Democratic Republic of Congo: Lubumbashi to Kinshasa

[crusader]

Belgium is ahead of me (mountain west) by about 10 hrs. It looks to be about 2:30 AM Wednesday November 17 . The time zones start at the international date line somewhere in the Pacific between Hawaii and Guam and travel west. I lived in the Philippines for a few years, it was quite an interesting experience coming home over the date line.

Yeah...I wasn't being serious.

I used to have a t-shirt from one of my trips to Wake Island that read "Wake Island--Where America's day really begins."

Just to stay on topic...I was Monday in Belgium today, hence the latest installment.

[java]

thank you for feeding all the addicts!

[TinTioT]

Subscribed, addicted! Amazing.

[RadioBaobab]

Frederik, is this the same road you took?

Nice video. It is more or less the same road yes. We did not go via Kolwezi, but took an alternative track before kolwezi (the part with the private roads). Most of the road must have been similar though.

It's interesting to see that the camera crew probably did not expect it would take that long and did not make it until the end. As you see, it's quite common that journeys into the Congo take a bit longer then a few hours. We reached Bukama (the destination of this truck)after a few days. After Bukama traffic virtually stops at all. Nobody really continues past there. You'd have to be nuts to do that really ;-)

Also interesting to see that they have 3 guys as pointers for the driver. They walk the road and make the decisions. This was Josephine's role in the Congo, and she was on her own obviously. The importance of her role cannot be underestimated!

I should add that Josephine usually does a fair bit of driving as well. As I have a bit more experience with technical driving, I did all the driving in Congo. Many days she walked more in front of the car then she was in it.

[T4RJon]

I've been following this since late October. Simply amazing!! I'm so hooked...... Registered on here just to say this.

oh and this...

A book on the 2 year excursion would be incredible!

[cmgraves]

just wanted to say thanks for the amazing story and pictures!

In additon, congrats for breaking the 100,000 views!!!!

keep the adventure coming

[PRyan]

Amazing trip and fantastic story-telling.

I really hope you do consider publishing this in either a digital or traditional form.

When you have a moment away from giving your addicted readers their 'fix' I would love to know what kinds of tools and spares you brought as well as what you might do differently if you were to do it again in terms of the following:

Would you have erred on bringing more tools even though they add weight and take up space or do you think you had the proper kit?

Would you opt for more of a dual purpose battery in the rear that could power accessories and be just as good at starting the Troopie?

Would you have made more of an effort to set up a parts supply chain set up to expedite getting replacements quickly? Example - having a trustworthy place to have parts shipped to quickly.

Many thanks for taking the time to bring us all along on your adventure. If you don't have time to address these questions I totally understand, only so much time in the day (and night for that matter).

[mangus7175]

I found myself lost deep into this thread yesterday leaving all my work undone. By far one of the best reports (...or adventure book) I've read here

[Buckru]

Excellent trip report. Many thanks.

[Christian P.]

A few more hours before we reveal the surprise...