Angola baby, yeah!

Okay so I have so much to say about Angola. In the begning, we were a bit nervous about driving through this county that has been ravaged by war for approx a ridiculous amount of years and just recently (since 2002) has achieved some sort of peace. We heard stories of abandoned tanks, shelled towns, and undescribable beauty. The county was not at all easy to get into, but once we were there, we were amazed by the incredibly gracious nature of the people and the beautiful architecture that once graced the country's towns.

Goodbye Congo, Hello creepy DRC

After much delay, we finally got into congo and thru the other side to DRC. Upon arrival of the Congo border from Gabon, we were told that we couldn't drive that day due to local elections. So we decided to camp there for the day. We took some seriouosly amusing photos of the kids that had way too much interest in our every movement. They didn't leave our side until we told them to leave if we promised them that they could watch a movie on our laptop at 5pm that evening. Sure enough they all showed up and proceeded to watch the Simpsons in a language they couldn't understand but were clutching their bellies in laughter all the while. It was magiacal to watch. One of the boys decided that I was his wife and (as you will see in the photo) proceeded to place his hand on me and proclaim me his rightful property.
Then we arrived in Brazzaville, where we stayed for quite a long time at the Hippocame Hotel, which is amazing for overlanders as their abundance of information is as plentiful as their abundance of hospitality (as well as their abundance of embassy personel who want to throw Jack Daniels down your throat....eckhhhhhhh).
So we pulled ourselves away from Brazzaville and got on the ferry to Kinshasa, DRC. THIS FERRY HAS BEEN KNOWN TO CREATE HAVOC IN THE MIND. ButI must say, if you tuck yourself into the wormhole in your brain titled "it's not your problem", you can hobble off without looking back. Otherwise, you're screwed.
DRC is creepy. That's all I have to say. Rob has been sick from the one night we spent there in a hotel that offered him up a plate of meat that looked as if it sat on the side of the road for six months and then someone bought it and then ran over it eighteen times in an eighteen wheeler. Yup, he hasn't left the bathroom since. Au revoir DRC...

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.