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So the site says that I am in Denver, the trucks and rest of the crew are somewhere in Angola and blogs and content are sparse. For over a month we were all stuck in the Congo, as you are well aware from the blogs, we could not get visas for Angola.  Right now we are in the process of shipping the trucks to Buenos Aries and trying to raise funds for the South American segment of the expedition.

Since we were held up for so long, I had to fly back to the states from Pointe Noire, Congo, so that I would not miss my sisters wedding. Being forced to leave from such an odd place, it cost a tremendous amount of money to get me back to Denver. Where I am currently stuck… (more…)

In the United States, you may not have heard about the driving the “Cape to Cape” run . I guess there may be some scenic drives or highways that go from Cape A to Cape B, but the Cape run I am talking about is the drive from North Cape, Norway to Cape Agulhas, South Africa. It is a drive that overlanders dream about and only a handful actually complete in their lifetimes. There are obviously more direct routes to drive from the northern most point in Europe to the southern most point in Africa, but for us, the journey covered roughly 17,000 miles, spanned about 110 degrees of latitude, took us through 29 countries and lasted approximately 6 months.

Six months ago, we were in the far northern reaches of the Arctic

As we made our way to Cape Agulhas, instead of reindeer, we were on the lookout for turtles

Although chilly, it was a bit warmer at 34.5degrees South latitude

The marker in Norway was nicer, but where else can you swim in two oceans at the same time!

We are not the first people to drive the Cape to Cape run, but it is definitely a small number of people, mainly Europeans… I can probably extrapolate a bit further, hedge a bet from our experiences and say that most of the members of the Cape to Cape overland family are either Dutch, Scandinavian or South African. Now add some nutty Americans to the group. I am fairly certain that we are the first Americans to complete the Cape to Cape run as part of our overall expedition. We received a lot of support and encouragement along the way. In fact, some South Africans we met in Angola shouted enthusiastically “finally, some Americans with some balls,” when we stopped on the side of the road to chat. The road was very tough at times, but we made it and looking back it was well worth it. We still have a good portion of the trip left, but this was a major segment of the expedition and one that we anticipated would be one of the toughest. I am sure South America will hold some surprises in store for us, but our experiences here in Africa will help us to prepare for what the next continent throws our way.

For Africa that is. That’s right, we made it all the way to South Africa. We have a few more days before we arrive in Cape Town and hopefully ship the trucks to Argentina on the 6th of July, so  we are taking in some of the sights on the Garden Route. It has been a pretty hectic month and a lot has happened. Here are some of the highlights:

D.R.C

After getting deported the first time we tried to enter the DRC, we were more successful the second time with a little bit of help from our friends at the US Embassy in Brazzaville. On our way to Matadi where we hoped to finally obtain our Angola visas, we took some time to camp a little bit at the Zongo Chutes, a waterfall churning out a huge volume of water that eventually empties into the Congo River. It was quite an interesting sight and probably one of the only semi-developed tourist attractions in the entire country.

At the Chutes, we also met some people from the Netherlands who are working for Heineken in Kinshasa. We had some good conversations around the campfire about living in the DRC and life on the road and they were kind enough to let us crash at their guesthouse in Matadi while we waited for our visas. That’s right, we waited for our Angola visas at the Heineken House… enough said. After three days of waiting in Matadi, we finally had our visas in our passports and headed south to the border.

The guys from Heineken pose for a photo at Zongo Chutes, D.R.C.

View of Matadi from the Heineken House

Angola

It was hard to believe that we actually had our visas to Angola… it was almost as hard to believe that we only had five days to drive over 2,000 kilometers on roads that were reported to be pretty rough. The roads in Angola did prove to be pretty bad, but if you are planning a visit there in the next five years, the Chinese will probably have completed most of the wide scale construction projects we witnessed there. Angola was an interesting country. The people were exceptionally friendly, the natural beauty was astounding and given all of the construction going on, it was obvious that they are preparing for an explosion of tourism in the not so distant future. Someone just needs to tell them that if they want people to come to Angola, they need to chill out on the whole visa thing. It was also very interesting driving through a country that up until a few years ago, was in the midst of a brutal civil war. Signs of the war are still everywhere, from wrecked military equipment littering the side of the road, to completely destroyed buildings pockmarked with bullet holes… not to mention the thousands of landmines still hiding in the ground waiting to be found by an unlucky farmer or pedestrian. It was too bad we only had five days to experience Angola, because there is a lot more that all of us would have liked to have seen and experienced there. In the end, we made it through Angola in the time we were given, but had to log in about 60 hours behind the wheel in just under five days to do so.

Much of the Portuguese architecture did not survive the civil war

Military equipment dots the Angolan countryside

Most of the horrible roads were no match for the Thundra

But when the bridge is washed out, there is not much you can do but find another way around

Namibia

After spending four months in the developing countries of West Africa, Namibia was a welcome change. The roads were in great shape, the ATM’s worked, the official language was English and the grocery stores were stocked with a variety of items that did not cost a fortune. A lot of the change is probably due to the fact that the wildlife in Namibia attracts a healthy stream of tourists and the country has invested in infrastructure to keep that stream flowing. We were still behind schedule, but we could not miss the opportunity to see some of the amazing wildlife in Namibia, so a few days after entering the country, we headed out to Etoshia National Park to see what we could see. We saw a lot, but unfortunately missed the opportunity to see any of the big cats, but rest assured, they are there waiting for you.

No Photoshop… the shot of the day!

The Etoshia Pan is the only waterhole for miles so animals are everywhere

This bull elephant felt we were a little too close to his family and charged the Sequoia

Wildebeests share the pan with Zebra

It was amazing how close you could get to the animals in the park

I am sure you have probably all been wondering what the hell has been going on with the expedition. Well, the quick and dirty answer is twofold: a lot and not much. In the last five and a half weeks we have managed to drive a grand total of about 360 kilometers. We were stuck in Pointe Noire, Congo for exactly four weeks until we decided that we needed to pull the plug on the Angolan visa process there and try our luck elsewhere.

We have been in contact with a Dutch couple that we met in Nigeria who have been following a similar route and although they experienced problems of their own in Cameroon and Gabon, made it through Brazzaville, Congo and Matadi, D.R.C., where they got five day Angola transit visas issued to them in 24 hours. Based upon that information, we packed up the trucks and headed towards Brazzaville because we were also informed that we would be denied entry into the D.R.C. without a letter from the Angolan Embassy in Brazzaville stating that it was possible to get a visa in Matadi. For the D.R.C., no proof of onward travel, no entry, plain and simple.

Sounds easy enough right? Drive 360 kilometers to Brazzaville, get a letter from the Angolan Embassy the same day, drive to Matadi the next, get a transit visa for Angola a day later and within a week or so, we would be sitting pretty in southern Africa with the problem areas comfortably in our rearview mirror. However, in the infinite wisdom of Lord Buddha, when it comes to the future, “whatever you think it will be, it will always be something different.” This line of thinking could not possibly be more applicable that here in Africa.

The road from Point Noire to Brazzaville takes the cake as being the worst road we have driven on during the expedition. In fact, I would feel comfortable betting that it is the worst road in the world. We got the trucks stuck on multiple occasions in mud that was waist deep. We were forced to drive on small deviations that took us up hills at what seemed like 45 degree angles, and at one point, we had to actually build a bridge with the help of some local villagers using bent railroad rails and rotted logs to get the trucks over a narrow, but very deep culvert.

Stuck in the mud again

Truck blocking a section of Congolese national highway route N1

As if the road were not exciting enough… it took us the better part of three days to drive the 360 kilometers from Pointe Noire to Brazzaville, we had to contend with the rebels. There is a region of the Congo just west of Brazzaville known as the Pool Region. The Pool Region is home to the remnants of the rebel army that had been fighting the Congolese government during the bloody civil war here in the 1990’s. After a peace treaty was signed in 1997, the rebels were out of a job and although the rebels, locally known as the Ninjas, received some political concessions, the unequal distribution of wealth in the Congo they were fighting a decade ago still remains largely in tact today. With no money, the rebels have little other choice but to get what they can from people crazy enough to venture down route N1.

It was not long before we had our first rebel encounter, but we were prepared… at least as prepared as you can be for a rebel encounter in the middle of the Congolese jungle, and made it through the makeshift checkpoint for the price of a few packs of cigarettes and some vitamins that had been floating around the Tundra. The Ninjas were actually pretty cool, telling us that with no jobs, they are forced to “tax” people on the road. If the Ninjas go to the bigger towns to look for work, they are arrested and thrown in jail. When we told the Ninjas that we sympathized with their situation and that we were American tourists, they insisted on taking photos with us. The whole situation was a little nerve wracking, especially since most of the rebels were either drunk, stoned, or both. Additionally, many of the Ninjas were armed with AK-47’s which they demonstrated were very much operational. Shattered nerves and gray hairs aside, we got some pretty sweet shots with the rebels… it is not everyday that you can whip out a photo you took with some genuine Congo rebels.

Not what you want to see when you come around the corner

Mark and the Ninjas

We encountered several more Ninja roadblocks along the road to Brazzaville, mostly at huge mud pits where vehicles had become stuck. The Ninjas would happily help dig you out of the mud for a large fee and they had it set up as such that no matter which way you drove, you were going to get stuck. Lucky for us, we had two trucks, snatch straps and our own shovels, so when we did get stuck, we did all the work. Because they could not ethically “tax” us for work they did not do, they let us pass in exchange for a few small “gifts,” e.i. cigarettes, broken sunglasses, and bananas. We had hoped to make it out of rebel territory in one day, but the condition of the roads ensured that was not going to happen. As it turns out, we ended up spending a night at a rebel camp with the district rebel chief, Mr. Tompette. Mr. Tompette was very hospitable, and let us park our trucks near his compound so we would be safe for the night. We even watched old DVD’s of the 10th anniversary of the peace treaty with our rebel host as other Ninjas gathered around, grumbling when they caught a glimpse of the president on the screen. The next day, after playing around with some guns and taking a few photos, Mr. Tompette provided us with a Ninja escort all the way to Brazzaville, completely free of charge.

Today on Mr. Tompette’s Neighborhood, the Americans drop in…

It was a lot harder than we thought, but here we are in Brazzaville, Congo, which according to Aneki.com, is the city with the worst standard of living in the world. The people are actually pretty friendly here, and although there are signs of development and progress in Brazzaville, visible remnants of the civil war still exist; buildings pockmarked with bullet holes, security checkpoints, a strong military presence, etc. We were originally planning on being out of Brazzaville in a day or two after getting the letter we needed from the Angolan Embassy, but as luck would have it, the Consul, the only individual in an entire three story building with the ability and authority to sign our letter, is on vacation for a week and we arrived just as he was packing his suitcase. I should get Lord Buddha’s view on the future tattooed on my eyelids. That way, I will not be surprised when the simplest of tasks becomes a monumental undertaking. As a result, we once again find ourselves playing the waiting game while trying to ignore growing feelings of déjà vu. It is reported that the Consul will return from his holiday on Tuesday… we can only hope.

Surprise, we are still in Pointe Noire, Congo. We were originally planning on passing through the Congo on our way south in only two days but the powers that be decided that we needed to spend a little bit more time here. One month to be exact. We have been here for so long, I should probably look into hiring a real estate agent. To make matters more interesting, we have now overstayed our Congolese visas which is potentially a big problem, but here in Africa, even when you see a problem like this looming on the horizon, you are in many cases powerless to act on it. In the continuing saga of hearing absolutely nothing from the Angolan consulate on the status of our visa applications, we anticipated that we might be here longer than our original visas permitted, so last Wednesday, we started the process to extend them. The visa extension process was reportedly only supposed to take a day, but three days later, we still do not have our passports back. The main reason for the delay in processing the extensions is the arrival of the Congolese president here in Pointe Noire yesterday. Apparently, every public official and half-ass, passport stamping bureaucrat was needed to prepare in advance for his arrival and to attend all of the ceremonies celebrating the great and wonderful things the president has done for the country.

Being stuck here in the Congo for a month longer than anticipated has forced us to change a lot of our plans. Zambia and Victoria Falls will have to wait for another day as will the wildlife reserves in Botswana and South Africa. I came to Africa hoping to see some exotic wildlife, however, I fear that the only wildlife I will most likely see on this segment of the trip are the lions and cheetahs prancing through the savannah in faded paintings hanging in the musty office of the Angolan consulate in Pointe Noire. “C’est tres tragique!”

We were also on a relatively tight timeframe so that we could fly back to the States from South Africa to attend the wedding of Steve S’s sister, Katie. In order to avoid a lifetime of regret and condemnation to the dog house, Steve was forced to spend an extra $1,500 to ensure that he did not miss this important event. In total Steve spent about $2,900 on his flight back to Denver including the original ticket. Mark and I on the other hand had no choice but to stay behind and continue to try and get the trucks and ourselves out of the Congo and past the giant roadblock that is Angola. Steve waited until the last possible moment, but was ultimately forced to fly home yesterday. Luckily for Steve, he flew out in the morning because officials closed down the airport a short while later to receive the president and his entourage. Steve will make it to his sister’s wedding, but will miss the last 5,000 or so kilometers of Africa and the trip down to Cape Agulahs; the southern most point on the continent and the end point of the “cape to cape run.” (North Cape, Norway to Cape Agulahs, South Africa) So TWBR is one man down until we are reunited in Argentina… a country that for the time being feels like it could not possibly be any farther away.