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If Lagos can be hell by day, by night we entered the realm of sublime at The Africa Shrine, the Mecca of an unique music style that originated in Africa in the 1970s. Afrobeat is a polyrythmic fusion of Yoruba music, jazz, highlife, funk and chanted vocals, created by the genius Nigerian multi-instrumentalist and bandleader Fela Kuti. A spiritual leader, a hero to millions and a musical pioneer, Fela used Afrobeat in his own political guerrilla that revolutionized the political scene of Nigeria. His music was confrontational and spoke about an imperative and profound social change that was needed in the post-colonial Africa of the 1960s, where people were struggling with military coups and social discrimination. With psychedelic neon lights, an actual shrine bearing personal belongings and intimate photos of Fela, the place is a sound capsule which evokes the original legendary nightclub where the larger than life artist performed with the same incredible energy with which he enjoyed drugs and women. We saw the live performance of Femi Kuti, a "cleaner-cut version of his father", but a true artist, a soft spoken man who exploded into powerful harmonies and rhythms, combining and improvising with different elements. The show was completed by the jaw-dropping dancing of Femi leading a group of 5 women dressed in traditionally inspired attire. Beside hosting the weekly concerts of Femi and Seun, The Srine also provides a venue for new Nigerian talent and a space for intellectual debate.
http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/lagos-6.jpg The Shrine. Photo credits: www.afrobeatmusic.net http://www.afrobeatmusic.net/ Street food in Lagos is not easy to come by, so we wondered if we'll get a chance to sample more local cuisine, other than sue, a delicious Nigerian version of grilled beef, thinly cut and served with red onion and lots of ground pepper. But we also promised to visit Karen, a one of a kind woman and friend we met in Togo a few weeks back. Happy to see her and the family again, we were thrilled to enjoy the best Nigerian food we were to have during our whole stay in the country. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_3671.jpg Egusi - a thick soup made from grounded melon seeds and bitter leaves, with goat meat and 2 starches: eba (the yellow paste made from cassava) and seem (semolina paste) http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_3681.jpg It was a biker's day. Max had to try on my Tenere and was fearless at 2. I tried his dad's K1. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_3690.jpg Ana and Karen http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_3694.jpg Me, Karen and the kids http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_3698.jpg Ana sharing a smooch with her extended Nigerian family |
Makoko: The 103-year-old stilt-slum of Lagos
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Our friends, Louis and Marine showed us some black and white photos of an unusual settlement nestled in the Yaba Local Government Area of Lagos State, and we knew we had to somehow get there. Makoko is one of many shoreline slums threatened by climate change in Nigeria. Rising water levels, strong tidal currents and polluting human activities (wood burning, excreting in the lagoon, throwing harmful substances in the environment) are some of the problems Makoko has to deal with. This slum on stilts was initially a temporary fishermen settlement, mostly Egun people from Badagry and Benin. The population has continued to grow for more than 100 years into a community now largely abandoned by government. The small village has become permanent home to the poorest of the poor, pushed off the land because of the premium real estate prices in and around Lagos. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_3709.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_3710.jpg The village is built high above the 1,5m deep water, with houses supported by hardwood stilts driven into the water bed. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_3772.jpg Every 30 years or so the houses require some maintenance works. It's a harsh environment where one must work hard to survive, but for the villagers, Makoko is home and they strongly oppose the federal project to relocate them. They are not interested to move in a more beautiful or healthier place, despite the evident degradation and pollution. Yaba Local Government provided plastic tanks for drinking water. There are no basic social amenities like health care, electricity and water supply or pharmacy. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_3763.jpg The only primary school in Makoko is attended by aprox. 50 students who have to pay 50 Naira/day. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_3734.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_3761.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_3765.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_3767.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_3768.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_3710.jpg The adults - and many times little children - go about their daily business in their boats. Every family owns one. Fishing, shopping, selling food or goods is done from a boat. There are even floating restaurants, a mill and manna repair shops based in boats. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_3746.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_3748.jpg The murky water is almost black with litter and has the quality of oil. There is a calming poetry in Makoko though, gliding on the "streets" - narrow canals that open into the lagoon. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_3715.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_3720.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_3727.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_3732.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_3740.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_3742.jpg There�s limited government presence in the stilt village of Makoko, the local gangs (called �area boys�) control the streets and the community issues are addressed by the Baale (the village chief). Despite extreme poverty, there is joy in Makoko. This is no or Venice of NIgeria, but kids welcome yovos (white people) with smiles and adults are eager to chat. |
Abuja - An Unlikely City
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And then there was the day to leave Lagos. We had fallen for this manic but vibrant, but we had to go. Our itinerary: cross western Nigeria to Abuja to do some visa shopping. We left on a downpour and crossed Ilorin and Ibadan, the city that was recently severely affected by floods and where about 200 people died because of collapsing buildings. By evening we were stopping in Offa, thanks to Karen who had arranged our overnight stay (cheers Karen!). http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_3783.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_3775.jpg The 70s decor where we stayed for one night. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_3799.jpg Waiting for the tropical rain to stop so we can take off to Abuja. We were saddened by the poverty that is so evident in rural western Nigeria. People are struggling to come to terms with a fast developing economy. Focus has shifted from agriculture and manufacture to the oil industry, and not to everyone's profit. Food is scarce and lots of stuff is now imported and quite expensive. The road to Abuja through the Niger state was exhausting. Bad tar with potholes from side to side and a massive traffic: trucks, lorries, buses, minibuses moving about at mind boggling speed. 550 km, 10 hours of riding, 3 brief stops for omelet with tea and a visit into the bush. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_3802.jpg Cossing the Niger river once again By sunset we arrived in Abuja less than 3 weeks after a bomb exploded at the UN HQ. The terrorist group Boko Haram had already claimed responsibility for the attack in which reportedly 20 people were killed. Compared to Lagos, Abuja feels quiet and peaceful, but there is a lot of security in the streets, also because all diplomatic missions, NGOs and big oil companies are based in the very young capital of Nigeria. The city was founded in the early 80s. It has an impressive infrastructure due to Julius Berger Nigeria PLC - the same company that built the longest bridge in Africa, the 11.8km long Third Mainland Bridge, which connects Lagos Island to the mainland. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_3997.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_4088.jpg The church and the mosque are towering symbols of the Muslim and Christian nation. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_3809.jpg In Abuja we met the Romanian community and the Embassy staff. Mr. Mircea Leucea kindly wrote letters to the various embassies we had to visit to support our visa applications. A week later we had Cameroon, Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo and Namibia stamps in our passports. During our visa runs we met Julien and Frank, two bikers overloading round the world on a brand new Super Tenere and on a BMW http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_4113.jpg We stayed for 2 weeks at Mircea Rusu's, a fabulous host who can cook a tasty salad soup. We cannot thank enough for the pampering and tips for things to see and taste in Abuja. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_4087.jpg Ragu of beet with rice at Mircea's http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/Mogadishu.jpg There are many continental, chinese and french restaurants in the biggest cities in Nigeria, as Nigerians enjoy to travel. Prawns and Sole fish are exported from here to Europe, also prime quality red snapper, crocker, red mullets, as well as lobsters, crabs, gambas are available. The best grilled fish in the whole of West Africa is in Mammy Market of Moghadishu Barracks, Abuja. In the middle of the circular market choose your crocker from the many mamas, then savor it slowly cooked to perfection, with pepper, onion and tomatoe dip, lime and potato wedges. Absolutely to die for. Unfortunately at least 10 people died here in January 2011, when a Boko Haram bomb exploded. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_4140.jpg The Nigerian cuisine includes a lot of red pepper, fiery hot. Some of the specialities are the pepper soup (usually with fish); eba, fufu (pounded yam), gari (cassava) with vegetable, fish or goat meat stews. The food is cooked in palm oil with indigenous spices and herbs. Our favorite was suya, the Nigerian version of brochettes: beef, liver, gizzards with lots of pepper, always a night deal. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_4127.jpg Grilled pork with cabbage and red onion http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_4137.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_4128.jpg Fufu with beef in tomato pepper sauce and egusi http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_4131.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_4136.jpg Dried peppery Idemol caterpillar - a protein rich snack usually enjoyed with beer. Has a mild fish flavor. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_4056.jpg Picnic with friends at the spectacular Gurara waterfall, 90 km outside Abuja. Carrot and sesame salad, chickpea salad with feta and fresh basil, aubergine salad (a summer staple in Romania!), zucchini souffl�, chicken and flap jack with passion fruits for pudding. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_4063.jpg The Gurara falls, in full force at the end of the rainy season http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_3959.jpg On the 1st of October, the national day of Nigeria, we stayed inside and watched on TV the festivities. Because Boko Haram threatened to repeat the terrorist attacks from last year, the ceremony took place inside the presidential villa and the whole city was deserted. |
An Enchanted Night In The Rainforest Changed Everything
On the 9th of October there were presidential elections scheduled in Cameroon. The dictator Paul Biya, in power for over 20 yrs, was the expected frontrunner for yet another 7 years term. On the 30th of September an opponent of the current regime fired a gun in Douala, and the police found an unexploded grenade in Limbe, at the Elecam hq. On the 13th of Octiber our Nigeria visa would expire, so on the 4th we were heading from Abuja to the Ikom border, with the intention to cross into Cameroon and avoid the capital during elections or to bushcamp next to the border.
There 3 ways into Cameroon: the good tar up in the north, through Maiduguri and the highly unstable Boko Haram territory. The overlanders' hell, the dreaded Ekok-Mamfe piste, marred by lorries and loggers' trucks and potentially hazardous during the last weeks of the rainy season. Or the ferry from Calabar to Limbe, that we could not afford. The eastern Nigerian states are visibly more lively and prosperous. Small, colorful villages, mud brick houses with zinc roofs, fresh food markets, streetside restaurants with delicious food, plantations. People are friendly, food is cheap and we zoom by police checkpoints without being stopped. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_4146.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_4155.jpg The roads are bad though, so after Obudu we decide to crash overnight at Afi Drill Ranch. Emi and Oli, the Brits overloading in a Landie who we'd met in Lome and who are ahead of us in Gabon, told us to stop in Afi, if we had the time. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_4156.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_4162.jpg The air is moist, the forrest is soaking and we are rolling through dense high vegetation that hardly allow any sunlight in the undergrowth. The track is narrow and goes up and down for 15 km into the dark heart of the rainy forest. It rains every day, sometimes even more times a day. The tires slide easily or the sticky mushy clay, so a fall is imminent. We bite the mud two times, but we arrive in one piece, yet covered in dirt and with rivers of sweat flowing from the forehead to the boots. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_4063.jpg We're in the deep bush. There is no GSM network, no electricity and no running water. Afi Drill Ranch is the research camp of Pandrillus, a conservation project dedicated to saving the primates and the forest of Cross River state from extinction. The camp is bordering the wildlife sanctuary established together with the state government. The project receives short teem visitors who can witness the daily work and learn about primates conservation. We are welcomed by 2 American long term volunteers, Amanda and Jens, who show us around. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_4179.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_4184.jpg We are completely exhausted. Soon we lay down in our tent, pitched in the bamboo shed. The night is magical. The darkness burns the eyes and is hardly interrupted by myriad stars and immense fireflies. A choir of forrest sounds - amphibians, insects and nocturnal mammals - completely new to our ears. We let this new energy burn its imprint into our DNA. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_4190.jpg We're having a scottish breakfast in the middle of the rainforrest The route to Calabar is long and hard: area boys, potholes and traffic jams all over. But the city of Calabar is pleasant and clean. A very un-Nigerian place, where people walk the streets, where there are no okadas, with good fresh produce markets and a suya arcade. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_4242.jpg We are camping right by the main drill enclosure, next to the crocodiles and the duika, in the yard of Pandrillus HQ, which is also the home of Peter Jenkins, the founder of the project. Him and Lisa Gadsby arrive in Nigeria while overloading in Africa. They had a 10 days transit visa and a meeting with destiny. They discovered that the Cross River subspecies of drill monkey, assumed to be extinct, was still roaming the forests, and they embarked on a race to save them. More than 20 years later, Pandrillus has become one of the world's most successful conservation & captivity breeding of an endangered species projects. It is amazing that such a project exists in the impoverished West Africa and in Nigeria, of all the places. To us it was logical to volunteer our time and effort, and a privilege to be accepted. We sorted out our papers (visa and laissez passer extension) and went shopping for working gear (trousers, long sleeve shirt, shoes) from the second hand shacks in the market. By the end of the week we were already back in the midst of primary rain forest. We were not to exit this unique but dwindling wildlife sanctuary for the next four weeks. |
What are Afi Mountain Wildlife Sanctuary, Afri Drill Ranch and Pandrillus?
Information provided by Pandrillus. Photos by us.
www.pandrillus.org http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_4063.jpg Pandrillus is a Nigerian NGO that promotes survival of one of Africa's most endangered primates, the drill monkey. The main activity is the Drill Rehabilitation & Breeding Center project (nicknamed "Drill Ranch"), conducting conservation research and survey work in Nigeria and Cameroon, where it also co-manages the Limbe Wildlife Center. The project also provides sanctuary to 28 rescued orphan chimpanzees, the older ones living in their own natural forest enclosure at Afi Drill Ranch, while the youngest live together in a chimp nursery in Calabar. What is a Drill? http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_4383.jpg Bulli, the challenging male to the alpha in Group 6, Ochu Drills (Mandrillus leucophaeus) are large, short-tailed rain forest monkeys, endemic to Cross River Sate, Nigeria, south-west Cameroon and Bioko Island, Equatorial Guinea. Drills have a smooth black face, males have wider faces with intense magenta and purple coloration in genital area and around the cheeks, and they can surpass 45 kg. They have a particularly well-formed thumb, they communicate with facial expressions, vocalizations and specialized behaviors. Unlike most monkeys, drills are semi-terrestrial, searching the ground for food (fallen fruit, roots, leaves, insects, invertebrates), climbing the trees to forage and to sleep at night. They are also semi-nomadic, traveling long distances in the forest, perhaps following fruiting seasons of different trees. Like most primates, they are highly social and live in groups of 15-30. At certain times of the year super-groups of up to 200 animals can occur in the wild, allowing individuals to leave the group they were born in and join another, thus preventing in-breeding. Unfortunately these extraordinary animals are in danger of extinction. Hunted illegally for bushmeat, with only 40,000 sq km of natural range impoverished by logging, farming and human developments, drills are a top conservation priority among the 60+ African primate species. Little is known of drill ecology, as they are elusive and not well studied in the wild. The world population if wild drills is less than 10,000 and could be as low as 3,000. Drill Conservation http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_4911.jpg The first step is to learn exactly where drills still live and which populations have the best chance of survival. Liza and Peter completed in 1989 a survey of Nigeria and covered most of Cameroon (which has over 60% of world's drill habitat). Drills are protected from hunting in Cross River National Park in Nigeria and the Korup National Park in Cameroon. In May 2000 the Cross River State Government created the Afi Mountain Wildlife Sanctuary, where wild drills, gorillas, chimps and other endangered species survive. Still, forests are difficult to secure against poachers. Former hunters are being employed as wildlife rangers, to patrol the sanctuary, in an award-winning community-based protection scheme. Recently Peter has created the first ever Task Force that is fighting illegal logging in an attempt to protect the wildlife habitat of these endangered species. Drills are rare in captivity and they reproduce poorly in zoos, where they lose some of their native instinct and are not likely to successfully return to the wild. While conducting survey work in 1988, Peter and Liza discovered infant drill in villages, by-products of hunting of nursing mothers shot for bushmeat. They decided to salvage this potentially valuable conservation and genetic resource and to raise the primates in natural-sized social groups in their own habitat. The Pandrillus project promotes habitat protection education and awareness about the importance of endangered wildlife conservation. What is "Drill Ranch"? The Ranch started in 1991 with 5 drills, and by January 2009 298 drills - over 75% of captive drills in the world - were living in Afi. Most drills were donated by citizens of Cross River; some were recovered by wildlife or park officers, or police. Two monkeys were recovered from Asia, from the hands of international smugglers. The project never buys animals, because it's illegal and we must not encourage wildlife trade. Drills usually arrive as infants and, after quarantined, grow and live together in 1 of the 6 groups, in solar-powered electric enclosure of naturally forested drill habitat in the Afi River Forest Reserve, Boki LGA, Cross River State, Nigeria. The first group of drills was flown by helicopter to Afi in 1996. The project is home to Africa's first captive drill birth and world's first ever twin birth in captivity, and has witnessed more than 200 births since its start. The nearest villages (Buanchor and Kataba) benefit greatly from the project: permanent staff is employed from there and most animal food is purchased from local farmers. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_4186.jpg The wheelbarrows with fruits for one of the 3 daily feedings. Each will feed a group of drills, the scarcity of the food encourages the drills to continue foraging and prevents them from becoming dependent. The Graduation http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_4920.jpg The project has been working for this pioneering event for over 5 years. If the project will be able to maintain sustainable protection of the Afi Mountain Wildlife Sanctuary, the super-group of over 130 drills will be released from Enclosure 1 on Afi Mountain, in a carefully monitored program. The Graduation will be a worldwide premiere and is scheduled for 2012, during fruiting season, with various scenarios planned. The super-group is expected to split into 3 to 5 groups, and the larger males - who will potentially assume dominance within the new groups - will carry collars. Chimpanzees in Drill Ranch http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_4717.jpg Maya Another world record is about to be completed in Afi Ranch. The staff is working on the largest ever naturally forested enclosure for chimps, a beautiful 12 ha of primary rain forest, where the rescued chimps will be living a decent life, along members of their own species. Chimpanzees are 99% genetically identical to humans and after living in miserable captivity for years - in poorly managed zoos or as pets - they cannot re-adapt to life in the wild. The project offers home to rescued chimps, but does not encourage captive breeding. The chimps in Drill Ranch are divided in 2 heterogeneous groups, dominated by 2 alpha males: Willy and Jacob. The oldest chimpanzee is 42 years old and there is also one lowland chimp, rescued from Guinea, named Pablo. How is Drill Ranch funded? The project is funded by direct donation in Nigeria, the fund-raising efforts of Pandrillus Foundation in the USA and Rettet den Drill in Germany. The Cross River State Government provides monthly contribution for staff salaries and animal feeding and has donated a vehicle and funded eco-tourism infrastructure that brings in revenue. Non-national staff, including Liza and Peter, work for free, with about 40 Nigerian staff on salary. The project has a tree nursery where native species are being grown from seedlings, then sold for a modest fee to the forest department for re-planting. Pandrillus works in cooperation with the Cross River State Forestry Commission, Ministry of Environment and Tourism Bureau. Pandrillus offers a yearly grant for a green project developed by a Boki villager. |
Our Stint with Pandrillus - Part I
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Day 118. We reached the 30,000 km on the clock, and the next km will be only logged while moving to our working sites or going to the next village, Buanchor, where sometimes there is GSM signal. Working day starts at 8 a.m. with a staff briefing, there is also a 12 am - 1 pm lunch break. Crew boys - supporting personnel who perform most endurance tasks - finish work at 4 pm, the rest of us at 5 pm. We cook our own fod, dinner being sometimes served in the secondary staff shed, where we cooked and socialized, learning words in local dialects, how to use wild vines for the traditional Nigerian food (like egusi) and abusing the local staple, garri - a casava flour that we used for pancakes, tortillas and deserts. We are deeply grateful to our colleagues, the management and in particular to Peter Jenkins, for the opportunity to work together in one of the most successful and important conservation projects in the world. Satellite 6 & 1 works http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_4264.jpg Cutting and pre-drilling the frame pieces http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_4320.jpg A quick run to Ikom, to sort out our Laissez-Passer extension http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_4351.jpg After work we would relax in the communal area, the main shed http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_4270.jpg The view from the main shed towards the Afi Mountain it's never the same. Satellite 6 - 2 days, individual work http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_4426.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_4429.jpg We replaced rotten wood, fitted the panels with mesh, repaired broken frames, built new platforms for the quarantined drills and designed, built and fitted door stoppers for the sliding doors that connect the satellite to the enclosure and that separate the 2 compartments inside the satellite. After work we cleaned the site from debris and transported all scraps to the garbage pit and to the storage from where wood can be recovered for making fire. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_4863.jpg On the Canopy Walkway, the second largest in Africa, suspended at over 30 meters in the trees. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_4410.jpg Lianes are parasite plants typically found in the tropical forests http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_4857.jpg A parasite tree is slowly murdering its host http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_4584.jpg At the magic tree in Buanchor: the village GSM antena. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_4603.jpg Kids in Buanchor Survey Work http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_4686.jpg We completed and assessment of the entire built base, highlighting: what needs to be fixed, replaced or improved in visitor and staff cabins, sheds and animal enclosures, we tagged with red tape the fence poles that are must be changed, suggestions for an improved layout of the vet shed, tool shed and fuel shed in relation to the main staff shed and the working area. We proposed 2 washing points (water birds) with easy access from the toilets and water source (stream). One important aspect is using as many materials from site as possible and keeping the budget to a minimum. Our second survey work was assessing the new chimp extension which is a big operation: we proposed an improved working flow taking into account manpower and materials availability and sources (gravel and sand are difficult to bring to the site because the terrain is quite irregular and even marshy). We proposed a prototype for the 7 bridges that would ensure easy access around the enclosure for maintenance staff and an ATV. We proposed solutions for terrain works in particularly delicate areas (2 marshes and one area very difficult to cross). Bridge proposal follow a few main ideas: using materials already on site, using as little concrete as possible to keep pollution to a minimum, keeping the site clean for debris, building a cheap wood strecher-like container for concrete mixing (to avoid several pits difficult to clean afterwards) and following a simple but strict work flow. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_4729.jpg Riding the truck to Buanchor http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_4547.jpg American pancakes with garri and bananas by Jens http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_4723.jpg Shaua-Shaua, the wild pineapple. In the background is CJ. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_5030.jpg Changing the brake disc, thanks to our invaluable friend, Harry. |
Our Stint with Pandrillus - Part II
President Obasanjo Former star president of Nigeria, Olusegun Obasanjo arrived at the ranch 10 years after his first visit. It was an intense team effort to prepare the camp for his visit and it was great fun to have him over and to get to know him. Years back in Galati or Bucharest we would have never thought that us, two ordinary Romanians, would get to know the president of Nigeria, and the most famous and powerful nevertheless. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_4442.jpg President Olusegun Obasanjo posing with the ebony that he planted here 10 years ago. Ebony is one of the most precious essences in Africa, it's very resistant to humidity and was traditionally used for bridges in Boki region, but is now under threat of being forested into extinction. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_4464.jpg At the chimp platform where I had build 2 new visitor benches. CJ is the star of the day, making a brilliant presentation for Obasanjo and the entourage http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_4482.jpg Obasanjo signs the guest book, while Peter Jenkis acts as the man in the shadow. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_4486.jpg Asuko (senior drill keeper in group 1 & 6) shows Poto, who is rather unhappy to be disturbed from his usual daytime sleep http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_4489.jpg President asked us to take a photo with him, and we happily obliged. Now we are waiting for Jonathan. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_4491.jpg The president meets permeant staff: Takam (crew boy), David (group 6 & 4) and Franca (animal food); the armed dude is from the escort http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_4494.jpg The strong jaw of the president next to more ranch staff: Tony (group 1 & 6), Gabriel (group 2, 3, 4), James (group 2 & 5), Rose (housekeeping), Thomas (group 5, fence maintenance) Chimp Septic - 5 days, 4 crew boys (1 for digging, 2 for mixing and pouring concrete, 1 to wheelbarrow materials) Cleaning and maintenance of the two big and crowded chimp satellites was top priority. The faces, solids and liquids are difficult to collect and remove from site. Problems are: staff medical issues like frequent eye and skin infections, pools of dirty matter where mosquitoes quickly reproduce generating an unmanageable infested area and most of all, pollution of the nearby stream via a channel that carries all dirty waters. We proposed a septic pit: 95x155 cm, 1.60m deep, concrete walls, no bottom. We would lay gravel and then sand on the bottom of the septic, allowing the dirty matters to slowly be filtrated. The solids would by then be partially be consumed by insects and the surplus can be shoveled to the main garbage pit. The septic would be connected with a concrete gutter to the satellite, and would have a wooded pedestrian cover, making it easy to maintain and service. We would fit the septic wit an overflow: PVC slotted pipes that would direct only filtered liquids and meteoric water to the stream. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_4508.jpg We eliminated the polluting drain system towards the stream, we closed the gutter in the satellite, we marked and dug the pit http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_4553.jpg We sent crew boys for sand and stones, which we then pounded to the desired granulation. We designed the concrete recipe. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_4554.jpg We built and placed the forms. As we were using scraps, we struggled to level the faces. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_4560.jpg Forms, reinforcing wire and overflow drain fitted http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_4579.jpg With my crew boys for the day: Mathew and Godwin. We prepared a semi-wet premix on the floor, then correct the consistency in the wheelbarrow, and poured with a metal basinet. We vibrated with an old iron. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_4718.jpg Walls and washing platform done. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_4742.jpg We dismantle the forms. The walls are not perfectly plane, but the concrete is impeccable http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_4746.jpg Godwin covers the drain with soil http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_4776.jpg We poured the connection gutter to the satellite. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_4774.jpg Typical staff & visitors photo. From felt to right: Jens (from Oregon, volunteers for 1 year), a German visitor, Asuko (Senior drill keeper, from Calabar), Mageed (vet and manager), Ana, visitor & driver http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_4808.jpg From left to right: me, Nasseru (welder), Ana, Asuko, Celestine (driver), CJ, Mageed http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_5046.jpg Takam http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_5053.jpg Me, Peter, Ana, Godwin, Emmanuel 1, Amanda, Mathew, takam, Tony, Thomas, James, Gabriel, Robert, Emma 2 Final group photo, the departure morning. |
Wildlife and Nursing Animals
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Harry Poto - a 1 year pot adult, rescued after suffering a life threatening injury to the head. Its a nocturnal low rank primate, it feeds on fruit and insects and has chosen to stay in Afi, nobody knows why. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_4343.jpg Green Tree Viper - the adult measures about 40-45 cm, it's poisonous but not dangerous. We saw it sleeping one cold wet morning by our water tank. The next morning, it was gone. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_4572.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_4789.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_4823.jpg The many amazing butterflies that lives in Afi, some as big as a palm are still little known. Their food of choice are rotten bananas. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_4611.jpg Lala, the wild civet baby who arrive in the cam soon after us. She is barely 1 month old and her mother and sister were killed by some farmers. While we were in camp, I was her daddy, nursing her with milk and taking her to matinal and evening outing in the undergrowth. Civets grow to the size of a Labrador, are nocturnal and carnivores, but unfortunately orphan babies have a less than 40% chance of survival. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_4627.jpg Lala http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_4761.jpg Rhinoceros beetle. It lives in the palm stem and its larvae are edible. This one is a male. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_4955.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_5063.jpg Praying Mantises http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_5058.jpg Pius, the 4 months old porcupine who is recovering well after severe injuries from a drill attack. He will return to the wild within a couple of months. |
Chimpanzees In Afi There are two main groups: the chimps in the natural enclosures and the ones in the satellites, who will be release in their new world record home next year. Chimps in the satellite have been rescued from miserable captive conditions. They have never experienced freedom and the chimp extension is destined to provide them with that for the first time in their life. After spending all their life close to humans, these chimps can never successfully return to the wild. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_4713.jpg Waiting for their new primary forest enclosure to be finished http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_4925.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_4933.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_4943.jpg Lucy http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_4951.jpg Murphy, the former alpha male in the enclosure http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_4957.jpg Pablo, a lowland chimp with a slight paresis |
Ekok - Mamfe: Abandon all hope ye who enter (Dan
Our coworkers from the Afi camp didn't keep their promise to hold us hostages to the project. We secretly wished that somehow we could linger longer, in spite of the pricey Cameroon, Congo and DRC visas already in our passports. But our time to move on had come. And we have been dreaming of Cameroon - nicknamed "miniature Africa" - for a long time. The 9th of October presidential elections had passed peacefully, instead of turning into a bloody conflict, as predicted by the foreign news agencies. Paul Biya had paid for 7 more years of direct acces to Cameroon's wealth and power with a few campaign t-shirts and some bags of cash.
We had taken the visa in Abuja: 1 photo, application form and 50000 CFA. Gas is aprox. 595 CFA/l. 9th of November, last days of rainy season. We zoom from Afi to Ikom, where we fill up for the last time with the dirt-cheap Nigerian petrol and call home. 20 km farther we cross the border from Mfum to Ekok, where the Cameroonian customs officer has some troubles figuring out that our visas are still valid. A few hours and 7000 CFA later we have a Laissez passer for 14 days and we start rolling - late as hell - on the dreaded Ekok - Mamfe road, possibly the most difficult of its kind in all of Africa. A Nightmare Begins We are fierce and climb steeper and steeper hills of unsealed mud that has petrified under the scorching sun. Where pools of water linger, the laterite sinks our tires into a sticky swamp of hell. The Chinese are working at this road and they say in 2 years the legendary over-lander's nightmare will be buried under smooth tarmac. For now, the beast is alive and is claiming all our mental and physical energy. Ana walks the toughest parts. It's all challenging, but we are coping well. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_5065.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_3220.jpg Romanians say that "one must not celebrate before the race is over". At a crossing, through a crater the size of a lorry, I feel the clutch on fire and my rear wheel just dead. I'm stuck, I have no clutch and people come running. I know I don't have a spare clutch, nightmare begins. As it turns out, we are on a plantation, where a 10 houses community has set camp to profit from the traffic to Nigeria. We carry alu-boxes, dry sacks and our frozen souls under a palm shed, then we push the bike uphill. A woman fetches us water to shower and plant on Ana's lap a 7 months baby who makes a wee. At might we drop exhausted and in a state of disbelief on our punctured mattresses. In the morning we begin the damage control operation: we have some food (oats, tea, 2 cans, 1 soup) and 4000 CFA (6 Euro). We buy garri, sweet potatoes, Magi, sugar, bananas and oranges and we sent scooter-taxis to Ekok to charge a borrowed SIM. After 4 weeks of conservation work in Nigeria, there we were, living among poachers, smelling the daily catch of bush meat (porcupine, monitor lizard, tortoise) in the villagers' pots and listening how illegal loggers cut rare trees, then ship them to Nigeria on floats during the night. We have to renounce all privacy, constantly scrutinized and hassled by curious passengers, dozens of truck drivers and mechanic wannabes. Kids begged for any plastic spoon and old sock we dared to use. By the third day we were forced to buy at inflated prices the oranges and potatoes that villagers had picked from the floor behind their house. By night, drunken people debating loudly our situation kept us awake, with alarming key words like moto, rich, money, Abuja, kidnapping. When we barely managed to close an eye, the goats and roosters would begin a delirious routine, feeding our paranoia. Every day we felt more tired and hopeless. We missed our scheduled live TED conference, but we somehow managed to contact our Abuja friends and our families. Harry bought a replacement clutch, FedEx-ed it to Abuja, from where it would be trucked to Ikom, then carried over the border by a taxi. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/...phine-0774.jpg It was the 5th day in Nsanaragati when saw the first white faces. Another overlander's vehicle had gotten stuck in the pothole that had claimed our Tenere. Jacques, Delphine, Lea (4,5 yrs) and Elisa (3 yrs) had left Toulouse for a year long African adventure by Land Rover Defender. It was Elisa's b-day, Lea had a fever, but all they said was: "rescue team is here". We took their generous offer to be towed to Bamenda and after 30 minutes of packing, we were attempting something we'd only seen at Dakar. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/...phine-5726.jpg Lea is resting with high fever while Gillian is watching. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/...phine-5729.jpg The shed where we lived for 5 days. � Delphine The impossible becomes possible on the infernal 10 km to Eyumojok. No image can begin to describe what is like to actually be doing what we did, but that's all we have to remind us of this improbable experience. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_5072.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/...phine-5736.jpg � Delphine http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/...phine-5741.jpg � Delphine http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/...phine-5742.jpg � Delphine http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/...phine-5744.jpg � Delphine One day the Chinese machines will burry the Ekok-Mamfe legend under tarmac. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_5079.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_5081.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_5084.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_5086.jpg Resting on some cocoa bags with a high fever from exhaustion. In the background, the car we later helped out of the mud. |
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The epic day ended with Elisa blowing her 3 candles at the bivouac. � Delphine http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_5089.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_5092.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_5096.jpg Campbells � in Africa http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/...phine-0781.jpg � Delphine http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_5100.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_5105.jpg We wash our vehicles. The road to Bamenda took us another two days, because the good tar is alternating with unsealed patches. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_5126.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_5133.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/...phine-5776.jpg � Delphine Brilliant camping spot, in the middle of the primary forest. Rain comes over indeed, but we medicate with Pastis and hot dogs. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_5147.jpg Ochelari de praf http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_5148.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_5151.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_5155.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_5152.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_5158.jpg In Bamenda we camp at Foyer Eglise Presbiteriene and spend our time doing laundry, shopping for necessities, finding a shoe guy to sew our disintegrating slippers and emailing home. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_5160.jpg African plums http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_5163.jpg Concha, a protein powerhouse served for breakfast in the north-west |
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http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_5166.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_5168.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_5173.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_5174.jpg Nota: The other overlanders we had met en route are already in Congo and informed us that DRC and Angola visas are impossible to get now, because of the upcoming Congolese elections that are expected to become violent in the buildup. They got stuck in Pointe Noire and had to ship their vehicles (2 cars + 2 bikes) to Namibia and fly via JoBurg. A very scary and expensive option, we are hoping that as we already got our DRC visa we might get lucky with Angola as well in Matadi, if we can reach it before our Congo and DRC visas expire. In the meantime, our clutch arrived in Abuja and will be shipped to Yaounde where we will pick it up next week from the UPS office. With days to spare, we decide to take a joyride on the famous Ring Road in our french friends Landie. |
Ring Road
The 370 km Ring Road is the most famous piste in Cameroon, crossing a very diverse ethnographic area, home to many of the 280 distinct tribes in the country. We stock on food for the 3-4 days offroading: potatoes, vegs, grasshoppers, fruits.
http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_5175.jpg Yam mountains in Bamenda market http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_5178.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_5181.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_5184.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_5185.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_5189.jpg First day: we drive on the piste to Bafut, where we opt out of visiting the local chief compound, because of the tourist tax worthy of a major european museum. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_5193.jpg Veggies and grasshopper salad for lunch. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_5196.jpg Lea practices for Dakar http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_5205.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_5207.jpg We Falls http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_5235.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/...phine-5832.jpg � Delphine One has to earn the perfect camping spot. So after a dignified struggle up on a hill covered in wild flowers and thyme and after some intense machete-gardening, we pitch our tent by a pepper tree and a guava. We would wake up with the most incredible view. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/...phine-5833.jpg Morning grooming. � Delphine http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_5210.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_5238.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_5268.jpg The locals are herders and they look rather north-african. Mohammed and his sons pay us a pleasant visit in the morning. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_5216.jpg The countryside is so beautiful that it's soothing to our recent memories of Nsanaragati. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_5253.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/...phine-5736.jpg � Delphine http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/...phine-5837.jpg � Delphine The second day the track becomes almost unpassable at times, with huge holes and ravines that run through the middle of the road. Jacques graciously allows me to drive for the first half of the day and even if it's a tough job, I am having a lot of fun doing it. |
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http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_5258.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_5273.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_5279.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_5285.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/...phine-5868.jpg � Delphine In the evening we camp on the edge of a mountain. We start roasting our sweet potatoes and the excellent beef we got from a butcher in a village. We are soon surrounded by a large muslim family, complete with the two wives and many kids. They give us some space to eat or dinner though, only to visit us again the next morning. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_5293.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_5298.jpg The third day we get going quite late, having to struggle with a leaking differential. The road feels smoother and it twists and turns among logged hills, rice paddies and tea plantations. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_5295.jpg The green curvy landscape reminds us of our homeland mountains in summer. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/...phine-5894.jpg � Delphine http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_5292.jpg We have lunch in Nkambe: rice, beef stew, chicken, boiled plantain and ero http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_5323.jpg With our now impeccable sense of finding the right place, we pitch our tent in another super place. On the edge of a eucalyptus forest, with a breathtaking view of the surroundings: villages are dotting green mountains and we see cattle returning home and sun setting down in an explosion of colors. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/...phine-5895.jpg � Delphine http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_5319.jpg At over 2300m, the air is fresh and cold. A warm shower, a fire, a Bordeaux and a plate of cabbage with beef - cooked with local ingredients - complete a memorable day. |
How We Couldn't Fix The Bike
After 4 zen days, we're back in Bamenda and back to our troubled reality. We organize transportation to the capital Yaounde, where we are expecting the clutch. Our only option is to take the night bus, so we bargain hard for the 30 Euro ride. The vehicle was stolen from the EU aids bulk and is barely recognizable under the load of yams and live pigs. A woman stuffs her chicken under my bike, and with only 2 bottles of water, some ground nuts and what we are wearing, we hop on at midnight, only to descend at 6.30 the next morning. It was impossible to close an eye, but somehow someone manages to steal our mobile during the night. On arrival we ignore the rude hasslers in the bus station, push the bike uphill to a Total and hitch a taxi ride to the meeting with the Vidals.
http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_5337.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_5339.jpg We apply for the Gabon visa (photo, form, 50,000 CFA, 48 hrs) and we set camp on the lawn of the unfriendly presbyterian center, the cheapest accommodation in Yaounde. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_5372.jpg The huge water towers are local landmarks. Nearby, flourishing commerce: call booths and candy stalls. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_5340.jpg There's plenty of french boulangeries in Yde, so we feast on buttery viennoiserie. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_5344.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_5346.jpg In the afternoon it's barbecue time: fresh mackerel and tilapia brought in from Douala and served with plantain chips and pepper sauce. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_5343.jpg Yummy The clutch arrives http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_5351.jpg 2 weeks after the bike broke down, we manage to collect our precious parcel. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_5359.jpg We are high with joy. Finally we will fix our bike and get going. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_5364.jpg Suddenly, my brain freezes over. The clutch discs don't fit! Even though Harry has explained to wemoto.com that we only have one chance to make it, they just sent us the wrong parts. We hit a new dead end. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_5367.jpg Later, we would learn that the parts were for the old Tenere. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_5368.jpg We pull the cover over our sick bike and we hop again on the Vidal bus. Our fiends suggested we should wait with them in Limbe, which is closer to the entry port for another parcel. This time Harry orders the second clutch from off-the-road.de, who will ship by DHL in about 5 days to Douala. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_5382.jpg On the road again, we sample some banana leaf wrapped manioc. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_5383.jpg |
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And spicy fish stew. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_5386.jpg Missing Nigeria. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_5392.jpg Coke reigns supreme here. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_5399.jpg But beer is still cheaper than water. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_5406.jpg The green gold of Cameroon is constantly being lorried out and illegally shipped from Douala to every corner of the planet. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_5417.jpg A vision of Mt. Cameroon. The lava giant rises above the ocean at 4090m. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_5426.jpg We camp in the parking of Seme Hotel, on Mile 11 beach, where the girls' grandfather is expected to visit with a bag full of french gourmet foods. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_5431.jpg Everyday we lunch on bushmeat in Batoke village: gazelle, wild rabbit, with manioc and corn on a cob. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_5386.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_5476.jpg Lea http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_5478.jpg Elisa http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_5469.jpg In Limbe we feast on fresh fish in the traditional port. Mt. Cameroon lures us again to climb it, and we decide to go for it during the next 2 days. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_5453.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_5458.jpg After the 1999 eruption, a cloud of volcanic ash changed forever the Limbe beach: now black sand is washed ashore by the warm calm waters of the ocean. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_5446.jpg ITW was here! http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_5442.jpg To be continued. |
On Top of Mt. Cameroon
To Dr. Anghelescu (Med Sport Clinic), who helped me to walk again and to our friends Andreea Popa & Dumitru Buda & Stoi
http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_5465.jpg We start our ascent in Buea, the hub for guide and porter hiring, where we stock on supplies and food. We will follow the shortest, steepest way up, the Race Track. This is the path taken during the annual race to the top, that famously logged in a stupendous 4 hrs. record! The route will take us through 4 distinct geo-climateric zones: tropical rain forest, savannah, alpine and finally steppe. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_5482.jpg The 2 of us plus Delphine, Jacques, Edmond the guide and porters Mahindi, Jonas & Ibrahim start the climb at 10.30 in the morning. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_5485.jpg We climb the first 500 m through plantain farms. When we finally entered the forest, the air is cooler and there are beautiful tropical flowers and birds. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_5487.jpg We take our first break at 1500 m in the 100 yrs. old Hut 1. Our lunch: sardines and bread. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_5489.jpg Hours later we are climbing the steepest part: the path is covered in high savannah grasses and in petrified lava. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_5493.jpg At New Hut (1800 m). http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_5495.jpg Stunning scenery. Perfect clouds are tumbling down into the abyss. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_5499.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_5502.jpg Jacques & Delphine http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_5506.jpg A little after 6 p.m. we hit our target. We reach Hut 2 (2800 m) where the cold wind blows us into the shack. We gather around a steaming pot of Indomie and spaghetti, then we cuddle in or sleeping bags and tent. |
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At 4.30 we have to wake up, eat our disgusting chocolate sandwich and blindly follow Edmond towards the summit. Only me, Ana and Jacques chose to continue, and we are rewarded with the most amazing sunrise of our lives. The day slowly opens into an explosion of new colors and the birds offer an exclusive concert of delicate music. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_5549.jpg Strange trees covered in moss appear from the ghostly layer of fog. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_5550.jpg At Hut 3, at 3800 m above the sea level. Unfortunately Ana was forced to forfeit the ascent here, because of an acute headache. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_5447.jpg Me and Jacques climb the final 300 m through a weirdly lunar landscape and breathing becomes more difficult with every step we take. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_5443.jpg The Earth curvature is clearly visible from the top. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_5539.jpg ITW is on the summit! P.S. The Race Track is a difficult choice. We carried for days our wounds: solar burns, bunions, blisters, cuts and swollen nails. A longer - 3 or 4 days track may be a wiser option, but we are pround and happy to have conquered another dream. |
The Second Clutch Arrives. Will It Fit?
CAMEROON 30/11 - 01/12 The day after we had climbed Mt. Cameroon we felt exhausted in every aspect. Black nails, bleeding toes, sun burns, herpes. As if the long horizontal journey we set out to complete was not enough, we had added to it a long vertical journey. We logged online to check out the status for our delivery, made some calls to DHL Douala and then the customs in the airport to finally clear confusion - as DHL had registered 2 different parcels with the same tracking no. and we were told ours had been delivered to Oslo, Norway. Our parcel was indeed in Douala so we had to organize our trip from Mile 11 to the airport as fast as possible. Luckily a Cameroonian lady stopped by, curious to know about the strangers who were camping in the parking and eager to have some company while waiting for the husband. It proved that the man was attending a meeting nearby and that they lived in Douala, so we asked if they could give us a lift. It was a lovely "hitchhiking" experience, followed by a taxi ride to the miserable place that is DHL customs office, a place of corruption and deceit. We left that place with a lot less money in our pockets ("taxes and duties"), but with our parcel in hand. Inside the taxi, I torn the paperbox apart: it was the right clutch! We were saved! We asked the driver to take us to the bus station, we got tickets for the next bus to Yaounde and spend the 2 hours to departure munching on brochettes, fried plantain and fruits. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_5553.jpg In the background: us, shabby backpackers in Africa, but with a hope to become overlanders again. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_5554.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_5558.jpg Of course none of the clocks in the station or inside the buses didn't work properly. We have the feeling of being outside any known time or space. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_5565.jpg Two parcels: one shipped by FedEx + UPS from the UK, one shipped by DHL from Germany, 3 weeks, plenty of white hairs, a lot of cash and 3 small bags of Haribo bears = new clutch http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_5566.jpg Deja vu: the second attempt to fix the clutch; this time the place is empty of people, we are alone in a Moebius-like space, with all our hopes and dreams at stake once again http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_5568.jpg Once again we spread onto the cover all our belongings http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_5570.jpg A tasty breakfast to fuel our efforts http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_5573.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_5577.jpg I manage to get my work done fairly quickly. The hundreds of kilometers of being towed on sloppy roads took a heavy toll on the brake pads, so I have to change those aswell. It is hard to put into words how we felt when I turned the key in and the engine came back to life. When we knew we were free again to pursue our journey, our dream. We deeply thank our parents, who supported us, Harry, who almost single handily saved us, the Vidals, for offering us a hand and their lovely company during a difficult time of despair and uncertainties. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_5580.jpg Even if it's not always hot and sunny in Africa, we are reminded by many improbable Christmas decorations that the winter holidays frenzy is approaching. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_5583.jpg The authentic genius loci can only be found again in a delicious plate of beef suya and grilled plantain. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/nigeria/IMG_5586.jpg Sun is shining and we are enjoying our last Cameroonian meal. The customs officers didn't even realize our Laissez-Passer was long overdue. Is this a sign that our troubles are over? |
An amazing adventure, well done guys.
|
Lost
GABON 01/12 - 06/12
Happy Anniversary, Romania! We celebrated the National Day with the chilled and rather hip looking border officers who welcomed us to Gabon, and handed the first professionally printed immigration forms in Africa. It was the first sign that this 9th African country we were entering was different. We had gotten the visa rather effortlessly in Yaounde (50,000 CFA), after trying in vain in Lome, Togo and in Abuja, Nigeria. From the border there was perfectly smooth tarmac, the kind of track designed for a petrol-head. Twists and hairpins, rapidly alternating at sometimes adrenaline pumping incline, spectacular luck jungle, 100% pleasure for hundreds of kilometers. Even if we roll through diminutive villages with no more than a dozen wooden huts, long is forgotten the poverty of West Africa. And if life in Nigeria is unthinkable without the power generators, the Gabonese must have is the grass trimmer. The result is the entire countryside looks like it could host a golf tournament anytime, even if it's not likely that many villagers would attend. The prices for everything match the manicured look: double or even triple compared to other CFA countries. Petrol is still at about 550 CFA/l though, so we soon arrived in Bitam, where we humbly requested permission to sleep for the night at a catholic mission. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/gabon/IMG_5591.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/gabon/IMG_5587.jpg The sister in charge kindly invited us to join an impromptu jamming of the kids. We learned that they are all orphans, hosted and schooled by the mission, and that the money for this charitable operation comes from Canada. We sing and dance into the night. All our misery in Cameroon and the aggressivness of the people seem a thing of the past. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/gabon/IMG_5592.jpg We were heading towards Libreville and soon big artificial openings were replacing the dense jungle, signalizing massive logging operations, just like we'd seen in other parts of Africa. During the 50 years of African independence, many countries were torn apart by bloody conflicts and political mayhem. Gabon managed to somehow stay afloat, building a solid, stable economy, based on petrol and rich mineral resources. Then, in 1999, the english explorer J. Michael Fay hiked over 2000 miles along the Congo basin. His 455 day adventure changed Gabon forever. The president declared over 10% of the surface of the country as national park, transforming Gabon overnight into a champion of conservation. The unique biodiversity of this largely unexplored country was on every eco-tours agency mind, so they soon started moving in and advertising fabulous and very expensive packages for the rich. We could never become their clients. We were just going to Libreville to meet the Romanian-Gabonese family of Radu, a project initiated over a year ago by the only Romanian ever to have kissed the lips of Billie Joe Armstrong, Stoi. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/gabon/IMG_5597.jpg Soon our GPS let us know we were crossing into the southern hemisphere. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/gabon/IMG_5601.jpg The sign that marks the Ecuator is covered in overlanders' stickers. We put the dot on the I. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/gabon/IMG_5603.jpg On the Ecuator equality of the sexes is finally achieved. We were chasing the time, with visas for Congo and DRC soon to expire. We had no expectations, only stress that we were late and unable to spend more quality time with our new friends. But radu had a different plan. He would guide us to a place that we were sworn secrecy to. Beautiful, impossible to find unless initiated by someone who knows it well - and there are very few of those people - this place can read your emotional profile and respond with the right energy, the one you need to recover your balance, to feel one. In this LOST place there is a beach, the perfect beach. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/gabon/IMG_5609.jpg Anticipating arrival. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/gabon/IMG_5614.jpg Nana The off-road that eventually arrives on the beach is temperamental and difficult, separating the brave from the unworthy. The rain was soon melting the sand and laterite into a lava under our truck. Then we arrived on the shore: mellow waters washing white sands, not a soul for miles, paradise. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/gabon/IMG_5661.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/gabon/IMG_5628.jpg The only human touch: a shed with a table with benches, a barbecue, a hammock. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/gabon/IMG_5615.jpg I struggle for hours to light the barbecue. I am having a great time doing this. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/gabon/IMG_5681.jpg Cu Cristina http://intotheworld.eu/blog/gabon/IMG_5687.jpg Cristina http://intotheworld.eu/blog/gabon/IMG_5691.jpg Cheers! http://intotheworld.eu/blog/gabon/IMG_5692.jpg Cristina tastes the olive oil. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/gabon/IMG_5663.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/gabon/IMG_5673.jpg The photos are far from the unbelievably laid-back reality. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/gabon/IMG_5625.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/gabon/IMG_5626.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/gabon/IMG_5601.jpg |
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http://intotheworld.eu/blog/gabon/IMG_5647.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/gabon/IMG_5676.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/gabon/IMG_5696.jpg After sunset we lay the table: grilled chicken and pork, tomato salad, chilled pineapple and beer, a very summery Romanian fare. The day of our departure from Libreville, Frederik dressed Ana in elegant African attire. The girls spend the entire morning at the Angola and Congo embassies, trying to find out more about the elusive visas. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/gabon/IMG_5703.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/gabon/IMG_5700.jpg Good bye, Radu & co., good bye Libreville! Thank you for your hospitality and see you soon! Another catholic mission becomes our home for one night: we sleep over in Mouila, hosted by a very smart monsignor, who serves us local beer and invites us into a room that is also the library. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/gabon/IMG_5705.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/gabon/IMG_5706.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/gabon/IMG_5707.jpg Magnificent books, some even from the XVIII th century. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/gabon/IMG_5708.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/gabon/IMG_5709.jpg In the morning we cannot find any petrol in Mouila or N'Dende, so we make a 35 km detour to Lebamba, then we return in N'Dende for exit stamps. Now less than 50 km separate us from the misterious border to the Congo and then DRC, the dark heart of Africa. Soon, we will descent into the unknown. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/gabon/IMG_5713.jpg |
100% Off Road
CONGO 06/12 - 09/12
"Donnez moi l'argent!" were the first words spoken by the Congolese at the border. As always, people, especially when in uniforms, were demanding money, souvenirs, even our bike, dead sure that we are being sponsored by our government, our rich parents or that we can easily take a plane back home or just buy a new bike. We managed to avoid paying any bribes one more time and a hour later we had our passports stamped in on time. The Congo visa was not hard to get in Abuja, but it was soon to expire: we had only until the 11 th to exit the country, but what made things even more tricky was that on the 14 th a second visa would expire swell, the one for DRC. That meant the countdown to Matadi, the last place we were hoping to get the Angola visa from, had started. The neat Gabonese landscaping had been already replaced by a hot mess of savannah vegetation, piles of garbage and laterite huts. Hordes of street kids roaming the decrepit villages, along untamed chickens, piglets and goats. Tarmac had finished long ago, we were rolling on a piste of laterite bearing all the ugly scars of recent rains. We were back to the realm of rainy season, off-road and pain. The custom police and border control people warned us about another overlander's vehicle crossing the border about 2 hours before. Hoping we would be fast enough to catch up with them, I went full throttle ahead. When passing through Kibangou, the first little town after the border, I was so into the groove that I could not even glimpse at the police officers waving desperately. Some 5 km outside town though, I hear the unmistakable sound of a bike engine closing in. I wonder if we are being followed, but minutes later a white guy shows up on a KTM. I am so surprised that I can aryl mumble a hello. Alper is from Germany and is traveling together with his friend Esther around Africa for 8 months. They had already pitched their tent in the backyard of some villager, so they summon us to join the party. Back in Kibangou we learned that the German's set-up kicks ass: a Toyota Land Cruiser + a KTM 690, a solid mix of contort and fun! http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_5715.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_5717.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/DSC09791-2.jpg Our host is Madame Poulet, the wife of a local mother****er We learn that we and the Germans share the same problem: if our DRC visa is valid until the 14th, theirs will expire only 1 day later. We conclude we all have less than 10 days to transit the two Congos, while avoiding the turbulence in Kinshasa and the potential refugees in Brazzavilles, to get the elusive Angola transit visa and, subsequently, to exit DRC. We also discover we have been planing to follow the same piste south of Mindouli, and to catch the ferry in Luozi. It's only logical that we decide to team up until Matadi... http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/DSC09800-2.jpg The next morning the rain is back, we fight not to fall while riding on the bloody laterite slippery like glass and we hardly notice the stunning surroundings. The Mila-Mila mountains stretch their curvy shades of green into Gabon; a misty fog camouflages their geometry. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_5725.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_5736.jpg We soon arrive in Dolisie, the first big city in Congo, where Madame Poulet told us we can find another Angolan Consulate. Indeed, there it is and the diplomat confirms that a 5 or 7 days visa is available for 100 USD. But there are over 500 km of corrugated road to the border with DRC, so she suggests to get it in Matadi, or buy 2 transit visas and go back to Pointe Noire in order to cross Cabinda. A quick lunch and a quick run to the mechanics for the Toyo suspension and later we decide to move on with our initial plan. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/DSC09802-2.jpg The Chinese are working on the road, so we try our luck on the under construction portions, but we get in even more trouble. The sticky laterite into a deadly concoction - the African ice - that soon claims my 90% bold back tyre. Bloody Conti TK 80! Twice I bite the dust, it feels like riding on wet soap! The aluminum boxes get damaged and my rear brake lever is bent; I hammer everything in place as much as I can, but I am forced to tie one of the boxes to the frame to kind of make it work. Later, in camp, I try to get the job done more professionally, but I manage to puncture a vein with the hammer instead. Esther intervenes to stop the freakish Tarantino-style blood squirt and everything seems under control. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/DSC09807-2.jpg The next day Alper rides along on his KTM and we are having a bloody good time. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_5746.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_5750.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/DSC_0539-2.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/DSC_0532-2.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_5754.jpg We find drinking water in a village, where, as usual, dozens of villages gather while we fill up the tanks. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_5755.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_5761.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_5777.jpg For a while the road seems to improve a bit; the sun is up, and I remember how easy and fun is to ride without pillion! http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_5784.jpg The corrugated road with large potholes is more difficult for the car, so the girls are having a rough drive. One more unidentified bush animal ends up in our lunch in Madingou, where once again we have a meeting with destiny. At a nearby table we meet a man who tells us about a different piste than the one we were to follow, a better one, he says. 100 km shorter, via Boko Songho. He was crossing that route regularly 2 years ago, we write down the name of the villages along it, we sketch a map and off we go. Beyond Boko Songho there is a blank area on the Michelin map, we will have to ride through to see what's there. Unfortunately rain returns, and soon after the village we realize the road is not as great as we hoped. As always in Africa, information about distances, time and quality of the road is to be taken with a big grain of salt. We arrive in Boko Songho only late in the afternoon, and we are immediately summoned in the gendarmerie office. The unfriendly chief of immigration police almost has us arrested for being tourists. Who are we? What is our real mission? We are ordered to set camp on the football field and told we must stay here for 2 days, because the borders to DRC are closed. We are awaiting the official results of the elections to be broadcasted from DRC, until then nobody makes a move. Many worrying thoughts trouble our night, but before laying to sleep we have to shower in front of the whole village. The next morning we are late for our appointment with the chief, who comes up with a completely different story: now the borders are open, even if the proclamation has been delayed, but we have to pay for the exit stamp or buy a laissez-passer (in fact a document that substitutes a passport + visa for citizens of neighboring countries). We discuss a lot, finally managing to get the stamps for free, but we have to pay a visit to the sub-prefect office before departure, which is not entirely unpleasant. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG09816-2.jpg Rain clouds again http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG09819-2.jpg The marshes, many potholes and unrelenting rain slow us down to an unbearable 6 km/h, we have only 12 km to Minga, the actual border point, where we can solve our customs papers. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/DSC09822-2.jpg |
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http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/DSC09816-2.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_5789.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_5790.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_5792.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_5796.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_0547-2.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_0548-2.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_0532-2.jpg Three sets of custom and police people question and want to search our vehicles in Minga. We learn that only 3-4 vehicles cross this border each month, and that the last white people were here about 12 years ago. We have to go through the meticulous and utterly ridiculous process before being told that they want some money: to stamp our passports or just to let us go, or to fix the bridge that they just found out that had been washed away by the rain. We cannot trust anybody anymore, we just want to get out of this mercantile toxic place. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/DSC09826-2.jpg Unfortunately some 2 km away the drama unfolds: the information about the bridge proves accurate, we explore by bike the surroundings only to find an alternate route that stops in a village, so after pondering the idea that we could fix the bridge ourselves, we eventually return to Minga, to negotiate a solution with the village chief. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/DSC09827-2.jpg Alper is delegated to hire a team of workers and in the meantime we are invited to sleep over in the mayor's house, still under construction. We dine by oil lamp light and all we can think of is whether the villagers will cooperate to make the bridge somehow posable tomorrow…As the house has no windows and no doors, chickens, pigs and goats roam our "bedroom" all night. We put our mosquito net on the floor, everything is wet and reeks of sweat and mud. How will we get out of this? http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/DSC09829-2.jpg At 9 in the morning we are happy to count 14 villagers working on the bridge thing. We just might make it! http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/DSC09832-2.jpg Also the water level has dropped considerably overnight. 90 minutes later we are able to cross the makeshift bridge. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/DSC09833-2.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/DSC09835-2.jpg And it only cost 10,000 CFA, a t-shirt and 1,000 CFA worth of Pastis. 11 km farther we reach N'Finga, the dreaded and much awaited frontier of DRC. The people are so surprised to see us that they forget to ask any bribes, and so we cross the friendliest border in Africa so far. The custom formalities and actual stamping takes place in the next bigger village, N'Kundi, where we find more friendly faces and loads of kids who, we are told, are seeing white people for the first time in their lives. A man in uniform starts directing the kids to chant our names, tattooed in their young memories as marks of a historical moment. But for us, the moment is indeed a milestone to remember: we managed to get inside DRC before our visa expired, and in a time when all foreign media had launched a paranoid propaganda about the elections. Now we were chasing the Angola visa before the 14th of December. A new challenge was on! |
We are here! Now how the hell do we get out of here!?
REPUBLICA DEMOCRATA CONGO 11/12 - 19/12
In N'Kundi we were now gods, so changing money, refueling and finding food was a child's play. In this country everybody "eats" the dollar, or the congolese franc. It feels like a parallel universe: while nobody outside here gives a damn about the US currency, here they only take and use crisp banknotes that look like they just came out of the printer. And the prices are quite paranormal, compared to the rest of West and Central Africa: we don;t know how will we afford to even transit this country, food, fuel, everything is expensive, and low quality. At least we are being told that the road will start to get better from here on, but how can we trust such an information? http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_5811.jpg Should we have made this journey by boat? http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_5821.jpg Our semi-amphibian vehicles suffer a lot. Some flooded passages are so deep that my front like is completely submerged. The Toyo is having even a harder time coping with the immense pools, due to the extreme back load. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG09846-2.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG09847-2.jpg Every other pool of water we have to stop and check the depth and discuss how to approach it. Sometimes I ride in front, right through the moddle of the ponds, to help Alper assess the water level. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_5835.jpg In between drama we take a breather on the sandy rocky patches. Our boots are filled with dirty water, we are soaking wet and no more dry clothes in the sacks! http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG09851-2.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG09853-2.jpg We completely miss the beauty of this charming region, totally stressed out and worn out. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG09859-2.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG09886-2.jpg Disaster strikes: trying to avaid the deep middle, Toyo ends up with both differentials stuck in the mud. We try everything; we push� http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG09888-2.jpg We fight... http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG09895-2.jpg We dig with shovels, hammers, our bear hands� http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG09901-2.jpg Then we push again� Finally, 3 long hours later, we manage to extract the car from the mosquito infested marsh. We are totally exhausted, wet and in dispar, but we decide it's impossible to stop now. There is no place to camp, we have nothing to change into and we have to push it to Luozi, where we hope to catch the ferry tomorrow. Two more times the Toyota gets stuck: once a providential Rover comes to the rescue. At almost midnight we arrive, and almost faint asleep, at the catholic mission in Luozi, where we are hosted for free. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_5838.jpg We were on the ferry the next day at 11, but we crossed the mighty Congo only 5 hours later. The very drunk ferry worker that has squinted to see the rain coming made everybody leave the deck and wait and wait and wait. The rain came indeed, an hour later, then there was nothing else to do, but drink, talk and hope the rain will stop. On the other side of Congo the road was almost impassable after all that water had fallen over for hours: I don't even know how we managed to get through. Every meter of that road was pure hell, alternating rocky steep inclines with deep ravines, deep soapy mud with sandy tracks, punctuated by abyssal holes filled with sticking water. To make our ride even harder, rain started once again: small drops, cold, unrelenting. I couldn't believe it when at 21 hrs, after 6 days of riding over 700 km off-road I finally hit tarmac again. We had to stop and cheer, then we decided to splurge on a room for the night. In Kimpese we found a catholic mission, not so catholic after all, as they wanted to charge us 100 USD for two not so functional rooms. Finally we settled for 40 and got some salty goat brochettes and beer to celebrate our success. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG09906-2.jpg Back to our fav breakfast in the mo' http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_5842.jpg We fill up our tanks under the electoral posters. In the background, the opposition candidate who had announced organized riots after the voting. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_5845.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG09908-2.jpg The 140 km to Matadi are a breeze as the sun is shining for the first time in days and we have perfect tar road under our wheels. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG09909-2.jpg By 11 we were knocking at the Angolan Embassy. But here we had another shocking news: the consul had fled to Angola on an early Xmas holiday, under the pretext of potential civil unrest before, during and after the DRC elections. There is nobody here to make our visas, only the bodyguard and a secretary remain, the consulate is closed until at least the 15th of January! Our hopes are shattered, we have made it here in time, in spite of all the hardships, only to knock at a closed door�.What will happen now? Was all this that we have been through in vain, or will we somehow find a way out? |
Malaria
REPUBLICA DEMOCRATA CONGO 19/12 - 23/12
We were aware of the risks associated with crossing over 2000 km of extreme tracks through some of the most remote areas of DRC. Most importantly, we were slap in the middle of rainy season, when chances to become ill with malaria are peaking. We have been taking prophylactic Doxycicline for the last 4 months, hoping that we had not been poisoning our liver and whole immune system with this large spectrum antibiotic for nothing. Doxy is the poor man's Malarone, but with quite unpleasant side effects: extreme sensitivity to sun exposure, interference with the menstrual cycle etc. We gambled, and we lost. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_5850.jpg The day before the last day on Doxy, Ana started to have a fever and to feel generally weak. After 2 days of paranoia, the self test for malaria turned inconclusive, so we head to a private hospital, for a blood test. A few hours later the verdict was implacable: malaria! We had to accept the fact that we had been taking drugs in vain and that Ana was sick, but at least she was in a country where malaria is curable and almost a banality. We were bitter, but we were no longer scared, and Ana prepared calmly for 24 hours of shock treatment with Falcidox and Doliprane. She felt completely drained, hardly slept while sitting up, trying to cope with the non-stop nausea that made her unable to eat and vomit even the water. The emphatic gang was feasting on the most gourmet meals in Matadi: grilled kafta and beef steaks from the Lebanese butchery, with pantagruelic tomato salads, juicy pineapple and fragrant aubergine couscous. We felt sorry that Ana couldn't eat with us, and we forget about the uneventful Congolese staples altogether. No more manioc leaves stew, beans and manioc & maize fufu for us! http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_5847.jpg Slowly, our bike and gear were being prepared for the toughest roads ever: I changed the rear and front sprockets, cleaned the chain and mechanical parts (suspension, brakes + engine), I did my best to hammer back into shape the luggage frame, badly bent after the tumbles on the soapy laterite of Congo. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_5851.jpg Alper meticulously cleaned his KTM and Toyo and serviced the car at a local garage, so did Jacques. We had our HQ at Bienvenu's place, a young Congolese who lived in Limosges but was visiting the family for a week, and whom Alper met in the street. We pitched our tents at his sisters, on the veranda of an unfinished house, where we scrubbed and tooled for a few days, getting ready for the adventure and dealing with Ana's malaria. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_5853.jpg This time our we had something new in our luggage: a box of Falcidox, knowing that eventually malaria will be back, and that we would not take Doxy again! P.S. The unusual levels of white cells indicated an infection of the blood, so the doctor also prescribed Ana 2 other antibiotics. Knowing that we all had superficial wounds, that due to extreme humidity and poor hygiene while on the road were infected and not healing properly, we chose not to buy the drugs and to allow the body to recover naturally. |
DR Congo Rally - Kinshasa to Lubumbashi
Day 1 - 23/12
Km: 530 Route: Kinshasa - Kikwit Road: asfalt/ good tarmac Weather: 36�C, sunny & hot http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/DSCN0947.jpg Last day in Kishasa was day of shopping for the road ahead in the scruffy central market, watching the inauguration of Joseph Kabila on TV while the capital was in freeze mode under the watchful eye of heavily armed forces. By night though we were enjoying our Congo Kiese moment, with barbecued meats and bear and music and Congolese friends. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/DSCN0955.jpg Time to leave our camp in the catholic mission. Our German friends, Alper & Esther, had left 2 days earlier. We were hoping for an easy drive on the tarmac, but we were slowed down by the village crossings and many police checkpoints, even if the bike riding in front of the jeep helped a lot with the ever inquisitive officials and non-officials. There seems to be a general conviction that tourists are being sponsored by their governments to travel, I don't' think we were able to clear people mind on that matter! As African domestic animals are roaming the streets unattended for, just like their kids, eventually a ****, two chickens, a duck and a bat ended up under the wheels of the Land Rover. Just as we had done in Cameroon, we were rolling on the kids' schedule, so we would be stopping for lunch and to allow them regular play and nap time. Soon though, we would realize that we had underestimated the duration of our trip and the availability of food along the piste, so we would face hunger and thirst, while our supplies quickly finished. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_5859.jpg 50 km before Kikwit - where the tarmac ends - my front tyre gave up. Luckily Alper had agreed to sell me his spare Pirelli MT21 in Matadi, so one hour later I had mounted the new rubber, confident that this will make the offroad drive ahead much easier. But Congo had a different plan for us... http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_5860.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_5862.jpg It was almost midnight when we rolled in the catholic mission of Kikwit. While we started to set up the camp, Jacques went on a scooter with a priest to register our passports with the police. Just like in Congo Brazzaville, here tourists cannot just show up and go, people would inform the officials of our presence then we would have to submit our papers for registration. Sometimes they would just write down our data on pieces of paper or into handbooks, another reminder of the communist era in Romania. With the tent pitched we were about to cook dinner, when Jacques returned with bleak news: we had to pack everything up and go, the mayor had given us an ultimatum; sleep at his place or leave town. Jacques had tried to explain that we had children sleeping, we were too tired to move and it was late, offering to visit in the morning, but we either accepted to be "supervised" or took off. It was like an army drill: completely burned off we dismantled and packed up everything, then set them up again on a football field at the outskirts of Kikwit. Some Indomie instant noodles for the men - the girls opted out - and off to sleep. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/DSCN0964.jpg It was our most violent morning yet: at 5.30 a.m. we heard people screaming and by 6 we were dressed, we had packed our stuff inside the tent and were ready to unzip and face the crowds. They were shouting at us to come out and show ourselves, and at some point someone stepped on the tent and almost tumbled on it. So we got out. We were surrounded by more than 100 people standing where the tent ended, not even a centimeter left. We had to push them away to get to the bike and like a wave they opened then shut behind us. We tried to be as fast as we could, in the frantic madness someone pulled Ana's hair to see if it was real and we lost it. There was no room for smiles and friendly handshakes, we left pissed, stressed and hungry, worried about what this part of Africa had in store for us. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/DSCN0966.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/DSCN0967.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/DSCN0972.jpg For the first time in six months we were not excited. What were we doing there? Would we be able to cope with everything while crossing some of the most remote regions of the continent? Day 2 - 24/12 Christmas Eve Km: 94 Route: Kikwit towards Idiofa Road: deep wet sand Weather: 37�C, sunny & hot http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/DSCN0980.jpg The truck drivers from Kinshasa advised us to take the Kikwit - Idiofa - Ilebo - Kananga route, much faster and better than the treacherous N1 via Tchikapa. So 40 km outside Kikwit we turned left, finally exiting on the wet sandy piste, the beginning of our offroad escape to Zambia. Soon I was struggling to find the perfect line, no way I could cut through the deep sand, forced to balance the hefty load of the bike on the narrow sides where no vehicle had passed yet. Hot savannah landscape was punctuated by palm trees and the eventual village where we shopped for pineapple, welcomed by some villager and his strangely beautiful handcrafted sort of guitar. As the road turned uphill, we met with a truck that had been unloaded, so that it could drive up. The merchandise is then back-carried to the top and re-loaded on the truck. This painstaking maneuver is standard routine for these heavily loaded vehicles that carry manioc, crisps and palm oil to the next towns and villages from KIN. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_5894.jpg At some point Ana climbed the roof of the Landie, you can see her boots in the photo :) http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_5901.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_5907.jpg It was Xmas Eve, an incentive to quickly set up camp and cook our cabbage for dinner. We had promised the kids a big fire to help Santa find us in the middle of nowhere. We lit a glorious pile of wood and waited for the flying sleigh to magically show up on the tropical sky. Day 3 - 25/12 Christmas Day Km: 82 Road: deep wet black sand Weather: 37�C, sunny & hot http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/DSCN0980.jpg In the morning the kids had plenty of gifts to unwrap: Barbies, books, candy, sunglasses. We gave Jacques a Brie and Camembert to Delphine, and Cadbury toffees to the kiddies. We got almond candy for ourselves. :) Happy days! http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/DSCN0985.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_5910.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_5917.jpg Elisa with her new doll http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_5901.jpg As we were packing up, an unsettling SMS from Alper arrived: we had 2 ferry crossing ahead of us and the first required 15000 francs, 10 liters of diesel and a 24V battery to start up the engine. We had researched before departure and were aware of the epic story of a Belgian couple who struggled on the route from Lubumbashi to KIN a couple of years back. They had done it in dry season and still had barely made it with the car in one piece. They had mentioned this dreaded ferry crossing, when they got stuck in the middle of the river, battery dead, having to push start the jeep on the ferry to recharge the battery and be able to keep going. A horror story and we were dead sure we were not on the same route, but w e were wrong. So we wondered: are we prepared to face such a situation or should be try to go back and follow the alternate route via N1? After much deliberation, we opted against the ferry gamble and we spend the rest of the day going back to the tarmac, which 20 km off the junction became un-passable due to a broken bridge. The new piste was here: a narrow path hardly visible from the main road, but this was the path that we had chosen to follow 2000 km east to Lubumbashi. |
DR Congo Rally - Kinshasa to Lubumbashi
Ziua/ Day 4 - 26/12
Km: 113 Starea drumului/ Road: nisip negru adanc/ deep wet black sand Vremea/ Weather: 38�C, furtuna matinala urmata de soare/ morning storm followed by sun http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_5937.jpg Rainy season is in full swing, but luckily we are spared from the impressive storm! http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_5947.jpg The moist sand is not so bad, but soon the sun dries up the road and I am reminded of the Mali to Burkina day of hell. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_5955.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_5957.jpg Elisa doesn't miss a single chance to walk barefoot on the warm soft sand, a true free spirit! http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/DSCN0997.jpg At lunch we have a new birthday celebration in our little group: Lea is turning 5 and Delphine had improvised a yummy cake, breakfast cereals and chocolate truffles. Lea gets the classic French "1000 Bornes" and Cadbury chocolate from us. Happy B-Day, Lea! http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/DSCN1007.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_5958.jpg The unsealed National 1 is routinely crossed by surreally charged trucks and lorries. The scarred body of sand, mud and water could be more accurately described as a piece of land art, rather than a national road. Torrential downpours transform the pits dug by the truck people into massive craters. Green murky waters fill them, rotting, smelling, glistening like puss on a corpse. This unimaginable road is where hundreds of bike-people spend their lives. They push their modified bikes, loaded with over 100 liters of fuel, for days and days under the scorching sun, through the deep muddy sand, supplying petrol and diesel throughout the region. This in turn yields record prices for fuel: 2600 francs/liter!!!!! http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_5964.jpg In this difficult terrain even finding a bush camp can be tricky� Ziua/ Day 5 - 27/12 Km: 30 Starea drumului/ Road: nisip adanc/ deep sand Vremea/ Weather: 38�C, soare/ hot http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/DSCN1010.jpg Some 50 people arrive in the early hours to see the strangers who slept in the bush. They were hoping we can give them some jobs, but they had to settle with an ordinary session of white watching... http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/DSCN1013.jpg �followed by a photo shoot. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/DSCN1016.jpg Our day was to be remembered for 3 crucial moments when the Landie got badly stuck. We were becoming experts at lifting, cabling, digging, but we were still novices in tracing the hidden water under the sandy tracks, the moving sand patches, the traps. In Congo you are never alone, even in the apparent middle of nowhere people would start pouring in from the bush, asking for money to help or even to just watch us struggle. We discovered that communication was difficult, and that people's minds are sometimes fogged by confusion and lack of correlation with the real world. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_5982.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_5986.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_5971.jpg Then we hit rock bottom: it was my turn to get stuck, and it was to be the most spectacular moto event of the whole trip. If you have seen what happened to Cyril Despres during Dakar 2012, you get the idea. I tried to avoid the murky parts and I knew I could not balance the bike on the slender path for bicycles, so I took my chances and rev it up through what appeared to be a puddle. And I got stuck waist deep in mud, like in wet cement. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_5973.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_5977.jpg We got help from the 2 truck people we were helping to reach the next village. I was out, but I was also sure that I had to take some more load of the bike if we were to continue. Ziua/ Day 6 - 28/12 Km: 40 Starea drumului/ Road: nisip adanc/ deep sand Vremea/ Weather: 38�C, soare/ hot http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_5992.jpg Wild orchids in the bush where we slept over night. A good sign for the new day ahead of us! http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_5996.jpg But it was a deceitful one: this road was tougher than us, curving our every attempt to play it. The Defender got stock over and over again and the rescue tools started to get jammed with sand. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_5997.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/DSCN1019.jpg In the extreme heat the right front tyre was loose from the rim, so sand got in, and the tyre deflated. We soon leart that the air conditioning compressor from the car, that Jacques also used to power some handy tools, was no longer working. We would investigate that later at the bivouac. My chain was also looking bad� I was worried that we were heading for disaster. 3 km before the bridge in Luange we got stopped by the police again: we were crossing from one county to another, so they wanted to write down on their notebooks our passport and visa info. But they could hardly read or write, so after we beard with them 30 min., we just left. But after the bridge the others were waiting. One more hour of lame chatter, while Ana and Jacques were buying food and water from the villagers. Then we got the bad news: the trucks were stuck, blocking the deviation for the small vehicles, so we had to go through the enormous mud trenches. I got out through some villager's yard, but of course the car got stuck and the riot began: people gone berserk at the situation, and we struggled to cope with the stress, noise, heat and difficult operation. We somehow managed to get out of that madness and find a calm bush camp for our worn out souls. But the night didn't spare us: a huge storm started, with massive thunders and lightenings that struck so close they made us cuddle in fear. Our tent was leaking water, we folded our mattresses, laid towels and t-shirts on the puddles that dribbled in, and tried to get some sleep. |
DR Congo Rally - Kinshasa to Lubumbashi
Ziua/ Day 7 - 29/12
Km: 0 Vremea/ Weather: 36�C, soare/ hot We knew we had to try to fix the compressor and inflate the tires, so got to work. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_6002.jpg We oiled it and tried many things, but it was too late. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_6003.jpg So we greased the Hi-Lift and inflated the tires with my small compressor. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_6008.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_6010.jpg In the meantime the girls did the laundry with rain water from last night. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_6005.jpg Ziua/ Day 8 - 30/12 Km: 37 Starea drumului/ Road: nisip foarte adanc/ bad deep sand Vremea/ Weather: 34�C innorat/ cloudy Our most difficult moment will remain unphotographed. In the morning of our 200th day on African adventure, we had our toughest climb: a hilly, muddy track with huge holes dug by downpours. The kids and girls climbed on foot, but the car was inevitably stuck and later dug out. We had to dug away to cut our way, because the road was too narrow ahead to continue. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMGP6229.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMGP6231.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMGP6232.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMGP6233.jpg Before noon I was stuck in deep sand and I had to tilt the bike on one side and pull it away into the right track. Jacques jumped in to give me a hand, but slipped and fell onto his back, hitting the hardened roadside. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMGP6236.jpg For a few seconds he could not breathe: we knew we had to stop and lay the mat for him to rest. He took some anti-inflammatory drug and a pain killer, but we were all shaken by the event. After lunch he was not feeling any better and was too tired and too stressed to cope with the innumerable people that chased the car like hyenas a wounded elephant. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_6017.jpg After another breakdown we knew the day should come to an end: we got out of the mud and searched for a place. Unfortunately we ended up in a fly infested plane, the bloody beast were biting really badly so we wasted no time to look for shelter in our tents. Ziua/ Day 9 - 31/12 Revelion/ New Years Eve Km: 15 Starea drumului/ Road: nisip adanc/ deep sand Vremea/ Weather: 34�C, soare/ hot http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_6034.jpg Jack woke up all stiff in the back: I was facing the potential dead-ends alone. The road continued to keep us guessing, alternating steaming swamps with flat sandy patches, narrow paths or hilly ravines. And navigation was confusing: in some villages, people would stare as if we were freaks, and we tried all day to keep our poker faces on. We were struggling to make sense of the contradictory information we could harvest from the locals. Finding the deviations and avoiding at all costs the dreaded N1 was imperative if we were to arrive at the end of this trip. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_6041.jpg Sometimes you don't find the providential tree where you want it to be. One time we mount the winch on a palm stub, and Delphine keeps a watchful eye on the fable wood screeching and threatening to give up. Ducks swim in the rainwater ponds and pigs enjoy a mud bath. If not for the excited crowds, the whites stuck in deep **** and covered in sweat and dirt, this would make a lovely photo subject. But this is no serene scene from some travel magazine. We bump again into familiar faces: over the coming days we would meet several times with the same trucks. These people are the real deal. We may have been pushed into driving on this road but we only have to do it once in our life. But for them, their life is this road. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_6045.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_6055.jpg Every mistake can have cruel repercussions on this cathartic trip: we find the car suspended, centimeters from tumbling into a big hole. Villagers rush to enjoy the show, kids occupying the better "seats". We could picture them with the bags of popcorn and Coke cups, munching on. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_6062.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_6017.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_6065.jpg We work in vain, only to finally attempt a desperate solution: pulling the 3.5 tone jeep using only man power. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_6082.jpg And it works: dozens of villagers jump at the opportunity to participate in the event and then ask to mount the bike and get their photos taken. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_6086.jpg We spot a strange beauty: an African woman with clear green eyes. |
DR Congo Rally - Kinshasa to Lubumbashi
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http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_6097.jpg Its the last day of the year. We feel the exhaustion and stress in every cell of our bodies, but what a way and what a place to spend it really. We have the comfort of a shower, a table to spread a lovely New Year dinner and the beauty of our bush camp under the most amazing sky. We feel far away from anything familiar, but we are among friends and we drink our champagne to our dear friends and to you who are supporting us and keeping us virtual company in this cathartic trip. Happy 2012! Ziua/ Day 10 - 01/01/2012 Km: 12 Starea drumului/ Road: nisip adanc/ deep sand Vremea/ Weather: 34�C, soare/ hot http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_6099.jpg Without the winch it was no way we could go on on these roads, so the target of the day was to fix it. While working on it, villagers pour in to investigate. Some brought ridiculous human rights activate badges. Some claim they are village chiefs, regional guards or all kind of operatives entitled to check on us. As we try politely to explain why we need some space, they get cheeky, asking for some ID. One even says we'd camped in a cemetery. It's laughable, but annoying. We tell them how we spend all day long with local people in villages and towns, and that at night and in the morning it's important to have some privacy and peace to attend to our vehicles and the kids, it's in vain. They have nothing else to do with their time, besides it's the first day of the new year, so they expect us to cheer them up with some gifts. Let's say that we managed to define some private space around the camp, but as we leave it, we understand that these visitors were actually quite permissive. We have camped almost next to a village, the homes are visible as we get back to the road, no wonder they came to meet us; it's amazing that they left us alone during the new year night! But maybe we should not have celebrated the humane nature of Ka****u villagers quite yet, cause it was here where our group was to receive the most surprising blow yet. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMGP6212.jpg Entering the village we are eventually trapped in the usual watery trenches left behind by some truck that got stuck and had to dig its way out. So we get digging too, and the enthusiasm among the 200 plus attendees to the show is high. For some moments we forget to watch the bike, but this is our 12th country in Africa, and people have shown nothing but respect for our property so far. But not these people. As I return to the bike to get ready to drive, I see the radio is missing. We have been using a pair of walkie-talkies to communicate - car and motorbike - while on this route with many separate deviations that sometimes force us to drive alone. Mine is now gone, and all hell brakes loose. We try everything we can think of: mobilize the villagers, ask questions, shout at them, threaten them with the army and police in Kinshasa. The so called activists and chiefs have disappeared, nowhere to be seen. No one assumes responsibility for this village and community, the Vidals are on the brink of a nervous breakdown. And hours pass with a sea of people around us. We attempt to communicate, it's useless, they're useless. And suddenly, rumor that someone is coming with the radio. East to the village a large group is making its way towards where we stand. And they have the lost radio. Minutes later we get moving, while ransom requests pour in from every direction. We feel disappointed, ashamed. It's not why we made all the way, all the sacrifices, to come to Africa and have to deal with this. We don't want to be these angry people, shouting, threatening, fighting, pushing kids away. We know these are not the most friendly of all places, but there are reasons for it and we don;t want to get sucked in them. And we understand why we almost have. We left KIN with an unrealistic target, in an attempt to exit the high risk malaria zone and spend the holidays as close as possible to Zambia. But this road is tougher than us, we cannot beat it by force, we must cunningly use other skills to trick our way where we want to be. We have been accumulating frustration and despair and we have been acting on impulse, allowing stress to get to us. And on this road every mistake costs. Not carrying enough water or food supplies, going too fast or too slow, it all matters. And even if we can all speak french, communication is difficult. So in the next village the French agree to spend their first night at a chief's compound: we set camp behind the mud house and we kind of get to dine in peace, after shopping for some groceries (bananas, pineapple, drinking water). We throw what other goodies we have on the table - a last tomato, a cucumber, some bulgur and corn on a cob, and that's dinner! Soon after we hit the sack, anticipating an early awakening. Ziua/ Day 11 - 02/01 Km: 68 Starea drumului/ Road: nisip adanc/ deep sand Vremea/ Weather: 34�C, soare/ hot Our host asks us to charge a jeep battery, so we oblige, while he leaves to bring more drinking water. But he veneer comes back, so after packing our stuff, Lea says good bye to the many kids she has been playing ball with all morning and Ana to the villagers she has been visiting to discuss traditional gastronomy and what not. We are ready to face the roads again. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_6111.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/DSCN1021.jpg The home of the village chief. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_6100.jpg Lea with the kids http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/DSCN1026.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_6102.jpg Enthusiasm http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_6113.jpg And desperation� This time not our own: a Congolese 4x4 is stuck, so we town him out of the moving sand, where stagnant waters form deep underground pools, impossible to predict, easy to sink in. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMGP6247.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMGP6250.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_6118.jpg No luggage and no pillion, now the ride is quite fun! I am learning a lot on this difficult ever changing terrain, I wonder how will I make us of all these newly acquired skills when we are out. We got tougher during the last couple of days, so we drive more calmly, more focused. The most important new rule: every time we are not sure about the best way to pass through a place, we stop and someone walk on foot until the next stable area. Then we discuss whatever was observed and decide on a strategy. Only after this process is completed we start driving. By late evening we finally arrive in Tshikapa. We are in Kasai Occidental province, but what a disappointed is this place! We find in the decrepit market bread, some tomatoes, canned corned beef, manioc, doughnuts. And we roll into the "main avenue", as the police officers at the check point pompously inform. What a joke: this was a tarred road sometime in the 60's, but since the colonists left there was no maintenance other then the torrential rains that sunk the tarmac. The avenue is a canyon, filled with metal leftovers from trucks that had mechanical breakdowns and of course nobody cared to clear the way from the debris. One of this archeological souvenirs gets in the way of the Landie's differential, and we are forced to work hard to be able to drive back and then out of the road. Because while we were sweating it out, no less than 3 trucks formed a queue, blocking the one lane "avenue" of hell. Kind of in a bad mood we slide our way through the deep wet sand up to yet another catholic mission, where we celebrate the achievement with a cold lager. Ziua/ Day 12 - 03/01 Km: 0 Vremea/ Weather: ploaie torentiala/ torrential downpour Today it's my birthday. It's not an obvious place to party. During the night we got soaked with rain, water dribbling at corners into the worn out tent. A bit disappointed in this North Face design, confy, light, but not so strong. We slept again on folded mattresses in the centre. Rain stops at noon, and the rest of the day we wash our stuff with rain water ad tend to our vehicles. We decide to move the tent under a roof, on a veranda, where later we have a small party. Beer, ground nuts, rice and my surprise b-day cake: minuscule belgian waffles that Ana found in the market. She has coated the cookies with roasted nuts in a brown sugar caramel, a sweet improvised delight in a cruel world. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_6119.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/DSCN1035.jpg Happy b-day to me! |
DR Congo Rally - Kinshasa to Lubumbashi
Ziua/ Day 13 - 04/01
Km: 94 Starea drumului/ Road: nisip/ sand Vremea/ Weather: 38�C, soare/ hot 40 bucks for 2 nights of camping and some rain water? Way too much, we said, when father Sylvain-Desire Munzombo decided to show his mercantile side on our departure. We had asked on arrival about money and we thought it was understood that they wanted none. We had spent hours discussing politics and his desire to come to Europe, we exchange contacts and gave him coordinates of friends who might intermediate a scholarship. He seemed a bit off is some regards, but I guess it's hard to read people. We negotiated the amount, and he looked happy to take any money we were willing to pay�very christian, indeed. The day had begun on a negative tune, and unfortunately it ended just as bad. Few Ks outside Tsikapa we get lost from each other. We were now 2 groups: the car with the 4 frenchies plus Ana, and me. Besides N1 there is one more "main" road, a deviation, really, leading to Kananga. I have no idea we are driving on different routes, neither does Jacques, so we both take advantage of the almost dry piste. A crunchy layer of sand can be a blessing or a curse, it all depends on there is if a murky swamp under the crust. I can go 50ks/hour and Jacques 30-35, so, unawares, the distance between us grows, way beyond the radio coverage. When we realize the situation, it's too late: asking around in villages we're told that the variant will return to the N1 only in some 70 Ks. I have less than 4 dollars, a bottle of water and every chance to run out of gas before reuniting with the 4 wheeled group. In the meantime the others try to investigate and ran into a guy who tells them that he has spotted a white on a big bike taking the N1. So we push it, skipping lunch, hoping that we will make to the junction before it got dark. The road when it's not raining is indeed better, probably in dry season is even less challenging. But this time we cannot enjoy the good pace, cause we are running out of time: night is approaching and we start imagining all kind of creepy scenarios where I would have to spend the night alone, asking for shelter and food from some villagers, out of gas, out of money, maybe rain will come�you know�silly things like that. I arrive the first at the junction, but I can see no tyre tracks and no one has seen any car passing by today. So I wait, and I wait. Two hours run by, a cold evening rain pouring rivers of orange waters on the cracked surface of sand. after offering me a chair in exchange for my story, the locals let be to be. But there's no point to stay here any longer: the car may be stuck, I could be here for days or something, I have got to go back on the deviation and try to find them, it's my only chance. And sometime around 6 p.m. I see them, the Landie's fog lights rendering a ghostly apparition. We hug, we comfort each other, we tell our stories. They were indeed stuck in a swampy deviation of the deviation, right before meeting me. I buy some very pricey gas at 2600 francs/liter from a small stand. It is already pitch black, we must go for an emergency camping spot. Not a very calm spot though: minutes after we lie in our tents, tired and unsatisfied after another spartan dinner, we hear voices and people approaching. I ponder staying put and ignoring them, but these ones are determined like the Kikwit group, to go full retard. They are very loud and they start poking around at vehicles. The car is more protected, but I have to do something, I must intervene. I guess I don't look so menacing in my knickers and all, so I do my best to make it clear that we are exhausted, we are tourists and we need to rest, alone. Of course that soon after the fort group leaves the second arrives, and this time they are more cunning: they have summoned the police dude from the barrier, telling him them strangers are nearby and that they are afraid! The dude knows about us, I have chatted with him some hours back, but it takes a lot of convincing to make them all go. Disappointed that we are in no mood for socializing and that they got no souvenirs or money from the mundele. So they don't go far, just by the side of the road, enough to allow us to fall asleep, their voices still debating angrily the unsatisfying outcome of their visit. Ziua/ Day 14 - 05/01 Km: 161 Starea drumului/ Road: asfalt + nisip tasat/ tarmac + good sand Vremea/ Weather: 33�C, soare cu ceva nori/ warm and cloudy At 5.30 a.m. sharp the villagers are back. Group after group we try to keep them at bay, while shoving the breakfast into our mouths and packing in the same time. The yesterday rain left behind a topping of sand that is easier to ride on. This is small beer compared to what we've lived before Tshikapa. In Kananga we hit tarmac for the first time since we left KIN, a chicken poxed shadow of a once acceptable road, which has long collapsed under the rain, trucks and lorries. Pit stop at the market for some groceries: not much to buy though, platy of charcoal, bread, pineapple, dried fish, tomatoes the size of cherries (but not cherry tomato) and piles of ants and termites, some still moving. Everything is not cheap, and gas is 2600 francs for a liter! http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/DSCN1044.jpg Sometimes the lorry tracks become narrower and my foot pegs get stuck in the sand, my rear wheel digging a sticky trench in the pocket of wet mud underneath. Tilt the bike, pull it out of the trench, twist it back into upright position - under the scorching heat I sweat a river at every move, so by lunch I am too happy to eat the cold salad of rice, tomatoes and avocado. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_6126.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_6127.jpg Giant pineapple, just 1 dollar a piece http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_6132.jpg Of the bag of money we exchanged in KIN we have maybe 20% left. The biggest bill is 500 francs, so at a 900 francs to the dollar rate, you can imagine how it looks when people buy gas, for example. And yeah, as always in Africa, the money business is Lebanese. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMGP6267.jpg Most of the traffic between settlements is made on foot, no wonder we stand out. |
DR Congo Rally - Kinshasa to Lubumbashi
After the picnic we keep on rolling some 80 Ks east of Kananga, desperately looking for a reasonable camping spot. Villages and villagers line the road, finally at 8 p.m. we enter the woods and we take a sharp right straight into the bush, where we set camp under a menacing sky of charcoal clouds.
Ziua/ Day 15 - 06/01 Km: 115 Starea drumului/ Road: nisip tasat/ good sand Vremea/ Weather: 29�C, ploaie/ rain http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_6135.jpg Torrential rain. We cannot make a move until 10.30 a.m., when the storm becomes more tame. Under the drizzle we pack the tent, from inside towards outside, but our stuff got drenched anyways. 21 degrees, freaking cold, man. We are in no mood to roll, but our French side of the team has discovered their visa will expire in 5 days, so we've got to run. Ana gums in the car, sheltered from the cold rain, but depressed to spend hours in a moving cage. She sits on the bench behind, where normally the seats can be rolled down, to create arresting and playing platform for the kids. But due to the noise it's hardly possible to communicate with anybody in the car and there's a constant shift of falling objects knocking on her head: bags of food, potty, games, shoes, luggage. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMGP6271.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMGP6272.jpg After one hour the rain stops, but the sandy clay is so spongy, no wonder we are the first man men to venture on the road this morning. As the rain is still raging behind us, rivers of muddy water flow under our wheels, and we struggle to maintain a steady pace, while shivering and with the boots drenched up to my ankle. But we are moving forward, so that's good enough for me. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_6140.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_6142.jpg We lunch at the Mukamba lake, where we run into the first bikers since we entered Africa (Julien and Franck were moving about by Taxi in Abuja, so we veneer got a chanche to see them with the bikes). These two are from Belgium, and they travel quite differently: they fly from home to ride a determined stage, like this time they arrived in Lusaka and will fly back home from Kinshasa. I guess the bikes stay on the continent, so they don't need to carry spares and food, they travel light, sleeping mostly in hotels when they have a chance, eating local food�.sounds like great fun. They have arrived here via N1 and they have met Alper a couple of days ago in Kamina. 20 km before Mbuji Mayi - our target for the day - we hit the final test, at least that's what the villagers say. The rains have carved the road into a real canyon, but on the bottom the mud is as slippery and wet as everywhere, so eventually we get stuck, twice. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_6144.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_6146.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_6155.jpg Out from the trench at the mouth of the canyon, we get stuck the second time right before rejoining the flat. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_6160.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_6162.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_6179.jpg The crowds rejoice in the sweat and blood show, even if disappointed that we are not rewarding their presence with money and souvenirs. On top of the hill, a village "de luxe" boutique. At midnight we reach our target: after 2 weeks of hardships we are in Mbuji Mayi, where we are welcomed by brother Richard, Hungarian ophthalmologist, and brother Jerome, a French doctor. They are living here for over 20 years, running one of the most extraordinary and successful projects in Africa, the Saint Raphael Clinic of Ophthalmology. Here they offer medical services at the highest standards, using the latest technology, thanks to donors from Europe and North America; they also offer educational programs alined to the Congolese psyche: theater plays, musicals, teaching them about personal health, trust in professional care, life. One of the focus is on continuous training and in producing Congolese specialists that will take the project further. Our generous and altruist hosts offer us a warm dinner and a real bed to rest after a long and cold day. Ziua/ Day 16 - 07/01 Km: 0 Vremea/ Weather: 30�C, soar, ploaie spre seara/ sunny, evening rain Ana's motto has always been: "I choose cheese". Cheese, what a wonder creation: we appreciate it on buttered bread this morning more than ever. The lovely breakfast is followed by a day of washing, drying, visiting the clinic and generally getting ready for the next leg of our adventure. The brothers are incredible sources of information about the true Congo, so little known outside projects and communities like this. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_6186.jpg The clinic truck, the indestructible Pinzgauer, which has the diffs higher than the center of the wheel, to easily drive over the huge trenches of the Congo. I have "organized" things brilliantly: for my St. John celebration we get to party with the clinic staff, who are throwing a new year encore. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_6180.jpg It's a yummy spread: goat stomach in tomato sauce, manioc and garlic stew, grilled goat, roasted chicken, tomato and onion beef stew, fried tilapia, manioc and maize fluff, rice, pasta, onion sauce, chillies, popcorn, roasted peanuts, beer, sodas. All followed by dancing to the sensual rhythms of Congolese rumba. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_6182.jpg This great team of dedicated people are sharing with us not only the party, but also the activity report of the year and their ambitions for 2012. Read more about the project at: www.procongo.hu Ziua/ Day 17 - 08/01 Km: 150 Starea drumului/ Road: nisip tasat si pamant/ good sand and dirt track Vremea/ Weather: 29�C, insorit/ sunny http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMGP6289.jpg We say good bye to our new friends in great mood and great shape: showered, clean gear and all, an encouraging debut to the second stage of our own rally to Zambia. For the second time on this trip we were to take a different route, less travelled, but one that we were advised by the clinic driver that is better than the National 1. The route is a bit longer, crossing to Kamina via Kabinda, Mission Kalonda and Grelika Farm. We have no map, just a list of the villages we will pass, like we did it in Congo with team Alper & Esther. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/DSCN1060.jpg Half way to Mission Kalonda we run into our hosts for tonight: brother Richard has already called the sisters at the mission to inform about our arrival. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_6187.jpg I stock on fruits every chance I have got. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_6189.jpg The lovely huts where the Beatitude Sisters put us up. Here we encounter yet another special community, doing good for the locals, while working to preserve traditions. They bake bread, prepare homemade jams and fruit distillates. Tonight they celebrate the Epiphany, and we enjoy a lot their African ludic interpretation of the biblical story, happy to catch a glimpse of the Congolese way of living wit God. |
DR Congo Rally - Kinshasa to Lubumbashi
Ziua/ Day 18 - 09/01
Km: 156 Starea drumului/ Road: laterita/ laterite Vremea/ Weather: 30�C, insorit/ sunny Our idea to entitle this post "No days without getting stuck" was rendered useless by todays events. This portion of the trip is a breeze to us, after toughening it the other days. So we roll at the catholic house in Mission Kalonga, after spending the day driving through a picturesque rural wonderland of small mud huts covered in dry grass, where people weave ingenious baskets to fish, carry their crops, or to filter a presumably taste enhancer distilled by mixing water with a black bicarbonate palm dust. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_6192.jpg Food has become a rare and expensive commodity on this trip. With dwindling supplies, we are happy to find some pretty good tomatoes and beer on the small stands in town. Delphine improvises a French dish: farco,s, using almost exclusively local ingredients: leafy greens, canned corned beef, onion, garlic, salt, pepper, maize flour, a dash of milk. The gullets are lightly browned, then served with boiled potatoes and local beer. Ziua/ Day 19 - 10/01 Km: 150 Starea drumului/ Road: nisip tasat/ good sand Vremea/ Weather: 34�C, cald, apoi ploaie/ hot, then rain http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_6195.jpg In the morning we pack our tent pitched under the chicken house roof, where goats use to sleep. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_6203.jpg Jacques & Delphine ask us to allow the playing space to the girls, as the piste seems to be improving, so today we are riding 2up on the Tenere. Brilliant sun, good sand under the wheels, bright colors in at the rural landscape, a regained freedom to ride, to be. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/SANY0026%20(2).jpg But it was a brief joy: after 80 Ks our Dakar proves more merciless than theirs. My chain link breaks in two, under the increased weight, worn out by sand and bumpy rides. I try to fit a temporary wire, but there is no way. My heart sinks, I have no choice but to do it like in Cameroon. So we start the tow, and to make things worse, rain comes back upon us, soaking me and the laterite piste that becomes once again dangerously soapy. In the stress of the moment, we make a mistake with the longer towing cord, so the first tumble is inevitable. Then I fall again, and again, and again: sliding like a toy on ice, being thrown into a tree, losing rear grip in a pool of water. My rear brake lever gets bent each time, so eventually it breaks, forcing me to use only front brakes to tension the tow cable. 70 more km of hell, to realize that this is to dangerous to do, we are risking a serious injury and we are some 200 km from any town. We have seen nobody in the last couple of hours, we are alone here. We must stop. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_6205.jpg We set camp after the 4th fall, right on the road. There's little chance that someone will pass by. But our troubles don't end here: the Rover has been leaking oil from the engine for the whole afternoon, the level is on minimum and there is no spare oil to replace the lost one. I have some 10W40, but using motorbike oil may damage the turbo. We have to find a way, we must do something to get ourselves out of this forsaken place, and we must do it with whatever we have got. Ziua/ Day 20 - 11/01 Km: 206 Starea drumului/ Road: nisip tasat/ good sand Vremea/ Weather: 19�C, frig si ploaie/ cold rain http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_6213.jpg Lant rupt/ Broken chain http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_6206.jpg Fara frana/ No brake lever And no change of oil for the leaking engine of the car. As the compressor is broken, we have improvised a system to cut some holes last night: a cord wrapped around the drill. And some hours of hard work later, we had fixed our vehicles, African style. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_6210.jpg Sudura rece pentru conduct de la Defender./ Cold welding for the Defender http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_6215.jpg Handmade link for my chain, fitted with 2 found bolts. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_6216.jpg Ana went back to her corner and off we went, nervous at every bump, at every curve. And the patched chain hanged in there, feeding my hopes to escape from this place in one piece. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_6224.jpg As we reunited with the village road, where some bicycles do pass from time to time, our efforts were rewarded by a tasty Congolese meal from the road-side stands: beef in palm oil stew and hot fluff. Delish! http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_6222.jpg Hunger and meat cravings behind us, we were in the mood to notice the changing landscape: more vivi colors, more wildlife, maybe we would see some African beasts after all! http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/DSCN1078.jpg Whipped by the torrential rain, we rush into Kamina, tent, sleeping bag and mattresses soaked. Our dry sacks no longer can be call as such, worn out by the tough weather. We pitch our wet home under a roof and we grill some fluff. We need to call Alper and check on him, but the news are not good at all. They are in Kolwesi, after 6 (six!!!!) days of hell. The road is flooded, dozens of trucks are stuck along the way and there are 2 difficult river crossings. Alper, who has a lot of experience with off road bikes, tells me that one of the rivers is impossible to cross on a motorbike, with the water level above 1m! They have broken the lamelar suspension of the Toyota and are dealing with that. The nightmare begin all over again. Ziua/ Day 21 - 12/01 Km: 0 Vremea/ Weather: 26�C, ploaie alternand cu soare/ rainy with periods of sun http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_6249.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/DSCN1081.jpg Our tent pitched ar the Kamina catholic mission becomes play house for the kids http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_6251.jpg The Rover is sheltered from the rain, next to his big brother http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/DSCN1096.jpg But our hosts boost an infectious optimism, so we forget for a moment about our troubles http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_6229.jpg Cameleon http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/DSCN1084.jpg |
DR Congo Rally - Kinshasa to Lubumbashi
http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/DSCN1090.jpg
http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_6254.jpg I take some time to tend to my bike. In a nearby shop I find a welder to fix my brake lever and someone who own an old Honda. He agrees to sell me for 20 bucks his used chain (only 104 links), an insurance for me for the road ahead, as there is no way I can replace my broken part here, or even in Kolwesi. We find out that there is a train station in Kamina and we start dreaming to finish the last stretch to Lubumbashi by train. Alper senates us some text messages and the situation of the road through Sokele is not really easy; the constant rain made some parts really difficult, there are two river crossings, one is impossible with the Tenere as the water is more than 1m deep the current is really strong and there are big stones all over the 50-60m long crossing. Could the train be our way out? http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMGP6320.jpg We start investigating at the Station. Feels like Sunday, a laid-back atmosphere, and we have fun taking pics of the guards. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_6231.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/DSCN1098.jpg We lose a whole day going back and forth, visiting different offices, trying to find a solution. Everything from the interior decor, to the rusty dialogue with the socialist managers remind us of communist Romania; same bureaucracy, same "meaningful" wording, same approach. Finally we get the whole picture: 1350 dollars to rent a merchandise open platform, the minimum fee for a 7 tone load (even if we have 3.7). And the prospect of 4 to 7 days by train to Lubumbashi, unless there is a serious, but quite possible power cut, in which case we would be waiting for a diesel locomotive to pull us out. Ziua/ Day 22 - 13/01 Km: 0 Vremea/ Weather: 26�C, ploaie alternand cu soare/ rainy with periods of sun We are still in Kamina, negotiations for the train alternative going strong. We scale down the options to tree: 1. send the wone, kids and bike by regular train and make an all men team to drive the Rover to Lubumbashi; 2. share the ridiculous cost for the train with another car and travel by train up for 400 km for 500 bucks; 3. continue by road. For us, the train option is an uncomfortable option: pitch the tent on an open moving dirty platform, exposed to rain and sun, not a lot of room to move about. But it could work. So we decide to take this chance and skip the bumpy nightmare that claimed Alper's suspension and nerves. We pack up and fill the car with supplies: beer, goat black pudding and sausage, goat steak, deep fried manioc, veggies, bread. We have butterflies in our stomachs, but we puled by the train station in high spirit. In a few days we will arrive safe and sound in Lubumbashi! But life in Africa is a certain uncertainty: the train has been delayed� maybe for tomorrow, on some other day, they'll let us know. And the price has changed, 550 bucks, up from the 500 quoted in the morning (not to mention the 480 promised). What a blow, but in a way, what a relief! We are overlanders, so we must overland. We will hit the road, then, but as the day comes to an end we go back to celebrate our reclaimed courage with black pudding, sausage, caramelized pineapple, rice and whisky, together with the lovely people from the Catholic mission. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_6236.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_6240.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_6247.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_6243.jpg Ziua/ Day 23 - 14/01 Km: 55 Starea drumului/ Road: nisip tasat/ good sand Vremea/ Weather: 29�C, soare/ sunny http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_6253.jpg Once more, we said good bye to Gaby And we drove away. Where the road became a narrow path lined by vegetation and stumps, the car hit a tree with the upper luggage support. In the impact, one of our aluminum boxes was totaled, along with our 5l jerrycan! What a nightmare�we collected our stuff in plastic bags and wondered how we would fix this new problem. We could not ride with only one box, but alu is hard to weld and a new set would be too expensive, if not impossible to buy or ship in the next town. But we had no time to mourn our box, we had to keep moving. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMGP6331.jpg 50 km further we hit a new low: the right rear wheel of the car gets stuck in some trench and we discover what was the strange metallic noise that Jacques heard during the morning drive. The winch is not working, again. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMGP6339.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMGP6341.jpg We scramble to find a way out, at some point a 4x4 arrives and the dudes pull us out, but then we get stuck again, 1 meter down the road. One of the dudes start shoveling away and punctures a tyre, and in the heat of the moment they decide to take off and leave us there. This was a new challenge: the day had started with the car stuck in a trench, and it would end in yet another. Rain pour over, rivers of dirt flooding the trenches, but we no longer care. We are tired, dirty and have had enough. Our French friends decide to sleep in the car as it is, the roof tent impossible to lift. We pitch our tent in the wet grass. And try to sleep. Ziua/ Day 24 - 15/01 Km: 65 Starea drumului/ Road: nisip tasat/ good sand Vremea/ Weather: 29�C, soare/ sunny http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_6255.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_6270.jpg The uncomfortable rest worked: in the morning we realize that we can use the winch after all. A truck has arrived in the evening and is waiting 100m down the road for the rainwater to dry off. We borrow a chain from them and we manually winch ourselves out of the hole using th Hi-Lift. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_6271.jpg In the meantime my Tenere is ready for new adventures http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_6264.jpg And the girls watch some Disney character's adventures under the shade http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_6262.jpg What we left behind, after 24 hours of hard work http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_6273.jpg My quick African fix is still holding pretty well http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_6278.jpg We arrive at a river crossing, where we wait for the trucks to pass. The truck people have been working for days to fix a huge hole right after the bridge: sand bags, wood, the works. Later we find ourselves at yet another river crossing, but this time there is no bridge. |
DR Congo Rally - Kinshasa to Lubumbashi
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Too tired to attempt the crossing, I suggest to set camp on the soft sand some 200 m off the river. It's one of the loveliest camping spots so far, almost like a bai, where you would imagine elephants passing by. Ziua/ Day 25 - 16/01 Km: 30 Starea drumului/ Road: nisip tasat cu grope si balti/ good sand with potholes Vremea/ Weather: 29�C, soare/ sunny http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_6286.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_6297.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_6319.jpg Crossing the river was easy, but the heavy part was yet to come! http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMGP6347.jpg The road is all potholes filed with a murky pus of stagnant waters and sand. We are told to follow the deviations, the deep holes can be fatal. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_6328.jpg Suddenly we are out of the woods, where an incredible scene unfolds: http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_6324.jpg Welcome to infamous Sokele! Lovely warm weather, a mild breeze, a pleasant summer rain about to fall. Take a seat in the shadow, and if you're still hot, soak your feet in the cool waters. Hungry much? There's plenty of sweet bananas, 3 for 100 francs. Cheap food, beautiful scenery, sensual rumba music in the background. An enchanting place, if you can ignore the flooded river, the 2 trucks stuck in deep sand and the 20 people desperately working to build a passage and to get their vehicles out. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_6333.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_6335.jpg There are dozens of trees missing from the picture, cut since 3 days ago to level the river bed and allow passage. One truck driver tells us he knows Alper, whom he towed out of a pothole about a week ago. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_6342.jpg Up to our knees in the infested waters, the Defender defenseless in the sticky sand, the kids hungry and bored to tears, we have to get our **** together and find a way out of this. At a closer inspection, Jacques discovers that we can fix the winch after all. And we get the job done, this time in the blind, feeling with our hands under the water. The kids get a cheese sandwich and cartoons for desert, and we know how lucky we are to be able to do this. Life is tough in Congo, and even after living on the road and in the bush for weeks, we are far from understanding what life is like for the ordinary truck drivers with whom we shared food, hope and tools. We may feel pity for ourselves at times, we may consider this adventure some kind of martyrdom, but, seriously, how can we even compare our own misery to the black and white reality of this place? http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_6345.jpg Filtered water, Bear Grylls style Once the winch is fixed, we tow ourselves out of the river in no time. But we soon find out that the real crossing was ahead of us. The dreaded river was 2 km before Sokele. The villagers have built a passage for the cars: stones piled on the river bed, so that the depth of the crossing is about 1.2 meters. Impossible by bike, indeed. But I am told there is a collapsed bridge where I could pass, and some kilometers away I find it. No problems, I quickly reach the other side, only to arrive in time for one of the most spectacular moments of our adventure. Unfortunately there I was with no camera, watching the incredible: hood covered by strong current, the Defender swam over. If it wasn't so scary even the idea of taking another shot at this, I would have suggested to go back and cross again for the camera. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/river.jpg Luckily Alper snap the river crossing right before he went for it http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMGP6372.jpg Ziua/ Day 26 - 17/01 Km: 7.5 !!!!!!!!!!! Starea drumului/ Road: noroi/ mud Vremea/ Weather: 18�C, umed, ploaie/ humid, rainy http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_6347.jpg Ah, the smell of freshly baked bread in the morning! The Vidal bakery delivers once again, this time a wheat, soy and maize bread. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_6350.jpg Anticipating the daily rain, we set off in a hurry. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_6359.jpg But we hardly drove some 7 km from the bush camp, when the infamous road teaches us yet another hard lesson. The Rover is once again trapped in the mud. We figured this time we were not in very deep ****, so we chose to not double the cord, as we normally would. And something went wrong: the winch broke, leaving us with almost nothing left to do. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_6362.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_6336.jpg We tried to dig, desperate to do something, anything. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_6379.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_6347.jpg To make things even more difficult, the car would not start. We were out of diesel. Because the car was sitting at an angle and with the secondary tank mounted before the principal, the injection pomp was failing. This time we were unable to take fuel from the secondary to the principal tank, as we had done before. This time even the secondary tank was empty. I had no other choice but take my bike and start searching for a village where I could buy diesel. I was risking a broken chain, and the radios were no longer effective since we were rolling through the forrest. But as the rain kept going, we knew no trucks or other vehicles would dare the lava of soaking mud for days. We could be stuck in this place for a long time, and that was not an option. |
DR Congo Rally - Kinshasa to Lubumbashi
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http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_6378.jpg Guacamole on maize pita while I go shopping 11 km towards Sokele I strike gold: a village where they have diesel, and at a reasonable price, just 40 dollars for 20 liters. I return to the sunken Defender, and everybody is relieved. In the meantime Jacques kept digging, so after we fill up the tank we finally get the car out of the mud. Congo is Congo: minutes later a heavy storm starts pouring its furious waters upon us, drenching us, freezing us. I appreciate now more than ever the comfort of a car: the frenchies seek refuge in the heated car and get to change the wet clothes for dry ones. After a short wait we decide that we've got to set camp, and we drive just a bit out of the road, onto a field of high grasses. And the car is swamped, we feel stupid, incapable to dig more, to winch more. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_6383.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_6384.jpg There is nothing to do. It is raining too much, we are too cold and it's just too late. One more night with the car stuck and the tent soaked, the coldest, darkest, most terrible night so far. Ziua/ Day 27 - 18/01 Km: 120 Starea drumului/ Road: laterita/ clay Vremea/ Weather: 29�C, soare/ sunny http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_6409.jpg Seriousely, this photo is taken the next day. Look at the glorious sun, at the green meadow! Who cares how we got out of that doomed place? Jacques fixed the winch - it just needed some cleaning and some grease - we dug a bit, and we got out. The swampy roads behind us, 36 km later we hit the solid laterite of N38. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_6414.jpg Bugs http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMGP6377.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_6418.jpg Where history was made http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_6419.jpg And the parking of the Kolwesi catholic mission where we camped at 17 degrees. Brrrrr! Ziua/ Day 28 - 19/01 Km: 306 Starea drumului/ Road: laterita, apoi asfalt/ clay, then tarmac Vremea/ Weather: 25�C, cer acoperit/ cloudy http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_6421.jpg This is the only photo that counts from the 28th day of our trip. We had stopped by chance in front of that supermarket in Kolwesi, we actually crossed the street to shop for some veg at the market. The guy in white tshirt next to my right is John, and he would be instrumental for our subsequent happiness. He spotted the bike and the heavily loaded car and he knew something was off. So he came to meet us. John and his friends were the first whites we were seeing in weeks. And these white people were different: they offered us the true reward at the end of a hard and testing adventure. They assured us their friends in Lubumbashi would help us find a place to camp and one to fix the vehicles. Even the supermarket owner came to hand us a bag of snacks for the road. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMGP6391.jpg But the road was too easy, even under the cold rain. Just 150 km left of laterite, and after Likasi we were back on tarmac. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/DSCN1103.jpg the night was epic; we were wonderfully received by the Belgian community, with a gourmet dinner of shrimps and beef.. [ http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/DSCN1106.jpg �with moelleux aux chocolat and bordeaux. And to top the feast, Caramel Votca, the latest in fancy drinking straight from the pubs of South Africa. People were disputing where to host us, and Champs, John's wife, won. Late in the night we arrived at the house: a real house, with real beds. A home. We were at the end of the road. Our Congo adventure was over. |
Home Away From Home
Lubumbashi 19-22/01
http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_6428.jpg We had plenty to do in order to get our vehicles to run properly. Luckily we were in the best place for the job: Amze car shop (Toyota specialist), where together with Patrick and his team of mechanics we would launch a 24 hrs major operation. I fitted the bike with a new Tsubaki chain, I replaced the gear change lever, I repaired the deformed shield and handlebar mounting piece, I cleaned the air filter and did what we could to fix the damaged aluminum box. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_6422.jpg I am still in awe that our makeshift chain link held over 700 km of hard roads! http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_6424.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_6474.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_6432.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_6440.jpg The alu box hammered back into an approximative shape that would allow us to kind of close it. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_6523.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_6528.jpg And the final fix: now we could mount it, but it was no longer water proof, just like some of our camping gear. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_6441.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_6462.jpg Patrick's garage occupied by the Romanian/French team. Jacques replaced all oils, fitted the spare tyre on the rim and put the Defender back in shape. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_6448.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_6450.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_6577.jpg With the staff http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_6580.jpg And with Patrick - the owner - and his garage manager. Thank you, guys! Friends We had found in Lubumbashi not just the needed help to fix our bike and the car. We had regained here the warm feeling of belonging - even for a brief while - to a community, a family. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_6560.jpg Madi, the head of the Belgian Club and moto club, who welcomed us in the place that became for a while our own meeting spot. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_6551.jpg A beer with friends http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_6567.jpg �Congolese beer nevertheless http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_6569.jpg Ana & John http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_6476.jpg Dinner at John's place http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_6475.jpg And preparations�we had been invited to give a conference at the Belgian club that night. |
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The conference was fun. There is quite some interest in cross biking in Lubumbashi, where even a competition is held yearly. John's boys are always there on their Kawasakis. We discussed a lot about our adventure and maybe our story would fuel the idea to organize a rally in Congo. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_6484.jpg 24 hrs later the French were already in Zambia, their RD Congo papers renewed thanks to Champs. We had spent together quite intense, tough moments. Thank you and see you soon. Bon voyage, les amis! http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_6535.jpg We were still in Lubumbashi, partying at the best place in town, Bush Camp, with our gourmet gang. Feasting on local Chanterelle mushrooms, so delicate and fragrant, sausages, barbecued beef, grilled andives, veggies, even the green salad we had been raving about for months. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_6531.jpg But the star of the show was indubitably the amazing beef steak. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_6532.jpg The world renowned Congolese beef, a melt in your mouth piece of perfection http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_6544.jpg The delicious food was completed by an aromatic Bordeaux, Belgian chocolate mousse and vanilla float in kahlua. We had a hard time saying good bye to Patrick, Carine, Doc, Gilbert, John & Chams. Thank you, friends, and hope to see you again, in Europe, even Romania. Or, why not, in Congo. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_6574.jpg Reborn and ready for new adventures. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/congo/IMG_6588.jpg Good bye, Congo. Zambia, here we come! |
Everything Is Perfect And We Are Not Happy
Zambia 23/01- 28/01
It was just weird: we were trying to fall asleep in our tent in Lusaka, and instead of crickets and bush sounds, there were mobile phones beeping in our fellow campers' tents. SMS coming in or a call that got rejected. It was a black night, we were lying in our tent as usual, but this was no African bush. We had found a backpackers camp to pitch our mobile home and it was a fine place: friendly Irish staff, a clean lawn near a small pool, communal kitchen with fridge and real showers with hot water. Utter luxury. They also had a book swap shelf with plenty of interesting reads and most importantly of all, decent wifi for a reasonable price. But trust us brothers and sisters, we were anything but relieved to be there. I could not say we were disappointed. Confused, maybe. After weeks of toughening up on the road, we were hungry for more. More trucks, more sand and mud, more downpours, more nasty bug bites, more villages and villagers hauling at our arrival and subsequent crashes. We could do with not showering for days, wearing the same clothes over and over, sharing an avocado, 3 tomatoes and 4 pieces of corn among 6. That was just fine. But Zambia was a whole different ball game. Straight from the Chingola border the roads dramatically improved, even compared to the good tar in Lubumbashi. We needed no visa and the papers for the bike were free. We only had to pay a small carbon tax, then we were off towards the capital. The first provincial town had a shopping mall and people dressed in fancy clothes. But gas was almost as expensive as in east DRC and for lunch we had to settle for a fast food, as we could not spot any local restaurants or mamas with corn or any other stuff that we knew from West Africa. This place could just as well be in Romania or U.S., no way we were still in Africa, were we? http://intotheworld.eu/blog/zambia/IMG_6589.jpg We had to lunch on fast-food "pies": pastries filled with meat or veggies. In this small provincial town we found a shopping mall, but no local cheap restaurants or food stalls. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/zambia/IMG_6591.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/zambia/IMG_6589.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/zambia/IMG_6592.jpg At the franciscan mission in Ndola, where we stayed for the first night. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/zambia/IMG_6599.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/zambia/IMG_6600.jpg Custom carpet in our room. I wonder where can you order this stuff. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/zambia/IMG_6595.jpg So the second day of Zambia we had arrived in Lusaka, after sleeping the previous night at a franciscan mission. The US dollars keeps flying our of our pockets at alarming speed. Everything was expensive, everything was foreign to us: american brands, south african brands, lots of weirdly colored juices, crisps, chocolate, margarine�processed foods and shiny packaging. Water was hard to find: no pomps, tap water in fast foods was yellowish, even in villages there were only 500 ml plastic bottles on sale. What a crazy waste of disposable junk, and the junk was being disposed all along the sides of the roads indeed! Even the toilets in gas stations were not free. But we were not disappointed. We just felt a bit lost. In front of the many shelves of Shoprite supermarkets we wondered at the many kids of tooth paste available. We were back hey. The bush drive had been hard. It took a toll on us, our relationships and our vehicles. Yet somehow a sense of nostalgia was lingering. It felt as if we had survived a difficult test, only to arrive at the finish line and be handed a wheel chair. Life was too easy. Even bread - widely available - was already sliced and so soft it needed no chewing. We were prepared for another kick in the gut, but we we got a soft hand shake. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/zambia/IMG_6603.jpg Zambian staple: nshima (similar to Romanian polenta) and fish http://intotheworld.eu/blog/zambia/IMG_6604.jpg Perfect tar to Lusaka http://intotheworld.eu/blog/zambia/IMG_6606.jpg A Zambian dude goofing around. They love to do it. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/zambia/IMG_6610.jpg Rolling a big one. Zambia looks like a brand new country, a nicely greased machine that runs properly, a stable, safe system that just works. But somehow, magically, in this highly modernized place, the African megafauna still thrives, unlike in the Congo for example. After living in the wild for so long, after camping in random places that felt like the most remote corners of the planet, only now we were hoping to spot some wildlife. The elusive creatures we were dreaming about long before our departure, our childhood stories heros. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/zambia/IMG_6613.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/zambia/IMG_6614.jpg We spend 3 nights in Lusaka, resting, washing, blogging, taking a dip in the pool, cooking the big round tomatoes and mushrooms that filled the markets, shopping at the giant African corporation Zambeef. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/zambia/IMG_6616.jpg Take 1: rabbits love bikes http://intotheworld.eu/blog/zambia/IMG_6617.jpg Take 2: moto magic, the rabbit has become �Sam Then we left in search for the giraffes, zebras, monkey, elephants, we went south. We were struggling with this new found comfort of driving on perfect tarmac, unable to find a resolution of this absurd dichotomy. Should we feed our hunger for adventure, should we enjoy the civilization? In Lusaka we had met with the second pair of bikers since we had left. James and Bryce are from Cape Town, and they rode their BMW F650 GS from London - where they've been living and working for many years - to their home in Africa, via Europe, Turkey, the Middle East and the east coast. Finally we had things to learn from others like us, we had stories to tell, tools to share, bolts to screw. We ate the same foods, we packed the same gear, we flaunted the same uninhibited swagger. James had had a problem with the clutch and had been towed by Bryce for miles, so in Lusaka we went to the same shop to rebuild brake pads. I also had to fit a new chain lock as the original one had already fallen off since Lubumbashi - so much for the cross chains reliability! - replace a lost shield screw and repair the broken right mirror, now necessary because of the driving style in Zambia. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/zambia/IMG_6619.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/zambia/IMG_6622.jpg It was logical and fun to ride together on our way to Vic Falls and on their way to Kariba Lake. But after being stopped for the second time for speeding by the same police car and after making them go so we could enjoy our lunch of roasted chicken with salad and corn, Bryce discovered that his chain was damaged. It was like it happened to us in Morocco, the chain was extremely stiff, with many frozen links. So they went back 50 km to Lusaka to find a new chain, and we drove south on the straight road until we felt we would fall asleep from boredom. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/zambia/IMG_6623.jpg But this is the heart of Africa, and it comes with the most incredible sunsets. We were tripping in this surreal light that was scalding the vast plain. It was all ours, to bathe in, to make our temporary shelter on. So no wonder we arrived the next day in famously named Livingstone with high expectations. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/zambia/IMG_6639.jpg Chicken with leafy greens, similar to spinach http://intotheworld.eu/blog/zambia/IMG_6640.jpg Beef stew |
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