17 November - Ndende to Congo Border Camp

The rain continued all night and tapered off by morning. We woke up and made coffee on the back porch with our camp stoves and then got packed up. We rode into town and then made a right just across the river, where we immediately began our dirt road journey into the wilderness. Only a quarter mile down the road we encountered an immigration checkpoint, where they checked our passports and told us we must get our exit stamp back in town. We followed one of the officers back into town to the immigration and customs offices in the same building. The reason for this process is because they don’t have a border post at the actual border. They were friendly and it was a quick process. They stamped our passports and our Carnets and we were on our way. “Let’s try this again”, we thought to ourselves as we headed back to the border road that we had previously started. We waved at the guys at the immigration checkpoint as we passed by because we now had the requisite stamps in our passports. We were cleared to exit.

The region had received heavy rain over the last few days, and it was quickly evident that this would pose a big challenge for us. The dirt road became very slippery, with the slightest incline or curve becoming a challenge to keep the bike upright. We quickly calibrated our riding behavior to the conditions and in some cases stopped to let Ranee walk. The journey became painfully slow, with both of us dropping our bikes in the mud within the first 30 minutes. This would continue for the rest of the day. As the day went by, the road dried out slightly, but the challenge was replaced by many large unavoidable water holes. The road twisted through jungle and savannah-like areas, and there was usually no bypass for the water holes. Sometimes we would get off to survey, and I would probe the water with a stick. Other times, I would plow through confidently (sometimes ending in a watery crash!). The water holes were mysterious because most of the time they were shallow and firm, but occasionally they were deeper than expected.

The goal for the day was 60 miles, but we had only traveled 20 miles by 2pm. We came to a military checkpoint about 7 miles from the border where we had to sit down and show our passports to the officer. We were muddy, sweaty, and tired. When we were ready to go, we (reluctantly) got on the bikes and headed down the road. The sky ahead looked dark and it was sprinkling rain by then. Mark made a remark on the intercom that he wasn’t sure about continuing. I supported the sentiment, so only a couple hundred feet down the road we decided to turn around and go back to the checkpoint.

At the checkpoint there were multiple buildings where other people lived, nice grass covered grounds, and a small “market” across the street. We were planning to ask the officer if we could camp on the grass. As I pulled up to the officer, he was puzzled that we were returning. I pointed at the sky and mimed to him that we wanted to sleep here. I pointed at the grass and told him that I have a tent. He asked us to wait for one moment while he went back to the market to talk to someone. Moments later he returned and led us over to a building next to his house. It was a three-sided building, open on one side, similar in size to a two car garage. He directed us to park inside, so we rolled the bikes in. This would be our lodging for the evening. It was a nice relief to be under shelter because shortly after, heavy rain came and continued through the afternoon.

We unpacked our gear, set out our chairs, and sat down for a rest. We were all beat! I was soaking wet from head to toe from water and sweat. I took off my soggy boots and pants and changed into dry clothes, and I put up a clothes line. We relaxed for a couple hours, ate some food, and watched the rain. It was a good decision to stop for the day. We had depleted our water supply during the day, so I fashioned a funnel to collect rainwater from the roof of the building. We filtered over 8 liters of water, totally refilling our supply.

Some curious locals from across the road came to visit us later in the evening to chat and we had some good laughs with them. One of the guys was the “chief” of the village. They told us they have drinks over at the store, so I went over there at dinner time and bought some beer from them. We pitched our tents inside the shelter and had a great rest that night. I forgot to mention that we shared the shelter with a mutton (similar to a goat) who was tethered to the pole at the front of the shelter.

18 November - Congo Border Camp to Nyanga

It was mostly a rough day with many more mystery water holes. We made the 7 miles to the Congo border where immigrations and customs into Congo went smoothly. The road continued through a few villages, and gradually improved. We had covered only 13 miles by 3pm. The road dried as the day went on and the last 20 miles to Nianga were smooth and fast dirt. Accommodations were very basic in Nianga, but we were happy to have made it there! The hotel rooms were generally clean, but no running water and only an outhouse pit toilet. The hotel staff fetched us buckets of water to shower in the room.

This was a very small village with dirt streets and very limited resources. The guy from the hotel directed us to a restaurant across the street where we had roast beef in broth with bread and beer. It was just fine. We were happy to have a beer and a warm meal.

Back at the hotel, the power generator came on from 6pm to 11:30pm. The only problem was that the generator was located at the end of the hallway outside, so the incredibly loud diesel engine rang down the hallway and into the rooms as we tried to go to sleep. It was not a relaxing sound. I put in my earplugs and fell asleep.

19 November - Nyanga to Dolisie

I made my coffee out on the street next to my bike to an audience of locals staring at us, curious about all of our gear. I'm sure we looked like astronauts to them! We had our coffee and cereal and packed up. It turned out to be nice day, with 92 miles of dirt and the last 20 miles being highway to Dolisie. We stayed at the Dolisienne hotel which was quite nice compared to where we had been. It was a proper hotel with restaurant attached next door. In the afternoon I took a taxi down to the market area to get a SIM card at AirTel.
 

20 November - Dolisie to Point-Noire

Heavy rains after breakfast prompted a delay. I helped Mark and Ranee finish their Angola visa in the hotel lobby while it rained. We departed 1 hour later in better conditions. The rain continued for a little while, but it faded away to blue skies in the afternoon. It was a very scenic and twisty highway ride to Point-Noire through the coastal mountains. This was a fantastic motorcycle road that would be much more fun in dry conditions. It’s a “must ride” road. We stayed at the Kactus Lodge hotel in Point Noire. It was a neat and informal hotel with excellent service. It’s nice being back in the city with walking distance to everything we need.
 

21 Rest day in Point Noire

We spent the day recovering and cleaning up from our difficult and muddy journey the previous days. We had the bikes washed right outside on the sidewalk by the hotel staff and also our laundry done. There was a restaurant and bar on site so we usually ate there, but we did go out to eat a couple times. I went and got some ice cream across the street one day.
 

22 Rest day in Point Noire

We decided to stay another day, because Mark and Ranee needed more rest, and they had not totally sorted out their dirty gear. Not much to speak of happened that day. We rested and I worked on my trip reports and video editing.
 

23 November - Point Noire to Cabinda

It was a quick 20 miles to the Angola border. The border process was a bit slow. We arrived at the gate and were ushered to park next to the building. First we handed our passports to the immigration officer and he waved us to go start the customs process at the same time. So we walked to the customs building and they took our bike information. Here we would get a temporary import permit. After waiting 10 minutes for a guy to fill out a form on my behalf, he showed it to me and he had mixed my information with Mark’s bike on the same form. I handed it back and told him it’s incorrect. He took another 10 minutes to fill out a new form. He produced another form for Mark, then we had to pay the fee at the bank located within the building around back. Finally we got our documents and walked back to the immigration guys.

They were unable to process our immigration application when we arrived due to an intermittent electricity outage in the building. We waited and waited, then the power came on and they had to send a guy out to make photocopies. It took him nearly 20 minutes to return. I was becoming impatient but the guy returned all sweaty and out of breath. He must have had to run a mile to get the copies made!

We stayed at Hotel Por du Sol in Cabinda. Nice place with a swimming pool and courtyard. The restaurant was a bit quiet, but there were a hand full of business travelers, the first we’ve seen in a long time. Grocery store across the street that was convenient.
 

24 November - Cabinda to Boma DRC

This was another border crossing day with quick 16 mile ride to the Democratic Republic of Congo(DRC) border. The Angola side was nice and quiet with nice facilities. The service was good and they got our passports and Carnet’s stamped out as quickly as possible.

The DRC entry post was a little more run down with more people in the queue. The officials were helpful and waved us through the gate the park on the other side of the border in front of the immigration building. They had one official who was dedicated to helping tourists through the process. He was nice and advised us through the process. However, at one point we had to wait for around 30 minutes for the “chief” to arrive to review our passports. We’ve experienced this before--it’s just part of the process. We patiently waited and he showed up shortly.

By the time the entry process was complete it was lunch time, so we found a shady place outside and ate lunch off the bike.

The route ahead was reportedly sandy, so we were a bit apprehensive about it. It turned out to be true and we ended up slogging through about 13 miles of sandy road which became thicker as we went on. We both crashed a few times and it was becoming very tiring and not to mention hazardous for Ranee as a passenger. We flagged a vehicle traveling along the same path as us, and Ranee rode with them. It was a bit of a crunch for her as the car already had several people in it, so she sat in the middle frontseat with legs around the stick shift of the car!

The car followed behind us, and we made better progress but still dropped the bikes a few more times. A couple guys from the car were there to help us pick the bikes up. We eventually arrived at pavement and couldn’t be happier. Mark and Ranee compensated the people in the car for the help and we took a breather for about 10 minutes.

Due to the delay of the sandy road we would not reach our planned destination, Matadi, for the day. So we set our sights for Boma, which was about 40 miles down the highway. We arrived by dinner time and found a good hotel.
 

25 November - Boma to Matadi

It was a nice short day on a paved highway to Matadi. We descended into Matadi, which is on the south side of the Congo river over a nice suspension bridge. The views were amazing and the river was huge. It’s a smaller city, but very busy because it’s both a port and a border town. The first hotel we went to was totally booked, so we had to go to our second choice. In the evening it started to rain and we were concerned about the next day. We had a border crossing with unpaved roads on the route plan.