DRC, part 1

The road into DRC was as bad as the exit from Angola. But we had high hopes as the Reise Know How map (German mapping company) showed a major tarred road to the border. We should have realised after Angola that the maps are really very little use.

We were signed into the DRC and with a guide (as the route to the actual post was very hard to identify) we went to the actual entry post. Given the reputation of DRC officers, we approached this with some trepidation. However, we had a very smooth entry (apart from having to wait for the immigration man who had the stamp to come back from break, and also to correct the under officer immigration – who entered the ROC details instead of the DRC). Interestingly they also stamped our Inoculation books. No issues with the carnet here!!

So, with hearts set high, off we set to find the tar road. Fortunately our guide from the entry station came along as we went along basically footpaths. Then, that sinking feeling – there was no made road. There was not even a major or formed road. We were back to the worst of the Angola roads.

However, we were remained positive as at least we were on our way, and whilst the going was slow we were moving. Quite bizarrely we had to make way from 2 oncoming, heavily overladen vehicles. We took that as a positive, as the trucks were getting through. Agh, but then we started to reach mud bogs created by the vehicles. We had 4 major mud bogs. We collected another helper, who rode out rigger on the running board holding the roof rack. We supplied lunch and drinks for the team and set off again. Then as things got worse we gathered a further helper. At one point the team seemed to be having issues, so Ray got out to assist with digging, management activities and ensuring Avril now driving only got one set of instructions. We got to use all the recovery kit; sand mats, inflatable sand mats, bull bag and the Maj Shanks supplied sand bags. No trees to winch on (1 to Peter M).

Just as we thought things could not get worse, a massive thunder storm broke. Now our workers and Ray were wet, cold and very very dirty. On and on we struggled. Spirits were dropping. Avril realising the way to a mans heart is through his stomach broke out further food. We also gave the workers some dry clothes.

Finally we got to the promised land of a decent road, and well rewarded, our loyal and energetic helpers departed. You know the story by now, the good road lasted ~ 5 km, then deteriorated. We found ourselves driving in the dark on a very bad road, something we said we would never do. T4A does not cover DRC, so we are reliant on the Garmap map set (of which we have two). Garmap does not provide accurate routes and at one stage one GPS said go left and the other go right!! We went straight ahead. We drove on in the dark until we actually reached the N1 tar road. We managed to find a relatively decent hotel in Inkisi.

It is quite different driving thorough the villages here. Very few folks return our waves (unlike Angola where almost everyone returns a wave and the big ivory’s flash). The feeling is more intimidating, children seem to gather and frantically chant things, at one bog site a woman came along and demanded in an aggressive voice “give me money”. Not very helpful.

This was a particularly tough day. Well done to all.

118 km. S 05⁰ 08’ 02.1’’  E 015⁰ 03’ 40.0’’

Day 2: unfortunately, we are now in the habit of waking early, so could not enjoy the sleep in we had been looking forward to! We bought some bananas and bread at the local market and set off on the tar road for Kinshasa. Unfortunately, it seems that we have knocked a weight off one of the tyres and there is a bad wobble at ~ 60km/hr. But that was fine, we travelled slowly to town.

T4A and Garmap disagreed on the route, so we too the garmap this time. This took us through a large number of local markets and because the volume of people and because the mini bus taxi’s stop in the middle of the road to drop off and pick up passengers, we took a long time to get to our destination. But, that was OK, it was an interesting sight. A bit dirtier than the Vic market, but about the same sort of thing.

At one point we were diverted off the main road, this is really where the GPS (and Ray would like to add for the sceptics, having multiple units!!) comes into its own.

We had the GPS points for a Catholic mission and a Protestant mission. We tried to find the Catholic, but to no avail. Then we tried the protestant, a policeman directed us to a mission station – not the one we has a waypoint for, but satisfactory anyway.

We have set up the vehicle and have the key to private absolutions. Not too bad.
Ray drove: 118 km. S 04⁰ 18’ 13.1’’  E 015⁰ 17’ 57.4’’

Day 3: last night Ray went out for a few cold ones with Bruno Baert (Christo Potgieter had given the contact), a local born Belgian. It was very interesting to hear what times were like in the 1950s & 1960s. Turns out the border crossing we took was well used in those days. You could drive it in a VW and take 2 days to get to Luanda. It was good to hear from folks who know the route local conditions etc rather than rely on maps. Bruno has also recommended a garage to have the vehicle looked at..

We have also found an ice cream shop, and got chatting to the people there. They have recommended a hair dresser, so we have contacts for a couple of the most important jobs.

Today we spent most of the day cleaning and packing. Not all that interesting, but necessary. We also went to an expatriate type supermarket to stock up on necessities &/or luxuries.

We have been warned by everyone not to wander around the city, most particularly after dark. So, we are pretty much “stuck” at the protestant mission station. Which is not all that bad. There does not seem to be all that much to see in Kinshasa anyway.

Day 4: last night we dined on French delicacies; pate, jambon, camembert & (for Ray) Rouge Vin. We were forced to get up late this morning as the rain pelted down. A good lesson for us, no matter what the night looks like, pack everything away!

We went to the garage recommended by Bruno, but unfortunately they were full, and directed us to Mr Zaphiropoulos Michel at Garage de la Gombe (garagedelagombe@hotmail.fr). That turned out to be very fortunate. M. Michael took a very personal interest in ensuring the vehicle left his shop in as good a condition as possible, full service (grease, oil change, filters, battery etc) & a lot of work on the alignment and wheel balancing (he is a specialist in this) & replaced the rear brakes etc etc. Ray stayed at the workshop most of the day & M. Michael asked him up to his home for lunch. At the end of the day he refused to charge a traveller for the local labour. What an absolute delight. One of those things when you are travelling that really gives you a lift. A great big thanks to the team at the garage who were all perfectionists.

Meanwhile, M. Michael had his driver take Avril to Patisserie Le Chantilly where the owners arranged for their driver to take her for a “hair do”.  The chauffer driven back to the Patisserie, she had lunch and relaxed. A big thanks to them as well for all their concern & effort.

The vehicle took most of the day, so we arrived back at the accommodation just before dark.

Having both been fed well during the day, we had a light evening meal.

Day 5: A slow day. We went to the Angolan embassy 1^st thing to look at a visa to pass through Cabinda. The response was they do not issue vehicle visas there. We do not know if that means that they will not issue a visa in Kinshasa but will in Matadi, or if they have stopped issuing visas at all for Cabinda. It was compete chaos at the embassy, so we might go back tomorrow and see if we can get further info.

We then went to a very, very, very slow internet place down town. It took 2 hours to post the Angola blog. It is stressful whenever you stop and/or get out of your vehicle. You are immediately surrounded by many people, all wanting something and not asking nicely at all!! Given Kinshasa’s reputation for theft etc, we do not like to be isolated and surrounded like that. So, we tend to stick to the expatriate/embassy area in our accommodation. We have been warned not to go and look at the river as the police there will try and arrest you to extract money on the pretext that you are a spy.

Then a pizza lunch. Interestingly, our appetite’s seem to have abated, so we could only eat 50% of a small pizza – hopefully that will show on the waist line!

We then did a bit of shopping and bought some presents for the folks who have been so nice to us.

Finally we cooked a birthday dinner for one of the ladies here & her daughter.

Hopefully, we are finally becoming “aimless”

Day 6: yet another slow day in Kinshasa. We had a sleep in and then began investigating in earnest the possibilities of getting to the Republic of Congo. From previous research we knew there were two:

·         ferry directly to Brazzaville. A friend of a friend came around this morning, collected copies of documents and went down to the docks to investigate. Along the way we heard that the ferry had broken down (but who knows!)

·         to the beach and transit Cabinda to Pointe Noir. We went again to the Angolan embassy, but could not even get in the door this time. A friend phoned a friend in the PMs office, who said that a visa is not needed to transit and Peter (son) did some research and at least one blog agrees with this. If we do elect to take this route, we will double check with the Angolan consulate in Matadi – do not want to be stuck in no mans land.

We went and tried the internet again – very frustrating. Went to the entrance of the docks, so we are familiar with the route and then had ice cream & drinks and just lazed.

Final Angola

General things:

1.    Accurate information is very hard to come by. The maps we have do not reflect the ground conditions at all. The 2007 Reise know how map for Congo shows a major road to & from the border. The 2009 Angola map shows a major road to the border and a tar road immediately in DRC. In fact, the crossing is not suitable at all for vehicles. It is OK for pedestrians and dirt/off road bikes (I am not sure how a heavily laden road bike would go).

2.    The border crossing at one time may have been in good use as there are the remains of heavy vehicles and dilapidated buildings on the route. However, this must have been decades ago. Maybe it was a result of the infamous Berlin conference that “gave”the DRC to King Leopold.

 Angola

Overall we found Angola a progressive and nice place to be. Two things will stick; the people and the continual haze.

The best thing about Angola was the people. Initially the great people in our tour group, then as we became more comfortable, the Angolans. We found the local people always ready with a smile and to give a “thumbs up”. There were no security issues and the normally we felt safe leaving our stuff out in the open.

We were particularly impressed with the officials. The immigration people who went out of their way to give us additional time on our visa etc (as it turned out we did not need it, we passed through on te last day of our original visa).

In particular the police could not be more helpful. Koos and Jose said we should rely on them and we found this correct. That is a very comforting thought for travellers.

The big negative from our perspective were the roads. Coming out of 40 years’ war, this is understandable. However, it makes travel very tough.

From our experience, we would not recommend the Bradt Angola guide. Printed in 2010 it is massively out of date. Rating: 3/10.

Angola 4:

Day 18: today we started our journey south. Last night Koos presented us all with a certificate to recognise the achievement of making the Congo from the Cunene, all done over a few beers and a BBQ!

Today we covered the distance back to Musserra, and the camping area where Ray got bogged – so this time we camped on an area with green.

We stopped along the way to buy bread and some deep fried doe balls from a road side stall. We have noticed that there is little in the way of fresh fruit and vegetables in the north. Apparently the explanation is that with the bad roads, people will not take the risk of damage from bouncing around and delays (with associated degradation) in transport.

This was our last night by the beach, tomorrow we head back inland. Ray took the opportunity for a final swim. There were very loud waves for our last night.

The dust was incredible; we ended up with mm on the bonnet at the end of the day. So much for washing the car yesterday.

Ray’s turn to drive; 9 hours driving for 206 kms.S 07⁰ 34’ 35.4’’  E 013⁰ 00’ 14.1’’

Day 19: Some drizzle in the morning, but we still have not seen the rainy season start in earnest –  but it may well be belting down inland. A long days drive back over the tar road that had been ripped by a bulldozer. That means – you got it; Avril’s turn to drive.

We got some fishing net wound around the rear driver’s wheel. This took some time to fix (with the assistance of a local chap (coach of the local soccer coach who had just lost 10:0) who was suitable rewarded). We needed to take off the rear wheel to get to the net and removed most, but not all of it. It seems to have impacted the good air bag! But, we will see over the next few days.

We are camped by a river (in a picnic area) in Caxito. After the isolation of the north, we need to get reacclimatised to being the object of curiosity and being openly stared at.

7 hours driving for 167 Km.S 08⁰ 33’ 00.9’’  E 013⁰ 41’ 41.4’’

Day 20:Last night we dined captain’s table again; Isabelle’s lovely chicken a la king. Today was one of our more interesting days. We had a very pleasant drive to Uige. The route is marked in green on the Michelin map; the road takes you up the central Angolan highlands, through marvellous rainforest. The road has quite a number of low speed turns, so you can take time and enjoy the scenery; large hills (similar to the Otways in size) covered in rainforest and where agriculture had taken hold the long vista of rolling hills.

There were lots of fires from the traditional farmers (“slash & burn”). This made the longer view quite hazy. With the logging and farming now on encroaching the forest, you wonder how long the rainforest will remain.

The large number of wrecks at the side of the road reminded you that driving here is a serious business. We passed one crash only moments after it had occurred.

Today was also a day of police checks. At a one bridge the police copied down all out passport details (thanks Jose!). The next check (whilst we were filling with fuel) was a little more tricky. Clearly the local sergeant was looking for a bribe. The initial asking was really off the planet. Koos used his contacts to “phone a friend”; who instructed the local officer to let us proceed – but life is not like that. In the end we got our vehicle import papers back and some money changed hands. All very interesting for us.

Along the way we managed to get some fresh bread, bananas and tomatoes.

The road was good tar all the way (Ray’s turn to drive). 279 km. Tonight we are camping at the local airport (not in use at the moment). S 07⁰ 36’ 11.9’’  E 015⁰ 01’ 46.5’’

Day 21: a bad night’s sleep as the police sent to keep watch over us talked loudly and made maximum noise with their vehicles at shift change.

A very frustrating day. The Land Rover on the trip decided to get a bad oil leak, so we all waited around Uige whilst the problem was identified and repair started. We took the opportunity to replenish some supplies.

At ~ 11:30 we started our days drive (sans the Land Rover who needed to wait for the repair to be finalised). We drove out with police sirens blaring to clear the way – this was fun until we released that the police had now decided we needed close personal protection for the rest of the day. We had about 30 km of good tar, and the police decided to maintain speed under 40 km/hr. When we changed from one police command area to the next, we waited ~ 45 minutes whilst a vehicle was found for the rest of the journey.

Tracks 4 Africa (T4A) described the road now as “broken tar/gravel”: translated that means lots of kilometres of hell. The road had deep bad pot holes or trenches across the whole road and one ~ 80 km stretch had a deep scar running down the center of the road. Often times the gravel track at the side of the road was a better alternative. To make matters more interesting, the police in the new area decided that formula 1 speed was appropriate. Going through the villages with goats, pigs and chickens running across the road was an additional danger. Poor Avril had a very tough time, but did an excellent job.

The country side probably used to be rain forest, but is now rolling grass lands denuded of almost all trees. It gives a wide/long vista and was really quite interesting – too bad we did not have time to enjoy it.

We arrived at our destination Kalandula water falls in time to have a quick look and make camp just before dark. At ~ 105 m high the falls are the 2^nd highest in Africa. The are> 400 m wide and there is almost a veil fall over most of the width. As a connoisseur of water falls, these are a fantastic sight. Very glad to be here and to have seen them.

239 km. S 09⁰ 04’ 28.3’’  E 015⁰ 59’ 55.3’’

Day 22: after morning ablutions, Ray headed out to take a better look at the falls. Then most of the group went up stream of the falls for a river bath – very nice.

We then drove on good roads to PedraNegras – black rocks. For Australians, the best description we can give is that, from a distance they are vaguely in similar in appearance to Katajuta National Park. They did not appear to be all that black. We went to a view point on the top of one of the domes for a fine view of surrounding domes and the country side.

Along the way there sugar cane fields.

We managed again to get fresh bread and some avocadoes from a road side market.

Then on to Dondo and our camp at the Kwanza River, on white river sand. Up to this point Ray’s record of having the easy roads was holding up. Then the road went down hill, the dust was very thick and made driving hazardous. With the potholes and wash out, it was not fun.

The layers on the side wall of one of our fairly new (expensive) Goodrich tyres separated and developed a bubble. We were fortunate that one of the others in the group noticed (it was on the inside) and so with the assistance of everyone we had a quick tyre change and were on our way. The Goodrich allterrain tyres have not held up well at all. I am not sure if it was a bad batch or other reason, but both of the tyres look badly worn. By comparison the Dunlop tyres on the front that came with the vehicle when bought it look good.

The high light of the day was seeing our very 1^st Angolan road repair crew.

8 hours on the road; 298 km, S 09⁰ 45’ 25.2’’  E 014⁰ 30’ 35.5’’

Day 23: As I write this I am surrounded by literally 50 kids, all keen to see what is happening. We are camped by a church at Waco Kungo.

A fairly easy day drive on tar road, so for once Avril got a relaxing day. Through some interesting mountains. With the fires and heat it is difficult to get pictures.

After a few cooler nights, the temperature has now increased. So we are sweating it out a bit.

In the morning Ray changed the passenger side rear tyre for a mud tread. After all the work,  into the river for a quick bath. Avril pumped the tyres by herself for the 1^st time.

We went to one market for fresh fruit & veg and into another largish market for a look see.

Koos then showed us bridge 14, site of a 1975 battle between the FNLA/RSA & MPLA/Cubans and described the battle.

Then onto Waco Kungo, which interestingly is the site of a Kibbutz program run by the Israelis.

We can confirm that the air bag suspension on both sides in not operating – so all the folks in Adelaide can give the Mile End Opposite Lock a big raspberry.

120 Km of good tar. S 11⁰ 22’ 09.1’’  E 015⁰ 07’ 00.0’’

Day 24: last night was our final night with the Angola crew, so it was a bit sad. Koos said a prayer for all of us and wished us well for the rest of the trip. Then we went around the brai circle and everyone said a few words. Every one wished us well for our trip and said they would pray for us – which is very comforting.

One of our towels was stolen from the line – which is a timely reminder of the need to be careful. We now have 1 towel; that is togetherness.

Today was a good day: We got up early as Koos altered the planned trip to go through Huambo to ensure we got a new spare tyre. When he was assured that we were OK, we said our farewells; we were a little teary. A week ago Peter (son) had asked what the best thing about Angola was and had Ray replied, the people on the trip. We really hope to see them in a couple of years when we are back down the RSA way.

The tyre process took ~ 45 minutes and we were on our way – alone. We drove through Kuito, and they did not have fuel; mmmmm. But then in some non-descript village, we found gasoleo! There was queue for gasoline & nearly WW3 with the people trying to get it, but no one for diesel, so straight to the front of the queue. Very comforting for Ray who stresses if the dial is marginally off full.At Kuitothe road degrades to a T4A “road”: translation in the this case is badly deteriorated dirt track. But, not as bad as we have been on before. The road passed through the middle of markets etc.

Then, there was a bridge down – with charades & mud maps we managed to find an alternative route, along bush tracks, through railway bridges;etc all the time asking passer byes the way. Finally we got to Quemba, on the road to the DRC border. We were going to look for a hotel (the map said there was one, but the maps have been very wrong up to this point), but happened on the police station 1^st. Koos& Jose had said that we should ask the police for a safe place to stay and they would always look after us (Jose has written down a few critical sentences which came in handy at this point). So we are now camped behind an official residence (we think?), with a personal police guard and even a shower before dinner – what more could you ask for. We had a large group of keenly interested locals watch the tent go up, they were suitable impressed. A very good day!

Ray drove 487 km. S 12⁰ 08’ 48.9’’  E 018⁰ 05’ 31.3’’

Day 25: after early rising, we made breakfast (including for our police guards – we am not sure what they thought of porridge). We then set out on what turned out to be our most difficult day driving – Avril driving of course. The “main road”, initially probably a track, has been turned into a construction track for the Chinese who are upgrading the railway. The initial track was probably OK for the few vehicles a day it took, but the 1,000s of vehicle movements now have made the whole route a complete mess. At times the road is closed as fill has been dumped on the road (we waited at one point for the bulldozer to spread out the fill so we could pass). The Chinese truck drivers pay no attention to others on the road and use their vehicle size to intimidate to the maximum. At one point we had to negotiate passing a truck – there was insufficient room and neither of us could change get out of the ruts we were in. We cannot work out the approach to the construction task; they have multiple work faces with no apparent connection between the various sections, the concept of an absolutely terrible construction road must be bad for truck cycles and maintenance, but that seems to be the way the operate.

We spent the whole day in difficult 4WD (feeling like we were permanently on a mechanical bucking bull), at time not really sure whether or not we would make it through. The air bag suspension would have assisted, but of course it is buggered. The whole thing was very, very stressful.

The area seems basically unoccupied, we passed 3 or 4 villages the whole day, and these had not recovered from the war. The buildings were all shot out and the villages had almost a ghost town vibe. A nice aside was that in one village the police stopped us and drafted a note to get through the remaining check points. Very sweet.

On a good note, this has forced us to take a look at the idea of passing through Katanga then up the N1. Koos put us in contact with Christo Potgieter (from Anglo American) who works close to Kolwezi. He has advised there has been heavy rain in the region and trucks are already getting stuck. We always said we would go directly north if the rains had started. We have fortunately not been rained on, however the big pot holes full of water in this area show that there has been rain in the area.

More importantly, today’s stress has allowed us to look at the reason we are here: people, villages, wonderful scenery and game parks. The route though DRC would not provide any of this. Rather it would be a 4 WD ordeal. We are OK for a challenge, but really do not see the point of ~ 4 weeks 10 hours per day very stressful 4WD driving. So we will now look to proceed north out of Angola.

We are in Luena. Unfortunately all the “decent” hotels were full, so a clerk at one of the hotels took Ray out to a more local hotel and we had no choice but to stay there. We are sitting having a nice meal of steak & chips and a beer/sprite.  Could be a very interesting night!

For our sins we also spent time with the local immigration people. They asked us to come back at 18:00, which we dutifully did, but they did not show up.

257 kms in 8 hours.S 11⁰ 46’ 51.9’’  E 019⁰ 53’ 18.9’’

Day 26: after a restless night due to bar noise and the concern about the cleanliness of the hotel, we were up early and on the road by 06:00. For the 1^st time we had breakfast on the road.

The road turned out to be a mixture of heaven & hell. 11 hours for 402 km: ~ 200 km was very good tar, 200km/hr, the hell was “broken tar” (T4A). That it was, massive potholes and bumps meant we rode the mechanical bull again today. It seems that the original construction had paving stones then bitumen on top of this (I am not sure how this complies with the flexible pavement concept). As soon as one stone comes loose a very sharp pot hole starts to develop. The hole develops into a gigantic, vertical edge, full road width monster. Some > 3’ deep!

We have not commented on the vegetation/scenery over the past few days; it has basically been quite flat and just “scrub”. So with the lack of side interests, we are preoccupied with the road!! Basically we are on our way to Kinshasa, and there is not too much in the middle.

That said today we did pass a very nice water fall on the Chiumbe River.

Sunday must be washing day, at all the creeks/rivers there were lots of people out washing bodies & clothes. In one spot there must have been 200 m²covered with clothes drying.

We drove a little late, but managed to get near Lucapa and camp near a police post, outside a ready mix works.

For the 1^st time today we have had serious rain – so the decision to come north looks correct. Lots of lightning and thunder. We managed to get the camp up during a break in the rain and for the 1^st time ate in-doors.

Ray drove (hence 50% good tar). S 08⁰ 28’ 10.7’’  E 020⁰ 40’ 14.7’’

Day 27: a pretty awful day. We rose early full of expectations of entering the DRC. The road was very good to start with &Avril was driving, what was this then?? However, soon it deteriorated to a terrible mess of mud, potholes and bumps, so the natural order was restored! We got to Dundo near the border~11:00, but there were no signs to the border, so we kept asking the police the way & they kept giving directions. Finally we reached a dead end, so back to a police station, the commander then took matters into hand and personally drove to immigration whilst we followed – that was very nice of him.

At immigration we were ushered in to see the chief, which is a big deal. He looked at our passports and took us to a nearby room to wait. We chatted to the chap in the room about the border and he gave us very detailed instructions on how to get there – quite surreal given the following events. The chief informed us that the Lunda Nord – DRC border was closed, gutted cannot describe our reaction! We has spoken to numerous people along the way (including immigration officers) about our intention and not one ever mentioned the possibility of a closed border.

We now face 2 issues; our visas run out in 4 days. The chief assured us many times that we can get an extension easily in Saurima – Lunda south. We will see tomorrow.  We also face 7 – 10 days of terrible roads to make another border – some of it over the mess we thought we had left behind. It is the latter that gives us most grief. Whilst we are OK with the 4WD stuff, that is not the point of the trip, it is the means to get to attractions etc. So the thought of covering the same ground again is just painful.

A politically incorrect observation; along the road the local/Angolan drivers are always ready with a big smile & a wave. They will move over to let you past and have some idea of road courtesy. On the other hand, the Chinese drivers tend to use their vehicles as offensive weapons to demand the best road access. Rarely do the return a wave.

Given the appalling state of the road, there is amazing the level of commercial activity on the road. There are a large number of trucks and regular bus routes. Human endeavour is incredible. You get used to the sight of vehicles weaving all over the road like drunks and the normal safety distances cannot be applied, you can go quite close to an oncoming vehicle to avoid a chasm. We are getting near mm perfect on locating our tyres in the road. We also need to act as a team, one driving and one spotting the next hazard or identifying the better route.

We are back at the same camp site as last night, but this time inside the Chinese work site. All the Chinese workers came and had a look at the vehicle, marvelled at the gadgets and took photos. Just the tonic we needed after the poor afternoon.

S 08⁰ 28’ 10.7’’  E 020⁰ 40’ 14.7’’. 261 km.

Day 28: we were up early and the 141 km to Saurimo took ~ 4 hours. Avril drove and along the way Ray used his new gadget (electronic translator) and phrase book to compose 6 sentences to define our predicament in (grammatically incorrect) Portuguese. We changed into long pants outside town and went to Immigration.

The people there could not have been more helpful, they phoned the immigration chief in Dundo and quickly we were filling in the necessary forms. 1.5 hours later we had a 30 day extension to our visas. Absolutely fantastic. They even assisted in filling in the forms. We could not be more thankful.

Overwhelmingly we have found the Angolan officials more than ready to assist if you ask. They look for solutions and not stoppers.

We then withdrew money from an ATM (Bradt guide says this is not possible), filled up with Gasoleo and were quickly on our way. Even though Avril was driving, the road was good tar.

We were stopped just outside Cucolo at a “political road block”; 2 blokes in uniform, one wanted food and one money. So, Ray paid his 1^st bribe;    a packet of biscuits and $1.00.

We have now even gotten a change in scenery, we are driving through rolling hills with ~ 100 m from peak to trough, sort of like a big roller coaster. We drove through a fierce rain storm, reducing visibility to 10 or 20 m and speed to 40 km/hr.

Tonight we have parked in an abandoned gravel dump. Our 1^st solo “wild camp”.

Avril drove 413 km.  S 09⁰ 28’ 46.8’’  E 018⁰ 35’ 40.0’’

Day 29: a very bad nights sleep. It turned out that we were camped on the path to a charcoal workers camp. One of the workers came by late at night, clearly under the influence of, I do not know what. He then spent the next few hours wandering about talking at the top of his voice, looking for the way to the camp. A bit stressful at the start, he was probably also a quite a few shillings short of the full 10 bob.

We got off to an early start, Ray driving on very good tar. Initially the road was not all that inhabited, but then for one ~ 50 km stretch there were people walking along the road in both directions, quite colourful. However, a number of the towns have a very poor approach to cleanliness. We were a little disgusted at the putrid mess & smell left by people throwing all their waste into the street and then that being mixed with rain to create a floating sewer. Some of the villages make the effort to dig waste pits, but others do not seem to bother.

The road was narrow in places and we were more than a little terrified (I must get to understand Confucius better) by the antics of some truck drivers who demanded >> 50% of the road. At one point we were following a red (most popular car colour here) celica and a very small child ran onto the road. The celica stopped very quickly, waved us down to slow, then the driver got out with grabbed a stick with the intent of teaching some road sense to the elder children. May not be our idea of civic duty, but maybe they will not let the child go around unsupervised again, The tar of course eventually started to degrade with potholes and then to a single mud track (this is the main east ~ west road). But, we made good time and were in Malange by 10:00. 30 min to get gasoleo, fruit and bread and we were on our way.

Good and bad road on the way back to Uige. We were rewarded with a wonderful drive in the afternoon along a long green valley with great vistas. We got to Uige ~ 15:30 and Avril immediately tried to check into the best/only hotel in town. The initial answer was “we are full”, but she used all her charm to get us a room – pure luxury.

Then off to see the police Commander (friend of Koos). Again the police could not have been more helpful. The local commander guided us back to the hotel and checked on out vehicle security etc, We have also been promised an escort to just near the border tomorrow, which may slow us a bit, but is absolutely fantastic.

We are staying at the Grand Hotel, S 07⁰ 36’ 50.4’’  E 015⁰03’ 09.8’’. 628 km.

Day 30: a good night sleep in a “proper” bed! Unfortunately, habit being the way it is, we woke up early anyway. We had paid someone to wash the vehicle, so we had clean bodies and clean clothes for once.

We had a full police escort out of town and to the next town. Unfortunately, the chain broke down there, as the next 2 municipalities did not have any vehicles, and the request for formal assistance could not be passed on (it seems that word of mouth is the way orders are passed on). That was to have serious consequences later.

The road was very good all the way to Maquela do Zombo. That was a very pleasant surprise. However, from then on it was badly down hill – it deteriorated to bush bashing. The last 26 km to the BanzaSosso border took over 3 hours. We picked up a passenger on the way, who sat on the roof. He was a local chap who knew the various tracks etc and that was helpful.Avril did a fantastic job, as really there was no road at all.

We were warmly welcomed at the border post and reasonably quickly had the police and immigration formalities completed.

Then: problem!! BIG problem. There is no customs post at BanzaSosso, apparently we were supposed to have our carnet stamped at Maquela do Zombo. Though how you are supposed to know that, we are not sure. No amount of pleading could change the situation. We do not want to drive back, and to be honest the vehicle could struggle up some of the more difficult slopes (that is how bad the 4WD aspects were).

So, now Ray needs to go back to Maquela do Zombo and get the carnet signed. He will go by motor bike in the morning.

We are camped at the border post.

303 km. S 05⁰ 52’ 28.1’’  E 015⁰ 14’ 51.6’’. 628 km.

Day 31: Ray set off very early on the back of a Police motor bike. What took 4 hours by car was done in < 1 hour by bike. The bike can take foot paths and, one detour that took 1 hour by car (due to a massive road wash out) was taken at the side by the bike in 5 minutes. The carnet was signed in very quick time. More time was taken over some market shopping and the police officer visiting one of his 2 wives. There was a massive domestic dispute, which involved this wife taking a number of swings at the policeman. The ride back was a little less easy and clearly the police office was thinking about his wife and wanted to discuss this with Ray.

Ray arrived back at ~ 10:30, just as Avril was getting out of bed! Ray could hardly get off the bike and walk – sore knee and buttocks. All the crew at the post laughed themselves to a stupor at that. New respect for Richard Head.

Ray: “ having now travelled the route 2 more times, you can see what a fantastic job Avril did. Absolutely fantastic. Some stretches were very scary”

We then, finally, left Angola.

Angola, part 3

Bit of a recap:

We are now into a fairly good routine. At the end of the day we can set up camp very quickly, in under 10 minutes if we try. As soon as we stop Ray takes down the day’s statistics then sets up the Trayon unit and Avril get the dinner prepared. If it is a 2 day stop we put on the fly, erect the shower tent and put out solar panels. Getting up is a different matter, no matter how hard we try it seems to take 1 - 1.25 hours for morning ablutions, breakfast and to get packed ready to go. We have repacked a couple of times and now seem to be approaching the optimal storage solution, given the space available.

Breakfast can be toast, porridge, muesli, fruit, rusks or what ever else is around. Lunch has always been on the move; so sandwich or cheese and biscuits or maybe a salad. Dinner is typically a BBQ and we sit as a group around the fire talking nonsense (as Koos would say) with the group. We normally have some vegetables or a salad with the meat – often cooked on the coals in Al foil.  We have also prepared curry & rice, fried rice and other delicacies! etc. On a number of occasions others in the group have backed bread on the coals – delicious.

The vehicle is holding up well. A few electrical connections have shaken loose by the constant bumps (control wire to one of the compressors, switch for the extra head lights). The major successes are the under tray table, the Mitchley fridge, the water purification system and the liquid fuel stoves (even in Angola the RSA’s cannot refill their gas bottles – there are different fittings all over Africa). The major disappointment is the Kenwood unit in the cab. It is very hard to read in the sunlight and constantly frys the iPod (which then takes 24 hours to recover and recharge). The airbag suspension fitted by Opposite Lock in Adelaide remains broken. The passenger side leaked from 1^st fitting and despite a repair by OL just before shipping, it still leaks badly. I am not sure it works.

Serendipitously, it seems that a tour with Koos and Jose is a great way to ease into the trip. Koos does a fantastic job, no detail is too small and he is always available to assist. He visits all of us at the end of the days driving and prior to starting in the morning, just to check on things. Jose handles all the administration with local authorities; it is an education to see how he handles things. As it turns out, his handling of the border issues at Ruacana saved us a sum of money. We are getting to learn how to do things in a safe environment; drive on the wrong side of the road and 4WD in new terrain etc. We are also giving the vehicle a good work out whilst in the company and with the knowledge of the close team.

The local drivers here are reckless. Koos: “these chaps are absolutely fearless – they are not scared of death”. They pass at high speed on blind corners, coming to the crest of a hill etc. In a convoy this is not too bad as there is chatter between the cars (Koos has lent a radio to those without). There are a lot of wrecks from crashes along the road

We are very slowly getting used to being the object of curiosity. Where ever we stop a crowd gathers to watch us. Even when camping, a group gathers to openly stare, come close to the vehicles and look at everything. We are not yet totally relaxed with this, the major concerns being the need for privacy for ablutions and the fear of opportunistic theft.

There is a large difference between the provinces in Angola. In the south the Cunene province is very poor with little established infrastructure. Here we bush camped and it was mostly. Namib province was a little better, with towns and some decent roads. Lobito & Benguela province is the pick so far. Very clean, no rubbish in the streets and they sweep/rake the beach. The province that contains Sumbe is not up to the others. Sumbe smelt from rubbish rotting in the streets (in a number of locations) and the road out of town is really littered with rubbish for many kilometres.  

Day 17: rest day. Ray washed the car, Avril washed the clothes.

The vegetation now is more tropical, palm trees, large green trees and vines. We left the group and drove back into Soyo to have lunch with Bob (and another shower!).

It turns out that the local administrator had instructed the police to look after us the whole time we are in Soyo. So they came to the camp site and stood watch all night. In addition the local police commander paid us a visit. We also had a group of youths in close proximity to make sure we felt completely watched.

Angola is keen to attract tourists and so they are doing their best to look after us. Our impression of the Angolan Army and Police is positive. We always give them a wave and invariably they either salute or wave back.

There must be crime, however, where we camp whilst people come to watch us, there does not seem to be a “fear” of theft. We tend to leave doors etc open – a habit we will need to get out of in the future.

Day 16: Ray’s purchase of fish (sole) from a passing fisherman last night was not successful, the fish had a poor texture, though we did not get sick and that is a plus.

Boring though it is, another hard day of driving for Avril. The number of heavy road construction vehicles seems to have caused a lot of damage to the road. The Chinese construction drivers go at high speed with little consideration for other drivers. A further hazard is the dust thrown up with these vehicles. We stopped along the way to buy fresh bread – very nice.

The object of the day was the mouth of the Congo River, which we reached ~ mid day. The police along the trip had monitored our progress and reported on the next town/village. To our delight the authorities had organised a full police escort for our time in Soyo: to the river mouth, the local market and finally to get some water. We are not sure that the store holders in the (large) market wanted to shift their goods to make way for our large 4WDs, but they did any way.

The market was large and interesting. Not the hell that some other blogs had suggested.

The weather remains reasonable pleasant – high 20s to low 30s.
We left the group at the end of the day to visit our Bob Schultz, a friend since Ray’s Zambia days. Given that Bob was staying 5 star, Ray took the opportunity to grab a shower.

We are camped at  Quifuma (Kifuma) beach, some 30 km south of Soyo.

172 kms, S 06⁰ 23’ 29.0’’  E 012⁰ 25’ 37.4’’

Day 15: There was some very light drizzle in the morning, so we packed up damp. even though Ray got bogged on the beach and needed the whole team to extract him (!) we managed to be ready to go on time at 08:00.

The great interest of the day was stopping at a mine clearance operation, run by the Angolan Army, and getting a briefing on the operation and the equipment. These blokes are truly brave.

We had lunch on the beach at N’zeto and Ray bought some grilled chicken from a local vendor to have in a sandwich.

Otherwise the road remains poor (except for 38 km of good tar). 122 km in 7 hours. Lots of dust with the Chinese construction drivers.

We are camped 30 m off the beach (in a green area!) near Macula. S 06⁰ 58’ 08.1’’  E 012⁰ 48’ 53.3’’

Day 14: up early for a 07:00 start. Avril had a very hard day’s drive. Initially onto the tar, then around the Luanda ring road (we did not stop). Luanda was mini chaos, but not in the big league of Cairo! A few kms outside Luanda the road deteriorates badly. What was a tar road became so badly potholed that a bulldozer has ripped most of it and pushed the tar to the side of the road.

Not too much of interest along the way; still the baobabs and Euphobia Candelabra now with some woody shrubs. There are few people; only some clusters of huts from charcoal burners. At one of the bigger villages we bought freshly baked bread – a nice treat for morning tea. We also passed a mine clearing camp and the markers along the road make sure we do not stray into the bush.

The weather is really quite pleasant, at a guess mid to high 20s, with some humidity when we are close to the coast. We are camped right on the beach near Musserra, crashing waves and pure white sand.

9 hours driving for 280 kms.   S 07⁰ 34’ 35.4’’  E 013⁰ 00’ 14.1’’

Day 13: we remain camped at Praia do Onca. A relaxing day. We drove back to the Kwanza river for a ~ 3 hour river cruise. Otherwise, just relaxing and cleaning. It rained a little last night and as we move up the coast the clear blue sky’s of the south have become progressively more cloudy. Fingers crossed the rains hold off for another 4 – 5 weeks to allow us the trip up the N1 in DRC.

Day 12: last night we dined at the captains table (thanks Isobelle). A fairly uneventful day; we drove along a series of ridge lines/hills and then down into valleys. As we are near the sea, the valleys tend to be the deltas of the rivers and hence green and very fertile. Above the valleys it is dry and almost lifeless. We commented that there even seems to be a lack of bird life along the route.

We stopped at a restaurant on the beach for a break and made the mistake of ordering some salad & chips. The salad was one very small tomato, sliced, plus 3 slices of onion plus 3 olives: A$ 3.00 and ~ 15 chips for an extra A$ 3.00. You buy a bucket of tomatoes at the side of the road for A$ 1.00, so we were very shocked at the exorbitant price, the cheek of asking so much and the lack of food quantity; it is not like the raw materials are all that costly.

Then we crossed the Kwanza river and are currently camped on a private property in a palm grove ~ 100 m from the beach – waves can still be heard. The water is now warm, but the beach very steep, so there is a large under tow.

Thanks to Louis Lombard for the opportunity to stay here.

Ray drove 274 km on good tar (you should understand that good tar still has corrugations and deadly potholes). Praia do Onca: S 09⁰ 12’ 45.9’’  E 013⁰ 04’ 22.1’’

Day 11: we ate at a local restaurant on the beach front last night; which was really quite pricy. We reckon that the cost was on a par with Australia. Having looked at a few restaurants, it seems that the going rate is quite high. We had a restless night, the locals decided to party to dawn (literally). Whilst Avril dozed, Ray got up and was rewarded by the sight of a couple of killer wales swimming close to shore.

A relatively straight forward day. We stopped at a hectic local market to buy a few things; ~ 2 kg bananas for A$ 1.00!

In the morning we had mountains through the heat haze on the left and then wonderful beaches on the right in the afternoon.

We stopped at a bridge over the Quicombo River and watched the local women washing their clothes. There must have been dozens on them, with the cloths spread out over the surrounding ground to dry. Of keen interest was the reactions of the baby’s strapped to their mothers backs going up and down as mother bent her back over the wash boards. They must have a head ache at the end of the day.

Then onto Sumbe for a quick stop. We then went to some massive water falls (volume wise) on the Queve River.

Koos Moorcfoft had been the RSM of the RSA special forces (and was later also the Sargent Major for the RSA army!), so he briefed us on the battles fought by the FNLA and South Africans in 1975 through this area.

Tonight we camp on the beach at Sumbe. Yet again Avril has a sea facing room and can go to sleep with the sound of crashing waves. Avril drove the 268 km (including ~ 70 km round trip to the falls).  S 11⁰ 11’ 52.9’’  E 013⁰ 50’ 04.2’’

Angola, part 2

Days 5 & 6: we spent 2 days at Flamingo Lodge. We took the opportunity to completely clean the vehicle and to reorganise our storage arrangement to (hopefully) a better system. On day 5 the mist stayed over the area all day, and it was quite cold. In the evening we took a drive to a spectacular canyon (multi coloured, sandstone – according to geologist Avril)  near by – we supplied some nibbles for the sundowners. On Day 6 we did get some sunshine. We had a nice fish meal at the lodge dining room on the last night.

Day 7: a reasonably leisurely 07:30 start to the day. Ray’s turn to drive; after the rough trip to the tar road, it was a made road for the rest of the day (confirming the accusation that Ray always gets the easy driving).It is good that we are learning to drive on the “wrong side” with a right hand drive vehicle under the careful and caring eyes of Koos. This will serve us well for the future.

We passed through Namibe and did some basic shopping and also bought vegetables from a road side market. Then we drove up the absolutely spectacular Leda pass. A great feat of engineering and fantastic views along the way and from the top. Unfortunately there was quite a heat haze, so it was not good for photos – memory will have to suffice.

We then visited a Dorslander Trekker monument and graves. We had a quick look at the statue of Jesus the King – a smaller version of the one in Rio and one of three in the world.

Tonight, luxury again – showers! We have a nice camp site on a strawberry farm. 272 km. S 15⁰ 00’ 27.1’’  E 013⁰ 24’ 25.4’’

 Day 8: After a very cold night, we set off at 07:00, Avril driving for a very tough day – 11 hours. We rated the road in 4 categories: made road, very badly potholed; made road very badly potholed and partially deteriorated ; made road fully deteriorated ; not really a road at all.

In the morning we went to the look outs at Tunda Valla – truly breathtaking. The sheer drop must be well over 1,000 m. The view over the surrounding countryside fantastic. Unfortunately, there was a strong wind and a haze, so pictures will not do justice.

The drive was just hard work. There were large baobab forests along the way and in the distance, through the haze we could see what looked like some great mountains.

We looked at the thermometer at lunch: 47⁰C outside in the sun & 40⁰C in the car.

Ray managed to withdraw cash from a local ATM with a Visa debit – which is handy.
Tonight we camp right on the beach just south of Benguela
319 km. S 12⁰ 36’ 26.4’’  E 013⁰ 15’ 35.7’’

Day 9 & 10: we are camped right on the very pleasant (& clean) beach at Lobito. It seems that we are leaving the influence of the Benguela current behind us – last night was mild and humid, no doona needed. Though the sea has that feel of the ocean off south west Victoria, a bit chilly.

Today we basically replenished bread, fuel (~ A$ 0.40 per litre – take note Andreas!!!) and food (a bit like a feeding frenzy for us, as we also stocked up for DRC). Fortunately the supermarket accepted a Visa credit card.

We stopped at a restaurant, most people just had a beer, but Ray decided to have the local speciality – stew of lentils, pork and chicken with rice.  

The local immigration officials visited us on the beach for a roll call and to welcome us. Very nice.

Ray’s turn to drive – 65 Km, mostly on dual carriage way! Mine you, Avril needed to drive after Ray had a beer. S 12⁰ 19’ 55.5’’  E 013⁰ 33’ 36.7’’

Angola, part 1

On the evening of the 13^th, out group had all gathered at Ruacana. We had a full briefing from Koos Moorcroft (the tour leader) and then a BBQ with a few beers.

Day 1 (14^th September). We had a leisurely start to the day, leaving the camp ground at 09:00. Namibian Immigration and Police were very efficient. However, the customs chap decided to have a sleep in, so we had ~ 1.5 hours spare. Koos & Jose (our Portuguese translator – speaks 12 languages) went to the Angola side to get everything organised and the rest of us went to look at the Ruacana falls (which are unfortunately dry due to irrigation and hydro electric demands). There is something quite sad about a great waterfall with no water.

The Angolan side was efficient – but very slow. The police checks were very meticulous. There was a small issue with our Angola visa – but a phone call to Maria @ minbos (who originally arranged the visa) and Jose’s charm resolved it all.

Then we drove 112km over some fairly bad roads – but not serious 4WD, to our camp site (S 16⁰ 58’ 49.3’’  E 013⁰ 56’ 12.1’’). We looked at our temperature gauge once today, saw it was 38⁰C, and decided there was no benefit in looking again!

Day 2: Given the hot day, we decided to go without our doona for the night. This was an error, the night was freezing and half way through we needed to get up and retrieve our warmth. After a very early start 05:00 alarm (did you know such a time existed???), we set off for a long day’s drive.

Avril drove today. 156 km in 10 hours. We passed through some interesting, but small mountains most of the day. Some very demanding 4WD sections, Koos (tour leader) called this the valley of 1,000 dongas. Lots of river crossings etc.

We passed many Himba villages and groups along the way. This confirmed to us that the concept of living close to nature is not for us. They scratch out a very basic existence in trying conditions; hot and desert.

We camped at S 16⁰ 41’ 08.0’’  E 012⁰ 50’ 33.0’’. For the 1^st time we set up the shower tent – successful commissioning achieved. Our evening preparations were watched by a small group of Himba children.

Day 3: The highlight of the morning was the look on the faces of the Himba kids when Ray powered up his electric tooth brush! We set off at a more reasonable 07:00.

Ray drove, the going was still trying 4WD, but not as exhausting as yesterday (according to Avril – and Koos!). One of our GPS’s keep asking if we wanted to switch to pedestrian mode. The mountain scenery was quite spectacular and we then passed into the Iona National Park and areas with numerous and large Welwitschia gardens. 

We had to register with the local police (Jose our tour interpreter took care of this) and took the opportunity to get some water from the police compound.

117 km in 8 hours. We camped at S 16⁰ 30’ 59.6’’  E 012⁰ 26’ 23.6’’

Day 4: a rather tedious drive today, very rough roads interspersed with long sections of bad corrugations.  There was one challenging river crossing, which Avril handled with great aplomb.

In the morning we drove into one of the west African coast fogs – 67 kms from the sea. Along the way we passed a lot more Welwitschia gardens, including the largest plant we have seen. We stopped at Lake Argo (Argo is Portuguese for arch) along the way. This reminded us of an Egyptian oasis. Mind you they could learn a bit from the Egyptians on how to cultivate to the maximum extent and how to tend gardens.

182 km in 8 hours. We camped on the sea at Flamingo lodge S 15⁰ 34’ 11.1’’  E 012⁰ 01’ 18.4’’.

We are blessed to be with a great group of people. Very welcoming and generous. In the evening there is a communal BBQ, BYO food etc. Lots of interesting conversation and humour. There are very good cooks in the team – so we have had freshly baked bread on a number of nights, freshly caught fish etc.

Finally on the way…

Late on Saturday 3^rd we got the news that the container had finally been offloaded.

We tried to fly down to Durban very early on Monday morning as the customs people were meant to be at F.A.T.S bond store at 09:00. Unfortunately the RSA infrastructure & transport had a further surprise. After taking off from JHB airport, we were forced to return to the terminal – fire engines etc were waiting for us on landing. Poor maintenance practices had led to a residue of oil in the jet engines, creating smoke in the cabin.

You can only begin to imagine our frustration! Now knowing the work practices of RSA Customs, we were very fearful of further material delays in Durban.

We finally arrived in Durban airport and got a taxi to the F.A.T.S warehouse. In fact we met the customs people on the way into the store – they were very late as well (who would have thought!)

After vehicle checks, we were on the way.  Odometer reading: 74,967  GPS: S 29^o 52.041’  E 35^o 00.170’ 

We returned to Pretoria to load up provisions, buy some mud terrain tyres to replace the current spares and get a professional mechanic to give the vehicle the once over. Of course this all took longer than planned – Koos Moorcroft (Angola tour leader) had arranged a very responsive & quick mechanic. But, the mud treads are a slightly higher profile than normal tyre treads, so it took time to get them into their right space. So rather than the leisurely packing we had hoped for, some of the “stuff” was thrown into the vehicle to be sorted, classified and packed in the proper place at a later date – an ongoing chore.

To try and make speed, we decided to transit through Botswana via the Trans Kalahari Highway rather than going to the western Cape, saving > 500 km.

We passed through both RSA and Botswana immigration and customs at ~ 1900hr on Tuesday 6^th September. Discussing our plan to travel to London proved to be the best ice breaker – I think they all thought we were smoking something! We then spent the night at some quite costly accommodation (I am not sure what lodging classification it falls under). The staff prepared us an egg & bacon sandwich - one of us had a cold beer (maybe a couple of beers!) and we watched the 1^st half of an England – Wales soccer match.

Again a very efficient and quick border crossing from Botswana into Namibia.

We finally met up with Steve & Ing at a the Kalahari Bush-break game farm 80 km east of Gobabis, 28 km from the Botswana ~ Namibia borders. You will be as surprised as I was to find them at the bar, having cool beers! So as not to be impolite, Ray joined in a beer. Then off for the 1^st nights camping. Everything worked well and Ing cooked a magnificent Chinese meal with a minimum of equipment.

It was now time to slow down!! Get rid of the stress of waiting for the vehicle and get into overlander mode.

From the game farm we went to the Waterberg plateau. This was a reasonably long drive. In the morning we were raided by the resident baboons, who managed to procure a loaf of bread from us. We then walked to the top of the plateau; from the top it seemed like you could see forever. The roads below reminded us of the pictures of the lines in the Atacama desert. We then set off for Etosha and the Namatoni rest camp.

We spent 3 nights in Etosha – not bothering with the early morning drives, rather taking it slow and easy. We did drives through the park, but also managed to fit in sun downers back in camp and further wonderful meals. The game was plentiful - lots of the common game. The highlight, if there has to be one, was seeing rhino on two separate occasions (it was been a long time since we have seen rhino) – we also saw a large pride of lions, giraffe, red hartebeest, elephant, kudu, impala, springbok ( not the rugby-playing kind!!), warthog, wildebeest etc.

On the final night at Namatoni we decided to dine out – a great way to finish our time with Steve and Ing. Early on the morning of the 12^th, we said good bye to Steve & Ing. They went south and we have come north.

We did some final shopping on the way to Ruacana. We discovered that credit cards do not work at fuel stations (you need a fuel card), so needed to withdraw cash on a credit card – hate to think what the per litre cost of that would be!

There has been a slight delay in our border crossing. Some of the group thought the crossing was on the 14^th, not today. This is probably a blessing, it gives us some time to pack the car properly, do some minor maintenance etc.

Coming out of coldish Melbourne/Adelaide winter, the weather here has been quite hot. We have not seen a thermometer, but imagine it is mid 30s most days. In addition, it is very dry – so even Ray has taken up using moisturiser (but the manly sort!

Still looking for a name for the vehicle.

Durban Chaos (& incompetence)

As things transpired, we have had to have great patience with Durban.

08:00 on the 30^th became 01:00 on the 31^st, became 10:00 on the 31^st. The vessel finally docked and then, the gods were truly against us: the wind picked up and made container offloading potentially unsafe. So further waiting.

Originally we were advised that our container was on the top level and priority offloading had been organised for us, so we could expect our container to be offloaded ~ 1 hour after the vessel had completed its paper work (later we were advised that there was 1 container on top of ours and later still 6 containers on top of ours).

Offloading commenced ~ 20:00 on the 31^st, however the clearing agents told us they were working extremely slowly (got to love government monopolies).  Then, one of the cranes over the ship broke down making offloading difficul; then they could not clear containers off the quay side quick enough so that slowed down offloading, then we were informed that they were back-loading as they unloaded, then the bureaucrat who needed to sign off the day’s plan decided to turn up late and so the saga continued.

As events turned out, the supposed priority offloading did not mean anything. On Friday morning, they had offloaded 1,000 containers – but not ours. They just offloaded according to their original plan! We spoke to the shipping line manager who said our container would be off loaded on Friday, then by 08:00 Saturday. But, of course customs do not work over the weekend. So, Monday 5^th earliest.

We have come back to Pretoria for R&R with Graeme and the girls. Very relaxing to be among family and forget the last week.

Meanwhile, Steve & Ing are travelling independently, with a vehicle load of wine & beer waiting for us. It is a big disappointment not being able to travel with them, see the Namaqualand wild flowers and visit Kgalagadi Trans frontier park (one of our top 3 in Africa).

We did visit the customs clearing agents (F.A.T.S) in Durban to impress on them our urgency. They have been absolutely fantastic and gone well out of their way to help us (e.g. they have had a vehicle on standby at the docks waiting for our container for more than a week!) but ship movements and vessel unloading fall under the Durban Port Authority.
We went for a drive around the port and it appeared to be quite dirty, disorganised and chaotic.
Based on my experience, Durban port must be worst in class. Very poor planning and inability to schedule even a few hours out.

We used some of the time to visit Umhlanga Rocks, where Avril spent many Christmas holidays. For her it was traumatic; the hotel of her childhood/youth had been demolished and a high rise complex built in its place.

As you can imagine, the ongoing day by day then hour by hour waiting has caused some stress. We managed to remain positive until the 30^th/31^st. After that mmmmm

Jen & Roger were the perfect hosts and really made things much easier. They assisted us in every way, B&B, emotional support, tour guides and great company, Big thanks to them.

For those interested how events transpired: on the 29/07 we were advised of a 21/08 ETA, on 4/08 the ETA slipped to 22/08 (the schedule as originally advised in Oz), 10/08 the ETA was 22/08, 15/08 the ETA was 22/08, 17/08 the ETA was 25/08 (the day we arrived in RSA), 18/08 the ETA was 26/08, 22/08 the ETA was 26/08, 23/08 the ETA was 26/08, 24/08 the ETA was 27/08, 25/08 the ETA was 28/08, 26/08 the ETA was 29/08, 29/08 the ETA was 30/08 at 08:00, became 31st at 01:00, became 31st at 10:00. Offloading commenced ~ 20:00 on 31^st