Democratic Republic of Congo: Lubumbashi to Kinshasa

[PirateMcGee]

Don't make us wait too long

More than an adventure travel, this is getting to turn scary ...

x3 don't leave us hanging!!!!!!!!!!

thanks for sharing! this is awesome in the true sense of the word

[Overland Hadley]

[Sirocco]

you couldn't make this S**t up!

G

[grahamfitter]

Fantastic!

[NorCalLC]

I'm reading this and thinking damnit, turn around and get the hell out of there and then you just keep going in further and further! Way too risky for me, but this is one hell of an adventure I don't want to end!!!

Has my adrenaline pumping as I'm reading it....

[UK4X4]

Awsome thread and so true to the areas and atmospheres in Africa.

I only hope they are posting from home after the fact !

or else we may be left hanging ..................

The shrill call of "muzungu give me money" still haunts me !

[jpvm]

I'm reading this and thinking damnit, turn around and get the hell out of there and then you just keep going in further and further! Way too risky for me, but this is one hell of an adventure I don't want to end!!!

Has my adrenaline pumping as I'm reading it....

x2 , I love adventure, but in your case guys, if you are passing through this type of country where there is actually no established order, nor behaving of the order forces (say, police, customs agents, etc. asking tolls or raising tolls for tourists), there is nowhere to run since you don't really know if what comes ahead is friendly or not. If you don't know if you are driving through friendly or hostile cities or neighborhoods (was there any way of knowing this before?) like in almost every part of the world, especially if you are harrassed with knives by an entire town ...

[goodwoodweirdo]

Hey Frederik,

This is awesome, please don’t keep us hanging on… what happened next ???

[RadioBaobab]

Once again thanks for all the great comments. Seeing people enjoying the report sure makes up for all the work it takes to type it out.

How were you managing your stress levels?

So-so. The initial nervousness when entering Congo remained with us for the rest of our trip. We were hoping it would go away as it always did before but it didn't. It is a great feeling not knowing what you are up to next, but up until now almost all of the 'surprises' were not so pleasant. The anticipation for the next 'bad' thing to happen made sure that our adrenaline levels were always high.

In Josephine's case that resulted in a sort of insomnia. She really slept bad all trough Congo. Always on the lookout I guess. Our leaking tent did not help either.

In my case it resulted in a lack of apetite. My stomach felt like I was desperatly in love. I really had to force myself to eat something.

In both our cases this meant we were getting physically exhausted.

I love Belgium beers ,

Me too

I know English is your 3rd language (puts to shame us “English speaking”!!) I especially love the little typo of biting your tongue and not “thong” being underwear, or maybe that’s what you really meant .

That was the kinky side of me popping up ;-)

I just reread the report and I am a bit embarrased about the amount spelling mistakes and typo's. I can do a better job. I make these reports during breaks at work or in between other things, so it's always a quick write-up and I post it immediately, without spellchecking. Sorry, but I am sure the message gets along.

Absolutely great to read you ! Belgians in the Congo ! You must be nuts !

I presume you are referring to the "not so nice" role Belgium has had in the history of Congo. For a while I thought that would be a problem as well, but it isn't. Just about anything that still exists in Congo is made by the Belgians. The older generation who had their education from the Belgians really have fond memories of that era. And at the moment Belgium is still one of the main funders of the country (via aid). The dark pages of history during the Leopold 2 era is not what the Congolese people think about. All in all I think being Belgian was actually a plus. As a matter of fact, a lot of people asked how things were going with the "war" in Belgium :-o
[/quote]

I travelled in Zaire in the early 80s. I guess things were better under the rule of Mobutu, but just barely !

Better is a relative term ofcourse. Infrastructure wise it was pobably a lot better. Nothing constructive happened since the 80's. I would have loved to see the country then. And even more so in 50's when it must have been really easy (relative) to travel in the country.

there is nowhere to run since you don't really know if what comes ahead is friendly or not. If you don't know if you are driving through friendly or hostile cities or neighborhoods (was there any way of knowing this before?)

Same could be said about the "bad" areas all major cities in the world have. You are quite right about the fact that we had nowhere to run, we were really on our own. That also leaves you with just one option: continue.. and that's what we did :-)

When this report is done I will post some aftertoughts about the various aspects of this trip.

[UK4X4]

"I just reread the report and I am a bit embarrased about the amount spelling mistakes and typo's."

don't worry about this ! its a non issue everyone is enjoying your adventure and thankfully its past tence and not present ! as if you stopped posting
I'm not sure who would go looking for you !