Angola & Namibia

West Coast Complete

Disillusioned, jaded, frustrated, mentally and physically exhausted I have flown ahead of the truck by a week from Windhoek to spend some extra time in Cape Town to get some rest and recharge my flat batteries. The West Coast of Africa has been a great experience but the style of travel has definitely taken its toll on me. 1 shower in a month between Cameroon and Namibia, living in a sardine can with 19 other passengers 24/7, few activities to do other than sit on the back of the truck driving or setting up camp and cooking food. First world problems. Its not only me that has been affected however as one of our fellow passengers picked up and left the truck in bizarre circumstances on a dirt road in the middle of nowhere in Angola, rucksack on his back, walking off in the middle of the night. We think he is going to join the truck again once we leave Cape Town but we're still not entirely sure. Many positives have come out of all of this however and I have definitely learnt a lot about myself. Having been a bit flat of late but I've given myself almost 2 weeks in Cape Town to rediscover my lust for travel and hopefully the East Coast will be as amazing as I hear it is.

Our campsite view one evening

and the view in the morning

Picking up from my last blog we entered Angola from DRC and headed straight down to the capital Luanda to pick up our tour leader Ishi who had been back in the UK getting treatment and recovering from her battle with Typhoid. At this point I myself got fairly sick with some kind of fever which knocked me around for the next week or so but at worst all it really did was let me get some extra sleep. Angola is quite an expensive country so we could not afford to stay at any campsites (if they existed) so it was more bushcamping every night, only stopping in a few towns for a few hours at a time to have a quick look around and do some cook group shops. Fortunately we did have 1 campsite lined up right at the southern tip of Angola on the coast and we were all looking forward to it very much as everyone desperately needed to wash clothes and a shower would have been a welcome relief. Unfortunately for us the last 25km's of road to get to this campsite (which was a fishing retreat) was deep sand and just 1km in we began to get bogged. After spending an hour digging ourselves out and lowering the pressure on the tyres we continued on and did splendidly right until we got to within 1-2km of the campsite which was within sight which made it even more frustrating as we started to get bogged again right on the beach. The road (if you could call it that) was only about 20-30 metres from the ocean so you can imagine the sand we were driving on. Out came the sandmats and shovels and we dug out the truck for about 2 hours, moving forward inch by inch, replacing each sandmat as the truck moved forward. It began to get dark and after sending Warren up on a recon mission we discovered that the rest of the road for 1-2km to the campsite was just as sandy. After a deliberation between the driver and the tour leader it was decided to turn around. Doing a 3 point turn with sandmats on the beach however took another 2 hours and then another hour to backtrack where we had gone. 5 hours altogether I think we spent going 100 metres in either direction and everyone was absolutely exhausted. Dinner that night tasted absolutely amazing.

First bogging in the sand

Action shot just after we got out of a bog

Pulling a truck up that drove off an embankment

Entering Namibia 3 days later was a momentous occasion for us as it signified the end of the hardest part of the trip and was a step back into civilization as we know it. Immediately after entering the country we stopped at a shopping centre that had all the essentials in life that we had been missing. I personally bought a steak and onion pie, a chocolate milk, chips, chocolate and some bacon for breakfast. The next night we arrived at Etosha National Park and had access to better facilities than we did almost anywhere along the West Coast. The trip for us was about to get a whole lot easier.

Christo Redento in Lubango

Etosha gates

Not only did we get back to civilization in Namibia but we also got to go to Etosha National Park which for me was possibly the highlight of the West Coast. It is a premier game reserve and we were lucky enough to see giraffe, zebra, lions, different variety of deer, a black rhino, jackals, wildebeest, warthogs and many more animals. The viewing on the first day was fantastic but it rained heavily that night so we did not see as much the next morning.

2 lions I spotted if you look closely

From Etosha we travelled down to Swakopmund which is Namibia's version of Queenstown, skydiving, sandboarding, quad-biking, etc. The bars and nightlife here were good but the food was even better. We went out for our tour leaders 30th birthday one night and I had an Oryx steak, easily the best steak I've ever eaten. From Swakopmund we drove inland to the capital Windhoek where we chilled at the hostel and ate out again at another meat orientated restaurant. The next morning the truck left and I made my way to the airport to fly down to Cape Town. I now found myself near the beach in a private room with a comfy bed, a hot shower, Wi-Fi, a TV, a pool and a free amazing hot breakfast cooked for me each morning. I don't think I'll have too much trouble recharging my batteries here.

One of our early stop bush camps

Taking selfies

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Congo & DRC

The joys & frustrations of travel in Africa

 

Having left Lope National Park we headed south to the Congo border and crossed without much fuss. We bush camped and got bogged for the first time but were pulled out by a passing truck within 30 minutes and ended up sleeping in the adjoining village much to their delight. We moved on to Pointe Noire where we stayed right on the beach at a restaurant, pitching our tents inbetween the deckchairs. It was exorbitantly expensive for this part of the world but that was mostly due to all the ex-pats that lived here. Our driver Steve also used our 2 nights here to try and get some much needed spare parts for the truck as we had broken a spring and a roll bar a few days before. Unfortunately the guy we got to reweld our spring did it backwards so we had to stay a 3rd night and we could not find a new roll bar. Nonplussed we pushed on into Cabinda, a territory of Angola which is quite hostile and not recommended for travel. The trip has actually been planned that we enter Cabinda in the morning so that we can exit the same afternoon just due to the dangers here. All was going well as we entered in the morning, getting through the paperwork and stamping we have become so accustomed to by about 11:30. We filled the truck up with fuel for 40 cents p/l then made it to the exit border in good time only to be told that it was closed on the weekends. Being a Saturday afternoon that left us with a bit of time to kill so what did we do? We went to one of the 4 bars on the border as there were no other shops or stalls at all. After half a beer it started to rain a typical torrential tropical downpour for the next few hours. The bar flooded, the beers flowed and we had a absolute ball with the border guards and the locals.

The 3 amigos

Dancing with the border guards

Warren getting down with Laura & Christina

After finally getting through the Cabinda - Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) border the roads turned to shit. The rain we had while we had been on the border had turned the sandy roads to mud but it was not the worst we`ve travelled on. We didn´t get bogged this time but we did pull a car out that was bogged and we did get delayed again, this time due to roadworks. Just before the town of Boma a large pit had been dug up right across the road where they were installing some pipes. We had to wait for about 4 hours while they put the pipes in and then covered it with enough dirt to get the truck over but we eventually got through and drove over the Congo river at Matadi.

The muddy roads of DRC

The Congo river at Matadi

We have now just crossed into Angola proper and it has definately seen a lot of development over the last few years since the civil war ended. It is still not very well travelled however as the latest lonely planet does not even bother writing a chapter about it stating that they do not have anyone on the ground in Angola and that not enough people travel there. The roads here are all new and tarmac so we should be in Namibia and back into civilization by the time I put my next blog up.

Our latest campsite view in Angola

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Back to school

Cameroon

 

After travelling so much lately I often find myself in the back of the truck on driving days reading a book and listening to my iPod. Upon entering Cameroon however they were both put away for a few days as I enjoyed scenery which is like none I have seen before. Mountains covered in tropical rainforest, intermingled within plantain, banana and pineapple plantations. We have been travelling in rainforest/jungle terrain since Guinea but this has been somehow different, perhaps simply because the roads through the hills bring us above the tree line.

 

Sunset over the Cameroonian countryside

Formic Polytechnic School



 

Back to school

 

We bush camped our way to a town called Buea at the foot of Mt Cameroon, the tallest mountain in West Africa at 4095m. We hit the town and it was buzzing as it was the day of the yearly mountain run between both locals and international competitors and as we drove to the Presbyterian mission through the middle of town we also found ourselves driving headfirst into the runners coming down the mountain. As exhausted as they must have been they still managed a smile and a wave. Cameroon this week was celebrating 50 years of Reunification and Buea was the centrepiece. The President was to be in town in 2 days and the party had already began without him.

 

Teachers v Overlanders

 

Our penalty sailing through to seal the draw

Celebrating in style





 



 

Some of our group climbed Mt Cameroon the following day but I was unable due to medical reasons. I found plenty to do in the old town though and the following day we arranged to visit Formic Polytechnic, a school funded by a local businessman which allowed locals to go to school for free where they might not have gone at all. We had been carrying supplies for them all the way from London from their sister school in the UK. 2 computers, mobile phones for some teachers and 3 bags of books was very well received and in thanks they had organised a day of activities for us. Most of the school was away due to the festivities with the President being in town so not all the students were present but there was enough to show us around. We were shown around the school which seemed fairly well equipped by African standards and then they loaded us into the Principles office and told us we needed to pick 3 people for a debate against students with the topic being “ Who is more caring, a mother or a father.” Slightly caught out we barely had time to get 3 people together before they bundled us all into a classroom face to face with the students with Enrique Iglesias blasting from their sound system. Their MC took over and we listened to 1 student sing, then another student dance then a group of students dance.  The singing was quite traditional and pleasant but the dancing was a whole other story. Apparently the dance was traditional for Cameroon but it was very similar to certain dances I’ve seen in strip bars along King St with girls not wearing much or anything at all. Luckily our 13 year old student kept her clothes on as did the group that came after her but they still left little to the imagination. There even came a point with the group dancing when all the school boys hopped up and grinded against the girls for a while, put some money on their apparel and whispered sweet nothings in their ears. The teachers of the school meanwhile were all filming on their phones and everyone from our group didn't know where to look. Our debate was then completely forgotten as we had a soccer match to play against the teachers so the crowd moved along to the football pitch. It ended up being a draw 1-1 but the penalty we received in the last minute of the game was certainly gifted to us. After running around in tropical conditions we were all a bit sweaty so we headed back to the principles office which in no time turned into a bar as they loaded us with beer and roast chicken. The school tour suddenly got a lot more merry and when the owner of the school arrived and invited us to his house that evening it got even more interesting. We left the school and returned to our truck for a quick shower before we all headed to this strangers house which was a mansion by Cameroonian standards. The beers flowed, the music played and before long we were all dancing in his loungeroom along with about 10 teachers that rocked up. Came midnight our host suddenly decided that he had work the next day and wanted to go to sleep so the music was shut off and we were driven home with some of us continuing the party on the truck which was parked in a Presbyterian mission. Just another day in Africa.

 

River wash which has become the norm

Hitting the equator in Gabon







 

From Buea we stayed at Limbe on the beach for a couple of days, Kribi on the beach for a couple more days before heading to the capital Yaounde for 2 nights. In this time our tour leader Ishi had to fly back to the UK as she had never fully recovered from her bout of Typhoid. Upon fainting in Limbe we took her to a clinic where her medical history over the last couple of months was explained yet the staff there did not think it important enough to do any tests, instead giving her a pain killer injection and sending her on her way. The Oasis Overland office were not happy with this and despite Ishi’s protests she soon found herself on a plane home to get some proper treatment. We all miss you Ishi and cant wait til you fly back in.

 

Tackling some muddy roads





 

We have now just crossed the border into Gabon and will be shooting South quite quickly now. We crossed the equator yesterday and now find ourselves at Lope National Park after being woken at 4am by our first real dumping of tropical rain for the trip which was not nice enough to let up until after we packed up our tents. We are likely to be bush camping until Namibia now and I have no idea if I’m going to be able to get any more posts up for a while as the countries we are about to pass through are not really the most touristy or internet friendly but will no doubt be worth the trouble.

 

 

 

 

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