corrupt

Trying to cross into the next country DRC Congo we had heard that ferry from Brazzaville to across the Congo river to DRC Congo could be notorious for being ripped of by someone in both ports.  While in Brazzaville we spoke to few overlanders who had entered via Gabon and had enquired at the port the previous day to get an idea of costs and it was clear that nothing was clear!  Prices ranged from 20,000 CFA to 50,000 (£23-£60) for a vehicle to cross the river and 1500 CFA to 10,000 CFA (£2-£12) to simply enter the port!  The day we decided to leave another overlander Darren in his green Landrover and a German cyclist Joni decided to make the same journey as well.  At the port entry which is very close to the centre of Brazzaville plenty of guys in uniform and without were busy controlling the entry to the port and in their hands they had a book of tickets to hand out to those entering.  When we were stopped we were asked immediately that as a tourist we would have to pay 10,000 CFA to enter, as the tickets that were printed were for 1500 CFA I argued the toss out of trying to enter the port for that amount rather than the 7 tickets that they said was what ‘all’ tourists had to pay, local taxi’s by the way were paying these guys 500 CFA (£0.60p) to come and go as they pleased which also infuriated me and I was not budging from paying the tourist price, Darren also at the gate paid up his 10,000 CFA as he didn’t want to mess around but that also left us in a difficult situation that another ‘tourist’ had paid the full amount.  Joni the German cyclist was asked to pay but he got through the entry gate without paying anything.  After speaking to the ‘chief’ and even offering to buy him a beer which he wanted but also wanted us to pay the full amount we decided to see if there was an alternative entrance to the port as another overlander Andrew had told us the previous day.

Above: Brazzaville Main port entrance

To the right of the port as you come out of the main entrance there was a side road that went over some train tracks before the Total garage that led to a very small entrance and there the port controllers only wanted 1500 CFA for us to enter, we were happy to have saved ourselves 8500 CFA (£10) by going this different route.  When inside the port there was mayhem around us, there were officials that wanted to see our passport and vehicle documents as well as dozens of people that wanted to see Maggie and ask us questions about who we were.  Reka went with a few officials to do all the exit formalities with various people while I went in search of the ferry ticket price.  In a small office, one guy who was responsible for issuing various tickets wrote on a piece of paper for me that the 4×4 ‘camion’ would be 25,000 CFA (£30) plus 6500 CFA (£8) for an additional passenger (Reka) for the ticket.  No matter how much I tried to negotiate with this guy his hands were tied as his boss was sitting right behind him on a cheap Chinese plastic chair.  Even after buying the guy a coffee and his colleague a coke he was not going to reduce the price (and I bargained hard with him!), eventually he knocked off 1500 CFA and the total cost for the ferry was 30,000 CFA (£35).  After a quick beer we were first in line to get into the area where the ferry was to depart but it was a long wait for the hundreds of people leaving the ferry into Brazzaville with their mattresses on their heads, sacks of grain and various other bags that looked inhumanely possible to carry on their heads but they did!  A guy in civilian clothes came up to us and asked to see our port entry ticket and quickly started shouting at us and others around him that we had not paid the correct amount and began to round up a few other dodgy looking fella’s to back up his story that for tourists we must pay 10,000 CFA.  It seemed a huge con that everyone was in on including the army looking guys that must divvy up the profits between them at the end of a profitable day.  After chatting to one of these guys we ended up giving him an extra 3000 CFA (£4) and he gave us a bunch of extra tickets that would satisfy any other ‘official’ that wanted to see these tickets!  It was hot while waiting in the sun to enter the ferry but when they opened the gates there were hundreds of people all hustling and bustling around the ferry, many ‘officials’ wanted to see our carnet du passage and thoroughly examine it like a piece of important evidence at a crime scene and then give it back to us with a nod of approval.  Reka had seen a poor woman who was on a wheelchair being knocked off her chair by some officials that wanted money from her to enter the ferry, many people started shouting at the official and a crowd gathered to help her, it was not a place to hang around in and after negotiating the ramp we were on the ferry.

Above: the ferry to DRC Congo, Kinshasa

On the ferry there are money changers that convert CFA to dollars and Congolese francs so you have some currency for when you arrive at the Kinshasa port.  The ferry took just under an hour to get to Kinshasa and in the sun many people stay in the shaded area, it was a fascinating boat ride for people watching, there were many drunkards on the ferry, many salesman selling drinks and baguettes with sausages, many blind people who were being aided by individual helpers and the icing on the cake was when the ferry approached to dock (loosely termed) that all the passengers started to climb over each other to be at the front of the ferry to be one of the first to leave, this included the blind people and disabled people who were being carried in their wheelchairs, its the done thing but I was happy to be in the vehicle and await this madness to die down a bit!  After driving up the ramp and successfully avoiding crushing peoples feet in the process we were in DRC Congo.  Darren and Reka went to do all their paperwork while I waited around both Landrover’s.  Within a few minutes some ropey looking blokes in tattered white overcoats (school chemistry lessons came to mind) and wellington boots carrying clipboards came over to me and ‘told’ me that in order to enter DRC I had to have Maggie disinfected from all the dangerous bugs that I have allegedly brought with me from the Congo.  I told them that they were more than welcome to disinfect the vehicle but I wouldn’t pay them a penny, they wanted $60 and then $40 after the discussion heated up a bit.  I left these wannabe lab technicians to it and joined Reka and Darren in the passport control section.  An hour later of various inane questions we had got our passports and carnet stamped and were ready to leave.  Approaching the main gate to leave a policemen and his lab cronies stopped us from leaving and aggressively told us to park up as we weren’t leaving without our dosage of bug spray.  After our conversations were going nowhere they led us to the office of the chief of disinfectant (nice title) who shuffled around some old photocopies of battered paper which stated we must pay, the entrance to this office by te way was filthy and we were almost killed by hundreds of bag handlers that were busy running through a tunnel taking the heaviest of packages to the ferry bound for Brazzaville.  In the office there were several people all talking at one and it became heated, I was told that either I turn around and get on the ferry back to Brazzaville or pay up, Darren who was also in the office decide to pay up his $60 to avoid any further conflict but that then left Reka and I in a situation where we were in a non negotiable situation. Angrily we paid up and the lab rats sprayed what seemed like some cheap chemical on the underside of Maggie and left the port, the policeman who I told was corrupt during all of this wanted to be friendly and chat some more and he explained it was his sole task and it was the higher authorities that gave him his orders, all of this I understood but it was clear to me that this port was taking the piss with foreigners entering DRC Congo.

Above: Mayhem as the ferry is about to dock!

Conclusion

Congo Brazzaville is a very interesting country, in the north it is very wild and you are able to visit some national parks (if you have the info) that are less touristy than most of the parks you’ll see when you head further south in Africa.  It’s highly recommended to do the drive from the Cameroun border to Ouesso in Congo if you like a sense of adventure and want to traverse some very tricky roads and terrain, now I am past that I can say it with a fond memory, at the time I was absolutely bricking it!  Lefini game reserve is a place that needs good planning and plenty of days to be able to see the reserve properly and see some lowland gorillas in the wild.  People are friendly everywhere I went and although it seems like a small country, you can easily spend a few weeks here and not see very much.  The season you go is important as in the north the roads could become very dangerous in the mud but the Chinese construction companies are everywhere in Congo Brazzaville, especially in the north and the roads are improving every month by the looks of it.  To go to DRC Congo it would have been hassle free as a passenger but with a vehicle it opens up a whole can of worms but if you are loaded you don’t need to worry.   I would highly recommend seeing Congo Brazzaville but I get the impression that things are getting more and more expensive here so do it before it breaks the bank!

Look forward to hearing from you

Reka – HUN: Mielott belevagnek az ujabb beszamoloba a gyengebbek kedveert (ugyan en sem tudtam volna, ha nem jovok Afrikaba) ket Kongo van, amirol most irok, annak fovarosa Brazzaville, a masik a demokratikus vagy ex Zaire arrol majd a folyt. kovben…
Mit ne mondjak, most mar ertem, hogy miert valasztja az utazok 99%-a a gaboni utat. Azert, mert ott van De tenyleg, a ket orszag betonutjai kozotti kb. 200 km-t harom nap alatt tettuk meg. Leirhatatlanul rossz utakon, sarban es sartengereken kellett atjutnunk, es akar szegyen, akar nem, Noel vezette le az egeszet. Utunk soran eloszor ereztem azt, hogy talan nem most kene probara tenni a terepvezetesi kepessegeimet, ugyanis esetenkent volt ugy hogy egy teremtett lelekkel sem talalkoztunk hosszu orakon at, nemhogy masik jarmuvel, ami ki tudott volna huzni a …-bol. Szoval le a kalappal Noel elott! Szoval kozel egy hetet toltottunk nem csak zuhany nelkul, de az erdoben es az ut szelen satorova, feleltuk az osszes konzerv etelt is, de egesz jo kombinaciokat fedeztunk fel (pl.: babkonzerv gulyaskremmel es szardiniaval osszemelegitve – majdnem olyan jo, mint a chilli con carne). Aztan vegre “foldet” ertunk, vagyis aszfaltos utat hurra-hurra!!! De az orom nem tartott sokaig, mert egyszercsak az ut elfogyott es folyo volt helyette, de hid az nem; csak komp, de az is pont akkora, hogy a Landy rafert meg meg vagy 5 ember. Na de itt Afrikaban semmi sincs am ingyen, meg azt is volt kepuk megkerdezni, hogy ma akarunk-e atjutni haha, jo vicc. De ez meg mindig semmi… hogyan jut Maggi a komra? Hat persze, ravezetsz a rampakra es kesz; csak akkor van gaz, ha a feked nem annyira fog, hogy a kb; 30%-os lejton kezifek nekul megalljon. De meg ez sem volt baj, csak az, amikor mar az elso ket kerekkel a kompon alltam, az meg fogta magat es arrebb sodrodott, ugyhogy a hatso kerekek egyenesen a vizbe pottyantak volna. Tehat a helyiek a legnagyobb termeszetesseggel kozoltek, hogy tolassak vissza es probaljam ujra. Nem ertik, hogy irgalmatman meredek a lejto, es a kerekek rossz szogban vannak a rempakhoz kepest??? Izzadtam es remegtem, mint a nyarfalevel (ber az nem hiszm, hogy izzad) es feladtam. Noel ismet hoskent mutatkozott a szememben, mert az egesz manovert rezzenestelen arccal csinalta vegig, csak egy par oraval kesobb vallotta be, hogy talan eoszor az uton attol tartott, hogy itt a vege.
Innen aztan meg majdnem egy nap rettenetes utakon, ugyhogy amikor ismet kijutottunk az aszfaltos utra, belehuztunk, de leg igy is kb. 2 oranyira voltunk a fovarostol, amikor meglattunk egy kopott tablat “Gorilla reserve”. Aznap a bazison aludtunk, aztan masnap a namzeti parkon keresztul evezettunk a gorilla arvahazba, ahol -egy franciak altal alapitott alapitvany a kongoi kormany tamogatasaval- immar 8 eve nevel es ereszt utnak gorilla bebiket. Hal istennek nem a ketreces, szivet fajdito fajta hely volt ez, hanem olyan ahol a bebik termeszetes kornyeztben, szabadon nonek fel. Hihetetlen volt latni, hogy mekkora a kulonbseg a orillak viselkedesuket illetve az itteniek, es a fogsagban felnottek kozott, akiket Limbe-ben lattunk. Talalkoztunk egy nagyon jo fel francia onkentes sraccal is, aki meselt sztorikat a hosszu evekrol, amiket csimpanzokkat es gorillakkal foglalkozo parkokban toltott. Le a kalappal az osszes olyan ember elott, aki ezeknek a csodalatos allatoknak a kihalasa elleni harcra teszik fel az eletuket. A tj csodas volt, megint egy olyan hely, amit se az utikonyvek nem emlitenek, se a repulovel ideutazok nem nagyon fedeznek fel.
Masnap kora delutan ertunk a fovarosba, Brazzavillebe, ami meglehetosen emberi leptekunek tunt. Egy templom kertjeben akartunk satorozni, amiikor egy ismeros arc setal felnk es kerdezi, hogy a feltengelyunk renben van-e… Aztan rajottunk, hogy Darennel mar Ganaban talalkoztunk, de nem beszelgettunk akkor, viszont o pont elozo nap olvasta a blogot, meg egyebkent is ismerte Maggie egyik elozo tulajat. Azert jott utanunk, hogy megmutassa a Hippocanp nevu szalloda-ettermet, ahol ingyen satorozhattunk, mas utazokkal egyutt. Rank fert a pihenes, meg a kaja is annyira jo volt (igaz eleg draga, de az ingyen szallas kompenzalta), hogy nem igen akarodzott menni; meg a tarsasag is jo volt, ugyhogy majdnem egy hetet maradtunk mielott nekivagtunk a nagy komp utnak Kinshasaba…
Szamtalan totenetet hallottunk meg olvastunk arrol, hogy milyen herce-hurca az atkeles, ugyhogy kora reggel elindultunk a kikotobe. Aminek ket bejarata van, az egyiknel 1500 CFA-t fizetsz, a masiknal 10500-at. Csak eppen az a gaz, hogy mielott felengednek a kompra, legalabb ot darab 1500-as jegyet kell bemutatnod 5de meg igy is olcsobb, mint a masik). Aztan persze kipecseteles az utlavalbe, meg a kocsi papirjara, aztan alkudozni a jegy aron, aztan a tomerdek gyalogos es megnagyobb csomagjaik kozott vegre fent voltunk az uszalyon. Kb. 1 ora mulva kotottunk ki Kinshasaban a Kongoi Demokratikus Koztarsasag fovarosaban, ahol megkezdtuk a beleptetesi procedurat, de errol majd legkozelebb…
Mint mindig, most is varom a hozzaszolasaitokat. Udv mindenkinek!

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