Overland adventure travel

With the difficulty of getting Angolan visas (having tried in Libreville, Pointe Noire and Cabinda, with no luck) an international overlanding taskforce of Jeff, Josh, Han and John set off for the Congo capital of Brazzaville, to try their luck there.

Again, the answer was straight out 'no'. We were told to try the Angolan embassy in Kinshasa, capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), which is just opposite Brazzaville - across the Congo river. After a very expensive and hassle ridden ferry crossing, we hoofed it to the Angolan embassy, only to find it was closed for business that day, so we checked in to a hotel in the most expensive city in Africa.

The next day and a half were taken up with playing bureaucratic games in the embassy in a vain attempt to secure visas, the farce of the situation was made evident back in our hotel rooms, as we watched commercials extolling viewers to visit and invest. Whether this was for business or tourism, in the very Angola that didn't want seem to want us or want to know anything about the tourists that supposedly are being summoned using glitzy advertisements.

Just as we were about to leave the Angolan embassy on Thursday lunchtime (We were basically less than a couple of seconds from walking out onto the street with the gates being secured behind us) we heard the sound of heavy gunfire outside (Heavy Artillery and Rocket Powered Grenades) . If it wasn't for one of the officials advising / ordering us to re enter the compound - the boys would have been stuck out in the open, with no side streets to use as refuge or any form of cover, as the fighting broke out. The reason behind the fighting was due to newly elected Government troops moving against the armed militia of the defeated presidential candidate in the recent elections (who were attempting to secure their weapons and fire power that had not yet been given back) The militia compound was only about 300 metres away from where Jeff, Josh, Han and John were sitting tight at the Angolan embassy - while the force of the gunfire shook and rattled the walls around them !!!!

The very same Angolans who were so obstructive when it came to processing visas became our gracious hosts, as they offered us sanctuary from the fighting, giving us a night's rest in the embassy and providing Angolan army rations for sustenance. They wanted us out on the next lunchtime however, and as the fighting continued around the building, provided us with an armed escort, backed by UN troops to get us to the British embassy, which was about a mile away.

The staff at the British embassy were fantastic. They offered us beds, food, hospitality, excellent company and regular progress reports on the local "situation" throughout our stay. After the main militia forces surrendered, looting broke out on the streets of the city and passage for anybody - particularly westerners was deemed unsafe. An estimated 1,000 plus people were killed over the period, in an event that barely registered a footnote on the BBC website - such is the frequency of such civil unrest in some African cities, especially this one.

The four of us (only one Brit among us) could not have been better cared for, and the sole Brit felt that his taxes at least were being well spent, if the treatment we received was anything like typical from British embassy staff abroad. The usual stiff upper lip approach that we were all expecting was far from what we received - they couldn't of been more calm and casual about having a bunch of lunatic overlanding tourists just turn up on their door straight in the middle of a civil war. And the embassy had a bar ......!!!!! A few days later - no other than Af Trails rocked up with truck and all. We were all quickly put to work with such tasks as erecting tents, cleaning bathrooms, serving ration packs etc - to help out in the running of the compound which was possibly expecting 500+ expats if things had kicked off any more serious.

After a few days of crazy activity in the streets - things were getting back to as normal as was deemed ok to venture out on the streets again. It was then back to the tedious business of getting our Angolan visa. The Angolan staff said that because they had got to know us so well, they speeded up the visa process for us - it would only take a day and a half more (!) and was only a 5 day transit visa!!!!. We couldn't wait to get out of trouble torn Kinshasa, and speed back to the Congo (Brazzaville) as quickly as transport and formalities would allow. We were happy to take any visa that was being offered - especially knowing that not many travellers are successful in obtaining this visa from here or anywhere bordering here. Initially, this visa had cost us 4 weeks in time, and embassy visits in three capitals (Libreville, Brazzaville, Kinshasa) and two other cities (Pointe Noire, Cabinda), at an average cost of $85 per head! But in saying this - all in all if we calculated how much individual time we had spent amongst the whole group securing this pitiful excuse for an entry visa - it ends up being about a year in total !!!!!! What a joke .

After our flight back to Pointe Noire - and a warm return awaiting from the group and truck, we found out the news that our last New Zealand contingent - Prue - needed to get back home, calling for another farewell to be had - before we were off to put our visas to good use.

Except... our visa which we obtained in Kinshasa would only afford us one passage through Cabinda Angola and would not allow us a subsequent entry into Angola Proper - which meant we now needed to get a second visa to get into mainland Angola. The fun seemed to be never ending ..

We were on our way into the DRC where we spent the pleasant day in the border town of Matadi, for what must have been the hottest day of our trip so far, not appreciated by most but especially Lisa who was suffering from a second bout of Malaria. Our re- start of the tedious Angola visa business was awaiting us on the next day.

Fortunately for us, the Angolan consulate in Matadi was the epitome of efficiency in itself, and managed to give us a visa within 6 hours - but only for another 5 days transit, knowing that it is a physical impossibility for a truck of our size to make the lengthy journey (To date, only the Dakar Rally entrants would expect to transit Angola in 5 days), over appalling or non-existent roads in such a short amount of time. But that's a story for another week, or two! Please read on!