The 'jetty' on the opposite side of the Kasai river used to have a nice concrete ramp, but it had long disintegrated. To get of the boat we were litterally dropped on the muddy shore. Scary!

There was a little village here, and our hopes for better roads vanished as soon we left the village.



The road was no more then a tight single track. It is barely possible to pass trough here with a bicycle. After having verified that this is indeed the only track leading out of here we had no choice but to drive trough it. Half of the car was cuting trough the bushes. The amount of spiders and other critters that we took along for a ride was staggering. It was impossible to keep the windows open because of the debri that was coming in. It was also impossible to keep the windows closed because it was so hot.





This went on for kilometers on end. Spiders were atually building a web on the inside of our windscreen.

And then we tipped over again.

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2006-2007-2008 : Brussels - Cape town - Tokio - Lubumbashi - Brussels

http://www.radiobaobab.be

The single track trough the forest went on forever. We had 'lost' a lot of time by taking the ferry and before we knew it got dark. We were still driving with one wheel on the track and the other in the forest. The darkness made it quite spooky. In the eroded bits the darkness made it very difficult to manouver our way trough. The mosquitoes were feasting on our blood.

We passed a few villages in the forest, but they looked very primitive and wild. Not the most welcoming environment. We decided to push on until the village of Basongo, which looked big on our map.

It wasn't.

There was no mission here, they also did not have a priest, or a father, or .. . But they did have a "Maison de passage". A little hut where people who'd pass trough could sleep. We could camp next to this house.

The crowd was huge and the kids went completely berzerk as soon as we stopped in the village. When driving to the maison de passage a dozen or so kids (and a few adults) jumped on our wheelcarrier at the back. Josephine had to walk behind the car to keep them off.

This would be a zero-privacy night again. It didn't matter much as it was half past 10 already and we just wanted to sleep.

With the crowd around, it seemed as if going for a pee before going to bed was the biggest challenge of the day.

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2006-2007-2008 : Brussels - Cape town - Tokio - Lubumbashi - Brussels

http://www.radiobaobab.be

Progress on day 19. Basongo

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2006-2007-2008 : Brussels - Cape town - Tokio - Lubumbashi - Brussels

http://www.radiobaobab.be

Day 20

Busy villages are not a good place to sleep late. We left Basongo at 5.30.
Eventually the road opened up.





We were on top of a hill, and we had to find ourselves a way trough the valley to the next hill. The deeper we descended into the valley, the worse the erosion got. Troughout the years about 10 parallel roads - a few kilometers apart - had been made down the hill. If the road got too bad, they just created a new tracks. The soil was sandy. We had to drive 10 km's to find the latest track



But that track too soon became impossible. We had to create our own track trough the high grass. Josephine would walk in front and I tried not to loose her out of sight.





In the valley was a shallow stream. We drove trough the water instead of using this bridge in case you were wondering.



The soil on the other side of the river was more firm and for a short while we could advance quickly in a beautiful scenery!





This short stretch was some of the more pleasant parts of the trip thus far. And open savannah where we could actually see something. Reasonable sandy tracks. We did get stuck a few times in the deeper ruts, but nothng dramatic.

And most important: the people seemed to be more friendly this side of the Kasai river. We hadn't met any police yet either.

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2006-2007-2008 : Brussels - Cape town - Tokio - Lubumbashi - Brussels

http://www.radiobaobab.be

With a bit of luck we'd be able to cross the Loange river today!

The loange river was the second and last ferry we would have to take. Barthélémy in Ilebo said the ferry was functional, so that is good news as it was the last possible showstopper for us. On top of that, The Loange river is the border of the Kasai province and the Bandundu province. For us that was a major milestone, as Bandundu is the last province we would have to cross. Kinshasa is in Bandundu! It was still a very long way, but a milestone nonetheless.. :-)

With a bit of luck...

Could it be that luck just doesn't work in Congo? The people here never really had any luck with the people that ruled them. They didn't have much luck with the foreign relations. Some of the worlds biggest and most dangerous diseases (HIV, Ebola, ..) originated here... that's not really what I'd call luck either. You could say that they are lucky to have all those diamonds, gold and whatnot burried under their very fertile ground... But that is exactly the reason that the country has been in a constant state of war for the last decades. Tough luck!

We would not make it to the ferry today.

Where the road descended down to the river, the Savannah abruptly stopped and turned into dense forest. The water had eroded a deep and very rough track here, we were very happy to have to do this downhill so gravity could help us down. At the last village people had warned us not to start the descent as a truck was coming up in the other direction. It is ofcourse impossible to pass eachother there.

So we stopped on top of the hill and walked down. Sure enough, a big 4x4 truck was stuck in the tracks. They were carrying a GSM tower that was to be constructed on the savannah behind us. They had hired a team of about 20 man to assist the truck on this stretch. Armed with shovels and pickaxes they more-or-less levelled the road. We watched them for an hour and they had moved about 10 meter in that time. It was another kilometer to the top. This would take some time!

So we walked back to our car and waited... It was 10 in the morning.

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2006-2007-2008 : Brussels - Cape town - Tokio - Lubumbashi - Brussels

http://www.radiobaobab.be

It got dark around 6 in the evening. We were still at exactly the same place. The truck had moved up a bit, but not much.

We decided that we would go back to the last village and spend the night there. We asked the 'Chef du village' and he directed us to Germain, the principal of the school. We could camp next to the house of Germain, on the school grounds.

Germain, the principal, was a great guy. Very friendly and concerned about everybody. He involved his wife in all the conversations, and she too was very friendly to us. Two of their sons were at university, one in Kinsasa, the other in Lubumbashi. He was not complaining, but he longed back to the olden (colonial) days when roads were functional. Apparently until 30 years ago there was a lot of wildlife here. Girafes, elephants and lions. His kids had never seen any of these though. All of the wildlife had been poached during the different wars.

Germain's youngest son:



Germain's house:



Our house:

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2006-2007-2008 : Brussels - Cape town - Tokio - Lubumbashi - Brussels

http://www.radiobaobab.be

Progress on day 20. Last village before Loange river (don't know the name)

It's been 25 days since we entered DRC (I started counting the days in this report since we left Lubumbashi)

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2006-2007-2008 : Brussels - Cape town - Tokio - Lubumbashi - Brussels

http://www.radiobaobab.be

Day 21

When we got up in the morning we were immediately informed that the big truck had still not made it up, so we were not in a hurry.

We had some more nice talks with Germain and his wife. We wanted to give him something as he had been so kind to us. We carry a small photo printer, so we decided to take a picture of them and print it off. When we told him we wanted to take a picture from him and his familiy he ran off quickly..

Half an hour later he came back, in a costume and shiny shoes. His wife was dressed up nicely and even the kids had their Sunday's clothes on. They looked fantastic!



The (tatty and tired looking) mundele on the right looks fantastic too! :wink: 8-)

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2006-2007-2008 : Brussels - Cape town - Tokio - Lubumbashi - Brussels

http://www.radiobaobab.be

School grounds usually have a lot of kids around. We counted them and stopped at 400. That's more then 800 prying eyes. Not just kids though, quite a few adults too.



If I had to choose one picture to describe our Congo trip, that would be the one!

We decided to drive back to the begining of the descending road, a few kilometers out of this village, in the hope to find some peace and quiet. That way we would also not loose too much time when the truck finally reaches the top.

When the truck finally reaches the top.
If the truck finally reaches the top.

With a bit of luck.

...

...

At 6.30 that night we were parked next to Germain's house again. The truck did not make it up today..

Germain's wife was so pleased to see us again as she could thank us again for the picture we had given her. She had shown it to all her friends and was very proud of it.

Later that night somebody came to tell us that they were going to work trough the night to get the truck up.. So maybe we'd be able to move again tomorrow?

With a bit of luck...

__________________
2006-2007-2008 : Brussels - Cape town - Tokio - Lubumbashi - Brussels

http://www.radiobaobab.be

Day 22

At 4 that night we were awoken by the sound of a truck engine nearby. Finally, the truck had gotten up the hill (it took them 4 days). It was still pitch dark, so we tried to sleep a few more hours. But the anticipation kept us awake.

We said our goodbyes to Germain and had a quick talk to the truck driver. He was not amused. He started from Kikwit two weeks ago. He said if he'd knew about the state of the roads, that he would have never taken this job. The GSM operator is paying him well for the transport, but he has to pay the local 'helpers' to get him trough here, he will have to be lucky to make a profit out of this ride..

We plummeted down the hill and were grateful that the truck has just passed. They had broadened the road and levelled out the deepest ruts. We still had a struggle as the trucks massive wheels and ground clearance were no match for our little Landcruiser.

Three hours and 5 kilometers later we arrived at the ferry...

Oh boy...

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2006-2007-2008 : Brussels - Cape town - Tokio - Lubumbashi - Brussels

http://www.radiobaobab.be

There was a police officer at the ferry, and one or two onlookers. But apart from that it was surprisingly quiet. The police officer ordered one of the onlookers to go and get the captain. We sat down and waited in police guy's little hut. He was nervous and young. We joked around a bit with the people who were asking for money and cadeaux. Annoying, but not as pushy and aggresive as we were used to by now.

The policy guy then told us we had to register. We did not feel much like it, but hey, if he wants to copy over all of our details in his little book, why not. When he was done he asked for money as he had registered us. We politely told him that registration is not a paying service in Congo. It never had been.

That's not true he said, it is an integral part of his job to ask for money from people who pass trough here. We had a chuckle but stayed polite and told him that if that is the case, then why is it not in writing anywhere.
He then caught us by surprise by claiming it is written in the official police handbook! He got up, and got out this little black book. It was titled something along the line of "Official guidelines for Police officers in the RDC" (not sure about exact title).

The first chapter were the 'ten commandments' of the police officers, the third item read:

"Créer une base de données de tous les voyageurs dans votre regio"

He read it for us and said:

"Créer une base de donnes de tous les voyageurs dans votre regio"
"Create a base of donations from all travellers in your region"

We couldn't believe what we heard. Had they really constitutionalized corruption? If this was true we would have little choice but to pay.
In disbelief we took the book out of his hands and read the phrase again. Yes, it was really written here...

It took us a minute before we realised that it was not "donne" (pronounced "don", like in Don Quichote) but "donnée" (pronounced don-E).
What was actually written was:

"Create a database of all travellers in your region"

We had to try very hard to keep our laughter down. At first we tought he just tricked us into it. But that was not the case, he genuinely believed it was written that he had to collect money from travellers. He had no idea what a database was.

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2006-2007-2008 : Brussels - Cape town - Tokio - Lubumbashi - Brussels

http://www.radiobaobab.be

An hour later the captain of the ferry arrived. Barthélémy in Ilebo had given us a letter for the captain, but as we could not read the letter, we did not trust it. We decided to bargain first, and then give the letter.

The captain said he could bring us across for 75$US and 30 liters of diesel.
And we had to supply two batteries to get the engine started.
And some oil because the engine was low on oil.
And if possible a diesel filter because his was clogged

Hmm...

The diesel we agreed on, 30 liters is a bargain compared to the 150liters from the last ferry. The price we ridculized and said it was waaaay too much. We discussed for half an hour or so, he was friendly but stuck to his price. Eventually we 'remembered' the letter. He looked happy with what he was reading. Eventually the price got down to 35$US. That is still an inflated price, but we agreed. Don't forget that the average annual income per capita in 2009 in DRC was estimated at 171$US. That's 15$US/month!

Driving onto the ferry required 4x4 and we banged our gearbox (bashplate protected) hard while doing so. We almost cried when we saw the engine of this ferry. The 'machine room' was under water. Not really under water, it was a mucky oily substance. The engine was leaking badly.

This ferry had been used to traverse Kabila's army when they marched in from the Rwanda border to Kinshasa a few years earlier. The captain told us how he was forced to work non-stop for 3 days to get everybody and everything across. Every little piece that Kabila's army could use they had taken. They left little more then a wreck.

We had sent out somebody to buy diesel for us, he had to go two villages down the road to find some (on his bicycle). In the meantime we tried to jumpstart the boat. Our jumpleads were too short to get to it, so we took our batteries out (our Landcruiser is 24volt - 2 batteries).

With our batteries connected the starter motor started turning. Turn after turn after turn after turn. Fast at first, but then slower and slower. Everybody was dead silent, hoping the engine would start.

It wouldn't.

They got to work, and took injectors out and doublechecked various parts. Another attempt was made The battery was getting really low and just when we thought it was not going to work the big diesel engine sprung to life. Hesitant at first, but after a minute or so most of its 10 cylinders were working. No mufflers ofcourse, this was a LOUD engine!

The captain's smile was priceless, he was proud of his machine! He gave it some trotthle and then the engine sputtered and died. He came down and said they had forgotten to purge the fuel system. Air in the system and the engine had died. Our batteries were flat now, not enough juice left to turn that big starter motor. We tried to start our own engine, but even that did not work. Bugger!

But, no problem, apparantly they had 2 batteries in the village on the other side of the river. We could 'rent' them for a small fee. Having no other choice we agreed. With a dugout canoe some guys got across in search for the batteries.

An hour later the captain had purged the fuel lines and we had two 'new' batteries. They were worthless. They measured 10 volt at most, they were not charged! Another solution came up: somebody in the village had a solar panel, and we could rent it. They thought it would take 2, maybe 3 days to get it charged fully.

Rather not..

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2006-2007-2008 : Brussels - Cape town - Tokio - Lubumbashi - Brussels

http://www.radiobaobab.be

Sitwrap:

-Our car was sitting on ferry - a ferry we hoped would not sink now
-The ferry was not running
-The ferry did not have batteries
-By attempting to start the ferry, our batteries were now flat
-Our car was not running
-We could not push our car off the ferry as the ramps were damaged.

If we wanted to charge our batteries, we needed a running engine and a functional alternator.

We had to push start our Landcruiser, and we had to do it on the few meters of space we had on the ferry.

Now seems like an appropriate time to talk about our brakes. As we had been doing extreme 4x4 work the last 3 weeks in mostly sandy and muddy areas, it does not come to a surprise that our brakes took a bit of a beating. As a matter of fact, we barely had any functional brakes when we left Kananga. And we have no brakes whatsoever since we left Ilebo. It's just metal to metal... and that does not brake very well. It hadn't bothered me too much until now, the big Landcruiser engine allows for great engine breaking and we are not driving any faster then 20km/h anyway.

This made the situation a bit more complicated now.. :roll:

As you can see on the first picture of this ferry, there is nothing at the end of the ferry to stop us from rolling into the fast flowing Loange river.

5 meters. That was the distance we had. The ferry crowd would push us as fast as they could, I had to build up enough speed to make the engine turn, once started I had to engage reverse gear, let the clutch go - gently without stalling the engine or slipping the wheels - and come to a halt before rolling into the river.

5 meters!

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2006-2007-2008 : Brussels - Cape town - Tokio - Lubumbashi - Brussels

http://www.radiobaobab.be

I was a tad bit nervous when the countdown started. I closed the door but left the window open and did not wear my seatbelt. Just in case...

3-2-1 and off we went. I dumped the clutch almost immediately. Way too early ofcourse and we came to halt. The engine was not running. On the second try I waited 'much' longer, but we did not have enough speed to turn the crank. I had about a meter of extra play.

Third try was a good one. I dumped the clutch and immediately declutched again to throw it in reverse and with screeching tyres I reversed again just in time. I like a bit of tension, but this was pushing it a bit!

The next hour we left the engine running with an increased idle to charge the batteries.



While waiting we had a nice view over the river. At one point we could hear drums in the distance, approaching quickly. It was a 'cargo' canoe. 4 or 5 huge dugout canoes tied together with a huge load on it and rowers on bot sides. Somebody was setting the pace with a drum. They were travelling downstream and were going really fast. That was one of the rare occasion where I saw the Congo I had dreamt about when I was a kid.

We figured that after an hour of charing, the batteries should be loaded enough to start the boat engine. So we shut down the engine, took out the batteries and hooked it up to the ferry.

KLIK - KLIK

Nothing happened...

__________________
2006-2007-2008 : Brussels - Cape town - Tokio - Lubumbashi - Brussels

http://www.radiobaobab.be

Truly EPIC. I normaly don't read 4x4 reports as I'm busy enough reading motorbike reports, but I'm glad I've read yours, one of the best travel stories this year on the net.
I stumbled on your site a year ago when planning my little West-Africa trip, it was very useful. Bedankt, Tony

Tony's Travels

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