Democratic Republic of Congo: Lubumbashi to Kinshasa

[eleblanc]

Frederik, great tripp, great report. Is your winch ordered yet ;-),
I know you've been on the road for almost 2 years and probably most of it didn't need a winch but how much days you think you would have saved with one? Pretty odd that you broke spider gear AND hub bolts at the same time?, but open diff with heavy pedals...

Huge kudos for doing this with open diff and no winch, very brave man! That makes any of the camel trophy expedition look easy!

Eric

 

[taco2go]

Taco2go,
Thanks a lot.

Thanks I sent a PM.

Here's one from another country (Benin) in a more relaxed mode ;-)

Nice- that's a heck of a long drop for a coconut onto your bonnet. :Wow1: Hope you went easy on the hammock.

 

[Bhos]

As with so many others, thank you, thank you and thank you. :sombrero:

 

[Datto]

I've just registered to say thanks for the great write up.

It was hard not to read the whole thing in one go.

 

[Dukemen]

Took me a couple days to get through this but after reading I had to register and give my thanks for the great read.

 

[dahamsta]

Thank you Frederik and Josephine for your story, it was an absolutely fascinating read!

 

[oernii]

Well, after about 4 days I came to the (current) end of this thread and want to thank you F&J so very much. My grandmother often said when we showed her pictures (narrated) from our holidays abroad, that she didn't had to travel, as she could re-live our greatest moments.

I feel so now. I feel like I have been in Congo, like I had driven an 4x4 myself through those bogs. Your narrative is fascinating, don't undervalue it. You really could write more. It could fund your next expedition. But than you might feel pressed. Up to you. Selfishly I hope for more.

thank you.

 

[shardac]

Another new member from Zabrze, Polska.

Was sent here from www.zlomnik.pl forum from Poland, and spent the last few hours reading about yours great journey.


Thanks for sharing this AMAZING STORY! Have a lot of luck and power to get some more adventures.

 

[anthonyca]

Great story. Amazing guts to do this.

 

[KoertOrganics]

Thank you so much for sharing! What an epic adventure.

Another noob who joined up because of this story. I will have to share some of my travel stories, although I have only driven from Toronto, Canada to Monterrey, Mexico for my farthest trip Overland.

All the Best F & J!

 

[xyz]

Incredible story. Reading here from Hong Kong.

 

[ywen]

great trip report!

Don't mind the haters. If you guys didn't experience all that hardship and just posted shots of your campsite and beauty shots of the LC, it would have read like all other trip reports on this forum. What you have is wonderfully unique in every sense and definitely worthy to put into a book and not just in the domain of the online forums

 

[jdwestsr]

Can I buy you a beer ?

Frederik , I found your trip report through another forum. What an awesome story - I spent hours reading it from beginning to end and was never disappointed. Let me know if you are ever near Dallas Texas, I would be honored to buy you and Josephine a cold beer.

 

[mageezy]

Great Story!

Thank you so much for taking the time to tell this awesome story... Alot of people do really cool stuff and never document it... your sharing of all the emotions and tribulations are what made it so special, along with the great pictures... My sister is in Mali right now working with some aspect of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to set up micro-loans programs and malaria-prevention and she has set up her own blog which is really funny and shares some similar-type stories. My sister is quite a character. her blog is at http://lizinmali.blogspot.com/

Again, I REALLY enjoyed your stories and look forward to a book. Keep me posted.

thanks and best of luck in all your next adventures
-mageezy
mageezy@gmail.com

 

[mageezy]

One Question

There is one question that I do have lingering... I've lived in New Orleans, LA for 10 years, which has very high crime, yet I have never been robbed because I always try to look like I know exactly where I am going and that I am not a tourist, because usually the ones who rob people target the tourists...

however, in Africa, there is pretty much no escaping that you are a tourist and that by looking at you, people there will know that you do not have security and if you were robbed at gunpoint, there would be nothing you could do about it...

how is it that you went for so long without being robbed? do you think it helped that you had a woman with you and there might be some respect there somewhat not to put a woman in danger? From the stories I have read about the wars/gangs in the African forests, I would assume at some point you would run into someone with a gun, little to eat, and nothing to lose... do you think you just got lucky? or did you carry yourself in some fashion as to mitigate such an occurrence?