Info on visas for Angola, DRC, Congo, Gabon

We finally got our Angolan visa! Life is good. We are taking a break for the next two weeks. We fly to NYC tomorrow. We fly back to Johannesburg on the 9th and up to Brazzaville on the 11th to start all over again.

A number of people have asked us about visas for central african countries so here is our experience.

You can get visas for Gabon and Congo at the border. I think Gabon was about $70 and Congo $100. (As an aside we got all our visas for the trip at borders except Mali, Ghana, Nigeria and Cameroon...and now Angola).

The big problem is DRC and Angola. The DRC embassy in Brazzaville will give you a visa very easily, but it is of no use, because the DRC authorities on the ferry from Brazzaville to Kinshasa won't let you in unless you have a visa for either Zambia or Angola. It is no use saying you don't need a visa for Zambia - they need to see a visa in your passport. There is no Zambian embassy in Brazzaville and the Angolan embassy doesn't issue visas. (They did make an exception and issue visas to a group just before us but then refused to make any further exceptions.)

So, if you are travelling overland down to Brazzaville make sure you have either an Angolan or Zambian visa before you arrive in Brazzaville or you will get stuck. The Angolan embassy may start issuing visas again but don't hold your breath.

Monkeyland!

Bloukrans bungy jump

It's the highest bungy jump in the world and I thought I was going to die. My jump was terrible. I was so scared of jumping I was going to turn around and walk away, but in doing so tripped and fell 700 feet off the edge.

We haven't blogged for a while

Sorry about that. We were stuck in Brazzaville for about 10 days, much of it spent at the Angolan embassy grovelling in vain for a visa. Once they finally said no, we booked (at exorbitant expense) flights down to South Africa. We have left the car in a hotel in Brazzaville (the Hippocampe - anyone travelling through Africa overland should stay there), and have been down in the Cape for just over a week. We flew down to Cape Town and went to the Angolan embassy for a visa. The embassy in Jo'burg had already refused so it was down to Cape Town or New York. We dropped the passports off and filled in the forms last Monday, and then headed out to Paterson, just north of Port Elizabeth to stay with cousins of Rob's.

Paterson is located right in the middle of a whole load of game parks so we spent much of the week looking for animals.

We are a bit stuck in Brazzaville

We made great time down through the thick forests of Cameroon and Gabon and crossed into Congo two days ago. We spent a day stuck at the Congolese border while local elections shut down all activity, then continued down to Brazzaville. The route we are taking is far from the most direct way down to South Africa but avoids the truly terrible roads and ninjas - the local bandits - who hang out in western Congo.

Everything was going far too well until we arrived in Brazzaville and learnt that one can't get on the ferry to Kinshasa (capital of Democratic Republic of Congo) without proof of onward travel from DRC (ie an Angolan visa) and you can only get the Angolan visa at Matadi, which is inside the DRC. Which all seems like a system perfectly constructed to frustrate travellers like us.

Anyway since then some friends of ours did manage to persuade the Angolan embassy here to issue a transit visa, despite the huge sign outside the embassy which says "No Visas". We will try our luck today. I have written a humble begging letter to the ambassador. It may take a few days, and even if it doesn't work we have a few other options.