p.s.
its near impossable for overlanders to get the DRC visa in there home countrys.....no embassy in Reykjavik....and even if we could get the visa it would have expired by the time we get the bourder...almost every country has expirey dates on African visas ....Angola was a real pain...we got in and out just in time, luckly getting the visa in Accra,otherwise everyone would have to fly to the uk or norway or washington ( depending on there passports as europeans cant get angola visa in uk ect ect ) and fly back to congo brazi... very unlikly and as we all know angola visa is only issued for 2 months...still im greatfull the accra embassy was in a good mood....otherwise we were very preperd to take road 1 across DRC....not a easy tast but i know that a Bedford 4x4 could make it

Most overland who have to complete such a task, don't fly personally at home.

They just sent their Passports with TNT or DHL and someone at home sent the passports to the home county embassy, shipping it back at the end.

We meet overlanders in Brazzaville who optained the angola visa this way.

What you mean with DCM? I read many blogs where the people stay with missions at night, but you can also just wild camp, and "organize" all by yourself (like we did on the Luozi Border)... To be honest - there was nothing to organize, just heading to the border.

The Luozi Border crossing is really not that bad to drive, if you did like off road a little bit, or have complete a day on a offroad track for training purpose at home.

This Video give you a pretty good idea about: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVIjjh_G4IA

A bad and remote place for an breakdown for shure, but for driving it was fun and not near really dangerous gradients and angles.

@sander.en.marianne: please share more about your experiences and your breakdown there!

Surfy

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About Overlanding, Travelogues, Equipment
Trans-Africa over the west coast

Its not a C in the middle but a G !

--> Direction générale de migration

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Yes sorry it was the DGM.
we could not get passed them, they picked us up at a village a days drive from Luozi and we had to have one of there guys in the truck,( he wanted a free ride...) and the guy took us straigt to th DGM , no way to aviod it...when you travel with a big truck and a big group its had to just slip past fast...would have liked to though

and i know about sending the passports back to your country of residence....but with our mixed natanlitys we would have needed to send them back to 5 diffrent countrys ... its would not realy have been pratical, if its just 2 people its possable but a mixed group of 11 is a diffrent matter i wish it could have been so easy...and we would probley have had to spend a month in brazi waiting...it was better to wait in accra for 10 days on the beach at big millys, it was also a good opertunity for us to have a holiday halfway throught the trip....its getting a little more expensive now in ghana/togo/benin but deffanatly a good area to get visas sorted while resting on great beaches and enjoying some free time from the truck

and im not sure which breakdown you ment...on the bordercrossing we had a issue with the throttel kept stalling...but a taxidriver and his mate wired it together for us ( his helper mate 10 minites latter stamped us out of republic of congo ) but it was no seriuse mechanical issue

Thanks for the explanations!

sander.en.marianne mentioned a breakdown there, i hope they will tell the story :-)

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About Overlanding, Travelogues, Equipment
Trans-Africa over the west coast

i hope they were good at bush mechanics as its a little on the remote side out there,i read about somone whe did it on a vespa, and had to get the frame welded when they got to the river bourder town,

i know when we had our throttel trouble we got lucky with the taxi guy and also it was a prity easy fix ( 10 mins for the guy). also the bourder between congo and drc neart franceville was real remote and not the best place to beakdown

With our Bedford there was always small things that needed to get fixed but nothing that would ever stop us from getting out of a remote area, even when we killed the tranfrer box in guinea we could still drive ( at like 20 km a hour) and cruize down hill freewheeling ( not recomended in a ten tonner)....i would always stick with ex army vehicals for overland trips in Africa, slow but strong...and normaly possable to fix by a bush mechanic or squaddie

Too true Gazza!

I saw your truck parked up in Dalaba earlier this year. I was driving the blue Overlanding West Africa truck and stopped by to say hi when I saw it but think they said you were in Conakry sourcing a new bearing.

maybe it was in Mannu...at the crossroads...the whorehouse with the space to park trucks......i was pissed not to meet u guys, i was asleep in the hotel...and noone came to tell me( or possabley i was running around that town looking for a part).....also that day,some overland guy with his gf stoped ...he was the guy who has spent like 30 year on the road...i missed him aswell.
we were stuck there waiting for the part for the transfare box...

im not sure but also i think we passed a blue oveland truck ( empty) up in the jungle of guinea or possabley senegal...it was going the other way....i was in the back then and the co driver did not think to stop...

That was me, where did you read about it ? Here on the HUBB or somewhere else ?

cheers,
Chris

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Hi Gazza,

Was definitely Mamou we saw your truck in that car park near the main crossroads very close to the Total garage. There were about 5 of your passengers there.

We saw the older couple in their vehicle, wow they have travelled alot, they were asking about road conditions off the main highway in the Fouta Djalon a very nice couple.

Hay Chris i think i read about you on the forum....i always liked vespas , in some ways i think it has to be easyer with a vehical that you can just push or lift....the bikes i like the most asre the 125 hero honda type bikes.....big wheels...simple mechanics and easy to fix.......but its hard to put 15 people on the back ( but they try in India)

Hay Dave
are you based in Africa all year or in the UK sometimes....
im based in Reykjavik, but offten visit the uk

Hi Gazza, our truck is out in W Africa from October until late April, then bring it back to UK to avoid the rainy season and give her an overhaul. I personally am in the UK full time now (London).

David

Hey there,

I am currently in Lusaka, Zambia. Just trekked over to the DRC Embassy here, friendly enough folks but they won't issue visas to non-residents and they sounded pretty firm about this. I will try again in S.A as I am looping down to Cape Town before hopefully making my way north again through Namibia and Angola.
By the way, has anyone been successful or heard about someone who had been with gettinf the Angolan visa in either S.A or Namibia ( Windhoek or Oshakati ) ?
Cheers,

Levelo.

i dont get to London very often...but would love to go for a if i am back down there.....i may be in anouther Bedford, got to get it picked up and taken to Iceland in the spring