Hi Guys, For all trips down the west side of Africa the crux seems to be the Angolan tourist visa. It takes minimum two weeks to process if applying in South Africa (used to be up to 20 days!) because the application is sent to Angola for approval and then back here. Not sure if it works the same if applying in other countries or on other continents. It used to be possible to get a 5-day TRANSIT visa in the DRC (last border town) but make sure that that is still possible. Apparently you can't get it from any other African country further north. Validity of the tourist visa (60days?) starts when it is granted.
I'll be going down the west side from Europe so the Angolan tourist visa will expire before I get there. Solution: a visa service company does the application with my temporary passport (valid for one year, Rassie) and will then courier to Ghana or somewhere close enough so that I can get to and through Angola on time.
If you end up having to cross Angola on the 5-day transit visa - it can be done if you're not planning to have any 'rest days'. See if you can get the book "Red Tape and White Knuckles" by Lois Pryce, 2008 (Arrow Books, ISBN 978-0-0995-1359-9) - an interesting read about her solo (mostly) trip down the west side in 2006, I think.
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"The fates lead him who will; him who won't they drag." - Anon
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