Franceville > Okoyo "road" I have made on Nanfang 150 (localy bought chinese bike), after (and during) rains. Sometimes knee-deep mud, but doable.

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Janusz
www.yahodeville.com

congo brazza visa at the border 20 000 CFA 15 days, they dont have a fixed price, you can try to go down but dont pay more than 20k. Entering from Gabon, at Ngongo; crossed just 3 days ago.

No problems unless they run out of visa stickers.

Hey Tango Mango!

A local looking woman paid 5,000 when I crossed on the Franceville > Okoyo border a few days ago. So negoiate and have the money you want to pay in your pockets and say but this is all I have etc.

Franceville > Okoyo road: Great tarmac road from Franceville to the border, then a sandy track with a few muddy holes for 214km. The Chinese are all over the road looking to seal it and there is some cross border trade. Hence most of the traffic are trucks, thus the ruts are quite deep.

On a bike you will be fine going slowly in one of the ruts, meet two guys on pushbikes slogging through.

In a Land Rover the ruts mean your diffs are constantly scraping - mine have had the waxoil and paint stripped off. I got grounded quite often, reversed, tried a lower gear, then low range, then diff lock and always barged through somehow.

If it has rained then there are a few mud holes you can't avoid, but nothing too bad for a biker. I almost when over in one pool because of the truck ruts (nowhere to go around them) and had to turn sharply and floor it to stop the momentum. Sadly there was a brick wall of all things there which I smashed into. Damaged front wing and lights, nothing serious.

Border people were fine on both sides, and great to meet such super friendly people in the Congo after the generally unfriendly Gabonese.

If the Congolese keep this up they may surpass the Nigerians as the friendliest of the trip so far!

Hardly any police checks in Congo on this route and the sealed road to Brazzaville, another welcome relief. The one customs guy who stopped me was friendly and polite. Nobody questioned the smashed in front of the landy ;-)

Most or all of the piste will be sealed this time next year - much of the time I was driving on pistes below the newly built up piste waiting to be sealed (blocked off with tree trunks etc)

Lovely route right from Lope to Brazzaville. There is a Gorilla project in the reserve on the way down - 20,000CFA to see a Mum and babies, you can also camp there for free as well etc

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Kiwi, 7 years around Africa. Overlanding channel:https://www.youtube.com/c/roamingyak