Days 191 to 200
Diary Index
Days 211 to 220
First job of the day was to wash down the Landy as in was covered in mud and dust. This took quite some time, as there was a lot of mud to wash out from the underneath. With that done I got stuck into washing my clothes, which I then hung out in the strong coastal breeze to dry. For the rest of the day I spent my time fitting a new padlock bracket to the rear door. During which I briefly stopped for lunch and went down the road to buy some bolts. With it finally fitted (and blistered fingers, from the drilling), I cleared up and had some dinner. I then spent the evening reading The Lord of the Rings and managed to finish it at last. I then spent a little time writing diary entries before going to bed.
I spent a couple of hours cleaning and re-greasing the universal joints on the prop shafts of the Landy. As they where caked in bull dust. I then went and jumped in the sea, as you couldn’t really swimming because of the surf. If I only had a body board! After which I had a wash using the restaurants out door shower. I then walked into town and went to the internet café, done some shopping and returned to the campsite to have lunch. I then spent the afternoon working on website stuff, listening to music and reading. I then cooked myself some dinner and spent the rest of the evening reading, before going to sleep.
After breakfast I cracked on with website stuff for a couple of hours. Then a white lady pulled up in a car and came over and introduced herself as Biatrice. Some one had told her that they had seen their Landy down by the beach. She had told them that wasn’t possible as their Landy was in the garage. So she came down to investigate. She explained that her and her husband Michel had bought and where preparing a Defender 130 to drive back to France with. We then walked down the beach front to a bar and chatted over a drink, telling each other about our adventures. We then returned to where I was camped and arranged to meet that evening for dinner and a drink. I had some lunch and then went back to working on website stuff and reading until early evening, when Biatrice and Michel turned up in there Landy. I then met Michel for the first time and after a quick look around my Landy we drove off into town in theirs. We first went to a nice bar, which over looked the main street running through Point Noire. We all enjoyed a nice glass of South African white wine, and Michel told me all about the other overland trips he had done, and I explained where I had been and how the whole thing started. We then moved onto a beach side restaurant, which was a private place only for Total and Enron works and their guests. There we had a lovely dinner and continued our chat, both explaining which way we where planning to go on our travels. After a great evening they dropped me back at my Landy and we arranged to meet the following day. By this time is was long after my normal bed time, so happy I climbed to bed.
I started the day by working on website stuff for a short while until the near by garage opened. I then waked down the road to buy 5 Litres of engine oil. Once back at camp I changed the engine oil and filter. As the day before, when updating my mileage log, I had realised that I would be in the middle of Angola when it was time to change the oil. So I had figured it was best to do it early, as I had time and the Landy had done a lot of hard miles. After, I carried on with working on the laptop, until lunchtime. Then as arranged, Biatrice and Michel turned up at 13:00, and as the weather had cleared during the morning it was possible for us to go flying. We drove to the local airport in their Landy and we where soon sat in a light aircraft taxing drown the runway. The view from the air was great, we flew over many oil wells and production sites, as it was Michel’s job to manage the ones in the area. After which we flew out to the coast near the border with Cabina (Angola) and flew along the coast and over Point Noire. During which I managed to get a picture of my Landy and the overland truck from the air. Not long after which we returned to the airport to land, where Biatrice, who had been sketching a couple of the nearby aircraft, greeted us. We then drove down to the boat club for a soft drink and chat and then they dropped me back at my Landy. Along the way we swung by their flat where they helped me out by changing some money for me. Back at camp I had dinner and spent the evening reading and sipping a cold beer, before going to bed.
Again I started the day by working on website stuff, and after finishing an update, went down the internet café to send it off and the check my mail. Once back at camp I had lunch and spent a hour or so playing on the Laptop, during with Paul turned up in a taxi and introduced him self. We then went drown the road to one of the beach side bars and sat chatting and drinking beer. He explained all about how the truck had come to be left in Point Noire and the hassle he had had in getting his Angolan visa. It turned out that when the truck had driven down with passengers on board they too, had not been able to get there Angolan visa’s in Point Noire, and eventually had to be flown out to join another overland truck. Paul had been sent back to bring it back to the workshop in Tanzania, as it was in need of a complete overhaul. During this time we saw Biatrice and Michel drive past and later we popped round to where they were to say hi. After which me a Paul went round the corner to the nice private restaurant and blagged our way in. It was worth it as we both enjoyed great pizza. After which we walked back to where we were camped and it was not long before we said goodnight.
We were up with the light to make an early start to the day. During doing the usual check to the truck, Paul found that some of the tools and the jack had been stolen. The really annoying thing being that when he had first got to the truck he had found there was no jack and had bought a new one. So we both jumped in my Landy and drove off into town to find a new jack and to stock up on food. It wasn’t too hard to find a vehicle spare place and we soon found one that also sold jacks. With that job done, we went around a few shops in the area and stocked up on paste and other staples. Including a kilo bag of biscuits (road munchies) each, which later got named never ending biscuits. We then returned to the truck packed our shopping away and drove out of Point Noire. We easily found our way out of town as we had been shown the way by Biatrice and Michel. It was a straight forward drive to the border, other than the fact the truck kept stalling, and it was not long before we had gone through the formalities and where across. We then changed a small amount of money into Angolan Kwanza, and then continued driving south to Cabina. By the time we arrived it was late afternoon, and we first went in search of the port and the ferry. As we had both heard that there was a ferry that run from Cabina to Soyo and Luanda. Finding information out about this was easier said than done, because our Portuguese was no existent. On the border we had also been told that we had to report to the immigration office in Cabina on arrival. So we sentled on first find this, as one of the guys we were talking to knew where it was. We left the truc at the port and all drove round there in the Landy. But by the time we had arrived the section we needed to see had closed, and they told us to come back tomorrow. We spent the rest of the afternoon and evening running around various places trying to find out information about the ferry and other ships. We found the people who ran the ferry, which ran twice a week but could only take one car and a few passengers. We then looked into what would be able to carry the truck as well, but it all got very complicated with having to crane it on a off the boat, as well as expensive. By late evening we knocked the idea on the head as it did not seam feasible, and we were wasting our time. On the way back to the truck we stopped at the town centre fuel station and waited in the queue for ages to get diesel, as I was running on fumes by this point. That’s when we found that the fuel was really cheap, 14 Kz or around 20 US cense a litre. Once back at the truck we drove down to a coastal car park I had seen on our travels around town and set camp for the night.
We where again up with the light and I made us some breakfast whilst Paul cleaned the fuel filters on the truck. It was definitely the reason it had been regularly stalling the day before and they where caked in crap. After a quick test drive we left the truck in the car park and drove round to the immigration office in the Landy. There they took down our details, photo copied our passports and then we were good to go. We then took the truck and Landy round to one of the places we had visited the day before on our search for the ferry, Giro Cab. As they repaired trucks there and Paul wanted to weld some tags on to the suspension arm, to hold in a bush. While he was doing that I spotted a 6mm pop rivet gun and electric drill and made use of them to finish off the rear door lock I had fitted in Point Noire. With that done we then turned our attention to changing more money and fuelling up the vehicles. We were pointed in the right direction and soon found the money changers on the side of the road, leading into town. We then drove back to the port where we had found a fuel station, again on our travels the day before. There we filled all the tanks on the truck (2000 Litres) and I filled up my jerry cans. As you can imagine this took some time and we were finally ready to move on around lunch time. We drove out of Cabina and headed south for the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Once at the border it took ages to cross as they where really slow and scrutinised every little detail in our papers. They also gave both vehicles quite a thorough search before finally letting us through. By this time it was late afternoon and we decided to drive on until dark. We started off on the right track but after a while Paul turned the wrong way, I tried everything to get his attention to stop, but it was only when he reached a border post did he realise. We back tacked for quite some way and then turned off the piste and set camp for the night. Whilst eating dinner we could see the glow of oil well fires on the horizon, and where treated to a great view of the stars. Which now looked strange to me as the constellations I could recognise where all on their sides.
We woke with the light and where soon on the road, or piste as it was. We spent all morning driving to Boma, where we rejoined tarmac roads. We then followed the main road through the hills and to the bridge crossing the Congo river into Matadi. After paying the toll, we crossed the bridge and entered Matadi and soon stopped to find money changers, as we didn’t have any local money. That done, we headed into the town centre to find the Convent, as Paul had info saying we could stay there. This lead us on a merry tour of the place as the church had several properties around town, but eventually we arrived at the Convent, by this time late into the evening. I arrange for us to stay, and we parked up. We then walked down the road to get some food and a beer. After which we returned to the convert, showered and went to bed.
After a leisurely start to the day, we took the Landy and drove round to the Angolan Consul. This was made easier because we had notes from a previous overland truck trip, giving us directions. Which was just as well as the Consul is down a dirt road, with on signs or clues it’s there, until you find it. We had arrived before the office was open so we killed some time by walking around the main street looking around. On return we filled in the necessary forms, money, and passport photo. They then photocopied a couple of pages in our passports and the lady took all the papers into the Consul, and we where told to wait. After a while we were told that there wouldn’t be a problem and that we should come back at 15:00. So we walked back to the main road and went looking for truck tyres, but we couldn’t find any that where the right size or didn’t cost the earth. After giving up on finding truck tyres, we had a look around for a internet café. We spotted a place that had a sign saying that they were an internet provider, so we went in. There they told us that they weren’t an internet café, but we could use their computer for free, to check our mail. After which we thanked the guy, and returned to the Angolan Consul. After a brief discussion as where to put the visa in my passport, on account of it being so full, the visa’s were issued. We then had a late lunch, went food shopping and returned to the convent. There we paid for our stay, during which the head Nun tried to get more money out of us. So much for Christian charity! We then drove out of town and along the river to the border post. Along the way stopping to take a couple of pictures of the mighty Congo river. There was no problem with the border crossing on the Congo side, but they were painfully slow. Because of this, the light was starting to fade by the time we reached the Angolan border post. We parked up and went into the Police office to get our passports stamped, and again they where slow. I think they like to make there job look more important than it is, as all they do is write your detail down and stamp your passport. When they were finally finished they informed us that the Customs offices had gone home and that we had to stay the night at the border post. We protested as even according to the opening times on there door the office should still be open. They gave in and said that they would have to show us where the Customs officer lived and bring him back to the office. So the Police jumped into the Landy and truck and we drove down into the town to find the house. Once there and after some whingeing, I took the Customs officer back to the border post. There they stamped both of the Carnet’s, and then I returned him to his house, where Paul had been waiting. By this time it was dark and so we decided to drive some way out of town and then find a spot to camp for the night. We ended up stopping in a siding along the piste, had dinner and then spent the evening playing chess. During which some locals came along and stopped to check we were alright. They were obviously surprised to find two white guys playing chess at the side of the piste in the dark. Which must have seamed very strange to them. When we had finished we crashed into bed, as it was late and had been a long day.
We were up at 05:30 had a quick breakfast and where soon on the road. The piste was slow going, muddy, as well as full of trenches and holes. During one of the tricky climbs the truck dropped into a trench, rolling a tyre off the rim, breaking the front bumper and dislocating the rear airbags. This took us a couple of hours to sort out, and we managed to re-inflate the tyre and airbags. We continued on our way, and it took the rest of the day to drive just past Tomboco. During which the rear mounts on the front suspension of the truck broke, and we had to remove the rear torque bar as it completely broken free off the axel. We again stopped in a siding along the piste, where we re-fuelled and I greased the U.J.’s on the Landy’s prop shafts. During which Paul made dinner, and after a chat and a beer we were soon in bed.
Days 191 to 200
Diary Index
Days 211 to 220