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The Wrap-up (It's going to be long... sorry. I normally don't like to be so serious, but I feel I have started something and I have to finish it. If you're only interested in the technical bits, they are the end) So is that what Congo is really like? Ofcourse not! This is what Congo could be...

Day 46 We tried again to take the ferry. It was still not running. Some paperwork was not in order to release the ferry and apparantly the official who had to sign the document could not be located. Both ferries were stuck on the other side. Maybe that afternoon. We came back that afternoon...

Day 40 - 41 - 42 - 43 - 44 - 45 We had a lot of things to do in Kinshasa. We did not have a visa yet to get out of the country (Congo-Brazzaville). And to avoid having to drive all the way to Franceville in Gabon we already applied for our Cameroon visa too. Gabon did not want to give us a visa...

Progress after Day 39 since we left Lubumbashi. Day 44 since we crossed the border into DRC. Kinshasa

39 days after we rolled out of Lubumbashi, we limped into Kinshasa. People who have driven around Kinshasa will surely recognize the tension that is always present in the city, to us it felt like coming home. This "Kinshasa tension" is so much tamer the "interior-of-Congo tension". Strange how...

You know it's time to clean your car when... Plants start growing on our sidesteps! Tomorrow would be the big day. Kikwit to Kinshasa can be done in a day, a 6 to 8 hour drive, depending on the weather (and consequently the state of the road). We'd start early as the closer you get to...

Day 38 Guess who was there that morning? Yep! We talked about that nifty looking handmade chessgame, but we couldn't agree on a price... The whole money transfer thing went pretty smoothly. It is quite amazing really. We just rang up a lady in Kinshasa we have never met and asked her if she...

Nice video. It is more or less the same road yes. We did not go via Kolwezi, but took an alternative track before kolwezi (the part with the private roads). Most of the road must have been similar though. It's interesting to see that the camera crew probably did not expect it would take that...

We had contacted the homefront with the question if they could find a way of getting money to us. Western Union and the likes would only do transactions to Kinshasa, but not to Kikwit. The fees Western Union charges are also pretty ridiculous. In the end we managed to get in contact with a...

Day 32 We felt at ease here in Kikwit. We could feel the stress of the state of roads making place for the stress on how to get our car back in a proper condition again. Energetic Frère Jean-Marie came to us with a suggestion to use his mechanics. He had two guys who did all the maintenance...

I'm off for the weekend. :camping: :bike_rider: Story continues on Monday. Sorry ;-)

Hi Amtprod! I guess its the same everywhere in the world, even in the 'developed' world. But I have never seen in it such a large scale as in DRC. Cambodia is a great country. The population there has been trough hell and yet they are so friendly and hopeful. Really lovely people! Last year we...

Progress after 31 days since we left Lubumbashi. 36 days since we entered Congo Kikwit

I must admit I don't like asphalt. I enjoy driving on dirt roads. Josephine does not always agree with me regarding that matter. But this time I was properply pleased to see this. It would take the stress out of our rear axle. And it was good to know that our 4th and 5th gear were still there...

The road was maintained by CTB. Belgian govermental aid. Like the 'mistery' roads we came across earlier, these roads are mostly handmade. The reasoning is to give as many people as possible an opportunity to have a job. But the CTB had been clever enough to use a few machines to compress the...

Day 31 We looked at our crowd when we got out of our tent. We certainly wouldn't miss them! We paid our dues to the mechanics and the housekeeper of the mission and set out to find Mr Shindani to say goodbye. The mechanics, they didn't lie when they said it would a team. They might not have...

In front of us was the same guy that claimed he was "le chef de la police". He had dusted off his uniform. Looks like we made a little mistake there. We apologied for being so rude earlier and at the same time explained that we had so much problems with corrupt police before. He on his terms...

Another guy comes to visit us "Venez avec moi. Police!" - "Come with me. Police!" It's a guy wearing slippers and tatty clothes. We are not impressed and ask who he is? "Chef de la police de Dibaya-lubwe" We know where this is going to lead to so we tell him that everybody can claim they are...

Thanks everybody for the comments, we really appreciate all of them! Sorry if we do not reply to each and every message. I do my best to answer all your questions. Sometimes the answers are provided in one of the future installments. I am a bit slow with the updates but I am insanely busy with...

Hi Riaan & Stephanie! Good to hear from you again. I still remember when you asked me about the feasability of the Lubumbashi-Kinshasa track when you had problems getting your Angola visa. I didn't really know how to put my answer at the time, but I am sure you understand why I wasn't really...