Brazzaville to Luozi, DRC
21-06-2011
Today we went to the DRC embassy to get some visa’s. We were a bit worried that they would refuse and we’d have to courier our passports home. In the end it turned out to be a simple, cheap process. What a result for the DRC..! The forms are in French though so we missed one question out which delayed it a bit. They said to come back tomorrow to collect the visas. If we had completed it properly we’d have got it the same day. The visa was 35 000 CFA. Most DRC embassies we’d been to before were obviously trying to con us. Glad we stuck it out.
We try to wear the Angolans down into giving us a visa. It’s not working. The security guy reckons we’re wasting our time, he has seen countless people being turned away.
We meet Daniel a guy from London on his BMW bike. He regales us with tales of adventure in Burkina Faso. His hotel was looted while he was asleep, and there was huge trouble in the area at the time. It was news to us, as we were in the area at the same time. Luckily we missed the action.
We went exploring in Brazzaville and are amazed at the difference between where we are staying and the shanty towns on the outskirts..
We had a good ol’ burger and chips for dinner and of course a few beers.
22-6-2011
Today we head to the DRC Embassy to collect our visa’s. All done, no problem.
We’ve been debating how to get into DRC. We hear constant horror stories of the ferry to Kinshasa. So that is definitely out.
I had spoken to the Langebaan Sunset couple, who had kindly given GPS co-ordinates for an alternative ferry crossing. They had given stark warnings that it should not be attempted in the wet. We checked with the dutch couples, and they went a similar route with no problems.
The ferry we will get is at Luozi. It will take a few days to complete the Brazzaville-Luozi-Matadi leg. The couple in the 60-series Land Cruiser did it in something like 2 days, the guys in the VW camper took 3 or 4 days. They had to do some major road-construction to get through.
Only problem is we must avoid a village on the opposite side of the river, which trashed Dave & Donna’s 80-series cruiser, before promptly getting them arrested..
23-6-11
Spent some time today looking to get the gas bottle refilled. At the gas depot there are guys totally wasted. Drunk falling everywhere from huffing gas.
I thought that’s a good sign, we’ll skip all the health and safety and just get the bottle filled. But even they weren’t interested. Tried offering a few dollars extra to no avail.
Took some time to check out some more of Brazzaville.
They had a celebration for the Congo’s military. I think it was their 50th anniversary. Streets were packed with people celebrating, and a parade of the military. Walking down the street the military’s sole fighter jet was doing some manoeuvres above the city. The pilot was flying so low over us it was quite a sight. I believe it was a MiG-21.
Tonight we’ll have a big meal and some beer to say farewell to everyone and will head off to DRC tomorrow.
24-6-11
Today we got going fairly early. We don’t have insurance and some of the cops here actually check for it, so we want to go while its quiet, and the cops are still asleep..
We head towards a town called Boko. From there its pretty much offroad all the way to Luozi. Around 120km’s worth. To complete the formalities to exit the Congo, was fairly straightforward. The guy was very affable, wanting to help us in any way he can. He says, oh don’t worry about the stamps, it’ll waste your time, just go straight ahead. But we try telling him we need these stamps, especially for the carnet.
He doesn’t get why we’d WANT stamps but says he doesn’t have them. So he calls a local boy on a bicycle and despatches him to go fetch the stamps and ink.
About half an hour later the kid is back, breathless, with the stamps. We get it all stamped and we’re off into the mythical DRC….
The roads were very badly eroded and in just plain bad condition. But its totally isolated out here so we take our time and enjoy it. We later tell a biker to take this route after he gets refused entry at Kinshasa. He does the route but says it’s the hardest riding he’s had all the way since he left England.
According to the GPS we average 10km/h for this leg.
We got to the village Dendanga, This is where you get stamped into DRC. This village is well and truly running on Africa time. We are keen to get going, we want to find a place to stay at Luozi before it gets dark. Nobody here is in a rush, so we must wait. We must leave the car on the side of the mountain while we accompany a local official to find the big daddy in charge.
He wants to inspect our car first. Then they think they find something ‘wrong’ with our passports. Okay, so that’s it, you want money eh?
He says we must walk to the village, he will drive our car. No way is that happening!
We get to the office after a long wait in the heat. I’m waiting for it. He opens the passports makes an elaborate show of getting his register out. Then he says “$20 each”. Like clockwork.
No, you are not getting anything, and I’m not in the mood for this. It’s HOT and we’ve been made to wait ages already. After we go through the usual motions, he gives up and we’re on our way.
We eventually get to Luozi and know of a mission where we can stay. The lady working there is very strange. She says we can camp for free and make a donation if we please. So we give her the going rate for camping, something like 5000 francs. She looks like we’ve insulted her entire family. Strange!
The place is littered with Land Cruisers waiting for some attention.
We cook up some food, and go check out the ferry crossing for the morning.
Road to Dendanga
Old Belgian Congo border
Would be slippery when wet..
Cruisers in need of some TLC:
25-6-2011
Early start. Go to get the ferry. Its quite busy, and so we are in for a wait.
Ferry costs us 12000 francs. $15. Its all pretty painless and a huge relief we don’t have to use the Brazzaville-Kinshasa ferry.
We get going and set Matadi in our sights.
Some waypoints
Boko Village – Offroad from here.
S4 46.970 E14 37.669
Dendanga Village – Used to have a ferry operating here. Get stamped into DRC here. Luozi is west.
S4 52.790 E14 22.597
Luozi Mission
S4 56.977 E14 08.104
Ferry - $US15 for a car. Bikes & Pedestrians go free
S4 56.428 E14 08.801
Amazingly the roads in Cameroon are in excellent condition 
- after the first bad bits. 
