Hi, I am in Yaounde now. DRC visa is not available here any more. Two persons tried to get it unsuccessfully. I think to obtain it in Brazza. Does anyone have an advice? I want to go to Gabon in Wednesday. Should I try a Libreville?

Alex

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RUBTSOVTRAVEL.COM

Please can you let us know if/where/how you manage to get your visa. We'll be needing one in a few months and it'd be good to know what the protocol is now.

Many thanks.

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http://www.mindtheelephant.com

same here, hoping to pass there somewhere in march.

considering your heading via Gabon I assume cameroon-brazzaville isn't possible atm?

Thereby, I think i read here before a visa for onward travel to angola is needed before entering DRC. Anyone knows where that one's obtained most easily?

hey Alex!
Long time no hear my friend!!
Mark, Migo and I have just put in our applications here in Yaounde for DRC, we obtained Gabon visa easily but expensive at 70,000 XOF and the DRC is 45,000 XOF. They said if the application gets refused we'll be refunded 40,000 XOF and will find out monday at 2pm if were successful. I'll post if we are.

Have fun!

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Geoffshing

'Security is a product of one's own imagination, it does not exist in nature as a rule, life is either a daring adventure or nothing.'

hi guys,

glad to hear you're making good progress. i met miko briefly with peter when they were in rabat (i'm on a bicycle, in mali at the moment).

i'm just wondering if you have already picked up your angolan visa and where you got it? just trying to figure out my options with that one. i would need a one month tourist visa, not just a 5 day transit.

i know that it has been harder lately to get it and have seen abuja mentioned a few times. even if possible to get in accra, i don't think i'd make it to the angolan border within 2 months if that is the requirement.

all advice much appreciated,
good luck
julian

Good luck all. Please update this page with your experiences. I'm trying to get together a decent reference page:

Visa Summary for EU citizens - Wikitravel

Loving Mark's blog of the west coast trip, tell him to hurry up with the next entry though! We'll be following down the coast, in Barcelona at the mo, crossing into Morocco at the beginning of next week. Maybe we'll bump into you Julian.

Many thanks and good luck all.

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http://www.mindtheelephant.com

I'll have a look at the notes we made for our trip. Glad to hear you've made it to Cameroon and looking forward to hearing how the journey is. For now I wouldn't leave Yaounde until you are sure that you can't get that Visa - if DRC is 'locked-down' then you'll need that Angola Visa to get into Kinshasa (otherwise I imagine you're planning to go to Matadi (DRC) to get the visa there).

Regards,
Ed

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Find out details of my 2011 trip to Siberia on a lightweight dirtbike:
www.brighton2expeditions.co.uk

Hi, does anyone have any idea on the success rate for getting transit visas for Angola at Matadi??
or if Abuja is the place to try for Tourist visa? and time taken to issue? am currently Quagadougou.
Many thanks
ps sorry if this is off the original thread!

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Will

Some day so soon....

Hi to all who is wondering about visas...

My husband and I are currently in Matadi. We've been travelling down the west route for 3 months.

Our Congo, Brazzaville visa was obtained in Yahounde - no problem.
50 000CFA. We got it the next day.

The Gabon visa is also obtainable in Yahounde. 50 000CFA and you get it the next day.

DRC visa you get in Brazzaville. Don't even waste your time to try in Yahounde, they don't give it anymore. This application in Brazza was also without any problems. It cost 35 000CFA and we got it the same day.
Important: Don't get the 'transit' visa, get the normal tourist one, it's valid for one month. With the transit you might be refused entry into the DRC if you don't have an Angolan visa... (and as we all know, Matadi is the only place to get it!)

Now for the shocker!!! We've been in Matadi since the 1st of January for our Angolan visa! (today is the 8th!!!) According to them they are closed until the 15th... There are actually people at the embassy office and one of the guys took our application... We're hoping to get the visa tomorrow, but there's no guarantees.
For anybody en-route at the moment, please be aware of this! You will most propably NOT get your Angolan visa before the 15th! (For some strange reason they are closed for the public from the 23rd of Dec until the 15th of Jan!!!)

Another important thing to be aware of is that there is a 'vehicle disinfectant scam' on the DRC side of the ferry crossing between Brazza and Kinshasa. Official looking guys in white coats approach tourist vehicles and insist on spraying your car with disinfectant for US60!!!! We had a huge argument with them for over an hour and eventually got away with only paying US30. It's not legitimate and try your best to get out of it. Everyone is in on the scam though and you will not get an official to bail you out!!
Best tactic is to say you are asmatic and that you can't tolirate disinfectants - just refuse for them to spray the car. Then, park your car in front of the exit gate so that nobody can leave if they don't open for you!!! It will propably not work, but it's worth a try!!!
They will of course tell you that no other tourist resist the payment and you are the only one being difficult, but that of course is also a lie! We met other overlanders here in Matadi, and we all had the same experience.

I hope this is helpful to you guys! After our trip I'll post a message with a lot of handy hints for the western route. If anybody has any questions about the route etc etc etc, please drop me an email @ deniel.erasmus@gmail.com We're hoping to be back in the UK by the end of Jan,, so I'll propably only be able to reply then.

Just saw a link on the Thorntree (Lonely Planet) posted by Tim Cullis saying the Angola/DRC border is closed due to Ebola fears. Don't have the patience to go search it out and re-post here, but if you're stuck waiting around for another week you might look for it.

Edit: ok, I broke down and searched out the link. Not Tim Cullis, but another poster. afrol News - Angola suspends border operations as DRC grapple Ebola . Hope that helps, and curious to hear more about this.

Mark

We got out of paying the disinfectant scam by driving our bikes through the gap between the red cross container and the wall and then just pushing our way past the guards when they opened the gate for locals, waving documents as we went.
The disinfectant scam started when the customs guy came to view our bikes for the carnet and two other official looking guys came with him. We thought they were with him but when he left they stayed behind and began with the scam.

It all became quite 'fun' on the Africa trip trying to avoid these traps. One time near the Zebrabar we ended up spending an afternoon by the side of the road 'out-waiting' a policeman who accused us of 'not indicating' when he pulled us over. We spent 5 hours there, eating biscuits, talking to locals and even changed the rear tube on Chris' bike before he caved-in, gave us some water to wash our hands and handed us back our drivers licenses. Fun and games! We just weren't going to back down and we considered it a 'duty' not to give in to these people, at least for the sake of the other travellers who will come after us.

Safe travels!

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Find out details of my 2011 trip to Siberia on a lightweight dirtbike:
www.brighton2expeditions.co.uk

Tried the DRC embassy here in Abuja, Nigeria. They have to send the passports to Kinshasa, takes 2 weeks, no guarantees that you will get it. We decided to try in Yaounde.

BTW, don't know where to post it, the Angolan embassy in Abuja is moving to a new spot next to the new American embassy, they don't process visas for the next week

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Jean Visser

http://ons4.reproroom.com

Hi Guys & Girls,

Any definite news on the issuing of visa's at Matadi? am heading that way...

Many thanks

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Will

Some day so soon....

Angolan embassy in Abuja coordinates: N9.03970 E7.47557

Entry to the embassy is only allowed if you are wearing "suitable" dress - ie: long trousers. If you are wearing shorts or 3/4 length trousers you will be refused entry.

Transit visa: 3 working days to arrange, applications accepted 9am - 12:30pm on Mondays and Wednesday. US$100, copies of passport, yellow-fever certificate, Nigerian visa & entry stamp, Carnet & Nigerian entry stamp, Vehicle registration, Drivers licence

Transit visa allows 2 entries (ie: you can go through Cabinda & still enter Angola mainland)
You must use within 60 days of issue, and exit within 5 days.
You cannot extend the visa

Tourist visa: 15 working days to arrange, applications accepted 9am - 12:30pm on Mondays and Wednesday. US$100, Invitation letter, copies of passport, yellow-fever certificate, Nigerian visa & entry stamp, Carnet & Nigerian entry stamp, Vehicle registration, Drivers licence

Tourist visa allows 2 entries (ie: you can go through Cabinda & still enter Angola mainland)
You must use within 60 days of issue. They can issue 60 day tourist visas.
You can extend the visa for a further 60 day period.

If you do not have the invitation letter you will struggle to get a tourist visa.

Hope this helps

Steve
www.overafrica.org

Does anyone know where the DRC transit visa is available from?

Is it possible to get one in Pointe-Noire or Cabinda? What about the Cabinda/DRC border? (we have our Angolan visa)

Thanks
Steve

www.overafrica.org