Bom dia a todos!

I hope you are all well and keeping safe from the virus as best as possible. I wrote this blog update 15. March 2020 in Cabinda at Senhor Julio’s but didn’t have time to post it. As my trip has experienced a bit of an unforeseen ending, I’m finishing off these African Stories with two separate blog updates. So here’s my blast from the past a week ago, when original plans were still in tact. There will be an account of the recent ending shortly.

I’m fine and am put up at the house of Senhor Julio from the Angolan motorcycle club “amigos da picada” in Cabinda. I’m here with Hide and Ryo from Japan whom Marco and I had met in Dolisie. First things first - here are my updates.

Marco arrived in Lambarene on 4. March 2020. We cruised around town a bit, had dinner and became friends. Marco is a remarkable guy. He has two welding businesses in Germany that he built himself and he’s supervising from the road during his travels. He’s a very energetic and positive person and good company. We decided to cross the border form Gabon to the Republic of Congo together at Ndende. To be honest I can’t remember what outweighed the easier detour via Franceville to Brazzaville. We spent another day in Lambarene. I went for a swim in the Ougoue (no crocodiles, but a current you wouldn’t expect) and got a nice sun burn XD.

On 6. March 2020 we headed South on a super nice tarmac road all the way to Ndende. I got to ride Marco’s KTM 990 for a bit. I’ll say it’s quite the machine. Doing 100km/h feels like doing 50 km/h with Diddy Kong. Marco enjoyed riding Diddy, but he was happy to get on his bike again :). He reached Ndende an hour and a half before me, enough time to put up his tent at the catholic mission (the father knew père Hubert from Kye Ossi :) and get beers.

It didn’t rain in the night. The next morning however as soon as I had packed up my tent it started pouring. It was the beginning of the rainy season after all. Marco and I waited it out. After two hours we got our rain gear out (second time on the whole trip Ray) and wanted to get going. That’s pretty much when it stopped raining lucky for us. Right before leaving, a truck pulled up and asked if we were the tourists who needed a lift to the R.O.C. because of a twisted leg. It turns out two Japanese bikers (Hide and Ryo, whom we would meet the next day) had had an accident and had organised a ride. We briefly contemplated the easy way out and thought about putting our bikes on the truck as well. We didn’t though - I guess we wanted to see what the bad road was all about. We had breakfast, got our passports stamped out of Gabon and took on the road ahead. Marco was in high spirits and took the lead. I came around the first curve and there he was: chest deep in the first puddle with that beast of bike ready to be pushed out. I had only just gotten used to clean and dry clothes again - oh well.

A road followed that was mostly pretty ok gravel but with sections of more or less deep puddles that had to be stood in to gauge the depth and find the best way through. It would have been fine with a small bike like Diddy but Marco’s 990 and all his baggage (he carries an axe, a second helmet and a camping chair - just in case ;) made the whole thing a challenge. We had a very tiring but rewarding day. Marco is as strong as a bear and I’m pretty sure that when lifting the KTM he was carrying 3/4 of the load. On a dry road and after a hearty breakfast he can actually lift that bike including baggage by himself. Under the conditions however we came close to our limits. Here’s some exemplary footage of our mission :)

By 5 pm we knew we had to start looking for a campsite. We had done about 30 km. We didn’t want to set up camp on the roadside and it had been a while since the last group of huts (village). So we were thankful when we found a village 5 minutes later. We were permitted to put up our tents under a roof (nice!) by chef Joseph. We washed in the nearby (800m) river - which was absolutely fabulous. For dinner Marco was happy to finally use his emergency camping food and I cooked dinner (rice and curry) on the nice gas stove that one of the elders had in his hut. I was exhausted and went to bed at about 9 pm. Marco (the warrior) only seems to need 5 hours of sleep a night and stayed up editing his gopro videos.The next day we had coffee with chief Joseph and were on our way. It was a sunny day and we finished the last 10 km to the border easily. On the R.O.C. side there was a small shop where we had a nice lunch of sardines and bread. After that we had the last difficult section of about 15 km to complete. This was a challenge again. But we made it through and were happy to arrive in Nyanga at around 4.30 pm. Nyanga is a one horse town and we ended up staying at the bar we had our after ride beer at (like real cowboys ;). 

The next day I got my passavant for the R.O.C., a SIM Card and breakfast. We had 170 km to do until Dolisie the next big town. The road wasn’t great but good enough gravel and it felt superb after the struggles of the last two days. The countryside became nicer and nicer as well, with little island hills sticking out of the green savannah of the Congo. At a junction, we ran into Hide and Ryo and their truckers. Marco and I were glad to have ridden the road and not to have taken the truck option. 30 km before Dolisie the road turned smooth (Chinese loggers were building a new highway) and 20 km before the town, the tarmac began. Marco had already made it to Dolisie and checked into the very accommodating Fallou Palace. I opted for the more economic Mpori Hotel and was happy to have my own 4 walls with running water for a change. The next day I slept in, read the newspaper, had breakfast and then joined Marco at the Falou palace pool side. It was nice to relax a bit. I however was keen to get the Angola Visa sorted. The eVisa turned out to be surprisingly easy. I cruised around town getting all the right documents in the right formats and then Marco and I enjoyed a nice evening, including, dinner, beers and dancing. Marco is a party animal and the DJ played 90s rap - it was a hoot :)

The next day, I repeated my established Dolisie morning schedule and then headed over to Marco’s hotel for some motorcycle maintenance. Hide and Ryo ended up staying at Marco’s hotel as well. Marco’s craftiness made us all feel like we should be doing something good to our bikes :). After a productive afternoon we enjoyed the pool (despite being the only one who wasn’t actually sleeping there, I think I used it most :) followed by grilled fish at the night market. Also that day my Angola eVisa was approved. All peachy.

On Thursday 12. March 2020 we all left town. Marco headed onwards to Brazzaville because he couldn’t be bothered to do the Angola e-Visa and needed to go the embassy there. Ryo, Hide and I continued West to Point Noire in our own time. The road was super nice curvy tarmac through the hills. Arriving in Pointe Noire was a bit of a shock, heaps of people, traffic jams, pollution and terrible sand roads once off the main street. I found a cheap hotel, a Motul motorcycle oil dealer and a Pizza for dinner :).

The next day I made it to the border of the Angolan enclave Cabinda. Getting across the border was a procedure however. With Corona developments happening every day a few African countries had started taking measures and closing borders (such as Gabon, which I exited only a week prior). In the end I got through well enough. Cabinda made a good first impression. The Portuguese, the coastline and the grilled fish made me feel like I was on holiday in Portugal. I reached Cabinda by 3 pm and was hollered at from across the street by Carlos, a Portuguese expat working for a shipping company. As the hotel I had sussed out was closed, one of his employees showed me another affordable place.

Cabinda is a small town and the next day I ran into some of the overlanders on the bus, whom Dad and I had met in Mole at the national park in Ghana. Apparently they had spent three nights at the D.R.C. border and had been refused entry because the officials said there was some problem with their Visa they got in Accra. Later on at breakfast I also ran into Hide. Him and Ryo don’t have a D.R.C. Visa and are planning to ship their bike by boat from Cabinda to Soyo (on the Angolan “mainland”) and themselves take a 12 minute flight there. I myself have decided to join along in their plan. My most important reason is that I’m afraid of being stuck in the D.R.C. if they decide to close the borders because of Corona. I would rather stay in the territory of Angola and get on with my trip South. Hide and I rode around town a bit to find out how to best get the bikes across. We heard about Mr. Julio who might be able to help us. It turns out, Mr. Julio is a member of the amigos da picada, an Angolan motorcycle club and has helped other travellers in the past. He was very welcoming and invited Hide and me to stay at his house and help us organise the shipping. We gladly accepted. Mr. Julio is an exceptional man. He was born Cap Verdian, grew up in Angola and then spent his twenties in Portugal and Holland. His brother was a general in the Angolan army during the war. Despite not really sharing a lingua franca, him and I communicate quite well. We’re speaking a mix of Portuguese, Spanish and French - reason for which I’m not sure I understand all the stories entirely. It’s good enough for company, grilled fish (I realise I’ve mentioned the grilled fish multiple times :) and beers though (which Mr. Julio refuses to take money for).

As it’s the weekend we’re now hanging out at Mr. Julio’s house and writing our blogs (here’s Hide’s if you read Japanese, https://hoshinokaze.com :). Hopefully we’ll get our shipping sorted on Monday and be in Soyo by Tuesday. I’ve also managed to skype some people. Marco has decided to fly home to Germany and leave his bike in Brazzaville until the the Corona situation is settled. After a talk with Dad, I’ve decided to continue. A potential flight home would leave from Luanda, so I might as well get there. Stay safe everyone.

Here’s to the road ahead.

Chris