Damn, I made a mistake in my report and skipped a day. Apologies. After our little ordeal with the "runners" we actually struggled on until we reached Kabondo Dianda.

So, Our progress after day 5 was:

http://radiobaobab.be/assets/etogal/...c_map-day5.jpg

And now after day 6 we got to Kamina (75km from Kabondo Dianda... takes a full day of driving)

http://radiobaobab.be/assets/etogal/...c_map-day6.jpg

So, the corrected overview is:

Day 1: Kansenia
Day 2: Rest day Kansenia
Day 3: Unknwon village
Day 4: Luena
Day 5: Kabondo Dianda
Day 6: Kamina

Sorry :oops:

We stayed another day (day 7) in Kamina and talked for hours with Frère Louis and got ourselves organized again.

Day 8
Our stay in the mission in Kamina was really great. We got our alternator fixed, had great conversations with the brothers, drank as much beer as we wanted and had some good food. We even managed to dry out our tent.

When we wanted to leave we wanted to pay for the repairs, the accomodation and the beer but they refused. They were so happy to have visitors. Genuinely great people, the fathers Franciscan at Kamina. They have my greatest respect!

We were invited to join breakfast and received lots and lots of information on the roads that we would be taking in the next days. They never drive all the way to Kananga (next big town), but they know all the roads and backroads in the area. Not surprising, as most of them were built by them.

It's funny how a brother in a white gown explains the best way how to take certain obstacles and which gears to use. They must have been one of the most experienced 4x4 drivers in Africa!

http://radiobaobab.be/assets/etogal/548/kananga001.jpg

The landscape opened up a bit. Until now we were mostly driving trough jungle forest. Now we entered a more steppe-like area. The road was still mostly sandy, with muddy patches in between.

http://radiobaobab.be/assets/etogal/548/kananga003.jpg

We approached another big farm(ranch?). The Route National went around the farm but was in a horrible state. The farm had a network of excellent dirt roads that could bypass a large part of the RN1. We were stopped at a "toll booth" but upon mentioning that we were friends of the Fathers we can pass for free.

We travel fast now, great little sandy tracks trough the steppe. Yihaa!

Until we reach the next obstacle... one we did not expect!

http://radiobaobab.be/assets/etogal/548/kananga011.jpg

I can see you thinking... what the * is that?

That were pretty much our thoughts too. We were still on the private roads of the farm. The alternative, the RN1, was really horrible, so whomever needed to pass trough here preferred to take the private roads, even if that meant paying a fee. But the farm wanted to prevent trucks from taking their roads, as they erode the sandy tracks and destroy them.

The road led trough a large marsh and spot in the middle they build that "thing". It was about 2,4meter high. Great way of preventing trucks from passing. But with our rooftop tent on we were about 2,6meter high.

http://radiobaobab.be/assets/etogal/548/kananga004.jpg

Tough luck...

It was midday. The sun was particularely fierce today and we had little shade. Returning to the RN1 was not really an option for us. We checked out the area and driving around it was no option either.

We started by digging into the ground underneath the construction. It was well thought out as the base was a metal plate. We cleared the plate of all ground... another 5mm won :roll:

The tyres were let down to 0,5 bar but we were still too high. We opened the rooftoptent and removed the mattres, pillows, ... .

http://radiobaobab.be/assets/etogal/548/kananga007.jpg

The front cleared now, but the back of the car was still too high. We let out all of the remaining air out of tyres (0bar)... still no go :?

So I climbed on the roof and Josephine took the wheel. We counted to three and I jumped on the roof while Josephine moved forward for a few centimeter at a time. And counted to 3 again, etc... It scraped a bit, but it worked.

http://radiobaobab.be/assets/etogal/548/kananga010.jpg

Once we passed we got the compressor out to inflate the tyres again. I really did not want to damage the tyres here!

First tyre, Ok, switches the hose to the second tyre and then *poof* the compressor died. :tantrum:

These kind of things really eat at you. Patience is virtue, but when you are trying to move forward so desperately you really don't want a compressor to die!

Checked the fuse, checked cabling, checked overheat protection. Everything look allright?? This is the moment were you kick a tree (it hurts) out of frustration. We had three flat tyres and we only had two spares. We needed that compressor!

So in the midday heat I started to dismantle the compressor. The compressor was bolted on the roof, so I had to work on the roof... no shade there..

Don't you just hate it when that happens?!!
Thanks 2cvfred, I'm glued to this every day when I get home.
Keep it coming

The problem with the compressor was electrical. A cable inside the compressor worked itself loose. As expected it was that one cable that is almost impossible to reach. :twisted: Eventually we got it fixed, managed to inflate the tyres, put everything in the RTT again and we could continue.

3 hours wasted to cross an obstacle that isn't supposed to be an obstacle... :O Of all the problems we had in Congo, this was the most ridiculous one :roll:

http://radiobaobab.be/assets/etogal/548/kananga008.jpg

Stupid Belgians! (-> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Cockerill_%26_Cie. )

http://radiobaobab.be/assets/etogal/548/kananga016.jpg

We continued trough grassy fields.... which were on fire! 8O
At the beginning of the rainy season/ end of the harvest they burn their fields but they did have some issues with the firecontrol I must say. We were just hoping that we wouldn't drive straight into a fire. For the next hours we saw nothing at all really...

http://radiobaobab.be/assets/etogal/548/kananga018.jpg

http://radiobaobab.be/assets/etogal/548/kananga019.jpg

Also note the total lack of tyre tracks on these pistes. The only tracks that exist are bicycle tracks.

It took somewhat longer then expected, but we reached our goal of the day. The missions of Father Stoïn in Kimpanga. One of the Croatian fathers we met in Kamina.

http://radiobaobab.be/assets/etogal/548/kananga022.jpg

His church was still smelling like new! The inside was still a work in progress.

http://radiobaobab.be/assets/etogal/548/kananga023.jpg

Upon arrival in 'his' village all of the children ran to meet us. They sang and danced. What a welcome! Although I wished they wouldn't have danced on our wheelcarrier... :roll:

A big crowd followed us trough the village and onto the mission. Father Stoïn must have been a popular guy. We did our talks with the village people (happy people!) and were already getting scared that this would once again be one of those zero-privacy nights. Father Stoïn had given us a letter for Jean-Marie, the 'housekeeper' of the mission. It was a multi page letter, probably with all kinds of instructions. One of these instructions must have been that we were to be left alone. Jean Marie talked to the crowd and told them that we were very tired and needed rest. The crowd accepted that and went home.

We parked our car in the compound of the mission, with a beautiful view over the hilly landscape.

For the first time since we entered Congo we had a night for ourselves. We cooked up an improvised spagetti and opened up one of our 'emergency beers'. God, what a magnificently beautiful place this was. Complete with the sound of drums in the distance.

Father Stoïn, you have our eternal gratitude!

http://radiobaobab.be/assets/etogal/548/kananga020.jpg

Progress after Day 8 on the road. In Kimpanga.

http://radiobaobab.be/assets/etogal/...c_map-day8.jpg

Day 9

Today would be a bit of a step into the unknown. Until now we were still in the Katanga province, we had excellent contacst with the Franciscans that operate here, but they do not operate in the Kasai province. Also, the only person we had found that had travelled these road was an Israeli guy wo attempted to cross Congo a few years ago. He got arrested at the border between Katanga and Kasai because he did not have a permit and got deported. He had to fly out from Mbuji Mayi.

Today we too would cross the border into Kasai. We only had a vague contact in Mbuji-Mayi, but nothing in between here and Mbuji-Mayi, and nothing afterwards either as a matter of fact.

This made us a bit more nervous as usual I must say...

The deeper we got into Congo, the less traffic there was. It's been days since we saw another vehicle on the road. Roads were getting more and more overgrown.

http://radiobaobab.be/assets/etogal/548/kananga024.jpg

http://radiobaobab.be/assets/etogal/548/kananga027.jpg

We like to think that the scenery here was fantastic... but we can't tell as we did not see much today..

http://radiobaobab.be/assets/etogal/548/kananga029.jpg

Progress was slow and we had to stop numerous times to inspect bridges.

http://radiobaobab.be/assets/etogal/548/kananga030.jpg

You cannot tell from this picture, but the iron beam underneath the iron plate was broken in two. We had to drive next to the plate. On the far side this meant we only had half a tyre on the bridge.

We were a well oiled team by now. The procedure was always the same. We both got out to inspect the bridge and decide on a traject. Josephine would give directions and I drove over. It usually took no longer then 15 minutes. In most cases we did not bother taking pictures, a shame because there we some beauties of bridges there ;-)

All in all we were very happy with the bridges we encountered as most were made of steel. We still had some bad memories from the wooden bridges in the 'other' Congo (Congo-Brazzavile) when we crashed trough a bridge last year

http://radiobaobab.be/assets/etogal/...ntenoire84.jpg

http://radiobaobab.be/assets/etogal/548/kananga032.jpg

There are many bridges here and the road barely exists. We start to get difficulties with the erosion. For kilometers on end we drive at angles of 25° to 30°. We have to take it very very slowly

http://radiobaobab.be/assets/etogal/548/kananga033.jpg

At one of the "flaque d'eau" I think it is not necessary to walk it first. I drive in with a bit of speed and our right side sinks away deeply. Water came in via the right window and the left wheels were of the ground, spinning wildly and giving us a mud shower trough the left window. I have the good reflex to steer into the pit.. we barely manage to stay upright. The interior of our car, ourselves included, are covered in mud. Great!

It was getting late and we started making mistakes again... time to stop before it gets dark. We did not make it into Kasai province today after all...

We stopped in the first village. A car in the village.. with white people in it. Now that is an attraction ofcourse. And if they are covered in mud from head to toe it is even more interesting.

I do not have to explain we drew a bit of a crowd?

But people were actually quite nice. They offered us to use their shower (a tree with a mud wall before it and a bucket) and after an hour or so they actually left us alone.

Later that evening some kind of custom officer came to see us. He wanted to see our permits and whatnot. We kindly told him to bugger off and come back tomorrow. Surprisingly, it worked. Next day we were gone before he came back ;-)

As soon as it got dark we got into our tent and looked outside. We could see several fires in the village were people would gather around and sing and dance (mostly women). Small groups of men were having discussions. Peaceful village.

http://radiobaobab.be/assets/etogal/548/kananga035.jpg

The village chief (on the right ;-) )

Progress after Day 9. In an unknown village just before the Katanga/Kasai border

http://radiobaobab.be/assets/etogal/...c_map-day9.jpg

Day 10

The border of the Katange province and Kasai is at the Lubilanji river. A big river with a big bridge. We dare not take pictures here as "border" zones are considered of military importance and it is an excellent reason to get arrested.

Surprisingly there is no checkpoint at the bridge... There is a hut, but it was not manned. Instead they seemed to have moved their checkpoint closer to their base a few kilometers down the road.

It is a torough check. Police, Army, Customs, .. They check it all. Insurance, permit, etc... We manage to bluff us trough the permit issue again. When they run out of excuses to fine us, they just give up and plainly ask us for money. "Just because". We refuse ofcourse. It takes over an hour, we get angry a few times, we flatter them a few times, ... The usual. In the end they are angry but let us go.

We were afraid of Kasai and their people. They have the reputation of being hot tempered people. But until now they seem to be much more relaxed then the people in Katanga.

It's a long driving day again and when we finally arrive in Mwene-ditu we are knackered. We try to find a mission to stay in. Mwene-ditu is large city, it has cars and is an important stop on the railroad. It also feels like a very dodgy place.

Some of the streets resamble an extreme 4x4 course. Extreme erosion mixed with open sewers.

We manage to find a catholic missions that wants to take us in. We can park in their compound, but the street in front of their gate is eroded away. There is 3 meter level ground in front the gate and then a 3 meter deep pit. It takes a 1000turn manouvre to get us in. The roads simply aren't made for cars here. (They used to..)

We have a few hours of daylight left and we get to check the car. The protective plate underneath the gearbox is badly dent and hanging half loose. A few extra dents and lots of scratches. Could be worse I guess. We also noted that we are starting to get low on fuel. With our 270liter onboard we hoped to do at least 1500km, that should have gotten us to Mbuji Mai were we were sure there was Diesel. It is only 120km to Mbuji Mayi from here, but with what we have it might be a close shave. Our consumption was in excess of 20l/100km.

We do not want to risk it, so we try to buy some diesel here. We saw there was a big depot at the railroad. We ask for advice with the local father. He warns us that if we were to go ourselves, the prices would be at least double because of our white skin. He offers to buy it for us. We are a bit hesitant but we give him 80$US. That should buy us 40 liters of diesel.

The father dissapears for a few hours (!) and returns with two 20 liter jerrycans. He wanted to immediately pour it in our tanks but I wanted to check the diesel first. The smell was funny... not very diesel like. It had a red/brown colour and lots of debri. This was not diesel. It might contain a bit of diesel, but it was mixed with something else.

This was a very difficult situation as we suspected the father to try to fool us into buying this stuff and making a buck. But at the same time he was our host. In the end we refused the "diesel" and he gave us back our money. But he did not return the jerrycans. A very strang situation.

We did not feel at ease. Maybe we are starting to get paranoid?