Kubu Island

Lying southeast of the Okavango Delta and surrounded by the Kalahari desert Makgadikgadi is technically not a single pan but many pans with sandy desert in between, the largest being the Sua (Sowa), Ntwetwe and Nxai Pans. The largest individual pan is about 1,900 sq mi (4,921.0 km²).

We were told by a few people in Gabs that Kubu Island is a must see place and we wouldn’t regret it.  It took us a day and half to drive to the start of the pan where we could book one night camping on the Island and for entrance and camping costing around £15 each it seemed reasonable enough.  It’s run by a local community trust and the money goes back to the employment of the staff that work and maintain the place.  Kubu Island is a igneous rock "island" in the salt flat of Sua pan. Kubu Island lies in the south western quadrant of Sua Pan, contains a number of baobab trees, and is protected as a national monument

Above: Getting to the Island   

When someone told me that in the middle of a salt pan there was a granite rock Island full of Baobab trees, it’s difficult to comprehend the size and beauty and spiritual nature that the Island offers to you, when you first arrive there are 8 designated camping sites to choose from, all are different in their layout and the baobabs that the camp has so it took us a while to choose our own site due to the beauty of each site and as it was empty at the time we were there we had the pick of the bunch.

Above: The Magical Kubu Island

The Island is a very special place, the camping facilities are basic with a small drop toilet and no shower facilities so if you can get past that it’s a place to unwind and experience a remote wilderness.

Shakawe..Again

The thought of being back on the Okavango delta brought a serious sense of excitement to me and it’s a place that I seriously will be visiting on a regular basis while I am in Botswana.  This time I came with my own rod and some lures and John was not surprised to see me back.  It was a long weekend the time we went up and some old friends of John and Heather arrived around the same he first day that Lu and I were out with John, he took us to a place called the ‘Bread basket’ that he has had some luck with in the past and after a few hours in other areas without a bite, the bread basket came to fulfil its name and within 5 minutes we all had a fish each.  Lu and I had caught our fishes at exactly the same time which was very freaky but fantastic to catch my very first fish.  The only problem with catching your own fish is that you have to de-scale and gut the fish yourself getting very messy in the process!  Over the next few days I managed to catch a few more fish some small, some big and even had a whopper get away but there was confusion on the boat as to whose line was what so I didn’t feel that bad, and after a good few days on the delta relaxing in the sun, casting into the shimmering delta and eating some fantastic meals round the Braii (mostly thanks to Heather and Anne) we had to leave.  John and Heather, once again thanks for your hospitality and you are one of the reasons why I am here to stay so thanks!

Above: I love Fishing!     

Junior Achievement/Barclays & Stepping Stones

I thought that I would be doing a lot more volunteering for the Junior Achievement/Barclays joint achievement scheme that I saw a lot of in Ghana, but for whatever reason it didn’t work out as planned.  I got to visit one secondary school called Kagiso just outside Gaborone and met two sets of kids that were running their own initiative.  The first set of kids were running a specially designed mug that either had a pattern on it or would change colour when hot water was put into it,  unfortunately as I explained to them the cost of their mug was around 100 Pula (£10) and this straight away stopped them being able to sell it within their own school which there were around 1000 kids.  The second group however were a success as they came up with contemporary jewellery designed and manafactured by the kids themselves and their designs were fresh and at 10 pula a pair of earrings (£1) they were able to sell beyond their targets and making 20-30p per sale in profit they were on the road to bigger and better things.

Above: Kagiso Secondary School Junior Achievers 

When I first got to Gabs, I met the Barclays contact Egenia who took me to see another project called Stepping Stones in a place called Mochudi.  Stepping Stones was setup to help HIV children with after school activities.  One of the projects run here is called ‘Income Generation’ which teaches the kids here how to run their own business, so there is a catering group, an events group, a jewellery design group and a cinema club group.   It was here that I met my friend Celia who is co-ordinating the income generation group and it was here that I felt I could volunteer my time to the cinema club.  Celia welcomed the assistance and I started to try and help promote the cinema’s next few films, starting with Twilight.  After a few weeks they had their second film night and from 3 tickets being sold the first time they did the club, we collectively managed to sell 30. I hope to continue volunteering here as I like the kids here and hopefully over time we can get the whole of Mochudi coming to see the films that the kids are putting on.  I’d also like to say a big thanks to Celia who not only has put me up on her living room floor for the past couple of months but has also gone out her way to introduce me to all her friends and contacts and without her help it would have been a hell of a lot harder, thanks Celia.

Above: Stepping Stones Cinema Club 

 End Credits

At the time of writing this last post in my blog, I have been on the road for 9 months, I have visited some of the most colourful, vibrant & friendliest places in Africa and possibly in the world by comparison.  I always had a yearning to see if South Africa was the place that I wanted to spend a few good years of my life but as with most things in life, they never always go the way you planned it might and sometimes you have to go with your own gut feeling which suits the time you are currently at in your own life.  I loved seeing the mountains of Morocco, the Senegalese food was amazing, the party atmosphere of the Guinea Bissauan’s, the wild beaches of Sierra Leone and the Ivory Coast, the friendly nature of the Ghanaians, the rollercoaster ride you experience in Nigeria, the grandeur of the Cameroun hills, the vibrant jungles of Congo Brazzaville, the ease of camping anywhere in Angola, the solitude within Namibia and the epic scenery that South Africa throws in your face everywhere you look.  When I got to Botswana I found many of these aspects that I loved on this whole journey were all there in one country and at this time in my life it feels like a good place to be.  For those that have known me for a while, although I have worked in the corporate world for many years, one of my ambitions has always been to setup and run my own cinema/bar/cafe.  When I got to Gaborone (Gabs) the capital of Botswana, I could clearly see that there are opportunities here and I could either go for it now or turn my back on an opportunity and maybe never realise this ambition of mine.  Being on the road for such a long time, you have plenty of time to think about your own life and what you want to do with it from this moment onwards, well my time came up with the conclusion that at 35 years old it’s a good time for me to try this in a city that is one of the friendliest places I have ever been too as well as the city is developing and crying out for places/venues such as what I have in mind.  I have just applied for permanent residency (entitles me to 5 years) in Botswana and also setup my own company that I can start trading through, I will be back in the uk around Mid Sep and remain there until the new year when I will return and start my new life in Botswana,  I look forward to seeing all my family and friends that have supported me throughout this journey soon.  For those people that I met along this journey and opened their doors to me and became good friends with, I will never forget you and you have taught me many things about human nature that I never knew existed.

Here are some photos that in pictures try to explain what this journey was all about.

Above: My African Nomad Adventure 2009 – 2010

Look forward to hearing from you and thanks for all the kind words and support I have received from friends, family and people reading the blog that I have met along the way. 

Noel

www.Nomad-Adventure.com

History

I would rather you read the following http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_South_Africa rather than me bastardise the read for the sake of a concise blog!

Luisa & Scott, Pretoria

I had met Luisa 7 years ago now when I volunteered in South Africa when I was based in the Kruger national park, since then we have seen each other on the few occasions back in Europe even though Luisa has been in South Africa for the last 10 odd years.  She is a good friend of mine and I was looking forward to seeing her the first night of entering South Africa.  That night we drove on the superhighways to meet her, her boyfriend Scott and some of their friends, getting lost on a few occasions as we tried to find our way through Johannesburg a massive city.  Eventually we made it and found my friends, it was a nice moment, I had mentioned to Luisa a good year ago that I was planning to do this journey and we kept in touch throughout the journey so she had an idea of when I’ll be there.  It was cool to meet Scott as I had heard a lot about him and we got on very easily, he speaks his mind and conversation flowed.  That night we all got very drunk with their friends Beatrice and Mirijam who were filming a documentary during the world cup.

Above Left: Beatrice, Scott, Luisa, Mirijam

It definitely wouldn’t be the last time that I would see these guys and so I’ll say thanks now even though I’ll be seeing you soon (at the time of writing I have already returned twice since!).  Oh I forgot to mention their beautiful border collie Eli, an absolutely crazy but lovable dog that spends half his life in water of some shape or form.

Eng vs Solvenia @ Port Elizabeth

While in Botswana, I had found some reasonable priced tickets to go and watch England’s last qualification game over in Port Elizabeth.  I remember saying to myself that if I made South Africa in time that I would get to go and see a game come hell or high water so the cherry on top of this already amazing cake was to go and soak up the world cup atmosphere.  The drive from Pretoria to Port Elizabeth was quite stunning on occasions, South Africa is the kind of country that you must visit and take many driving trips throughout the land as the epic scenery that you see along the way is mind blowing. 

The day of the Eng game was a long day indeed, Port Elizabeth like many of the host cities in South Africa for the world cup had undergone major transformations to make the cities tourist friendly, roads had been updated, in some cases new stadiums built and transportation provided to take people to and from the stadiums for free.  Port Elizabeth had become a mini England for the day as the majority of people walking the streets had England flags draped across them and the odd Slovenian would appear out of no where singing at the top of their voice to be overheard! There was a buzz on the streets a feeling of excitement and apprehension that if England failed here our world cup could be over before it ever really got going, the stadium itself was well built and the viewpoints amazing from wherever you were as it only seated thirty odd thousand people.  FIFA had marked their territory all over the stadium as drinks were only Budweiser and food was supplied by another blundering giant but without being too cynical the whole operation of getting people in and out was done well and the atmosphere was special being surrounded by English fans the songs and the elation of everyone being there was unforgettable.  We won the game 1-0 through a Defoe shot and the majority of the stadium left a happy bunny.

Above: The added bonus of being part of this amazing atmosphere    

Cape town

It is here that Reka and I parted company, she has a friend Daniel that she would be staying with and for me I needed to continue this journey by myself.  So after a couple of days soaking up the beautiful costal areas surrounding Cape town and seeing our boys get stuffed by the Germans it was time to move on.  Thanks to Daniel for putting me up in his flat during that time.

I wish Reka the best in her future and over the period of this journey I hope that her memories and life skills that she (like I) have learnt throughout this adventure take her onto bigger and better things.

Above: Cape town & my favourite beach at Llandudno

The Drakensberg Mountains

After going back to Botswana for another month my visa was about to expire to my friends Luisa and Scott told me that they were planning to go hiking in the Drakensberg mountains.  Its one of a few major areas of South Africa that I have yet to see and have heard much about the epic nature of this area from friends in the past.  The Drakensberg, "the Dragon Mountains") is the highest mountain range in Southern Africa, rising to 3,482 metres (11,424 ft) in height.

The great thing about where Luisa and Scott live in Pretoria is that the drive to part of the Drakensberg is only a 4 hour drive to be in a place of great beauty.  We were all booked in over the weekend by a couple of their friends that unfortunately couldn’t come with us due to illness, the Swiss like village that we went to is a place called Clarens that sits at the foot of one of the mountains and that evening we did the round of all the bars that were open in this quiet little place and after going through the contents of what bars were open we ended up in a place called ‘Friends’ where a fight broke out amongst some drunken blokes and led to Scott getting a glancing blow in the process of avoiding the fight, so not the friendliest place in the world but at 3am in the morning these things happen!  Feeling quite sorry for ourselves the next morning we had the slowest served breakfast in the world and then went on a hike which would lead to a prehistoric cave (including rock art) that we were able to sleep in that night.  The cave itself was magnificent and quite breathtaking once you were standing inside it’s mouth and looking out to what the same view cavemen that inhabited this place would have done possibly 10,000 years ago.  Things had changed slightly since then including the fact that we didn’t have to hunt for our meal that evening and warmth was provided by cut pieces of wood that would last most of the whole night, but apart from that we were back to basics!  A highly recommended place to get away for the weekend and the hike that we did was varied and takes you to another cave along the way which has cave art as seen in the photos below.

Above: Going back to basics                 

Conclusion

South Africa will always have a special meaning to me as it was the place that I spent one of the most amazing years I will never forget seven years ago so everything I will say about this country is done though rose tinted glasses, during the world cup the country was visited by millions of tourists that no doubt will go back with big smiles on their faces after having one hell of an experience and I can only say that if you ever get a chance to see this country then do it, you will not regret it! 

Look forward to hearing from you and I have one final post to put up on this amazing journey.

History

The British Government put "Bechuanaland" under its protection on 31 March 1885 after Tswana inhabitants were facing hostile movements by various tribes as well as the Boer’s and asked the British for their assistance.  When the Union of South Africa was formed in 1910 out of the main British colonies in the region, the Bechuanaland Protectorate, Basutoland (now Lesotho) and Swaziland (the "High Commission Territories") were not included, but provision was made for their later incorporation. However, a vague undertaking was given to consult their inhabitants, and although successive South African governments sought to have the territories transferred, Britain kept delaying; consequently, it never occurred. The election of the Nationalist government in 1948, which instituted apartheid, and South Africa’s withdrawal from the Commonwealth in 1961, ended any prospect of incorporation of the territories into South Africa.  In June 1964, Britain accepted proposals for a democratic self-government in Botswana. The seat of government was moved in 1965 from Mafikeng in South Africa, to the newly established Gaborone, which sits near its border. The 1965 constitution led to the first general elections and to independence on 30 September 1966. Seretse Khama, a leader in the independence movement and the legitimate claimant to the Ngwato chiefship, was elected as the first president, re-elected twice.  The presidency passed to the sitting vice president, Quett Masire, who was elected in his own right in 1984 and re-elected in 1989 and 1994. Masire retired from office in 1998. The presidency passed to the sitting vice president, Festus Mogae, who was elected in his own right in 1999 and re-elected in 2004. The presidency passed in 2008 to Ian Khama (son of the first president), who resigned his position as leader of the Botswana Defence Force to take up this civilian role.

Botswana adopted its new name after becoming independent within the Commonwealth on 30 September 1966. It has held free and fair democratic elections since independence. 

Geographically the country is flat and up to 70% of Botswana is covered by the Kalahari Desert. It is bordered by South Africa to the south and southeast, Namibia to the west and north, and Zimbabwe to the northeast. It meets Zambia at a single point.

Border

Everything went very smoothly at the border that leads you into Chobe National Park.  On the Namibian side there we were the only people waiting to exit the country so after filling out our VAT returns which they told us would be returned to my account within a few weeks we were able to leave Namibia and on the Botswana side we were given a 90 day entry visa that was for free as well as obtain their car insurance for the same period which cost £12 or 150 pula and everything was done within 30 minutes of arrival.  The only thing here is that Botswana is a massive beef exporter to the EU and other areas round the world and they made myself and Reka disinfect our flipflops as well as made Maggie drive through a pool of disinfectant no doubt trying to prevent foot and mouth into their lands, while we were doing this, one lady was curious as to the colour of my skin and she couldn’t believe that I was brown and she started checking me up and down and even pulled my trousers up to see my legs if they were the same colour as the rest of my body!  It was all done in jest and we all had a good laugh about it.

Chobe National Park

The idea of a national park to protect the varied wildlife found here as well as promote tourism first appeared in 1931. The following year, 24′000 km² around Chobe district were officially declared non-hunting area; this area was expanded to 31′600 km² two years later.  In 1967, the reserve was declared a national park.

A note about national parks and reserves in Botswana, a few years ago they were run by the government parks board but in the last year and a bit the government have been cordoning areas of to private concessions with their reason being keeping the footprint of tourists to an acceptable number each year, but the reality from my perspective is that they are probably earning a fat wedge of cash from these private companies and eventually the average income family will be priced out by the smaller number of rich people that fly into Bots, see the wildlife that they want and then fly out again.  As a result of this privatisation, you cannot simply arrive at any park and then pay your park fees and drive in unless you are not intending to sleep in one of the designated camping areas.  Due to the size of these parks it almost makes it virtually impossible to drive for the day and leave without having to sleep in either a camping area or a hut/lodge.  So even though we entered Bots via one of the gates to Chobe, we actually had to drive to the closest town called Kassane to book our 1 night in Chobe.  That night we slept in a nearby campsite in Kasane which was reasonable enough at 60 pula each (£5) and the next day went to their offices in the town.  The cost of the park entry fees are 120 pula each (£10) per day and the camping a very reasonable 30 pula each (£2.50) but we had to tell them when we wanted to go.  The staff in the office were not helpful at all and looked like they would rather be somewhere else than here but we found all the info we needed to know from some other tourists also visiting the park.  Nevertheless, the next day we were in Chobe and the route we chose was along the Chobe river (didn’t have much choice by the way) but it was well worth it.  The roads consist of thick sandy tracks that only a 4×4 can traverse through and it all added to the charm of the place trying to avoid large tour guided  4×4’s carrying expectant tourists on the back seats while trying to spot some animals in the process.  Actually spotting animals wasn’t that hard as herds of Elephants would cross your path, followed by Giraffes, Buffalo, Springbok and over by the river you could get good viewing spots for watching Hippo’s and the odd croc. 

Above: Chobe National Park    

If you are camping in Chobe, be prepared to bring food and firewood as there is no small shop that you sometimes find in national parks but there are shower and toilet facilities here.  The campsite is secluded and situated on the banks of the Chobe river and a magical setting that you could easily spend days here watching the wildlife just near you, hippo’s distinctly grunt your way, fish eagles perch high up on trees, monitor lizards trundle through the grass and we even had an army of huge ants invade our campsite looking for something and these guys were huge!

Above: Camping in the Chobe                   

I have been lucky enough to visit a lot of national parks in Central, Southern Africa and East Africa and the Chobe comes highly rated as a must see place if you are into your wildlife, you are unlikely to see lions and leopards unless you are fortunate unlike the great plains of the Serengeti or the red dunes of the Kalahari but for an experience in itself the Chobe National Park is a special place and I hope that the Botswana government change their current privatisation plans to stop this becoming a place that only rich tourists can visit as the park is huge and I would have like to see more than the full day that I was there.

Nata, Elephant White Sands

On our way to Maun we stopped over in Nata, it’s a small dust bowl of a town but there is a campsite there 30 or so km before you hit the town called Elephant Sands and aptly named as the campsite is covered in White sand and guess what, there are plenty of Elephants that every day move through the campsite to get to wherever they are going.  We ended up staying there a few nights as the place was so magical it would have been rude to leave after one night!  The campsite had it’s own supply of wood for guests to the campfire was always roasting hot during the cold wintery nights.  At one point the Matriarch of the dozen or so elephants that passed through the campsite smashing there way through the trees in their path stopped and checked Reka and I out and she must have been literally 20 metres away, to be that close to an amazing animal is exhilarating and something that is difficult to ever forget.

Above: Getting close to nature     

It was also here that I said a fond farewell to 2 of my closest items of clothing, my flip flops and my shorts, they had both been lovingly worn throughout the 8 months of my travels but were at the stage that they had been through several repair jobs via Reka and myself and shoe repair people along the way and they finally had to be put down!

Above: We’ve been through a lot together my friends, farewell!

Maun

We went to Maun specifically so we could vist another national park in Botswana called the Moremi game reserve.  Similar to Kassane for Chobe National Park, the town is teeming with tourists that are going as part of a guided tour or via their own hired vehicle.  Kassane and Maun both have a similar infrastructure in that there are plenty of supermarkets and bottle stores with many lodges and backpackers situated in or near both towns.  The only problem with this was to find a campsite where you weren’t falling over other people I had to find a campsite that was further out of town and after booking our one night in the Moremi we found a campsite about 40km away from the national park that was reasonable and chilled.  Maun wasn’t my cup of tea but there is one food shop in town which serves a great array of meat and fish as well as their own preservatives such as homemade jams and chutneys and well worth a visit if you are ever there, can’t remember the name of the place but it’s a small town so won’t be hard to find.  Oh also had to replace 2 wheels that were on there way out due to wear and tear so bought a couple of new tyres from a tyre shop in Maun, he was the most reasonable but still double the price of what you would expect to pay in England and there aren’t many places in Botswana that sell second hand tyres which is a shame.  Also had to visit another mechanic but this time of the welding kind as my fuel tank was starting to leak so found someone that could remove the tank and find the problem (a small hole no more than a pin head) that was located and repaired after 3 hours of them bumbling around trying to remove the fuel tank in the first place.

Above: Lovely food shop, New tyres and Fuel Tank repair!          

Moremi National Park

I’ll be short and sweet about this Park, there had been recent rains in the area and more than expected to point of areas being flooded so much so that only certain routes in the park could have been done, I saw more wildlife outside the park on the way into the gate than I actually did in one day within the park (we were treated to seeing a herd of around 150 elephants outside), everything was overgrown and made it difficult to see any wildlife and for whatever reason maybe due to a number of factors such as timing and the recent rains I personally did not enjoy going to the Moremi, I’m sure others have had better experiences.

Above:  Nothing to see in Moremi!  

John & Heather, Shakawe

My friend Alan that I had met in Lagos in Nigeria had passed me the contact of one his good friends that he used to know when he lived in Botswana.  As we were heading to the North western side to go and see some San rock paintings which were in the nearby vicinity we made our way to Shakawe where John lives.  On the way there we stayed in a campsite that had recently been flooded and the only way to get there was to drive through a river where the water had reached the height just below the bonnet of Maggie.  It was a first for me to drive for what seemed like 5 minutes through this level of water, it was exciting but at the same time a little bit scary but with Maggie in low range and the pressure of the water against the vehicle stopping anything coming inside we made it to the other side.

Above: Testing Maggie’s Waterproof capabilities! 

The next day we headed to Shakawe which on first impressions is a dust bowl of a town, it has one supermarket, one bank (a Barclays mobile home) and a couple of bottle stores, people wander the streets looking like zombies that have just woken up from a zombie coma and there is a feeling that nothing actually ever happens here.  Bear in mind this was Reka and my impression as soon as we got there.  I tried calling the number given to me for John and if he didn’t answer or it was the wrong number, we would have left Shakawe minutes later.  John did answer and as soon as I told him it was a friend of Alan he gave me directions to come and find him and he even drove out some of the way to make sure we found the right place.  As we drove closer to his house, there was a sense of relief as the dustbowl transformed into a wooded haven and his house was metres away from the waters that form the Okavango Delta.  John greeted us as if we were old school friends and from that moment onwards I can clearly say that I had one of the most amazing weeks of my life (in Shakawe!).  John and his wife Heather have lived a colourful life, John originally from Malawi where his father had a farm moved to Zambia where John and Heather then had their own farm for a long period of time and then moved to Gaborone in Botswana and after working hard running their own garage they moved to Shakawe to be by the delta and be in a place that they can relax and build their own house and be self sufficient (John and Heather, I hope most of this is correct!). 

Above: John & Heathers front garden and pets 

One of the first things that we did with John and Heather was to take a ride on the Okavango delta in Johns boat.  Just a little bit of info on the delta itself:

 The Okavango Delta is produced by seasonal flooding. The Okavango river drains the summer (January-February) rainfall from the Angola highlands and the surge flows 1,200 kilometres in approximately one month. The waters then spread over the 250 km by 150 km area of the delta over the next four months (March-June). The high temperature of the delta causes rapid transpiration and evaporation, resulting in a cycle of rising and falling water level.

The flood peaks between June and August, during Botswana’s dry winter months, when the delta swells to three times its permanent size, attracting animals from miles around and creating one of Africa’s greatest concentrations of wildlife.

The delta is very flat, with less than 2 metres variation in height across its 15,000 km². 

The reality is that being on the delta, slowly taking in this giant ever changing wilderness is an experience that I wish everyone could get to see.  It’s a magical place and dangerous as well due to the hippo’s that reside along the banks as well as the crocodiles amongst other wetland creatures as well as a number of deadly mamba’s.  John has traversed this part of the delta for sometime and yet he even admits that he can get into tricky situations if he doesn’t read the channels and sometimes the movement of islands that sometimes occurs.  It is times like this that I truly understood why I travel and the rewards of unknown places that blow your mind.

Above: The Delta in all its glory    

For the next few days we spent our time either on the delta, braai’ing outside or warming up chatting rubbish over a hot fire, helping John clear out some overgrown bush in a School garden so that a function could be held there and discovering some of the nicer parts of Shakawe and it’s nearby attraction.  It was a holiday within a holiday for me and if it’s possible to be even more chilled than I normally was, it was here that I reached the nirvana of chillness!

Above: Drotsky’s Cabins for sundowners

Above: John & Heather taking us to a place signposted as Paradise!    

Above: the kids playing Marimba at Bana Ba Metsi that schools troubled kids originally thrown out of previous schools

The photos above are of the school Bana ba Metsi.  The school teaches kids practical skills and they all participate in one form or another in either building part of the school, teaching them mechanics, the sale of chickens and eggs via their own chicken farm, cooking for one another plus the normal syllabus to ensure these children that have previously been isolated from further education a better chance in life through an environment that allows them to grow without being shunned due to circumstances in their own personal lives.  The photos above are of some of the kids that have formed a band that play their own composed songs in a style known as Marimba, and the sound is wonderful and shows how much talent is waiting to be harnessed within them.  They played wonderfully and as it was unplanned so it was special.    

As Shakawe is a small place there are only so many social circles in the town and John and Heather happen to be very good friends with the Manager Sammy of the only bank in town which happens to be Barclays.  She is a lovely person and we had some nice chats with her over a fire at Johns place.

Above: Sammy the Shakawe Barclays Manager  

Fishing the hard way

One thing I have never tried before but always wanted to try was the sport (yes, it is a sport, just like darts) was learning how to fish. John is an experienced fisherman probably fishing in some of the wildest and richest (for fish) areas of Southern Africa in Malawi & Zambia amongst other places.  His fishing kit is a complex maze of hooks, lines and all sorts of tackle that looks very impressive but meant nothing to me until John explained the qualities of all these lures.  John explained that fishing on the delta is one of the hardest places to fish due to the reed system that allows thousands upon thousands of under reed networks that may house fish plus a plethora of other marine life.  Fish in the delta range from Tigerfish, Bream (a few variations), Babel (Catfish) to a number of smaller species and John was kind enough to take us out on his boat on a few occasions while we were there for a week and casting out into the pockets of water that lie along the reed bank and the idea was to cast the lure into an area no more than 30-40cm wide and let the lure sink for a few seconds and then slowly reel in the line and hope for a Bream to catch the lure and dinner is then ready, all easy in theory but the difficulty is the lure has large hooks on the end and the reeds near these pockets easily catch the lure and once you get snagged the boat then has to be positioned over the pocket that you were casting into and as John puts it, you ‘close the hole’, throughout the week I tried my damned hardest to catch a fish but had no luck, John did managed to catch the one Bream which we filleted an hour later and had it for breakfast which was amazing, and after a few days of fishing or should I say my very first day, I was hooked and fell in love with being on the delta as well as fishing!  Thanks John for the lessons and for getting me addicted!  Heather, thanks for making me feel welcome in Shakawe and as you know I’ve already been back but will no doubt be back many other times after this and appreciate your hospitality.

Above: Fishing for Bream    

Tsolido Hills, San Rock Art

Before I had met John and Heather the reason why we had been up the north western side of Botswana was to go and see Tsolido Hills a UNESCO World Heritage Site.   It was inscribed in 2001 due to its unique religious and spiritual significance to local peoples, as well as its unique record of human settlement over many millennia. It contains over 4,500 rock paintings in an area of approximately 10 km² within the Kalahari Desert.  There are 4 hills, commonly described as the "Male", this is the highest, the "Female", "Child" and an un-named knoll.  These hills are of great cultural and spiritual significance to the San peoples of the Kalahari. It is believed that the caves and caverns of the "Female" hill are the resting places of the deceased and various gods who rule the world from here. The most sacred place is near the top of the "Male" hill, where it is said that the First Spirit knelt and prayed after creating the world. The San believe that you may still see the impression of the First Spirits’ knees in the rock.  As you arrive you are taken through a small museum of photos of the surrounding area as well as artefacts and information on the founders of this site as well as local people that have helped preserve the area, for a small fee you can then take a guide as we had done to take you through one of the many routes that you can choose, we took a 2 hour hike through the female hill and it’s advisable to bring water and a good pair of hiking boots due to the terrain that you will go through, it’s a beautiful place to walk and although the guide was very robotic in his delivery of what we saw it’s still useful to have a guide to ensure you see some of the more interesting rock art paintings that aren’t isn’t obvious if you are by yourself.

Above Right: Interpreted as a drawing of a Whale and a Penguin which could have been seen via travels through what is now known as South Africa.

Above: Tsolido

San Contemporary Art

When leaving Shakawe we passed D’kar which is near Ghansi and were told to pop into the Kuru Art centre which is an art collective setup to help local San artists to create and sell there art.  It was an interesting place but all the work being produced were along the same lines except for one artist in particular, it was this artist that I connected with and was able to buy a piece of his collection without paying the extortionate prices that the centre had put ontop of the artists original price.

Above: Kuru Art Centre           

Conclusion

Well there is more to come from my travels in Botswana, in the last couple of months I have actually been back to Botswana 3 times for various reasons but mainly because I love being here and so part 2 will round up the rest of my travels so far in Botswana and apologies for not updating the blog sooner.

Look forward to hearing from you

Petrified Forest

This site near Khorixas has a few dozen petrified tree trunks that date back to around 260 million years ago. We had a guide who could churn out his spiel in his sleep he has done this 15 minute walk that many times, I found the whole experience dull and realised there are petrified logs in various other parts of Namibia that you don’t have to pay to see!.

Hoba Meteorite 

Still on the subject of rocks/geology we visited the Hoba Meteorite which is a gravel road not far from Grootfontein/Tsumeb, it was discovered in 1920 and named the ‘fallen star’.  I read that every year something in the region of 10,000 meteorites fall due to the earths gravitational pull, not many are investigated and those that are not many of them are that large as a lot are broken on impact.  This meteorite is 60 tons in weight and is the largest recorded meteorite on earth.  The meteorite comprises 80% iron, 16% nickel and small amounts of other minerals and is around 80,000 years old.  It’s worth a visit if you are in the area as we were but after seeing the meteorite for 5-10 minutes I got bored and so it felt like a tick in the box that I had seen the largest meteorite but nothing more than that.

Above: It came from outer space    

Sossesvlei

Situated on the eastern side of Namibia near Serisem  we heard that the dunes of Sossesvlei was the place to be.  A place of towering dunes that form part of the Namib desert which stretches 2000km along the coast the Oliphants river in South Africa all the way to Southern Angola.

When we arrived at the entrance to the national park there is a campsite and a number of rooms that are expensively priced for long distance travellers.  The camping area was 125 Namib dollars (£12.5) per person which is double the price of a normal campsite and you are herded into a small area if the campsite was fully booked like it was when we rocked up as it was overrun by overlanding trucks and coach loads of people.  Luckily after paying for the campsite and then realising that we were assigned an overflow area with other vehicles when asked for a refund the staff didn’t bat an eyelid so we ended up camping in Solitaire around 80 km north from here.  The park itself costs xx to enter and you are then on a straight tarred road in the middle of copper red dunes either side of you.  This was bizarre for me to be in such a remote place but to see coach loads of people racing down the road all following each other to be able to climb one of a handful of designated dunes.  We ended up at a point 60km into the park whereby only 4×4 could drive beyond that point and drive a further 5km to a place called Dead Vlei.  The road wasn’t tarred anymore and instead was thick sand that had several paths that people had driven over the years and it made for an enjoyable drive trying to avoid the possibility of getting stuck which one vehicle had done so along the way.  The timing of seeing the dunes is important and stupidly we had arrived at the dunes at the peak sunshine hours during the midday and in flip flops trying to climb a dune that is scorching hot to touch is something that I wouldn’t advise, it would have been better to be here during the early hours of the morning or around sunset but such is life.  Don’t get me wrong, the setting is stunning but with the excessive crowds of tourists whizzing down the road it felt like the wilderness of this area is slowly being taken away but each to their own.  I worked and lived in the Kalahari and I suppose I am comparing what I have been too and seen to before and this wasn’t my cup of tea.

Above: Sossesvlei  

Brandberg

The Brandberg or Fire Mountain is named for the effect created by the sunset on it’s western side, it is Namibia’s highest peak at 2573m.  It’s a pleasant drive to see the mountain and we stayed in a nice campsite called the White lady that was very busy due to a school holiday.  It’s also in this area that you sometimes might be able to see Namibia’s desert Elephants that sometimes show themselves. 

Above: Brandberg   

Naukluft Mountains

Again as with most places that have amazed me, I haven’t really searched for them but they have simply been on the way through my travels and the Naukluft Mountains was no exception, this area is a high-plateau area cut around the edges by a complex of gorges.  It’s an area popular with hikers as there are a few walking trails within the Namib-Naukluft park and some trails are for people wanting to do a 4-8 day hike and has simple facilities for people to be able to do this but looks highly worthwhile if that’s your thing.  From the gate to get to the campsite you are privileged to drive through some spectacular scenery and along the way to the camp we were lucky enough to see mountain zebra, kudu, springboks and some klipspringers which was a welcome surprise to an otherwise already beautiful place.  The camping area was basic but perfect for the setting and we even had a resident Genet check out our food at night.  Highly recommended for those that want a chilled drive through some rocky scenery without getting in peoples faces.

Above: Naukluft Mountains

Namib-Naukluft Park

The drive through this area is absolutely magical and the land is full of slate formations that you can get out and investigate closer and is highly recommended for a different type of drive through something that is a little wilder than most places on this earth.

Above: Location, Location, Location      

Etosha National Park

To those people that have been to many Southern Africa national parks they will have either heard of Etosha or will have at some point visited this park.  I had heard many people tell me about Etosha from their travels through to the Kgalagadi Transfrontier National Park when I volunteered there several years ago.  Etosha NP takes in around 20,000 sq km of land that forms part of the white coloured Etosha pan.  It was setup as a reserve in the 1900’s to protect the diminishing animal numbers and over time the boundary had been altered from a 100,000 sq m to it’s present 23,000 sq km.  The entry fee per person was 120 Namib Dollars or £12 and is reasonable for a National Park.

Above: Etosha

I have to say that I have mixed feelings about this park, in one respect as the park is one massive pan (mainly dry) with little or no bushes or trees in the majority of areas you are guaranteed to see some wildlife in all shapes and sizes and that is never a bad thing.  We saw some beautiful herds of springboks and zebras together with many different bird species such as the Lilac breasted roller and the black shouldered kite (the last 2 photos above).  I have visited many national parks in Southern Africa and East Africa and I think that this park is perfect for the novice nature lover that has never seen many animals in their own natural habitat before but for me the park never changed in it’s terrain as you drove from one gate to another and so was not so special for me because of that.  We did have the luck to see a cheetah about 50 metres away stalking a couple of springboks in the tall grass but sadly for us the springbok were onto him as they stood still for a good hour and the cheetah wasn’t going to rush his attempted dinner so he patiently waited in the long grass enough for us to make a move before the gate closed and not see what actually happened in the end.  Moments like this are rare but exciting if you are lucky enough to see them and that’s why visiting any national park is always a matter of luck but you can be treated to some very special moments.

Above: Cheetah Hunt            

Cape Cross Seal Reserve

We visited this breeding reserve which has on and off several thousand cape fur seals.  You pay a small entrance fee of 60 Namib dollars (£6) to enter and you are then treated (depending on how you see it) to a view that you would normally only be likely to see on a documentary of seals, gazillions of them all sounding like goats believe it or not and if you have the time you can see all sorts of behaviours amongst them.  Yes it’s bloody smelly but getting close to several thousand animals of any species is not going to be a bed of roses!  Hopefully you’ll get the idea from some of these photos.

Above: Having a Sealy good time (poor I know)      

Skeleton Coast

Around a 100km north of the cape cross the road passes through into the Skeleton Coast park.  It’s a magical stretch of coastal wilderness that I cannot speak more highly about than you simply must see this place if you ever visit Namibia.  It’s like driving through part of the moon but to one side you hear the roaring sea in amongst all this darkened brown sand.  It’s free to enter and at there is a free camping site at the springbokwater gate with toilets and shower so no need to worry about accommodation if it gets late like it did when we were there.  It’s a gravel road that is in an ok condition but my wheels had taken a beating over the last seven-eight months and it was inevitable that a puncture would be round the corner only having one previously in Ghana.  It happened at around 4pm in the park and we had a couple of hours to change the tyre and get back out the gate which sounds easy but the puncture happened on a sandy road and the wheel had punctured so badly that Maggie was deep in the sand on the punctured side, the high lift jack was getting buried when we tried to jack her up and so we eventually had 2 jacks on the go and after several attempts and a few scratches later we were able to change the tyre around, again like most issues they are learning encounters and this was no different!

Above: Skeleton Coast           

After a good nights rest in the nearby campsite we set off again within the park and this time I was in search of a ship wreck which this stretch of coast was meant to have many of from years gone by, it’s something I have never seen before and was always curious as to what you might find depending on the ship, some are signposted and others not so it’s all about how much time you have in the park determines how much exploring you are willing to do.

Above: if you enjoy remoteness, you’ll love this place!      

…Oh and the Tropic of Capricorn!

We passed through the Tropic of Capricorn and nothing changed in my life from one step to the other but we did manage to graffiti the board as have several hundred others (before anyone tells me off!).

 Border with Caprivi at Ngoma

Absolutely no problems here, the border office is chilled and after submitting our Vat returns and a paper of info as to where we were heading we were able to leave.

A couple of helpful hints for those travelling through Namibia:

1) Keep all your receipts for goods and services that you have bought as you are able to claim the VAT at the Border when exiting Namibia, so camping, food, new tyres, battery etc is all claimable and at the border you fill in a sheet with all the amounts and the vat as separate items and submit this to customs with the receipts themselves.  They said that the VAT will be transferred to my account within a couple of weeks.

2) Drive to the speed limits as unlike West Africa the traffic officers and drivers stick to the actual limits!

3) When crossing into Botswana make sure if you have meat bought at supermarkets or a butchers that this is hidden as at the border they check the contents of your fridge and vehicle as meat is not allowed into their country, or don’t bring in any at all

4) You can change all your Namibian dollars for South African Rand at any bank at the border, we did this in Katima Mulilo and it was a 1-1 exchange, there is an ATM at Kassane in Botswana for Pula, we didn’t encounter any money changers at the Namibian or Botswana border here.

Conclusion

We drove over 3000 miles in Namibia and I have to say that every mile was worth it, it’s a country that seems to be gaining an ever increasing number of tourists whether it be by Overland truck or a self-drive hired vehicle.  This country has an amazing array of places to visit and this is matched by the friendliness of the people that live here as well as the varied camping sites that you’ll find along the way.  Many people might have visions of camping being a very formulaic place but the only common factor I found in all the camping sites I stayed in were the cleanliness and sometimes luxurious bathrooms whereas everything else seems to be the personal choice of the owner as to how the layout works and this makes every night an experience, also the cost on average of camping in Namibia is around £6 per person a night which is very reasonable I think.  After travelling through West Africa and Central Africa which sometimes didn’t always offer up a wide range of food depending on where you are to be confronted by some of the best cuts of pork, goat and beef that I have ever tasted before and at a reasonable price is something that I’ll never forget, braaing (bbq’ing) them over some hot coals. I did see that many of the big business owners where white Namibians/Germans and this I found a little strange but then again independence from South Africa wasn’t that long ago compared to most countries so there plenty of time for this to be a bit more balanced.  I cannot say anything except churn out superlatives for Namibia and if you never go then you are simply missing out!  Oh and I got my camera fixed in good old Tsumeb so happy days!

Look forward to hearing from you if you enjoyed this blog, thanks

Noel

Reka – HUN: Ahogy azt az angolai blog vegen emlitettem, altalaban nem tul szerencses a hatarra pentek delutan erkezni, bar ez esetben pont ez volt a szerencsenk. Ugyanis en, naiv azt gondoltan (nem tul megbizhato forrasokbol), hogy mint EU-s allampolgarnak, nekem sem kell vizum Namibiaba. Noel volt a soros a hataratlepesben, ugyhogy miutan fel oras varakozas utan sem jott meg ki a hivatalbol, elkezdtem aggodni. Mint kiderult, a hataror eloszor mindkettonknek beutotte a 60 napos pecsetet, de sajnos utana tuzetesebb vizsgalodas utan rajott, hogy az enyem nem brit es sajnos Magyarorszag nem szerepel a vzummentes orszagok listajan, ugyhogy ugyanazon laza mozdulattal ervenytelenitette a pecsetet. Pentek delutan leven mar senki nem volt, aki a vizumot ki tudta volna allitani, igy hat azt javasoltak, hogy menjek vissza Angolaba, persze ez nem volt kivitelezheto, miutan a vizumom aznaplejar; vagy varjak a hataron hetfoig…Majd hosszas gyozkodes utan sikerult egy hetes belepesi engedelyt kicsikarni a bevandorlasi hivatalnoktol, de csakis azzal a feltetellel, hogy egy heten belul a windhoek-i bevandorlasi hivatalban beszerzem a rendes vizumot.

Sajnos ezzel az a tervunk, hogy rogton a hatar utan az Etosha nezeti parkba tartunk egy kisse megvaltozott. A hatartol nem messze vegre egy igazi kempingben toltottuk az ejszakat. Meleg zuhany es fott etel vegre egy het utan! Aztan masnap elindultunk a park fele, mert ugy dontottem, hogy majd a parkhoz kozeli varosbol en elbuszozom, megszerzem a vizumot a fovarosban, es csatlakozom ismet Noelhez a parkban, mert nem akartam, hogy feleslegesen autozzunk 800 km-t… Uton a park fele egyszer csak egy kek ruhas no rohan ki az utra es idegesen integet utanunk, mire a tukorbol latom, hogy a kollegaja mar kovet is minket szirenazo rendorautoval. Noel kb. 2 km-rel lephette at a sebesseghatart, amit parsze miutan visszakisertek minket a tett helyszinere sehogy sem tudtak bizomyitani, mert az itteni elavult rendszer csak a szamot rogziti, de nincs hozza fenykep, hogy az tenyleg te voltal-e. Meg is akartak birsagolni, de Noelnek ott kellett volna hagyni az utlevelet, amig mi visszamegyunk a 40 km-re levo rendorsegre es fizetunk. Na azt mar nem, ugyhogy a mar jol bevalt laminalt jogsit hagytuk inkabb ott helyette. De mivel az utlevel nelkul nem akarta a buntetocetlit kiallitani, igy papir nelkul vartunk a rendorsegen vagy ket orat, mire a jaror is befutott es kovetelte az utlevelet ismet. Mi meg gondoltuk, hogy ennek soha nem erunk igy a vegere, ugyhogy megigertuk nekik, hogy elmegyunk a 120 km-re levo fokapitanysagra, hogy tiszta vizet ontsunk a poharba, ugyanis nem vagyunk hajlandoak fizetni olyasmiert, amit nem tudnak bizonyitani hogy elkovettunk. Igy hat hatrahagyva a hamis jogsit olyan gyorsan hajtottunk el ellenkezo iranyba, ahogy csak tudtunk. Hal’ Istennek (igy utolag), a hataron kifele sem volt semmi gaz, tehat nem csinalt nagy ugyet belole a rendor es adta le Noel nevet…

Az ejszakat Grootfontein mellett toltottuk az “orult nemetnel”, ahol olcso kempingre es igazi bogaras tulajra leltunk, a pasibol kb. egy oramba telett kicsikarni a kemping arat, mert folyamatosan csak azt mondogatta mindenre, beleertve a bemutatkozast is, hogy “ja, ja”. Aztan masnap reggel Noel ugy dontott, hogy megiscsak egyutt menjunk Windhoekba, mert a kocsit is meg kellett nezetni, mert szegenybol mar megint csopogott valami. Az ut a fovarosig gyonyoru volt, es vegre nem kellett azon aggodnunk, hogy az ut egyszer csak elfogy vagy eidami sajtta valik, ugyhogy igazi elmeny volt vezetni. Windhoek-ban a Cameleon nevu hely mellet dontottunk, mert az isszes tobbi szallas vagy nagyon draga volt vagy csak egy betonozott udvaron satorozhattunk volna; mig itt volt uszomedence, meg bar hideg sorrel es billiard asztal is. A tarsasag is igen vegyes volt, taklalkoztunk egy amerikai vesedoktorral, egy nemet “utazo asztalossal”, aki a hagyomanyok szerint Europan belul nem fizethet sem etelert, sem utikoltsegert, minimum 3 evig es egy napig kell utaznia, minden varoshazan bepecseteltetnie az utikonyvebe, es alkalmi munkakbol tartania el magat. Ja, es egy meglehetosen nevetsegs nepviseletet kell hordania minden nap. Ugyhogy a mi kis szines tarsasagunk ugy dontott, hogy este 10-kor, amikor a bar bezar, mi meg nem voltunk eleg faradtak, ugyhogy nyakunkba vettuk a varost es az egyetlen fellelheto diszkoban kotottunk ki. Masnap meglehetosen neheznek talaltam a bevandorlasi hivatalnokkal alkudozni; aki szerint nem kellett volna az orszagban lennem es mindenfele papirok beszerzese utan, majd talan 2-3 heten belul megkaphatom a vizumomat. Aztan masnap visszamentem a kitoltott papirokkal, es elmagyaraztam neki, hogy legalisan nem varhatok ket hetet, mert akkor mar tenyleg illegalisan tartozkodnek az orszagban, ugyhogy megigerte, hogy masnapra meg lesz a pecset. Igy is volt, ugyhogy megkonnyebbultem. Ido kozben megkaptuk egy Swakopmound-i szerelo szamat, aki allitolag az egyik legjobb az orszagban, ugyhogy delnek indultunk.

Az az igazsag, hogy Namibiaban kozel 5000 km-t autoztunk, igy a sorrendre mar nem igazan emlekszem (es lusta vagyok kimenni a kocsihoz terkepert), meg nem is egyszer korbe-karikaba jartunk helyeket, ugyhogy tobbek kozott Tsumeb-ben kb. otszor is megfordultunk… De egy tucat csodas elmenyben volt reszunk. Mindenek elott, minden este friss hust sutottunk, meg hajaban sult krumplit vagy sutotokot salataval, meg hideg sorokkel, ugyhogy szerintem mindketten igen hamar vsszaszedtunk majdnem minden egyes kilot, amit eddig fogytunk.

A Naukluft nemzeti parkban lattam meg az elso zebrat, meg kudut (bocs, de a vadallatok nevet csak angolul tudom, mert Noel rendes, es megtanitott rajuk, meg vettem egy konyvet is, de a forditas sajnos ratok marad – kiveve persze az egyertelmueket pl. elefant hahaha). Aztan vacsora utan egy genet is hozzank csapodott, illetve sokkal inkabb erdekelte, hogy mi a maradek.

A “kove dermedt erdo” is erdekes allomas volt, ugyan meg most sem ertem, hogy is kerult ide egy kisebb erdonyi fa Del-Amerikabol es maradt meg az ocean alatt es valt kove. Sossesvlei szinten igeretes volt a csodalatos narancssarga homokdunekkel, de amikor az allitolagos majdnem vilag vegen is aszfaltos uton vezetsz 60 km-t, hogy ott leparkolj es csak ugy odasetalj az egyik megmaszhato dunehez a tobbezer elotted ott jart turista labnyomat kovetve, akkor mar mindjart nem annyira romantikus az egesz. De szerencsere meg idoben rajottunk, hogy nagyon nem szeretnenk eleg sok penzert az igen zsufolt helyi kempingben maradni, ugyhogy miutan visszakaptuk az elore kifizetett dijat, egy kevesbe latogatott szallashely utan neztunk. Egy Solitaire nevu helyen taboroztunk, ahol a kempingben egy felig-meddig szelid springbok ugrandozott, csak a tulaj elfelejtette az egyik szarvat megszerelni (leesett rola a gumigolyo), ugyhogy egy kicsit veszelyes volt, amikor az amugy jatekos bok felenk bokott egyet-kettot.

Swakopmound a masodik legbagyobb varos Namibiaban es a konyvunk szerint nemetebb, mint Nemetorszag maga. Szerintem meg egy afrikai varos, ahol nagyon sok a nemet leszarmazott, meg egy-ket epiteszeti elem is megtalalhato, de a vizpart meg a lakossag miatt soha nemhasonlitanam Nemetorszaghoz. Miutan elkepeszto arakkal szembesultunk – szallast illetoen – a helyi onkormanyzat bungallojainak egyiket vettuk ki. Ket szoba, furdo konyha kb. 9000 Ft egy ejszakara. Masnap meg elmentunk a szerelohoz, hogy Maggie-t megggyogyitsa. Az elozo beszamoloban talaltok kepet a kedves hazasparrol, meg a muhelyrol is.

Mivel meg mindig nem adtuk fel, hogy megnezzuk a legnevesebb namibia parkot eszakon, visszafele indultunk, de most a parti utat valasztottuk. A “Csontvaz partra” eleg keson ertunk, de az or szerint meg eleg idonk volt, hogy megnezzunk a kb. 100 km-re levo hajoroncsot es visszaerjunk a bazisra naplemente elott (Afrika deli orszagaiban ez egyebkent altalanos szabaly, hogy a parkok nepkeltekor nyitnak es naplementekor zarnak). Az ut meses volt, bar egyeseknek ugy tunhet, hogy az eg vilagon semmi sem volt ott a homokot es vizet kiveve, de eppen ez az, amitol elkepesztoen csodalatos. De nem jutottunk tovabb, mint 30 km, amikor a bal hatso kerek egyszeruen lefoszlott az abroncsrol. Homokban meg egyikunk sem cserelt kereket, es ez sajnos meg is hozta az eredmenyet, mert az emelo (mindketto) egyszeruen csak belesullyedt a homokba. Mire aztan rajottunk, hogy talan eloszor is ki kene ekelnunk a kerekeket, hogy Maggi ne mocorogjon miutan megemeltuk, meg az emelo ala is elkene valami stabil (mondjuk a falap, amit pont erre a celra tartottunk). Igy aztan kozel ket oranyi kuszkodes utan sikeresen feltettuk az uj kereket es irany vissza a kemping.

Masnap aztan nem csak a hajoroncshoz jutottunk el, de a Cape Cross-i foka rezervatumba is, ahol tobb, mint 200,000 foka el. A kepek magukert beszelnek es hal’ Istennek nem szagos kepek; irgalmatlanul budos volt, de megerte. Egesz nap el tudtam volna nezni ezeket a csodas lenyeket.

Uton Etosha fele vadsztunk is. Ne aggodjatok, nem allatot vadasztunk, hanem Noel satorfedojet, amit ket falu kozott valami csoda folytan sikerult a szelnek lefujnia. Az 50 km-es szakaszt ketszer is vegigpasztaztuk, de nem jartunk sikerrel. Aztan a legkozelebbi nagyvarosban a kemping boltban kiderult, hogy ezek a satortakarok majnem £100-ot ernek, ugyhogy egybol vilagossa valt miert is tunt el az utrol nyomtalanul. Rendeltunk tehat egy ujat, amit egy par nap mulva Tsumeb-ben vehettunk at.

De nem jo meretet kuldtek, ugyhogy meg egy-ket napig idoztunk Tsumeb-ben (illetve annak kornyeken kulonbozo kempingekben), itt talalkoztunk Ian-nal es Mik-kel (angol es dan motorosok), akik ket honap alatt tettek meg az utat Europabol. Es meg mondjatok, hogy nem semmi az, amit mi csinalunk! Ja, Noel fenykepezogepet is sikerult megcsinaltatnunk, ugyhogy vissza a minosegi fenykepekhez.

Az Etosha park varakozasainkon alul teljesitett. Illetve inkabb Noelet, hiszen nekem ez volt eletem talan harmadik nemzeti parkja, ugyhogy ne szoljak egy szot sem, csak oruljek annak, hogy mennyi csodaszep allatot lattunk. De a szakertonek abban igaza van, hogy a kornyezet nem tul valtozatos, vagyis annak ellenere, hogy nagyon konnyu meglatni a vadat, nem annyira izgalmas, mint ha a terep nem csak nyilt magasfold lenne. Viszont az elmeny leirhatatlan, nagyon kozel voltunk zsirafokhoz, zebrakhoz, lattunk nagyon sok antilop-fajtat (springbok, impala, wildebeast, gemsbok, ealand stb.), meg madarakat (ne nevessetek ki, de kipipaltam a fajokat, amiket lattunk a madaras konyvemben… ciki?)

Namibiabol mar csak az 500 km-es eszaki sav maradt, a Caprivi strip, ami Angola es Botswana koze ekelodve eri el Zambiat a nyugati hataron. Olyan volt, mint ha egy masik orszagban jarnank, a hagyomanyos vajogkunyhok es a zoldello folyoparti taj egy kicsit Nyugat Afrikara emlekeztetett. Utolso namibiai szallasunkon egy bebi hippo majszolta a fuvet iszonyatos tempoban olyan kozel a satramhoz, majd az asztalunkhoz, hogy ha nem lett volna meg igy bebikent is irgalmatlan meretu, ezert veszelyes, akkor meg is simogathattuk volna. Masnap aztan irany a hatar, uton a 18. orszag, Botswana fele.

Remelem, hogy a beszamolo hossza ellenere elveztetek. Udv. mindenkinek! Reka

Border

The border on a Friday afternoon was busy but was not the kind of headache inducing offices that I have encountered before, you are asked to simply fill in one page of information as to what your purpose is and some personal information and then one of a few people behind the glass window processes your visa.  I had read that as a Brit that my visa would be for free and I could ask for a 90 day visa there and then if I wanted to.  Reka had before she left England read somewhere on the internet that a Hungarian should also have the same luxury as us Brits.  Everything seemed to be going well, my passport received the 60 days that I was looking for (I didn’t want to be too greedy!) and then Reka received the same lovely stamp in hers, that was until the officer who just stamped her passport looked closely at the her nationality, looked at a board that listed those Namibian friendly countries and after a good look realised that Hungary was not listed…ooops!  I had a good look at the list and for sure Hungary was not one of the 30 or so countries on there, even when I explained that Hungary was part of the EU which also threw the officer out a bit, and after a few repetitive conversations with some of his colleagues told me that he could not give Reka her visa and that she would have to go back to Angola to obtain one before being let in.  The problem was that we only had a 5 day visa for Angola and this was the last day and it was a Friday afternoon now approaching closing time at both borders!  Reka then came in and within their office tried her best to explain the info she had been given and eventually their chief of operations got involved and called their head office in Windhoek (the capital).  Initially he told us that we could get the visa here but their office were closing and we would have to wait till Monday, I told him that we would then have to camp in their compound until Monday for this to happen and I think he felt sorry for us as after another call to their offices in Windhoek he gave Reka a stamp which allowed her 7 days entry into the country with a note saying that she must proceed directly to Windhoek to sort this issue out, problem solved, for now anyway!

History

The farming and agriculturalists Gokomere bantu speaking people that moved into Nambia from Zimbabwe as well as the Kho Khoi people that also raised livestock displaced the nomadic San people and became the dominant group of people around 1500.  During the 16th century the Herero arrived in Namibia from the Zambezi valley and occupied the north and west of the country.  Conflict arose due to rights to the best grazing lands and water sources and eventually nearly all indigenous groups submitted to the superior strength and numbers of the Herero.  As Namibia has one of the worlds most barren and inhospitable coastlines it was largely ignored by the European nations until relatively recently.  The first Europeans here were Portuguese mariners looking for a route to the Indies but it was confined to pure navigational aids along the coast.  It wasn’t until a last minute scramble for colonies in the late 19th century that Namibia was annexed by Germany.  The Germto thier an colony abruptly came to an end when its forces surrendered to a South African expeditionary army also fighting on behalf of the allies.  At the end of WWI, South Africa was given the mandate to rule the territory then known as South West Africa by the League of Nations.  Following WWII, the mandate was renewed by the UN who refused to sanction the annexation of the country by South Africa.  Undeterred, the South African government tightened it’s grip on the territory and, in 1949, it granted parliamentary representation to thewhite population.  The bulk of southern Namibia’s viable farmland was parcelled into some 6000 farms owned by white settlers, while indigenous families were confined by law to their ‘reserves’ mainly in the east and far north of the country.  Forced labour had been the lot of most Namibians since the German annexation and this was one ofthe main factors that led to mass demonstrations and the development of Nationalisation in the late 1950’s.  By 1960 most of these parties had merged to form the South West People’s Organization (Swapo) which eventually took the issue of South African occupation to the International court of justice.  The outcome was inconclusive but in 1966 the UN General Assembly voted to terminate South Africa’s mandate and setup a council for South West Africa (This was renamed to Namibia in 1973).  Fighting between Swapo and the South African government then led to thousands of activists being arrested during demonstrations.  A number of Alliances were established and dissolved over the next 17 years and it could have been the white Namibians themselves that grew tired of the war and the economy failing that brought the South Africans to the negotiating table.  Under the watch of the UN, the USA and USSR a deal was stuck between Cuba, Angola, South Africa and Swapo, in which Cuban troops would be removed from Angola and South African troops from Namibia.  In Nov 1989 Swapo collected a clear majority of votes and a constitution was adopted in 1990 under the presidency of the Swapo leader Sam Nujoma.  In 2004 Nujoma after 3 terms stood down in favour of his chosen successor Hifikepunye Pohamba.

Ondangwa

By the time we had driven from the border to the nearest town of Ondangwa it was getting dark and in most other countries we had struggled sometimes to find a decent place to rest for the night without some serious searching for cheap accommodation.  One of the first people we asked there pointed to a place not so far away and drove ahead of us to show us exactly where the campsite was.  Campsites have been far and few between in West and Central Africa and when we entered to see that there was a bar and restaurant and showers all close by I think both Reka and I were able to relax as we were now in a country that was setup for travellers such us ourselves where affordable campsites would be widely available.  In Oshikango we went to a supermarket where we stoked up on booze and some very good looking meat which I haven’t seen that often in a while and in the campsite I setup a fire and Braii’ed (bbq’d) some amazing pork streaks that were cheap as chips.  Like Angola, the weather now was much more enjoyable as the nights and early mornings in May are cold and the rest of the day is normally drenched in warm sunshine, my days of sweating and lack of sleep due to humidity were over!

Above: Ondangwa Camping

Around 50km outside of Ondangwa we were cruising along on some lovely road when a woman in a blue uniform came running to stop us from a small shaded area on the side of the road.  She was quite frantic but I thought nothing of it and continued driving, when a few minutes later a car pulled ahead of us blinking it’s siren and asked us to pull over.  A traffic policeman then got out and proceeded to tell me that I had been driving 70km in a 60km per hour zone and that we had to pay a fine for the penalty.  We drove back to where his speed camera was stationed and I asked him to prove that it was my car and not the car ahead of me or behind me that caused the offence as we all were travelling at the same speed but he couldn’t and continued to talk at me rather than to me.  His female colleague was also talking at the same time and I told them to speak one at a time so I could follow what they were saying, they didn’t like that!  After I had given them my drivers license (a laminated copy) they also told me that I should give them my passport and then go and pay a fine at a police station before returning to collect my passport.  I told them that I was not going to hand over my passport but if they gave me the ticket I would then go and talk about this at their police station.  They refused to give me a ticket without my passport and I asked them to show me where it stated that I should leave my passport with them but they couldn’t show me anything.  Even after I asked them to come with me to the station they said they they could only do this after they finished their shift!  We weren’t getting anywhere with them so we got the directions to the nearest police station a good 40 km back from where we had come from and went inside the station.  The officers inside the station were very nice people and as it was the weekend it seemed very chilled (maybe that was every day in Ondangwa!) and they tried to see what they could do for us without the speeding ticket and proceed to wait a few hours while one phone call led to another.  The two traffic police officers then arrived at the station and began to talk quite rudely in front of Reka and I about how we refused to give them our passports and that we should stand in the area where ‘suspects’ should remain, I then told him that I didn’t like his attitude and he was being unprofessional and that I wanted to speak to his boss.  He didn’t like this and told us to pay and that he’d be back in a few hours to check we had sorted everything out.  As the police station couldn’t do anything we waited around for another 10 minutes and then left hoping that the officers had driven in another direction, luckily for us they had and all I lost out of all of this was time and my copy of my drivers license!

Above: Debating the technical accuracy of a speed gun

Windhoek

As Reka had to proceed to the Immigration office in Windhoek to sort out her visa we decided to leave Etosha National Park till a later date and visit there on our way back out the country.  It was very clear that Namibia is a popular tourist destination with Europeans as well as South Africans and people from Botswana as I saw thousands of rented 4×4’s that on the whole were kitted out with roof tents and had most of the essentials that we had brought for our overland journey.  The scenery through Tsumeb and Otjiwarongo was absolutely stunning as you drive through large expanse open spaces and the scenery never disappoints along the way.  We entered Windhoek on a Sunday but honestly with a population no more than 500,000 a big city seems very chilled whatever the day you arrive!

Above: The road to Windhoek

I managed to collect my refrigerator at a backpackers in Windhoek that had been left by Joe and Christine here a few week back.  I lent them the fridge in Ghana as I didn’t see much use for it in West Africa as camping was not always that easy and my secondary battery that ran it was dead and so Namibia seemed like a close place to be rekindled with it.   We then found a nice backpackers to stay the night in called Chameleon backpackers, we camped there in our tents but it was in a small parking area but they also had dormitories and rooms but were all fully booked out.  It was here at the bar that I met Sid an American guy that had been in Botswana volunteering his services as a doctor, Jan a German carpenter that is travelling through Southern Africa but as part of his tradition can only pay for his travels through the paid work that he gets as a carpenter in that country and a Swiss guy (can’t remember his name right now) that was helping a friend build a school in Cameroun and is now travelling to South Africa.  It was a strange mix but for one night we all stayed drinking till late in the Chameleon bar and then went in search of more booze through the streets of Windhoek, apart from a few casino’s we couldn’t find any late night drinking places until a cab driver took us to a night club where we could get beers and have a good time in an Namibian club.  I had drunk a lot that night due to the ciders I started on, the Swiss guy buying me some whiskeys during a few games of pool, a few bottles of red wine followed by several beers and so the next morning I wasn’t in the best of shape!  The next day we stumbled into the Immigration office in the centre of Windhoek and after being sent to various booths finally found the correct officer who told us the guys at the border were wrong to let Reka in without the visa but after speaking to a few of his colleagues told us to return the next the next day and she would have to submit her application for a visa and it should be ok tomorrow.  Maggie had still been experiencing oil leakages on the front left hand side the tyre and so we went in search of a mechanic of which I was told there were a few in Windhoek but all we we went to were fully booked fixing Land rovers and Land Cruisers, one mechanic told me to come back in a month!  It could wait till another city in Namibia so we left it at that.  Windhoek is a nice city (sorry no photos for some reason) and it has all the kinds of things a large city should have, its easy to travel round the city and seems very safe and relaxing.  The only thing it lacked in the centre was a decent place to camp as space is obviously costlier to have in the city so we met a guy called Frikkie who ran individual safari’s through Southern Africa and he took us to a place 10km outside Windhoek where we could camp more in the wilderness and have a camp fire and access to a shower and not be far from the city so for that thanks Frikkie! (his website is www.big5experience.com) The next day after a few hours Reka had paid for her Namibian visa and had the same 60 days that I had so we were able to set off again.

Grootfontein

This town lies 300km north of Windhoek and seems to be a good resting point for many travellers either heading to Etosha National Park or coming from there going to Windhoek.  It’s a small town but like many other towns in Namibia has all the essentials that you will ever need.  The SPA supermarket is well stocked up on all kinds of meats and goodies needed for your camping needs and like all other towns there are at least 2 petrol stations. We stayed in Grootfontein a couple of days on separate occasions and stayed just outside Grootfontein at a great camping site called Maori run by some crazy German Namibian fella who is on another planet but has a lovely camping area that is peaceful and like most campsites in Namibia has clean showers with hot water and cost £5 a night.

Above: Grootfontien, Bottom Right: One of Many Overland Trucks taking tourists from the UK to South Africa

Tsumeb

A town that lies 60km away from Grootfontein would normally be for a traveller somewhere that you visit for a day before you move to other destinations such as Etosha National Park but as we had done a few loops in Namibia for one reason or another we always found our way back here and after a few visits you felt like a resident here as everyone knew you and the roads become very familiar very quickly!  One time I lost my roof tent cover while driving near Omaruru as the winds were strong and my roof tent which is a well used tent from the last few owners had been well used so things were always looser than I would have liked.  The roof tent cover had blown off during one of our drives and after spending a few hours searching for it along the road we were resigned to the fact that it had blown miles away from the roadside or someone had collected it.  When I searched for a replacement I realised how expensive these things were as the price for a new cover starts around £80 so I went through the pain of ordering a new one from a shop called Cymot.  It was here that I had bought a new battery to charge the Fridge and seemed like a decent retailer of camping equipment.  I had to wait for a few days for the arrival of the tent cover and tried to collect it in the Tsumeb branch, but when it arrived it was not the right cover so I had to order another one but after one complication to another the company couldn’t send the right product so in the end I paid £20 for a second hand cover that does the job from Cymot so thanks to the staff there for being flexible and apologetic through their own ordering system but a great bunch of people to work out an alternative in the end.

Above: Tsumeb

It was in Tsumeb that Reka and I met Ian and Mick a couple of Bikers from the UK and Denmark that were riding from the UK and Spain and had met on a overlanding forum called Horizons Unlimited and after meeting up in the Gambia had been riding together for the past 3 months together through Africa and were both heading to South Africa in the next couple of weeks.  Ian a fireman had already done a world trip on his bike and Mick was planning on shipping his bike to South America and continuing his journey there.  Ian’s blog can be found at: www.iansrtwtrip.blogspot.com and Mick’s at www.mhoey.eu

It was clear that these guys were top notch fellas and after sinking a few beers together we all agreed to find a campsite that evening and sink some more beers and cook some nice food all together.  That evening we found a great place from Tsumeb heading to Grootfontein there is a campsite called Bushbaby just 10km before Grootfontein.  There we had a large grassed campsite with a braii area in the middle and they supplied their own wood which was a bonus.  With some pork steaks, roasted pumpkin and kebabs and plenty of beer we had a great night with these guys chatting about all sorts of stuff and I wish them good luck on the rest of their journey.  Ian, I hope we can meet up in the UK sometime for a beer, and Mick in Capetown if the timing is right!

Above: Ian & Mick the bikers , Bottom left: Mick giving grace before a full English breakfast.

Omaruru

There isn’t much to say about this small sleepy town except for the exceptional wood carving workshop that you see as you enter the town from Karibib, all sorts of animals are being expertly carved from huge trees and chunks of wood, of course I’d love to bring one back, but a) the roof rack could take the weight and b) it would look ridiculous in my garden in Brockley!

Above: The amazing giant animal wood carvings in Omaruru

Otjiwarongo

Sounds like a creature from a Rohald Dahl book but no it’s a town in Namibia and it has plenty of supermarkets and butchers to keep the camping easy, it was here that I got my secondary battery from Cymot to kick the fridge into action as well as we found a nice mechanics called Hoffenfess that fixed Maggie’s back door that was slowly coming off it’s hinges and he did the work with a colleague for free (thanks Hoffenfess!)

Above: Minor tinkering with Maggie

Swakopmund & Walvis Bay

On the western coastline lies 2 towns that ooze a heavy German influence in its architecture and seems to be a popular holiday destination for Namibians as well as those tourists interested in quad biking and other adrenalin inducing activities. They are on the coast but also surrounded by a dry arid dessert so the drive through the west coast is a very bizarre one with dunes on one side and a glimmering ocean on the other.  I found Swakopmund to be a chilled seaside town but accommodation is fairly expensive for those on a budget and the only place I found to stay was close to the beach in a camping/chalet park on the edge of the town.

Above: Swakopmund

It was here that we met Dietmar an experienced Land Rover mechanic who not helped us replace the Break callipers that had been damaged recently and also rectified an oil leak on the back tyre of Maggie and him and his wife Dagmar invited us to have a coffee with them and we chatted about their business and their experiences of Namibia as well as sharing some of the adventures that we had been through so far.  They were extremely busy with work but went out their way to make sure we could get on our way within a few hours of turning up.  Dietmar’s love of vehicles also went further than Land Rovers as seen in some of the photos below.  He also ran the most professional garage I have seen where staff were rewarded (via bonuses) for good work and the opposite for slack work and his guys were on the ball and needed no direction.  At the end the bill was a lot smaller than I had reckoned and Dietmar’s whole service including the advice about where to stay and camp in Namibia was amazing, so thank you Dietmar and Dagmar for that.

Above: Dietmar & Dagmar’s Autofleiss, Swakopmund

Walvis Bay is an even more chilled out smaller version of Swakopmund and has an exceptional view of hundreds upon hundred of Flamingos that are attracted to the salt pan’s around this area.  Many people also come here to do some shoreline fishing which seems to be very popular and you’ll see many vehicles carrying their rods on the front of their cars.  There is also a fantastic German Butcher here that sells nearly every type of meat included game (Eland, Kudu, Springbok etc) and we got some wonderful pork neck chops amongst other meaty goodies here!

Above: Walvis Bay

Solitaire

If you do not want to pay extortionate camping prices at the Sossusvlei (see part 2 of this blog) entrance gate then make your way after visiting the dunes to a wonderful remote place called Solitaire where nothing except a couple of camping places exist and we stayed at the Solitaire guest farm where you will find a wonderful camping area for 3 or 4 vehicles and the owners made us feel welcome.

Katima Mulilo & The Caprivi Strip

The north east of Namibia is a very different place to the rest of the country as the land becomes lush and green as you get closer to the Zambezi river.  The drive to Rundu from Grootfontein is long and straight and requires patience to get through it but there are many spots along the way where you can stretch your legs and have a rest for a while.  We stayed a night at the Rainbow campsite just near Popa falls and you’ll find a wonderful peaceful place to camp overlooking the Okavango River.

Above: The stunning surroundings of the Rainbow Campsite near Popa Falls

Once you enter Kazonga you immediately drive through the Bwabwata National Park but there is a tarred road that bisects the park and you do not have to pay any entry fee to get through it, along the way to Katima Mulla encountered a number of huge elephants that are simply crossing the road one way or another and they are not too aggressive here as long as you pay them enough respect.

Above: A few encounters along the road in Bwabwata

Before Entering Botswana we stayed at a campsite on the road to Kasane that sat on the Zambezi river and it was there that we encountered a juvenile hippo that we were told has grown up amongst the campers and at night he seriously munched his way through most of the campsite grass so if you want a cheap lawnmower this is your chap!

Above: I now know why the game ‘Hungry Hippo’ was given that title!

Guess what, another trip to a garage this time for a rattling noise which seemed to be getting worse the more we drove and on closer inspection a screw that was holding in the front left spring was loose and the thread worn out so the Zambezi Mechanics in Katima Mulilo sorted this out after a few hours of tinkering without removing the spring.

Above: Left – Maggie getting some TLC Right – The owners baby pit-bull that became my Playmate and ripped part of my shirt in the process!

Hope you enjoyed this post and please leave a comment if you did, coming soon PT 2 to Namibia

Noel

Reka – HUN: Kedves mindenki! Az en beszamolom majd a masodik reszben, mindenrol egyszerre… Udv, csok!

At the Luvo border we had to wait 30 min for the official to finish his breakfast and turn up at his desk but after that the official papers were stamped so we though and we proceeded to leave the border post, at the gate that allowed us to drive to M’Banza Congo the next recognised town we were stopped and told that we hadn’t finished all their administration, when we turned back and angrily went back into one guys office he told us that he had forgotten to photocopy our passports, another 30 min later and we were able to leave the border!

History

In 1483 Vasco da Gama dropped anchor in Luanda bay which pre-empted the start of a conflict that went on for over half a millennium.  Angola was inhabited by a number of small tribes which were loosely defined kingdoms.  The Portuguese had no real desire to settle on this African shoreline and post 1500 the more fertile lands of Brazil held a greater attraction for colonial farmers.  For the next 300 years Portuguese colonies only served as a strategic base on route to the cape of good hope and as a collecting centre for one of the largest forced human migrations in history.  Due to this slavery, clashes amongst the tribes and the colonials became notable after WWII and inflamed in 1961 when the colonial authorities started to get heavy handed.  The initial independence movement split into 3 main groups in line with tribal affiliations.  The National Front for the liberation of Angolans (FNLA) was supported by the northern tribes, DRC and anti-communist western countries; The Popular movement for the liberation of Angola (MPLA) was supported by the southern tribes, the USSR, Cuba and other soviet allies; and the National Union for Total Independence of Angola (Unita) formed alliances with the Portuguese right wing, the USA and apartheid South Africa.  In 1975 the Portuguese granted independence to Angola but as the colonials withdrew a mass scramble ensued converting central Luanda into a ghost town and left the country without any qualified human resources and no administrative structure.  Unsurprisingly Angola was set for a civil war and for the next 15 years there was a foreign intervention but not necessarily for the right reasons as western business interests continued to fight amongst themselves for the oil, diamonds, iron ore, copper amongst other resources.  In 1991 a ceasefire agreement was set in place by Cuba, USA and Angola but broke down the following year as Unita lost a general election claiming the poll was rigged.  Around 200,000 people died between May and October 1993 as Unita took war to many provincial cities destroying along the way most of the countries road, rail and communications network.  UN sanctions against Unita diamonds caused Unita’s cash supply to dry up and the control of the country side gradually crumbled from 1998.  It’s leader Jonas Savimbi was killed in Feb 2002.  A new peace accord was signed in April 2002.  Since then Angola has entered a period of peace and regeneration. 

Day 1

As we only had 5 days to travel through Angola I’ll try to keep the blog short and sweet, we tried to extend at the entry to Angola at their border but were told no we could not, and we have heard stories of being charged $100 a day once you overrun your welcome according to the visa so 5 days it was!  After leaving the border we drove to M’banza Congo which was a 60km drive, the roads were mainly dirt roads but on the whole ok and the views of the rolling hills in the cool morning was a great feeling, that is until we encountered a few parts where the recent rains had affected the road badly, at one point we were faced with a muddy road that 2 large trucks had got stuck in and almost made the road impassable, as we waited amongst the chaos of the men that were busy trying to work out what to do amongst themselves we could hear in the bush to our right the sound of an engine working overtime, a few minutes later we see this bus rip through the bush and re-enter in front of these trucks, the driver was in a big hurry for some reason and I ended up having a shouting match with him as he wanted me to move out the way, the only way for me to move was to drive into the mud and potentially get stuck with the rest of them!  I went into low range and hoped for the best and ended up narrowly sliding past the far right truck and was able to carry on.

Above: Bus driver late for his lunch!    

The roads thereafter for the next 20km were very bad and it was a relief to stretch ourselves out in M’banza Congo.  The diesel here was cheap and worked out at £0.20p a litre!.   On asking around the town for street food everything we looked at seemed to be double the price at least compared to the past few countries we have visited so we avoided buying anything and waited hoping that the next town would be better.  For the next 200km to N’zeto it was clear that the Chinese road companies were busy in Angola as the majority of vehicles we passed were being driven by Chinese truck drivers and there was evidence of road construction everywhere you looked in some shape or form.

N’zeto

On arriving around 4pm we entered what seemed a very empty and relaxed seaside town, the roads were quiet and only a few shops were open.  We drove around the town in search of either a campsite or a cheap hotel and found neither. The only bar in town also had rooms above but started at around $40 which was above the kind of prices that Reka and I were willing to pay although the guys sitting at the bar tried their best to help us get a cheaper price with the manager in what Portuguese we could muster.  Eventually after driving a little bit more we decided to camp up against the shoreline and asked a neighbour if it was ok and he said we could do what we liked so that was good enough for me!

Above: Camping in quiet N’zeto    

Day 2

On the way to Luanda near Ambriz, we met an army guy who was patiently waiting at the roadside and his car was lodged in a ditch off the side of the road.  When we asked him what happened he told us that a large Chinese driven truck had been speeding in the opposite direction but in a way that took up most of the road, the army guy had to swerve out of the way avoiding a more serious accident and ended up getting stuck in the ditch.  As I was about to get the tow ropes out of Maggie some of his army colleagues arrived in a heavy duty JCB and with the use of the crane managed to pull him out of the ditch with the help of a few us pushing the vehicle from behind.  He was very happy once his vehicle was out and started up first time. 

Above: Helping the Army guy out of a ditch

After driving on some fairly good graded dirt roads we then hit a stretch of 100km of absolute crap which meant very slow driving and even though the pictures don’t really show it the pot holes made for an uncomfortable 3 hours of manoeuvring round these holes. It was pure elation to see a sign for Luanda followed by a recently tarred road with no holes that meant the drive was nice again.

Above: The terrible road to Caxito/Luanda

Luanda

Initially the road into Luanda reminded me of Accra in as much that such a big city is overloaded with vehicles stuck in traffic jams due to the lack of foresight by the original city planners.  On the outskirts of Luanda there were some very poor areas which could be described as a shanty town and an hour of slowly moving into the city we were able to drive to the centre where we stopped to walk around for a bit.  On entering a small cafe we checked out the pricelist and quickly realised that ordering food here was not an option as a simple sandwich started at $20.  All the cars around me were brand new and you could see that a lot of cash was floating around the city. 

Above: Central Luanda      

We then went in search of some cheap food and somewhere to sleep that night.  We drove along a small narrow strip along the coast called Ilha where we were told at the very end of this strip we would find some reasonably priced food.  It was fairly easy to find and when you arrive there you are greeted by the smell of grilled food and hundreds of small little shacks by the beach where people are rustling up some tasty meals.  A lot of locals were already sat at various tables, some tucking into giant plates of fish/crabs and others drinking a lot of booze.  We found one lady that could speak English and her speciality was grilled squid, she like all other places we asked charged $20 a plate so Reka and I shared a plate.  Although it took a while to come I have to say it was by far the best squid I have ever tasted, very unlike some of the rubbery stuff I have tasted in the UK, this was a joy to eat.  The owner also told us that if we didn’t find any place to sleep that night, we could always camp outside her shack, it was a nice offer and a good backup although the sort of area where the music was loud and sleeping would be difficult.  We couldn’t find a decently priced hotel anywhere near this place and as the sun was setting we drove into the nearby communal park.  There we were shown the local water patrol police station (inside the park) near the harbour and we enquired to a local guard if it were possible to camp outside their station.  It was quiet and secluded and very safe!  The guard who spoke good English enquired to his boss.  His boss then brought out another guy (the bosses boss) to come and meet us and look at the vehicle, he then brought had to bring out the stations commandant to meet us, walk around on the phone to some big chief and chose a spot where we could finally rest.  I have to say that even though it was a comedy moment meeting every chief in the harbour police we were treated really nicely by every policeman that we met there, they allowed us to use their showers and toilets normally reserved for staff and they even offered to provide a guard to walk with us when we left the park to walk around the area that evening, so highly recommended if you want a nice place to camp when in Luanda!

The Harbour police of Luanda

Day 3

Sadly on a 5 day transit visa we had to keep moving so there was no chance to check out anymore of Luanda!  On our way out we saw a woman grilling some chicken on the street and so for breakfast we bought some peri peri chicken fried with onions and my god it was good! 

The weather by the way was becoming much more southern Africa as there was less humidity, cooler starts and ends to the day with warm sunshine during the daylight hours and by far much more enjoyable than the humid hot sunshine of what we had experienced in West Africa!  Driving along the coast to Porto Amboim we saw a vehicle parked up alongside the motorway and it seemed they had car problems.  When we stopped to see if they needed any help they looked desperate for a way to get moving again but weren’t too sure of the actual problem.  We tried to jump start their car but the problem was much worse than that and after they tinkered round the vehicle for another 20 minutes I suggested that we tow them to the nearest town which was 40km away so that they could investigate the problem at a garage, they didn’t hesitate and an hour later of driving slower than usual over some large hilly terrain we were able to drop them off!

Above: Towing some locals

The drive along the coast was a wonderful experience and it is clear that Angola is a truly stunning country.  Even along the coast the terrain is varied and mountainous and you see some wonderful landscapes along the way.

 Above: Driving through Lobito

That night we found a quiet place along the coast in Benguela, you could see that some very wealthy people live there occasionally and some are in the process of building their own weekend getaways, so it was very quiet when we got there as it wasn’t the weekend so there weren’t many people around.  I asked a nearby house owner who told us that camping close by would be no problem.

Above: Camping in Banguela     

Day 4

We drove more inland towards Lubango and once again the landscape changes but the consistent factor is the beauty of the country.  In the morning we spotted a couple of cyclists that looked like long distance travellers, when we met up with them they had also been travelling for a while, one French guy had been cycling through Africa for the past couple of years, the American had cycled from Spain to here over the last 8 or 9 months and were nice guys to chat to.  They had overstayed their welcome in Angola by over a week already but were hoping that at the border they would meet a nice official who wouldn’t see this as a problem.  It is impossible to cycle Angola in 5 days so they must have a case!  A few hours later we were in a nice town called Lubango and things seemed to change a little here in terms of the food prices as we got closer to the Namibian border.  We found a nice Portuguese cafe that had a great selection of savoury pastries and the owner Joanna was such a friendly woman who spoke great English, she had lived in Namibia for a number of years and had moved with her Husband to Angola where she was originally from a few years back.  She was kind enough to buy us both a beer as we sat munching on her pastries and salad which again like most of my African experience so far was full of generosity and kindness.

 Above: The road to Lubango

That night we found a small man made pool of water off a side road near Chibemba and camped their for the night.  I had to remove the contents of my roof tent at this spot to let the mattress dry up as it had started to smell from the dampness of the rain it had soaked up while in Congo Brazzaville and DRC Congo! 

The only problem with this place was that throughout the late evening many cars would arrive and people would come out covered in dust and dirt and strip off and dive into these pools of water cleaning themselves vigorously with their own soap, after seeing that it wasn’t a place for me to have a quick dip so I decided to remain unclean until we got to Namibia!

Day 5

The road to Ondijva was again a nice drive and we made good progress throughout the day.  One thing I noticed about school kids in the whole of Angola was that unlike all other countries I had travelled so far where each school had their own coloured uniform, all school children in all parts of the country we had been all wore white almost like lab coats over their own clothes to school.  Many of the younger school kids carried their own chairs/stools as they went or left school for the day.

Above: The road to Ondijva

Approaching the border we realised that diesel started to become harder to obtain, many of the petrol stations we went to in various small towns had all run out and were waiting for their next delivery, after speaking to one station owner he told me that many of the trucks going to or leaving Namibia normally fill up in Angola as the prices are that much cheaper!  I got into a conversation about our trip with the same petrol station owner and he then sent one of his friends to go into town and 20 minutes later he brought back a giant Angolan flag that he gave to us as a gift from him!

Border

At the Angolan side things are very chilled and there are only a few offices to visit all located next to each other so the process is very straight forward.  I had to wait 20 minutes for my carnet to be stamped out as the lady responsible was having her lunch but apart from that there were no delays.  There were many money changers hanging around the Angolan side but their rates were not as good as a shop I was told about that changed money on the Namibian side so we waited until we got through before we changed up our Kwanza’s and dollars.

Conclusion

It’s a shame that Angola is such a difficult place to get into as it could be such a wonderful destination for those that have travelled to many African countries.  The coastal areas that I went to are peaceful and under developed which gives a more natural wilder feel about it when you visit these places.  Angolans were very easy to get into a conversation with although many speak only their local languages and Portuguese.  I found that it was cheap to drink beer and fill up Maggie with Diesel so we would stop for the odd beer here and there and in the evenings we would cook up some noodles and pasta that we had stored up for times like this due to the expensive prices of food.  Kwanza’s and dollars were the chosen currency so bring plenty of dollars if you are lucky to get more than a 5 day transit visa.  Accommodation was not easy to find and where there was a hotel it normally came with an expensive price tag but we camped for 5 days without paying a penny and apart from not having a shower it was a pleasant experience.  The drive was doable in 5 days but it doesn’t allow you to explore many places when you get there so I hope at some point the country becomes easier be able to travel as not everyone wants to live there and make millions from the oil that Angola clearly has!

Reka – HUN: Angola az eddigi egyik legszebb, ugyanakkor legdragabb orszag is; igy tehat reszrol sajnalatos, de szerencses is, hogy csak 5 napounk volt keresztul robogni. A hataratkeles eltarott egy darabig, mert az angolai oldalon elfelejtettek lefenymasolni a vizumunkat, meg a kocsi parpirjaira is varni kellett egy darabig.

Elso nap nem sokat haladtunk, mert az ut borzalmas volt M’banza Congoig (kb. 70 km a hatartol), de aztan belehuztunk es az estet mar N’zeto-ban toltottuk a tengerparton. Megerkezesunk utan nem sokkal ugyanis felismertuk, hogy sem szallast, sem etelt nem kapunk olcsobban, mint $20; ami pedig nem a mi penztarcankra szabott ar. De a helyiek nagyon kedvesek es segitokeszek voltak, mert minden tovabbi nelkul engedtek, hogy felverjuk a satrunkat az utca vegen, a parton.

Masnap elertunk a fovarosig, Luandaig, ahol hosszas keresgeles utan sem talaltunk olcsobb etelt, mint a $20-os tintahalat, sult krumplival (de az olyan tinta hal volt, hogy csak na; nem ragogumi kilonyi panirban, hanem igazi husos, zamatos a grillrol). Ugyhogy egy adagot megosztottunk, majd a varosi parkot vettuk iranyba, hogy esetleg ott kempingezzunk. A parkon belul volt a helyi vizirendorseg fohadiszallasa is, ugyhogy gondoltuk, minden kesobbi problemat elkerulve inkabb bejelentkezunk naluk. Erre a kapuor szolt a fonokenek, aki megkerdezte a fonoket, aki miutan elkoltotte fel oras vacsorajat kijott, hogy szemugyre vegyen minket, meg a helyet, ahol letaborozunk, aztan ujabb negyed oras diskuralas utan aldasukat adtak ra, hogy kozvetlenul a kapu elott aludjunk.

Harmadik nap a Lobitotol nem messze levo Benguela tengerpartjan aludtunk (a legolcsobb szallas is $100 lett volna fejenkent), es vacsorara a meg reggel beszerzett chilis csirke szendvics maradekat ettuk gyorstesztaval, es persze aznap sem zuhanyoztunk…

Negyedik nap ismet csodalatos tajakon vezettunk keresztul, ilyenkor bantuk csak igazan, hogy nincs tobb, mint 5 napunk egy kicsit jobban felfedezni az orszagot. Itt-ott megalltunk egy sorre, meg tankolni is kellett, es ez a ket dolog meg olcso is volt hal’ Istennek (sor: $1, Gazolaj: $0.30/liter). Lubango egy nagyon helyes kis varos volt es szerencsenkre talaltunk egy olcso kavezot is, ahol a tulajdonos holgy meg meg is hivott minket egy-egy sorre, raadasul olyan salatat is keszitett nekunk, amitol meg a husimado Noel is megnyalta mind a tiz ujjat. Bar mondanom sem kell, hogy negy napi konzervkaja utan barmi frissen keszult etel jol esett volna. Aztan mivel meg volt par orank, tovabb indultunk, hogy utolso napra ne maradjon tul nagy tav, hiszan ujabb hatar atkeles vart rank, es a hatarra nem tul szerencses keson erkezni (errol bovebben majd a Namibia fejezetben). Az uttol nem messze talaltunk egy heleyet, par mesterseges tavacskaval, es miutan a helyi idos bacsi is odebb allt, neki alltunk, hogy ujabb teszta-csodat fozzunk vacsorara. Nem sokkal kesobb ismat tarsasagunk akadt, mert a helyiek eloszeretettel hasznaltak a tavakat esti furdo helykent, ugyhogy a vacsaorankat ugy koltottuk el, mintha egy nagy kozossegi furdoszobaban ultunk volna. Joggal kerdezitek, hogy akkor mi miert nem furodtunk… hat a viz mocskosabb volt, mint amilyennek en ereztem magam, ugyhogy inkabb kihagytam ezt az elmeny. Meg az az igazsag, hogy az estek is kezdtek egyre huvosebbek lenni, de ez egyaltalan nem panaszkodas, hiszen a kozel fel evi majdnem folyamatos izzadas utan igazi feludulest jelentett, hogy be kell takarozni ejszakara.

Utolso napunk Angolaban hasonloan telt, mint a tobbi: reggel kave, delben sor, es megallas csak rovid szunetekre, hogy nehogy tullepjuk az 5 napos hataridot. A hatarra aztan oda is ertuk du. 2 korul, es nem sok varakozas utan mar ki is leptunk Angolabol, hogy a mar nagyon megerdemelt namib civilaciot elvezhessuk (kemping meleg zuhannyal, friss etel elerheto arakon es jo utak, amik remelhetoen nem okoznak kart Maggiben).

Sajnos ez a beszamolo nem olyan szines es elmenydus, mint az eddigiek, de az ido es a penz is ellenunk volt, ugyhogy megtettuk, amit tudtunk es igy is elveztuk az itt letet, amennyire lehetett. De ha valakinek sikerul az 1 honapos vizumot beszereznie es a zsebe is ki van tomve, akkor szerintem nagyon megeri ellatogatni Angolaba, mert csodaszep! Udv. mindenkinek, es megkezdhetitek a visszaszamlalast, mert mar csak 3 orszag van hatra…

After the stress of getting through the port from both Brazzaville and now Kinshasa I was very surprised to see a fairly relaxed entry into the city as I read Kinshasa would be hectic and frenetic but within 10 minutes we had reached the main blvd 30 Janv which has recently been renovated and allowed for a relaxed drive through part of the city.  We heard that one of the cheapest places to stay was the Protestant Church in Gombe and it was very easy to find as it is parallel with the main blvd.

History

The Portuguese discovered this part of central Africa in the 15th century and traded goods such as ivory, cloth, pottery and ironware.  They made contact with a highly developed kingdom known as the Kongo.  Little more was heard of the Kongo until Dr.David Livingstone began opening up the African interior to European exploration.  After Dr Livingstone went missing for more than 5 years in 1866, a New York newspaper sent out a Welshman Henry Morton Stanley to track him down.  The two brits met in November 1871 in Tanzania.  It was Stanley’s subsequent African adventures now under the sponsorship of the Daily Telegraph to trace the course of the Congo river that marked his own place in the History books.  His exploits were quickly seized upon by King Leopold II of Belgium.  Devious, greedy and ignorant of African affairs he decided to acquire a colony in his own right going against the Belgian government.  In 1878 Leopold summoned Stanley and commissioned him to go back to the Congo under the smoke screen of the International African Society a supposed philanthropic organisation.  Over the next five years Stanley signed more than 400 treaties with Congo chiefs on Leopold’s behalf, tricking them to hand over their land rights in return for paltry gifts.  At the Berlin conference called by Bismark in 1884 to carve up Africa, Leopold managed to convince the famous Iron chancellor to declare the Congo a free trade area and cede it to him as his own personal fiefdom. Leopold inherited a country 75 times the size of Belgium and he then began to fleece the Congo of it’s Ivory, copper and in the wake of the pneumatic tyre – rubber.  Hideous crimes were committed by Leopold’s rubber traders and they decimated and raped the villages that were based in the forests that supplied their rubber.  As Leopold’s crimes gradually became more public, the Belgian government paid the king the equivalent of $4 million dollars to annex the land mass now known as the Democratic Republic of Congo.  The Belgian administration built clinics, schools and roads and by the 1940’s the Congo was Africa’s richest country.  In the 1950’s under the revolutionary Patrice Lumumba the independence movement finally wrestled control in 1960.  It seemed that the country was moving politically towards the soviet union, army chief Joseph Mobutu was installed as the countries leader.  He renamed the country Zaire and embarked on a campaign of Africanisation with people dropping their Christian names and getting rid of their westernised apparel. Proving himself to be more incompetent than Leopold, Mobutu was heavily involved in corruption and tallied over $2 billion in US loans over a 30 year period and put over $5 billion into Swiss bank accounts.  With a sea of political change rippling through the world in the early 1990’s Mobutu was overthrown by Rwandan and Ugandan troops as they marched through Kinshasa in May 1996 after he backed the Hutu Rwandans during the 1994 genocide.  He escaped execution but died a few months later of cancer in Morocco.  The new leader, Laurent Kabila (a one time confidante of Che Guevara) immediately outlawed any political opposition and renamed the country the Democratic Republic of Congo (at the time ironically to most!) and very soon afterwards the country went into civil war with the Tutsis he had once claimed to represent.  This war started in 1998 and Laurent Kabila was assassinated in 2001 by one of his body guards. His son Joseph Kabila took over and proved to be every bit as different to his father, setting up a peace treaty with the warring fractions so that in 2002 an all party transitional government came in.  By 2003 more than 3+ million people had died in the war and another 3+ million displaced.

Angola Embassy

So many people had told us different stories about the availability of an Angolan visa and the versions change depending on the time you apply so we were a bit apprehensive if we were able to get it in Kinshasa.  The best place to get it would have been in Abuja, Nigeria which would have been relatively hassle free but from there you have 2 months before the visa expires so again you are limited with the rest of your journey getting to there.  In Brazzaville only those that are flying to Angola can get their visa there which left us with either applying for it in Kinshasa or going straight to the border at Matadi.  One of Joni’s friends an American cyclist had been refused entry at Matadi a few days earlier and so had to cycle 300km back to Kinshasa to get his visa so on that advice we went through the application process in Kinshasa.

The process we went through was as follows:

Monday – Mass queuing with DRC locals trying to get into Angola, no information, 4 booths with one person moving from booth to booth,  every 20 minutes the one person behind the booths would disappear and everyone is left wondering when he’ll be back.  Eventually we are given an application form and told to come back on Wednesday when we can submit this.  Together with the application form that asks some basic info about yourself and where you are heading too, we also have to bring photocopies of every single visa in our passport, copies of our vaccinations and carnet du passage.  We are also that that as there is a British embassy in Kinshasa they also require a letter of invitation from them stating that I am a British citizen and I am travelling to South Africa.  Joni also had to do the same with the German embassy.  Reka was told she didn’t need one as there was no representation for Hungarian citizens.  It cost me $46 to get this poxy letter from the British Embassy and Joni’s cost 20 euros.

Above: Left – The British Letter of Invitation, Right – The German equivalent

 Wednesday – Arrive at 9am when the embassy is meant to open, doors finally open at 10am, again with no system we are left continually trying to ask one guy behind a booth if we can submit our transit visa applications as we had all the paperwork with us, ‘Attende’ he would tell us, eventually a few hours of watching plenty of other people get served we were able to submit our applications and told to come back the next day at 10am.

Thursday – Full of expectation we arrive at 10am, the embassy is full of people and we are told to wait, hours pass by and then we are told that Reka needs a letter of invitation as well as Joni and myself, she then had call the Hungarian embassy in the UK who kindly sent a fax to the Angolan embassy saying that Reka is Hungarian and travelling to South Africa.  After another few hours and seeing jubilation and dejection depending on who was given either there visa or citizenship that day and the embassy started to get emptier while we were getting thirstier and more tired from the agonizing wait!  At 5 min to 3pm when they were about to close they informed us that there printer for the visa was not working so we should come back tomorrow!

Friday – With slight apprehension we arrive at 10am again to be shunned into a small waiting room full of expectant people but this time we are all expecting the worst and to be told that there is something else needed for the visa and low and behold the one guy that operates all the booths tells us that we now need to hand write a letter on behalf of all of us as to what we are intending to do in Angola and where our final destination is to which we then had to sign it.  After listening to one guy read out a thousand names from a book and watch the audience fall asleep as they waited for their names to be read out and then waiting for another few hours we then see our hand written letter come out again but this time someone has typed the same letter and then printed this out for some bigwig behind closed doors, after another few hours and a few games of Uno in the waiting room the embassy started to get emptier and emptier until it is just the 3 of us waiting like lemons for this magical visa, we did get to watch Shaolin soccer with French dubbing on the waiting rooms TV which made for the most ridiculous film I have ever seen and then a few minutes before the embassy was about to shut our man comes out with our passports and we finally have the 5 day transit visa!  They managed to throw my old passport away in the process (as according to them why would I need it) and so I had to ask them that I want my old passport back but nevertheless we had our visa’s and we could leave with a smile on our face!

Left: Our daily visitor badge  Right: A rare sight of an empty embassy waiting room

Kinshasa

I had read that the 3rd largest city in Africa after Lagos and Cairo would be absolutely hectic, but after going through some fairly densely populated cities along the way you become accustomed to the craziness and the madness.  I spent a good week in Kinshasa and after a few days I was wondering where the 6 million people actually lived!  We found a protestant church that we could camp there for $5 a night and it was close to the Angolan embassy and a relaxed place to be in so we stayed there for a week while waiting for our visa.

Above: The protestant mission    

I found Kinshasa an easy place to get around and apart from Joni our German friend being mugged on his first day by some fake policeman with guns but thankfully they had a change of heart and gave him his wallet and passport back, I saw nothing that told me that Kinshasa was an unsafe place to be.  The local bars on the side of the road were good places to grab a beer (and much cheaper than going into any of the bars that had seating) and people were constantly selling food on the streets so there was never an excuse to be hungry.  Street sellers sell amongst other things; boiled eggs, French sticks (normally with ground nut/peanut paste), an assortment of sausages (the chilli dried ones were my favourite), peanuts, fried corn.  Between Joni, Reka and I we covered a lot of Kinshasa by foot over the week and drank a lot of beers, played a lot of Uno and had a great time.

Above: Enjoying Kinshasa

Above: Photos of Kinshasa             

While walking through a district of Kinshasa we found a ‘Medicine Man’ that advertised that he had cures for all sorts of ailments as seen in the photos below, one of his show pieces was for worms as he has several worms all live in a row and showed us that with a pharmaceutical drug called wormex the worms once in contact with the drug would still manage to be alive but with his own concoction the worm died immediately!

Above: Street Medicine man         

Had to spend a few Congolese francs at a Land rover mechanics called CMC in Kinshasa to sort out more wheel bearing problems as well as getting to do a full service on Maggie, the garage is professional and specialises in Landrovers but expect to pay a premium here compared to all the other mechanics I have been to so far.

Above: CMC Garage, Kinshasa 

After a week of Kinshasa I found the city to be a great place to visit although in certain areas at the weekend the city comes to a close and can be quite ghostly walking around.  There are plenty of food options available and there are plenty of supermarkets (which are costly), otherwise street food does the job at 4/5 of the price.  There are plenty of taxi’s and buses to take you around the city or driving as we did is a pleasant experience.  You can find money changers in many parts of the city, it was easier and safer to do it with a changer that sat outside one of the local drinking places we frequented near the protestant mission and at the time of writing got 9000 Congolese francs to $10.  All in all a great city to go and see and surprisingly chilled for all the reports of the city that I had read previously.

The road to the Angolan Border

There are a few border entries to Angola that you can do if you are lucky enough to obtain a visa, one is a ferry from Pointe Noire –> Cabinda –> Soyo, another is by road at Matadi and another is Songololo which is just before Matadi.  We had drove the 350km from Kinshasa to Songololo and managed to sleep in the grounds of a really friendly church called St.Joseph although be prepared for kids and adults to watch you for hours as they don’t see too many tourists come this way!

We drove to the border post for around 7am as we wanted to be in Angola as early as possible but at the DRC side, the staff there mill about and smoke a few cigarettes until the chief is ready to open up for business which happened for us around 8am.  When you are let in, there is another outpost down the road where you fill in their fiches as well as get your passport scanned believe it or not in such a remote place.  Everyone there is friendly and the only thing you need to get through it like most places we have been to is patience!

Above: The DRC Border before entering Angola  

Conclusion

In a way I really wanted to see more of DRC but many people have advised that it is not entirely safe as yet to do this and some of the roads are non existent in certain areas more centrally so it’s somewhere I would definitely like to come back to another time.  I found the people of DRC from the places I went to, to be really friendly and social and make sure we were made to feel welcome wherever we were, I enjoyed exploring Kinshasa and I have the Angolan Embassy to thank (ironically) for waiting 5 days before we got the visa (although I have heard people get refused now at Matadi or have to wait 2-3 weeks).  Hope you enjoyed this small blog for DRC Congo and look forward to hearing from you all.

Left: A novel approach to an outdoor bath                 Right: Answers on a postcard as to what this is!

Reka – HUN:

Igen, mielott panaszkodnatok a kepek minosege miatt, Noel fenykepezogepe sajnos bekrepalt egy fel meteres zuhanastol, ugyhogy csak az en gepem mukodik, ami sajnos kevesbe minosegi kepeket produkal….

Az legutobbi bejegyzesben nem irtam le reszletesen, hogy milyen mizeria volt vegulis bejutni a Kongoi Demokratikus Koztarsasag teruletere, ugyanis Maggiet fertotleniteni kellett $60-ert, amit mi persze megprobaltunk kikerulni, de a vegen sajnos be kellett adni a derekunkat. Lenyeg a lenyeg, hogy kb. egy fel oras vita utan (ami mellesleg egy mocskos irodaban – a helyi egeszsegugyiek buszkesegeben – zajlott), Maggi kerekeit lespricceltek egy kis hipoval. Az, hogy a tobbi utas milyen jervanyt vagy betegseget hoz be magaval az nem szamit…

Sebaj, megerkeztunk! Azt hallottuk Kinshasarol, hogy Afrika harmadik legnagyobb fovarosa, igy hat Lagoshoz hasonlo forgalmi remalomra szamitottunk, de a valosagban egy normal lepteku, otthoni viszonylatokban talan Gyor meretu hely. Hamar meg is talaltuk a szallasunkat a Protestans Misszioban, ahol $5-t fizettunk fejenkent a kempingezesert. Miutan mindenfele remtorteneteket hallottunk arrol, hogy mennyire veszelyes is ez az orszag, viszont az angolai vizum miatt maradnunk kell egy par napot, es hat ugye az nem allapot, hogy ki sem mozdulunk, ugyhogy felkerekedtunk, es 2 perc mulva mar meg is talaltuk a helyi kocsmat (ami mondanom sem kell, az elkovetkezo napokra torzshelyunkke valt). Immaron Jonival (a nemet biciklissel, akivel meg Brazzavilleben talalkoztunk – Berlinbol kerekezik Del-Afrikaba) kiegeszulve lehajtottunk egy-ket sort, es a masnapi vizumbeszerzesi eselyeket latolgattuk.

Az angolai vizum: Hetfo – reggel sorbanallas a kapuban, majd tulekedes, hogy leadd a taskat, mobil telefont, majd mar a varoteremben tulekedes az ot ablak egyikenel (bar ha tudnal, akkor mindegyknek sorba allnal), ugyanis az egy szem emberke barmelyikben felbukkanhat, majd fel orara megint eltunik; de amikor ujra kijon, zsakbamacska, hogy melyik ablaknal szolgal ki. Szoval kb. 3 ora mulva mar meg is kaptuk a formanyomtatvanyt (amiert meg raadasul fizetnunk is kellett). Majd amikor visszavittuk az immaron kitoltott formulat, az emberunk kozolte, hogy csak szerdan adhatjuk be okat, de kell meg egy level is a brit/nemetkovetsegrol, ami igazolja hogy kik vagyunk es mit csinalunk. Mivel ugye magyar kovetseg nincsen Kinshasaban, en mentesultem ez alol. Vagyis hat azt hittuk…A fiuk el is mentek a kovetsegeikre kedden es ugyan eleg borsos arert, de beszereztek leveleiket. Szerda -  a papirok beadasakor kiderult, hogy megiscsak kell nekem ez a level. Hal’ Istennek Petyko Csaba a londoni magyar konzulatosrol nagyon segitokesz volt es nem tobb, mint fel oran belul elfaxolta a levelet. Megegyszer nagyon koszonom! Csutortok – nyitastol zaroraig ucsorogtunk a kovetsegen, amikoris kozoltek, hogy elromlott a vizummatrica nyomtato gep, ugyhogy jojjunk vissza masnap. Viccelsz, ugye? Nem… Pentek – nem reszletezem: a kovetseg du. 3-kor zar, mi negyed negykor keptuk vegre kezhez az 5 napos atutazo vizumot huh…

Egyebkent ebben az egy hetben nagyon jol ereztuk magunkat; rengeteget setaltunk a varosban, sokfelet ettunk az utcai arusoktol (mogyorokremes kifli, chilis bab szendvics, szarazkolbasz, padlizsankrem es tarsaik). Egy-ket dolgot erdemes volt boltban is venni, mint peldaul magyar kolbasz a hentestol, vagy edami sajt, de egyebkent a kozertek nagyon dragak voltak.

Szombaton meg rapihentunk a vizumbeszerzes faradalmaira, aztan vasarnap reggel nekivagtunk, hogy estere mindenkeppen a hatar kozeleben szalljunk meg, hogy aztan amilyen koran csak lehet, megkezdjuk az 5 napos hajszat. Keso delutan meg is erkeztunk Songololo-ba, ahol a katolikus templom kertjeben vertunk tabort es a helyiek furkeszo tekintetei kisereteben foztunk vacsorat – nem sok turistat latnak erre fele. Masnap reggel aztan mi mar ott voltunk a hataron kora reggel, de a hatarorok raerosen kozoltek, hogy ok ugyan csak 8-kor nyitjak fel a sorompot. Aztan az angolai oldalon is varattak meg vagy 20 percet, ott a fonokre kellett varni, hogy lepecsetelje az utleveleket, de vegulis megerkeztunk…

Angolarol bovebbel legkozelebb (mar amennyire boven az 5 napot lehet ecsetelni). Addig is udv mindenkinek!

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!

Luckily for us the rains had not hit this part of Cameroun and so the dirt roads not only were dry’ish but every few km we would see a JCB trying to smoothen the road which made our journey that much easier.

The road to Mamfe

History

In 1472 the Portuguese sailed up the Wouri river and named it Rio dos Camaroes (River of Prawns, Dave & Salva no comments necessary!).  The Portuguese soon after arrived by sea, Fulani pastoral nomads from Nigeria began to migrate from the north forcing the indigenous forest people to the south.  In the early 17th century the lands drew attention from the Dutch, Portuguese and British for slave trading.  The British invasion was stopped in 1884 when Germany signed a treaty with various influential chiefdoms but this simply meant exploitation occurred by another ruler.  After WW1 the German protectorate of Kamerun was carved between the French and the British.  Self government was granted in French Cameroun in 1958 and independence followed on Jan 1 1960.  In 1961 the British north-western Cameroun split into 2, one opting to join Nigeria the other area around Bamenda optinf to join the federal state of Cameroun.  In 1972 the federal structure of two Camerouns was replaced by the centralised Union republic of Cameroun (some Anglophone Cameroonians still believe this move made them become second class citizens).  Ahamdou Ahidjo (president for 22 years) and now Paul Biya (28 years) have both been in power for so long through alleged repression & regional favouritism and more recently vote rigging and intimidation.  Cameroun today is home to around 280 distinct ethno linguistic groups, many of the 16 million are involved in some way in agriculture.

Bamenda & The ring road

I read in Lonely planet that there was a route called the ring road that takes us through the north western highlands better known as the grass fields.  To get there the closest town would be Bamenda which sits over 1000m altitude.  The drive to Bamenda from Mamfe was absolutely chilled and peaceful on fairly good tarred roads but maybe because it was Good Friday or maybe this is just Cameroun but driving here after Nigeria was just a breath of lovely fresh air!

Above: Top: The road to Bamenda, Bottom:Bamenda

Bamenda itself was a good place to rest we found the Baptist Mission Rest house (4000 CFA or £5), which had lovely views overlooking the town and it was a relaxing place to sleep.  We also found a nice restaurant closeby called the exclusive diner where we were made some lovely French Cameroonian dishes for a reasonable price.

Above: Baptist Mission Resthouse, Bamenda

The ring road we read was around 350km, ‘we’ll do it in a day’ Reka and I both thought, so we set off after breakfast on a Saturday and for the nest 3 days not only did we have to drive some very steep and difficult roads but I saw some of the most amazing scenery along the way (plus encountered thousands of cows herded by Fula Farmers!).

Above: Day 1 of the ring road, Wum & Lake Nyos

Above: Kimbi reserve – not for the feint hearted!

During the drive through the ring road we had to enter the Kimbi reserve which a few years ago would have been a nice place to see some wildlife, unfortunately the wildlife were missing (no fences!) when we went through here but the roads itself was a lovely off road experience especially with a little boy on top of Maggie as we gave him a lift, I’m sure he had fun rocking all over the place.

After a few days of some amazing driving, sometimes a little scary I have to admit due to the steepness of some of the roads we had arrived back in Bamenda, I really advise anyone driving through Cameroun to experience this circuit for yourself as you will not be disappointed.

Back in Bamenda I found a mechanic that only worked on Landrovers and we had noticed some leakage of oil on the inside of the front right tyre, on further inspection by the mechanic it was a rubber seal that had broken and the replacement was only a few pounds.  Also on the ring road when climbing a steep road I heard a pop from the engine which then made a strange sound when accelerating, it so happened that a perfect sized hole the size of a large bolt was created on one of the pipes connected to the turbocharge. The mechanic took us to a welder and we welded a bolt head over the hole (sounded logical!).

Above: More (Minor) Mechanical work

Afterwards I went to an internet cafe and met a nice guy called Evan who ran the cafe, he was a really nice guy and afterwards we exchanged some emails and this is an extract from one of them:

‘It sounds funny for us Africans to accept that one can just leave his or her home, family and fellow country men and go out for an adventure. All we really think of is how to make a leaving with little nature have given us.

If we could only know the joy that lies behind adventures but it is said in my culture that “what we don’t know is darker than the night” so we remain ignorant about certain things because there is no one to really enlighten us. Even with the present of the internet it takes more than what you can ever imagine to convince my country men on exploring the internet but all hopes is not lost for civilisation as long as there is a means of integrating ideas.’

Thanks Evan for those insightful words.

We stayed in the Baptist Mission again and and I met Patrick a Pastor from Limbe who joined us for dinner that evening and we agreed to drive him back to his residence the next day as we were also going in that same direction.  Patrick is a lovely guy and he had some great stories about his own travels and life in general in Cameroun.  The journey to Limbe was pretty easy except for one really really steep drop down the side of a mountain and the brakes of Maggie are not fantastic and there was one moment where I had to put the handbrake on to avoid hitting a very slow moving truck in front of me, it was a scary moment!  If you are reading this Patrick at some point, it was really nice to meet you and thanks for the memory.

Patrick the Pastor

Limbe

Along the Cameroun coast we went to Limbe and managed to camp in a nice new hotel that allowed us to shower there and I ate some great swordfish that night so thanks to the owners of the hotel.

Above: Limbe

We also went to a wildlife reserve in Limbe but I was really disappointed to see a dozen gorilla’s who had been rescued from poachers in Cameroun but are now living in a zoo rather than being relocated elsewhere in the wild, yes it might not be straightforward to do this but to keep them in the zoo like area for me was not nice to see.

Above: Limbe Wildlife Reserve

This sign above indicates that an accident has occurred and also tells you how many people died here!

Yaoundé – Patisserie Heaven

Heading into the capital was a nice surprise as Yaoundé was a fairly easy city to travel around, for a capital it was very laid back and the best thing of all was the fact that on every street corner there was some kind of patisserie that would serve simple french sticks to the most amazing cakes and pastries I have had in a very long time, and they were cheap!

Above: Yaounde & Ente the dutch cyclist

Reka had previously met Ente in Abuja, Nigeria while trying to enquire about an Angolan visa, Ente is travelling by Bicycle from Holland to South Africa (crazy dutchie) and we saw him in Yaounde and he was staying in the Presbyterian church that we were trying to find.  For the next few days, we spent our time amongst other things playing Uno and drinking beers and Ente introduced me to omelette & sardine sandwiches for breakfast (with chilli and mayonnaise) and yes it sounds strange but it was tasty and filling!  Reka and I had a nice few days with Ente and I wish him all the best on his amazing journey.  For those that can read dutch, his blog is: http://entegatochfietsen.waarbenjij.nu/

After getting our DRC visa in Yaoundé we then setoff for the border with Congo Brazzaville.

Muddy Roads

Around 200km from the border we were making ok progress, the terrain started to become more dense and less mountainous and more jungle started to appear.  We camped in a few evangelical churches and although it was a long journey we were slowly getting closer to the border.  The roads started to become more dirt roads and we were now deep into the jungle passing the odd village here and there, and then it started to rain and rain heavy.  The dirt road now turned into a mud skating rink and Maggie was doing moves that Torvil and Dean would be proud of but it became impossible to drive and the wheels were caked in mud and had no grip we had to stop!  We managed to stop safely on the side of the road although the side we were on was busy gathering water from the drainage of the rains but with the roof tent we were able to cook some food under the tent and took it in turns to sleep in the roof tent until the rain stopped during the early hours of the morning, I learnt a lesson that night that is bloody uncomfortable to sleep in the front of a land rover!!  The next morning, apprehensively we slowly drove our way out of the mud (after spending a few hours removing mud from the wheels and underneath Maggie!).

Above: The Cameroun Jungle

Conclusion

Maybe it was the fact that the scenery from Nigeria changes drastically when you enter Cameroun but I absolutely loved Cameroun as a country.  I met some lovely people and had some great food, the mountains are just spectacular and it is a driving dream (even with the mud!), the ring road is something anyone with a 4×4 should do if they get the opportunity.  We never got a chance to go to the Kribbe on the coast which I heard was a nice place on the coast and the north of Cameroun is meant to be very different to the central and southern parts so its a country full of adventure if you want it.  Look forward to hearing from you.

Random Cameroun Photos

Reka – HUN: (mindenkitol elnezest kerek, de nem erzem magam tul jol ma – ne aggodjatok, semmi komoly, csak a hoseg kikeszitett – ugyhogy csak bemasoltam Noel irasat a google forditoba… remelem igy is atjon az info)

Után az abszolút káosz vezetési Nigériában, én inkább abban a reményben, valami egy kicsit lazább, de előbb meg kellett eljutni a legközelebbi városba nevű Mamfe amit olvastam a korábbi blogokat, hogy az út Ikok a Mamfe lehet hírhedten rossz. A kameruni határon összes tisztviselőt írt vissza és útlevél-és igazolvány volt pecsételve 10 perc alatt a belépés.

Szerencsére nekünk az esőzések nem sújtotta ezt a részét Kamerun és így a földutak nem csak volt dry’ish de minden pár km látnánk a JCB próbálják zökkenőmentessé tenni az utat, amely az utazást, hogy sokkal könnyebb.
Bamenda és a körgyűrű
Olvastam a Lonely Planet, hogy volt egy útvonalat az úgynevezett körgyűrű, hogy visz keresztül az észak-felvidék nyugati ismertebb nevén a füvet mezőket. Megközelítés a legközelebbi város lenne Bamenda, amely több mint 1000 méteres magasságban fekszik. A meghajtó Bamenda származó Mamfe volt teljesen békés, és hűtött meglehetősen jó kátrányos utak, de talán azért, mert nagypéntek, vagy talán ez csak Kamerun, de vezetői után itt nigériai éppen egy fuvallat friss levegõ!
Bamenda is volt egy jó hely a pihenésre megtaláltuk a baptista misszió pihenő ház (4000 CFA vagy £ 5), amely gyönyörű kilátással a városra és volt egy pihentető hely, ahol aludni. Azt is megállapították, egy szép étterem closeby nevű exkluzív étteremben, ahol voltunk néhány szép francia kameruni ételeket méltányos áron.
A körgyűrű olvasunk 350 km körül volt, “mi csináljuk egy nap” Réka és én is gondoltam, hogy elindultunk a reggeli után szombaton, és a fészek 3 napig nem csak hogy van vezetésére néhány nagyon meredek és nehéz út, de láttam néhány legcsodálatosabb látvány az út mentén (plusz találkozott több ezer tehén terelte a fula gazdálkodók!).
Során a meghajtó révén a körgyűrű kellett lépnie a Kimbi tartalékot, amely néhány évvel ezelőtt lett volna egy szép hely, hogy néhány vadon élő állatok, sajnos a vadon élő állatok hiányoztak (nincs kerítés!), Amikor mentünk át itt, de az utak is volt Szép terepjáró tapasztalat, különösen a kisfiú tetején, mint Maggie adtunk neki egy lift, biztos vagyok benne volt szórakoztató ringató az egész hely.
Néhány nap múlva valami elképesztő vezetési, néha kicsit ijesztő El kell ismernem, a meredeksége miatt néhány utak is érkezett vissza Bamenda, igazán tanácsot bárkinek vezetés révén Kamerun megtapasztalni ezt az áramköri magadnak, amit nem csalódni.
Vissza az Bamenda Találtam egy szerelő, hogy csak dolgozott Landrovers, és mi már észre, hogy egyes szivárgás olaj belülről a jobb első gumi, a további ellenőrzést a szerelő volt gumitömítést, hogy a tört, és a csere csak pár font. Is, hogy a körgyűrű, amikor mászni a meredek úton hallottam a pop-tól a motor, amely ezt követően egy furcsa hangot, amikor gyorsul, úgy történt, hogy egy tökéletes méretű lyuk akkora, mint egy nagy csavar jött létre az egyik cső csatlakozik a turbocharge. A szerelő elvitt minket a hegesztő és mi hegesztve egy csavar feje fölött lyuk (logikai hangzott!).
Mi maradt a baptista misszió újra találkoztunk, és Patrick a lelkész-től Limbe, akik csatlakoztak hozzánk vacsorára aznap este, és megbeszéltük, hogy hajt vissza, hogy lakóhelyét a következő napon mi is folyik ebben az irányban. Patrick egy kedves fickó, és volt néhány nagy történeteket saját utazásairól és az élet általában a Kamerun. Az út a Limbe volt nagyon egyszerű, kivéve egy igazán igazán meredek legördülő oldalán a hegy és a fékek a Maggie nem fantasztikus, és volt egy pillanat, amikor fel kellett állnia, behúzott kézifékkel hogy ne ütő egy nagyon lassan mozgó kamion előttem, hogy egy félelmetes pillanat! Ha olvasod ezt a Patrick valamikor, nagyon jó volt, hogy találkoztunk és köszönöm a memóriát.
Limbe
Mentén Kamerun partjainál mentünk Limbe, és sikerült tábort egy szép új szálloda, mely lehetővé tette számunkra, hogy zuhany van, és ettem egy nagy kardhal aznap este úgy köszönhetően a tulajdonosok a szálloda.
Is ment, hogy a vadon élő állatokra tartalék Limbe, de én nagyon csalódott, hogy egy tucat gorilla, akiket megmentett orvvadászok a Kamerun, de most már él az állatkertben ahelyett költözött máshol a vad, igen, talán nem egyértelmű, hogy Ehhez azonban tartani őket az állatkertben, mint a terület nekem nem volt jó látni.
Fejezet a főváros volt kellemes meglepetés, mint Yaoundé volt elég könnyen város utazáshoz, a tőke, hogy nagyon hátul fekszenek, és a legjobb dolog az volt, hogy minden utcasarkon volt valami Cukrászda, amelyek arra szolgálhatnak egyszerű francia ragaszkodik a legcsodálatosabb torták és sütemények Nekem van egy nagyon hosszú idő, és ők olcsó!
Sáros utak
Kb 200km a határon voltunk, hogy rendben van előrelépés, a terep kezdett jobban és kevésbé sűrű hegyvidéki és dzsungel kezdtek megjelenni. Mi táboroztak néhány evangélikus templom és bár volt egy hosszú utazás is lassan egyre közelebb a határhoz. Az utak kezdett jobban földutak, és mi most már mélyen a dzsungelben halad a furcsa falu itt-ott, aztán elkezdett esni az eső és eső nehéz. A földút most fordult a sárban korcsolyapálya és Maggie csinál költözik, hogy Torvil és Dean büszke lenne, de ez lehetetlenné vált a gépjárművezetéshez és a kerekek is rászáradt a sár, és nem volt tapadás kellett állnunk! Sikerült megállítani a biztonságos az út szélén, bár az oldalsó voltunk elfoglalva gyűjtése a vizet a csatorna az eső, de a tető sátorban tudtunk főzni ennivalót a sátorban, és felváltva aludni A tető sátor, amíg elállt az eső a korai reggeli órákban, megtanultam a leckét, hogy éjszaka, hogy a véres kényelmetlen aludni az előtt a Land Rover! Másnap reggel, nyugtalanul is lassan hajtott a kiutat a sárból (miután eltöltött néhány óra eltávolítása sarat a kerekek és az alatta Maggie!).
Következtetés
Talán ez volt az a tény, hogy a táj Nigériából gyökeresen megváltozik, amikor belép Kamerun de feltétlenül szerettem Kamerun, mint egy ország. Találkoztam néhány kedves ember, és volt néhány nagy élelmiszer-, a hegyek csak látványos, és ez a vezetői álom (még a sár!), A körgyűrű van valami aki egy 4×4-es kell tennie, ha kapnak lehetőséget. Soha nem kaptam egy esélyt, hogy menjen a Kribbe a tengerparton, amit hallottam egy kellemes hely a parton és az Észak-Kamerun a célja, hogy nagyon különböző a középső és déli részein úgy, hogy az ország tele kaland, ha akarod azt. Várom tőled.

Above: Colourful Nigerian Trucks

Police Escort

Between Onitsha & Enugu heading to the border of Ikom we were driving quite happily until at a village in Onitsha we were stopped at a particular point by a number of heavily armed police officials.  There was plenty of commotion and the locals around were busy shouting at one another and the temperature started to rise in the vehicle!  We were told by the policeman that there had been some fighting ahead into the next village where we were heading towards and it would not be sensible to carry on.  At this point we could stop and wait till the fighting had been officially stopped or carry on with an escort.  We chose the escort and after meeting a few dozen police guys, a few finally decided that one vehicle would lead the way, another would stay behind us.  At this point, I was expecting that we would be driving through a village where one side would be chucking bombs over to the another set of people (ala Spy vs Spy on a larger scale!).  Thankfully we didn’t see anyone on the streets from where the problem ‘allegedly’ was and after being escorted for 15 minutes we were told we could continue by ourselves.  I have to say it was nice as a tourist though to be given this by the police, ok we saw no problems but always good to see that we were not left to our devices.

Above: The Friendly police

Border

Absolutely no issues at the Nigerian border at Ekok, yes there was plenty of administration that had to filled in and duplicated (for no reason) but the people there were friendly and they even gave me a bottle of Top (grapefruit fizzy drink) as a gift…nice!

And Finally…

Saw the most amazing truck in Nigeria delivering the most comfortable beds (I hope) to villages in Nigeria on some very dodgy roads!