Days 181 to 190
Diary Index
Days 201 to 210
Just as I climbed out of the roof tent John-Paul came over to tell me that I could not continue to camp at Catholic Mission Liberman. But he had already checked, and it was now OK for me to camp at Catholic Mission Beatitude. So after breakfast me and John-Paul drove back to the Catholic Mission. There I set camp and spent the rest of the morning filtering water and repairing the Landy. Namely trying to fill the crack in the diff with chemical metal. I then joined the other commune members for lunch in there dining room and then helped wash up. I then spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning and tidying up the back of the Landy. Late afternoon I went down to the nearest internet café, but the connection was not working. So I continued on walking into the town centre and had a look around. On the way back I popped in again to the internet café, but the connection was still down. Once back at the mission I had a shower and lay in the roof tent reading, until it was time for dinner. After which I went straight to bed.
When I awoke I found the day had started with a down pour of rain. After breakfast and having a shave I packed away the tent, while it was still raining. I then drove into the town centre and to the bank. The first one I stopped at had a ATM but it was not linked to Visa. So I continued on to another bank and after driving round in circules managed to find some where to park. When I got to the ATM I found about 50 people waiting in front of the 4 machines. They where being refilled with money and where temporarily out of service. After waiting and hour or so, one by one they came back on line, and I eventually managed to withdraw so money. I then drove round to the internet café and spent a hour there, before heading on to find the Congo and Angolan embassies. After circling the area a couple of times I managed to work out where they were. I then went to the Congo embassy and made some enquires before going across the road to the Angolan embassy and applying for there visa. You can easily walk straight past the Angolan embassy, as there are no signs to say what it is. The only clue is the Angolan flag on a mast toward the rear of the compound. You would have thought that they didn’t want you to find them. I then drove back to the mission and had a late lunch on my own, set camp and then walked round the corner to the M’bolo Hypermarche to have a look around. It was like walking into France. As usual with Hyermarches they had everything from food to car parts, all at imported from France prices though. But if you wanted it and where prepared to pay for it, it was there. Once back at the mission I spent the evening writing up diary on the laptop, have dinner with the commune, and reading for a short while before going to sleep.
After breakfast with the commune, I packed up and John-Paul and me drove off to find the Land Rover dealership. I had looked up the address on the internet the day before and so had a rough area to start looking in. As we drew near we stopped and asked around and it was not long before we found it. After some explanation in my bad French we had got them to understand the part I wanted. Unfortunately they didn’t have it, but gave me directions to another garage which might. As we where leaving the industrial area I spotted a tyre repair place. So I stopped and got the slow leaking tyre fixed. An hour later we where heading back to the mission, and I drop John-Paul at the offices of Air Gabon. I then continued on to the Angolan embassy to pick up my passport. Once there I approached the gate and asked to be let in. Some garble of French came back from the stroppy gate guard, say that I could not pick up my passport and would have to come back tomorrow. When I asked why, as I was told to pick it now, he wouldn’t explain and closed the gate in my face. Holding onto my temper with all my will, and continued to politely explain I was told to return today, and could I speak with the receptionist who told me so. The uppity guard was got having any of it as was only responding rudely. I had had enough, as he open the gate to let out a vehicle I walked straight in. I was at the front door when he tried to stop me, by grabbing me. I broke his hold a shoved him out the way, entered and demanded to see the receptionist. The guard came in flapping, as I sat patiently to see some one. It was not long before the receptionist and some other people had come to see what the commotion was about. The guard started babbling away, say how I had forced my way in. He didn’t realise this made him look useless if one guy could alone could get past him. The receptionist and other people didn’t really side with him, as it was evident that the guard was a grumpy old fart, who through he was more important than what he was. I apologised for forcing my way in, and explained to situation. After a short chat the lady I was talking to told me to return at 15:00 to collect my passport. Which I did, after returning to the mission for lunch, and collected it without a problem. I then walked round the corner to the Republic of Congo embassy and applied for a visa. The guy there said he would grant me a 15 day transit visa and to come back the next day to pick it up. I then went in search of this section Land Rover garage, and once I had found it, met a nice French called Jeon Pierre who ran the place. After an extensive search he didn’t have the part I wanted but did have some rear bump stops, which I was missing from the rear axle. In his garage he had guys rebuilding a 110 Defender for him and his wife to travel back to France overland in. As he had had enough of the corruption in Gabon and was closing down his garage in a couple of months. I then returned to the mission, set camp and spent the evening having dinner with the commune and reading.
After the normal getup routine, I drove round to the Republic of Congo embassy and waited 2 hours to collect my passport. I then drove round the corner to the embassy of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and applied for their visa. The nice lady there went through the forms with me and told me to return tomorrow around 12:00 to pick it up. I then returned to the mission and spent the remaining morning reading, had lunch and then spent the afternoon working on the Landy and doing some washing. It was early evening when I walked down to the internet café, where I spent an hour or so, sending pictures to Verena and answering e-mails. I then returned to the mission and joined the commune for dinner, and spent the rest of the evening reading.
The first job of the day was to see about renewing my car insurance. So I drove into the city centre and stopped at the first place I saw. It turned out that they couldn’t do a policy any shorter than six months and in would only cover until Congo. It was too expensive for such a short time so I figure I would leave it and get insurance in Angola. So I continued onto the Land Rover garage of Jean-Pierre. As I had found out that the front and rear bump stops are different, and I had the ones for the front. So after a chat with his wife I exchanged them. I then continued on my way and went back the main Land Rover dealer. Again in my bad French, I explained that the differential cover had a crack in it as was leaking oil. I then explained I wanted them to weld it up, and also top up the grease in the swivel housing. They had a look at the work and we agreed a price. I then spent the morning sat in the parts managers office chatting to him in half French, half English. He was called Sebastian and was from France. Him and his family where living in Libreville. He explained that he had also seen other overlanders this year and had also helped them out. We spent the rest of the morning chatting and then he invited me for lunch at his house. How could I say no, and we went round to his place. There I met his wife, daughter and baby son, and shared a great lunch with them. Sebastian then drove me round the corner to the DRC embassy and I picked up my passport, without any problem. We then drove back to garage. We again sat chatting in his office until they had finished the work. I thanked him very much for all his help and we exchanged contact details. By this time it was late afternoon and so I drove back to the mission and set camp. I then spent the evening working on website stuff and eating dinner with the rest of the commune.
I spent the first party of the morning finishing off the website update I had been working on the day before. I then walked into the city centre and went the bank. First to see if I could change some west African CFA into central African CFA and the get more money out of the ATM. The bank would not change it, but a guy in the queue I got chatting to regularly went to Senegal on business, and he changed it for me. I gave him the remaining change, which was enough for a beer, in way of thanks. I then went round and got out money from the ATM. I then wondered around the city centre window shopping before walking back toward the mission and the internet café. There I spent some time sending off my update and writing e-mails. I then went round the Hypermarche and amongst other things bought a bottle of wine for the mission staff in thanks for letting me stay. I then returned to the mission, had lunch and then sent the afternoon fitting the bump stops and reading. I then joined the commune for dinner, which was some religious celebration (I failed to figure out which one) and we spent the evening singing, dancing and enjoying a great meal.
As soon as I was up I packed my gear away and then went to join the other for breakfast. There I presented the head sister the bottle of wine, and thanked her very much for all her kind hospitality. After breakfast I said my goodbyes and drove first to the fuel station and then out of Libreville, heading south for Lambarene. It was only a few hours drive and along the way I crossed the equator again, stopping to take a picture of the sign. Which in true African style was not actually on the equator, at least according to my GPS. As I reached the outskirts of Lambarene I spotted the sign for the Ablert Switzer Hospital, which I followed, as I wanted the visit the place. The hospital is still there and running, in more modern buildings. But the original buildings are still there also, one of which has been turned into a small museum. It is well worth the visit and has lots of photos of Albert and his work, as well as a lot of his stuff and equipment. After grabbing some lunch I continued on way into town and stopped at the fuel station. There I filled all the jerry cans with fuel, as I didn’t know how available fuel would be in the Congo, and I didn’t want to chance it at the last town. I then went and found the Catholic Mission and arrange to camp in their yard. I then walked back into town, wandering through the riverside market and onto the internet café. On the way back I stopped at one of the riverside bars and enjoyed and beer, while watching the river traffic and general hustle and bustle. It was later afternoon by the time I walked back to the mission, where I sent camped, had a warm shower and settled down reading for the evening.
When I awoke I found it was raining, and so decided to pack my gear away and go to the Patisserie in town to get breakfast. After which I drove out of Lambarene and across the southern bridge south. It was not long before I left the tarmac road and was again on piste, and around lunch time I arrived in the town of Mouila. Where I stopped for lunch and a rest, before continuing south. It was piste all the way to Ndende and the terrain had noticeable changed from thick forest to open grass land with patches of forest. I arrived in Ndende around mid afternoon and stopped at the Total fuel station on the edge of town to refuel. During which I noticed there was a motel directly behind. So I wandered across to see if it was possible for me the camp there. No problem, as they had seen many an overlander in there time, and so I moved the Landy into there yard. I then said with the owner and a guy called Mohamed, explaining where I was from and what I was doing. Later that afternoon Mohamed and me went for a walk round the town and along the way he pointed out the immigration office. Which is where I would have to get my exit stamp the following day. On my return to the motel I set camp and sat reading until dinner was ready, which I had ordered from the restaurant, as the camping was free. I sat down to a nice dinner of steak in mushroom sauce. I then went back to my reading for a while before wandering off to bed.
I was up and about early, had breakfast, cleaned the Landy a bit and sat writing diary until it was time to go round to the immigration office. Once there the lady said I had to have photo copies of my visa and details pages of my passport. So I took a quick walk down the road and got a photocopy done and then returned to the office and handed my papers over. She stamped my passport and off I went, out of Ndende and down the piste to the border post. At the border post I got my Carnet stamped and over the border I went into Congo. It was not long before I found the first of many check point and offices. Some just took my details down from my passport, other looked in the car and stamped my passport. I finally reached the village of Nyanga and there got my Carnet stamped and all my papers looked at again. The interesting thing at the customs though, was to look through all the Carnet slips that the customs had gathered from other travellers. There was more than I expected, including to overland truck and 4 vehicles from the UK, which had all passed through in the last few months. The last village I passed through that day way Kibangou around late afternoon, at which point I decided I would look for a place to wild camp. It was some was down the piste by the time I found a point I could turn off and get into cover, and I parked up tucked between some hills a couple of hundred metres off the piste. I then climbed the one of the near by hills to get a better view of the area and to take some photo, as the scenery was stunning. I then set camp and made dinner. I then spent the evening reading in the roof tent as I was getting bothered by a swarm of bees which had appeared from no where. But thankfully as darkness fell they got bored and flew back to where every they had come from. Leaving me to fall asleep to the sound of the wind whistling through the hills.
I woke to the sound of the bees returning and circling the tent. So I got up and packed away quickly, and drove back to the piste. I then drove onto the junction with an apparently new piste running to Point Noire. Again the guys there took down my passport details and on I went. It was not long before I was driving through Bull dust (dust so fine it’s like talcum powder) and negotiating big ruts and holes. It might have been a new piste, but the heavy traffic of logging trucks going a break neck speeds where tearing it apart pretty quickly. The piste would win over the trucks in the end, as I saw plenty that where broken down and even one which had broken clean in two. After a hot and dusty morning I arrived in Point Noire around lunch time. I first went in search of an internet café, as I needed to check Paul’s directions on how to find his truck. After driving round for a while and getting catch up in traffic I finally found one. After checking my mail and the directions, I set off for the centre of the city to find the Train station, which ws the starting place for the directions. It was easy enough as the train station was at the bottom of the main road through the city centre. From there I soon found Paul’s truck, and went to speak with the people in the restaurant to check if it was OK for me to stay there. The owner was not around and so I had some lunch and then went for a walk along the beach and around the area to get my bearings. When I came back I talked to the owner ad it was no problem to camp, so I decided to have dinner in the restaurant o keep them happy. I then spent the rest of the evening relaxing and reading before going to bed.
Days 181 to 190
Diary Index
Days 201 to 210