Hi there,

I am currently in Lusaka, Zambia, but on my way to Cape Town.
The plan is to travel north as far as Douala, Cameroon, from South Africa.
Has anyone been successful or heard of someone who had been in getting both the Angola and the DRC visas while in S.A or Namibia ?
I am a E.U pasport holder.
Here in Lusaka the Congolese denied my application since I am not a resident of Zambia.
Thanks and happy trails.

Levelo.

i did hear that Lusaka was the best place to getr the DRC visa, so i dont know....to get the Angola vias is a pain for non residents...probley faster and easyer to contact a agency in your home EU country ( london only processes uk and irealnd residents)

i belive its sometimes possable to arange the angola visa in capetown via the agency that work witht the flamingo lodge in angola. ( check out the lodge site for info) but its probley easyer and cheaper to send your passport to europe....as you need to book acomidatrion in the lodge and its expensive

drc...i have no idea about......have you considerd becoming a reident in zam...i dont know if its possable, but it may be...its possable in togo thats how we got our drc visa

Just look how other did it on the west route recently:

Here i try to maintain a list of travellers who have a website/blog

Trans-Africa: Gerade Unterwegs...

Most travellers do it the oposite way - downwards... But at leat one did it too upwards recently, a swiss guy.

Angola should be available on the way, the DRC one is more complicated.. Also when you are able to optain them - the border guys want that the visa is issued in your homecountry...

Maybe not that helpful, but here is also an article about Visas on the west: 4x4tripping: Westroute Afrika, aktuelle Visa Situation 2013

There are many backlinks to the Hubb - so the use of the search function will bring you the informations too ;-)


Surfy

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

Cape Town was the only option a year or two ago when heading north - search this site as I posted a lot about it previously, as did others. In a nutshell, don't do it yourself, they are awful.

There was a Portuguese or Angolan guy who would do it for you - speaking Portuguese in the embassy saves hours and hours of waiting…

American lady with an English school will do the letter of invite for $80 - much cheaper than other options…?

Google search like this (copy the following into your browser address bar):

site:http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hubb/ angola visa cape town

and change the words on the end.

DRC - all change in the last few years. Did you stand your ground politely, look like you were going to cry, explain patiently the same things 27 times in the embassy?? Did you request a meeting with the Ambassador to discuss his difficult problem? Or did you look into getting temporary residence in Zambia?

Once you get away from the ease of East & Southern Africa you need to be very politely firm - and annoying enough where they want to help you to go away, as opposed to banning you from the embassy ;-p

Thanks for your feedback.
I did not insist very much at both the Angolan and DRC Embassies in Lusaka but it is always interesting to find out what their official requirements are . Just testing the waters really : I am cycling down to Cape Town where I am hoping to get sometime in mid or late March ( currently getting rained on in Vic Falls ). I will try my luck there but for me, as a cyclist, the validity of the visas will be a problem even if I am successful ( it is at the very least 3 000 kms from Cape Town to the Namibia-Angola border, 2 months in the saddle ). My best bet is definitely to apply in Namibia. I know that it is easy enough to pick up both the DRC and RoC visas in Windhoek. Someone I am in touch with just got them very recently without too many hassles. He also managed to get his Angolan visa there in 3 days with a letter of invitation which I will need and will have to get. But maybe the Angolan consuls in either Rundu or Oshakati will waive that requirement too, who knows...

I was at the border in Ruacana Falls this week and denied entry because of no letter of invitation. I have a US passport. They said to try at Oshikango but after speaking with alot of locals here, I decided not to try. The rainy season will begin soon and all roads that are not paved will be inaccessible (according to locals here at the border).

Wishful thinking will get you into trouble.

Angola processes all visas in Luanda. Embassy staff have no ability to give you anything. Extremely well connected people I know could only get a 7 day transit coming south for example.

The consul in Oshakti is more of a military contact and will say yes and then delay and delay, pushing up the price for a not wholly official visa - expect to pay around 400 Euros in the end. This was my friends experiences (who speak perfect Portuguese) a few years ago. I very much doubt you will get a visa there when they are all supposed to be issued from Luanda….

Visas are checked in the country and I know of a few groups who have 'camped' by the police station for a night or two whilst the local police have checked them out.

In case its not obvious, the Angola gov doesn't want you to go, they don't care about your trip, or you as a person, they will look at you in the embassy as a scruffy traveller and based on that decide not to help you. They are maybe the worst country in Africa for getting a visa?

Shave, have a hair cut and dress up when you go to an embassy - they really are very fickle about this - I was denied entry to the embassy in Cape Town one day despite looking quite smart by overlanding standards….

So again, search the previous threads, there is some very solid info in there, then see what has changed since and act accordingly….

With Angola you are unlikely to be able to wing it, plan, research and then prepare to make endless pointless photocopies and trips to the embassy and you might be lucky…. ;-)

Good luck…

(that all said, I found the people there really nice and the police at roadblocks very friendly and helpful, so I tried to go back for a longer visit, hence I have knowledge of applying twice for visas, north and south of Angola ;-)