DRC/Cabinda/Congo
– New Year 2007/2008
Route
We travelled from Nzeto in Angola to the Noqui/Matadi border with the
DRC, then across to the DRC coast at Moanda before transiting Cabinda.
After a couple of days rest in lovely Pointe-Noire we headed back inland,
picking up a logging road that was not on the map but came out in Yene-ganou
from where we headed north to the Gabonese border at Nyanga/Ndende.
[For a possible alternative Congo/Gabon crossing see our Gabon report].
From Matadi to the Gabonese border took us six days driving plus a couple
of rest days. In retrospect we wish we had spent a bit longer as it's
beautiful and friendly.
It seems that this
route is only really possible if you are going south to north; the problem
when heading north to south is getting Angolan visas for Cabinda. All
the travellers we have met coming south have had numerous applications
turned down in the Angolan embassies in West/Central Africa, and the
Pointe-Noire yacht club owner told us that many people had reached Pointe
Noire and had to find another way (ship/sell the car/turn around!).
Therefore, other
routes being used are:
Visas
We had our DRC visas already but Jessica & Chris, our convoy cronies,
had to get visas on the border. The visa cost them about 100 USD for
the two – lots more than ours had cost in Lusaka (141,000 Zambian
or £18 each) but much less than they had been asked for in Luanda
(about 150 USD each!).
As expected, we
had to get 3-day transit visas for Cabinda (available on the southern
border but not the northern border), despite being told by both Angolan
immigration in Luanda and the British consulate that our Angolan visas
were still valid. 78 USD each and a four-hour wait but at least we got
through.
We all had Congolese
visas so don’t know if you can get them on the border. We paid
500 Namibian (£38) each for ours in Windhoek.
We all had Gabonaise
visas and, as there is no immigration at Ndende, I doubt very much that
you can get them on the border. We got ours in Luanda for a hefty 150
USD each (100 if you’re prepared to wait a week). Luanda is not
the place to get visas…
Borders
and check-points
Our experience is slightly coloured by the fact we were travelling over
the New Year period which meant we had a lot of requests for beer! Generally
customs officials were unfamiliar with the carnet and needed supervising
to stop them messing it up. Stops were mostly interested in seeing our
passports, some asked for driver's licences but we never got asked for
car papers or insurance.
Angola(Noqui)
/ DRC (Matadi) border. Quiet and sleepy on the Angolan side, busier
on DRC but both sides friendly and helpful, if a little slow. We got
through in about an hour and a half but Jessica and Chris had to wait
four as the boss-man had to be brought from town to give them their
visas. DRC customs made a cursory search of the car.
DRC. Once
in Matadi you need to pay a toll for the bridge. This cost us (Land
Rover) 1800F and the Germans (fire-truck) 9000F. You can pay in USD
although they’ll give you a crap rate – plenty of moneychangers
at the border and on the way into town will give you a much better rate.
Matadi is full of traffic police in bright yellow shirts who were just
very excited to see tourists and even more excited to give us directions.
In Boma there are a couple of immigration checks where you need your
passport.
DRC / Cabinda
(Yema). This border is fairly hectic but not that used to tourists
so not hassly (just people practising their English!). Plenty of moneychangers
around if you need them. Exiting the DRC was quick and easy but the
Cabinda side was full of pompous ‘petit-chefs’ and took
nearly four hours to clear. Customs straightforward and no search.
Cabinda.
We headed through here on NY Eve and NY Day so may not have had a typical
experience. We were only stopped by a permanent block near Cacongo who
wanted to write our details on a sheet of paper and ask us for beer.
Cabinda / Congo
(Chicamba). Again the Angolan side was pompous and took ages
even though we were exiting! By the time they had finished we had to
camp at the border as the Congolese side was on half-day for NY. On
the Congolese side we had to pay 2000 CFA each for the health ministry
guy to add a Cholera stamp to our vaccination card. No actual vaccination
required apparently…
Congo.
There is a road toll between the Cabinda border and Pointe-Noire –
1000 CFA per vehicle. There are loads of police stops in the Congo but
most are very friendly and the only slight trouble we had was on the
stop immediately after crossing the border where the fire-truck got
searched and we got a half-hearted request for a beer. Near the Gabon
border they’ll all want to copy your details onto sheets of paper
(does anyone ever match these up?!). Watch out for them using up pages
in your passport with huge and unnecessary police stamps (we thought
afterwards that we should have stapled in a loose sheet for them to
stamp instead). In Pointe-Noire yacht club Chris got a sharp rebuke
from a soldier because he was filming.
Congo / Gabon.
This border is staggered for about 100km between Nyanga and Ndende.
All of the posts along this border were very rural and relaxed. In Nyanga
you get your carnet stamped out of Congo and you can get an immigration
exit stamp too if the office is open. Otherwise carry on along the road
north where you’ll pass through Congo immigration, a couple more
police stops and then Gabon customs. Finally, the police station in
Ndende can stamp you officially into Gabon.
General
driving and accommodation
The roads were not half as bad as expected although, as usual, it would
be a very different story in the rain. We (Land Rover) had the most
trouble on the Boma road as the trucks had made deep tyre-tracks in
the sand and we grounded our chassis on the centre rut a couple of times.
Jessica and Chris (fire-truck) struggled more on the road out of northern
Angola as it was narrow and steep. We had no trouble when bush-camping
at the side of the road.
Specific
roads and accommodation
The ‘driving time’ quoted is direct from our GPS and so
doesn’t take into account breaks or stopping to dig ourselves
out! When bush-camping beware the invisible flies that bite without
you noticing until a day later when you will be covered in itchy red
measle-like spots. Covering up and deet seems to help.
Matadi.
We stayed in the Souers de la Charitie convent for 5 USD per person.
Very central and OK bathroom (but no access at night as the fire-truck
couldn’t get under the gate to get into the compound). S05.49.873,
E13.27.664
Matadi to Boma
(3 hours driving time). The good tar out of Boma turns into pot-holed
tar after about 50k and then gets better again after the junction with
the Tshela road. It’s a beautiful, twisty mountain road –
just look out for the buses and trucks coming the other way! Bushcamping
would be pretty hard as it’s very populated.
Boma.
Busty trading town. We didn’t stay but it had plenty of guest-houses
and a mission other overlanders have stayed at (S05.51.243, E13.03.402)
Boma to Moanda (6.5 hours driving time). After Boma the
road becomes a dusty truck-route with rickety log bridges and a mix
of friendly and non-friendly villages. The road is fairly substantial
for 50km, then turns into a track and finally disintegrates into various
converging and diverging sandy ruts. We got grounded on the sand but
if it was raining we would have been well and truly stuck! Bushcamping
on or near the road was straightforward – we camped in the forest
up a side-road. Apparently there is a mission in Moanda (S05.55.885,
E12.20.532).
Moanda to Cabinda border (45 mins driving time). Finding the
road out of Moanda is tricky and once out of town there are loads of
side-roads to oil-pumps (marked with blue numbered signs so don’t
follow these!). Ask for the ‘Ruta do Yema’ - Yema being
the the border town which is not marked on the map - or head towards
the radio-mast which is right by the border.
Cabinda
(4 hours driving time). There is a partially pot-holed tar
road all the way through, which turns into brand new tar after the junction
with the Buco-Zau road. Bushcamping not advised as they are very security
conscious. We stayed in the Catholic Mission on the seafront in Cabinda
City - free and friendly but no access to a bathroom when we were there
(key not around). S05.33.740, E12.10.686. Cacongo has an expensive seafront
hotel and a large mission, although no idea if you can stay here.
Cabinda border
(Chicamba) to Pointe-Noire (1 hour driving time). Perfect tar,
one toll, one police stop. The yacht club co-ords are S04.47.377, E11.50.859
– there is a good shower and camping is 3,000 CFA per person (beer
expensive too).
Pointe-Noire to Gabonaise border (Ndende). (13 hours). The
road out of Pointe-Noire is terrible and difficult to find – ask
for the Route National 1 to Brazzaville. We were looking for the Mila-Mila
piste other overlanders had used and so turned off RN1 after 33km at
Hinda and found ourselves on a very good logging road through the jungle,
both forested and deforested. After cutting though the savannah, the
road eventually came out in Yene-ganou which is not on the Michelin
map but is where the road north from Dolisie forks (south of Kibangou).
We were not on the Mila-Mila piste but probably the best road of the
moment. North of Kibangou the landscape opens up and there is a junction
where you need to take the narrow track north, not the big road east
(S03.13.932, E12.07.480). When we came through this was quite puddly
and looks like it gets very muddy after rain. Bushcamping in roadside
quarries and sidings is fairly easy along this whole stretch although
at times the forest is steep and thick; we also saw an auberge in Kibangou.
Food, water,
beer
DRC. Matadi especially is full of street food and produce. The
villages as far as Boma sell fresh produce and Boma is OK but after
this it runs out. Moanda had a small market but not a lot of fresh stuff
to buy. Belgian and German style beers are good – if you like
dark beer look out for the Munchen brand, otherwise the Primus is a
good lager. Water is not that easily available so best to ask in the
missions if you stay in them.
Cabinda. In contrast to the DRC, Cabinda has no street stalls,
just bars with over-priced Congolese beer. There are loads of public
water taps in the villages, which the locals were happy to help us use.
Congo. Pointe-Noire also had very little street food but it
did have lovely cafes. Café Citronella was a great French patisserie
and Pacha had good, cheap Lebanese food. Beer varied from 500-1500 CFA
for a large bottle! Pointe-Noire yacht club had a useful outside water-tap
and when driving through the jungle there are loads of rivers where
you can stock up on water.
Money and
fuel
There are no ATMs that take foreign cards in DRC, Congo or Cabinda (or
Angola and Gabon). USD are best to change in DRC and Cabinda; we saw
lots of street-side stall money-changers in Matadi, Moanda and Yema,
and roving money-changers in the centre of Cabinda City. No hassle or
problems. In Pointe-Noire the best place to change money is in the restaurants
– we changed Euros to CFA in Café Citronella at the official
655.957 rate.
Note: the CFA is
pegged to the Euro at 655.957. There are two versions of the CFA –
the Central African CFA coverage includes Congo, Gabon, Cameroon, Equatorial
Guinea and Chad and the West African CFA coverage includes Niger, Benin,
Togo, Burkina Faso, Mali and Senegal. They are not interchangeable.
We saw fuel stations
in Matadi, Boma, Moanda, Cabinda, Cacongo, Pointe-Noire, and Kibangou.
The Total in Pointe-Noire had a greasing bay.
DRC diesel price:
forgot to write this down but it was more expensive than Angola/Cabinda.
Cabinda diesel price: as per Angola the fuel is 29 Kwanza/litre (20p)
and, as per Angola, there are long queues.
Congo diesel price: 345 CFA/litre (40p).