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As said, traffic is always local. They somehow manage to get cars into larger towns and then drive it around town, but no trough traffic. So cities/towns/village that are not on a river or on the limited railroad network have very limited supplies.
http://radiobaobab.be/assets/etogal/548/kananga070.jpg Up to 600kg of goods are transported on these bicycles. They do not 'ride' them, but push them instead. You can see there is a stick connected to the bikes handlebars. This is the major transport method in Congo. It is probably one of the most 'popular' (this does not seem like a good wordchoice) jobs. There are fixed routes and people often travel in groups. For security reasons but also to help eachother on the hills. At regular intervals on the main "bicycle" tracks there are "service stations". This is usualy a small hut where one can eat a meal of fufu. They would also have a pump and some basic tools to fix flats. We saw many of these overloaded bicycles before, but on this stretch of the road it seems to be the only means of transportation. It must be very hard work to get these loads over the sometimes very rough roads. The 'drivers' are away from home for weeks on end and probably barely make any money out of it. We never had problems with these guys, they were much to busy with their job. http://radiobaobab.be/assets/etogal/548/kananga071.jpg http://radiobaobab.be/assets/etogal/548/kananga072.jpg This also meant we were no longer driving on real roads. But on bicycle tracks... |
Some notes from Josephine (posting and reading from the same account as Frederik)
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We were pretty optimistic and hoped to reach Ilebo in two days. That meant that on the first day we had to make it to Pembeyangu, were we knew of a mission.
Bicycle tracks are not suited for Landcruisers... so we got stuck. The villages usually had the worst obstacles. In this one village there was a big boghole filled with water. We drove in but did not see the pigs that were taking a bath so we slowed down to give them the time to get out. Big mistake. We were stuck. The water came to the bottom of the door. This particular mudpit had a bit of a funny smell. It was the favourite place of the pigs so it probably contained a fair amount of sh*t. It sure smelled like it. The entire village gathered round us while we got out, knee deep in sh*t. They did not offer help. We started clearing the wheels. Josephine hurt her foot on a stick, the pain could be seen on her face. The people thought this was extremely funny and burst out laughing. This was very humiliating for Josephine and I could see the anger on her face. We looked at eachother and understood that this was not the time to get angry or start discussions with 50 or so people. We continued to work. As I bend over to clear the mud from underneath the car my pants get wet up until my ehrm.. 'privates'.. . Once again this is the funniest thing these people have ever seen. Hilarity ensues. This was very humiliating to us. Eventually they offered to help us if we pay them. I tell them that I do not have money. They did not move an inch. It takes the best part of an hour to get us out. To their surprise we stop again and I get out and walk up to them. Very calmly I explain that we did not like it when they laughed at us. I asked them how they would react if they hurt themselves and we would laugh at them. The acknowledged that they would get mad at us. I asked them if they would want us to help them if they had a problem. The acknowledged this. I said what they would think if we asked for money before we would help them. They called us racists and immediately demanded money from us. I then saw a side of Josephine I hadn't seen before. She got very cross with words and gestures. I will not repeat what she said here... it wasn't pretty I must say 8O Much to the amusement of our adience. To some of the people in the village our message must have gotten along, and they guided us around the next boghole. Half an hour later we stopped to eat lunch. We were still shaking after the humiliation, we felt helpess. We opened a can of Coke (still from Zambia) and a jar of pickled onions to eat with our bread. Those 'horrible' people did not have a Coke, even if they had the money to buy it, it was not avaialble. They did not have pickled onions either. And between the two of us we ate as much bread as an entire family would eat for an entire day. We tried putting things into perspective. Maybe we shouldn't be here after all? http://radiobaobab.be/assets/etogal/...beyangu007.jpg That is not the same pit/people from the above anecdote, but it is very similar. We must have crossed 20 or so villages like this. http://radiobaobab.be/assets/etogal/...beyangu008.jpg |
The progress we hoped to be making today did not materialize..
http://radiobaobab.be/assets/etogal/...beyangu011.jpg This was the thoughest going we had thus far since we left Lubumbashi. While the road had always been difficult, the inbetween bits used to be ok. Those inbetween bits did no longer exist now. The erosian was pretty bad and we were creeping forward http://radiobaobab.be/assets/etogal/...beyangu009.jpg Every obstacle meant a new dent or other damage http://radiobaobab.be/assets/etogal/...beyangu012.jpg To make matters worse we drove straight into a tropical storm.. |
In a fast pace the clouds appeared out of nowhere, in a matter of minutes it became as dark as the night. Winds picked up and jungle forest made terrible noise. Thick drops started banging on our car. Slowly at first but exponentially growing in size and number. Lightning almost immediately followed by deafening thunder. The hard rain stirred the ground and released many smells.
God, I love those tropical storms! A little less today though, as the track we were driving on quickly became very mudy. The ruts filled with water and became streams. Visibility was down to nil as our windscreen wipers couldn't keep up. This slowed us down even more. We slid and slide.. sideways more then forward. We came to another village, refreshingly we had the road for us alone, as everybody had taken cover for the rain. The usual bogholes were present but we could drive around it... or could we? What looked like a viable bypass was nothing more then a meter thick layer of soft and sticky mud on top of a puddle. Our landcruiser sunk in deep. I got out and within seconds I was drenched, I could barely breath because of the water that ran down my face and into my mouth. This was useless I couldn't see a thing. We had to wait until the rain stopped. Luckily those tropical storms go as quickyl as they come and after an half hour wait the downpour transformed in a little drizzle. We have gotten ourselves properly stuck I must say. Up unto the axles. Out came the sandplates and the shovels and I started digging. The village too had noticed the rain had resided and quickly came to see what was going on. http://radiobaobab.be/assets/etogal/...beyangu005.jpg No surprisingly nobody they offered their assistance, they even had some shovels. But they wanted money first. By now you probably think we are just stupidly stubborn and naive. We probably are, but we refused to give in to corruption. I once again told them they were free to help, but we would not give them money. So I continued to dig on my own with an entire village as an audience. http://radiobaobab.be/assets/etogal/...beyangu006.jpg It took three more attempts to drive out before the village priest (7th day Adventist by the way) encouraged a few strong men to help. After a small discussion between the priest and the men they helped us eventually. We did not promise them anything. Good! Almost two hours after we drove in we succesfully managed to back out. The priest then lead us trough his village (milimeterwork between the huts) around the bogholes. We offered the priest a small fee for his spontaneous help. We were grateful. He was in trouble now as he had to split up the money between the helpers and we could see a discussion had started already. Covered in mud we continued... the hope to get to Pembeyanga today has long vanished. Darkness was starting to fall... |
We were a in a miserable state. We were both soaked and there was mud everywhere, exhausted and stirred by todays experiences. Hungry. And above all nervous as to where we would stop for the night. We passed a few villages, they looked very poor and rundown. On the GPS we saw we were nearing a somwhat larger settlement: Kakenge. In the dark we did another 5km (about an hour).
Kakenge was indeed a large settlement and our luck turned as not only was there a catholic mission, it was a nice catholic mission! A fenced of compound (2 meter high walls.. who were they trying to keep out?) with inside a beautiful garden and two simple but clean buildings. The only brick buildings in town. Four fathers lived here, all Congolese but most of them had studied abroad. One of the fathers, Frère Polydore, had lived in Rome for 8 years. He had the humour and the way of talking of an Italian, a funny guy. They let us camp, have a shower (bucket) and they even let us use their dining room in all peacefulness. Just what we needed! Today we spent 15 hours on the road in our struggle forward. What a day... They also gave us the news that the road to Ilebo would progressively get worse and even impassable... |
I can see the soles of some ones boots poking out of the mud in the last pictures, his he one who laughed???
Epic journey and report, thanks. |
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Hello, I could not send a PM for some reason, but I just wanted to let you know that this post is amazing. I crossed the congo myself several times in the past, mostly from Kinshasa to Uganda and CAR. I am presently in North Africa with a 4x4 camper, what is the largest vehicle you can see traversing the route you covered in the Congo, having the most recent knowledge of it? I would hope to visit this amazing country again.
Also, do you have a list of waypoints for the missions and other places you visited along this route? Thanks a lot, and safe travels! |
Day 15
We slept until late today and only got on the road at 9. Silently we hoped to reach Pembeyangu today although the road would have to better as yesterday. http://radiobaobab.be/assets/etogal/...arilebo007.jpg http://radiobaobab.be/assets/etogal/...arilebo006.jpg The road was not better then yesterday. Erosion became a real problem and we spent most of our time "underground" http://radiobaobab.be/assets/etogal/...arilebo010.jpg http://radiobaobab.be/assets/etogal/...arilebo011.jpg And then we tipped over... |
We had been driving in akward angles a lot, and a few times already we could feel two wheels lifting off, but until now we managed to always end up on our 4 wheels. Until now..
We had two wheels in the air and we were resting on our side. Luckily the eroded sidewall made sure we did not fall too deep. We knew it would happen sooner or later but the sound of bending sheetmetal still scared us a bit. http://radiobaobab.be/assets/etogal/...arilebo016.jpg It was nothing spectacular (sorry :oops: ) but nevertheless, we were in a situation were our wheels were 20 cm off the ground. We do not have locking differentials by the way. We got our shovel out again :roll: and starting to add ground underneath our wheels to make them grip again and made the next few meters a bit more level hoping that we would righten ourselves again. It worked like a charm but it was a great amount of work. Damage was limited to a few extra dents. Still exhausted we continued, still in bizarre angles. Then we tipped over again.. |
"Annoyed" would be a correct word to describe our mood. We could still see were we tipped over last time and we knew how much digging it takes to get the car righted again.
No choice... out came the shovel... and eventually we got out again... and it did not take another kilometer before we... tipped over again... and again.. And again. At this rate it would take years to get us to Ilebo, we had to find a way to keep moving. Now, most of the road was ok to drive on. The little indicator on our dashoard learned us that we could keep driving until about 35 degrees tilt angle. It were only occasional patches were the angle would become too big and we'de be on our sides. We figured that if we would keep enough momentum, that we would slide forward on our side and "bounce back" on our wheels. So, that is what we did. We kept the speed up and if the road dipped too much we would tip over. Because of the higher speed the impact on the side was much bigger. But that, combined with the forward movement created a "jo-jo" effect (do you guys know what a jo-jo is? Not sure if it is called the same in English). Move forward. Tip over. Slide forward a bit on the side of the car. Bounce back. Wheels touch the ground. Move forward. And repeat. Some of the longer steep section were maybe 100meter long. We would "bounce" numerous times to get trough this. When we got trough we had a fixed procedure: - Depending on what side we tipped over, the person sitting on the opposite side would get out of the car first. - Armed with a hamer and spanner "20" go to the other side of the car - Bang and bend the door back into shape so it would open again - Both of us would walk back the part we just "bounced" trough, picking up all the parts of the car that fell of. Usually the mirrors, various bits and pieces of the filling cap, the sandladders, indicator lights and the odd bits of our roofrack. http://radiobaobab.be/assets/etogal/...arilebo017.jpg http://radiobaobab.be/assets/etogal/...arilebo018.jpg http://radiobaobab.be/assets/etogal/...arilebo019.jpg Strong car! This technique is probably not described in any "4x4 driving techniques" handbook. :wink: |
That day we did the "tip over thing" at least 20 times. After a while you stop worrying about the dents, but I can still hear the sound of the impacts.
Then, out of the blue, there was a road! This was completely absurd, as this road led to nowhere, but here it was, a recently build road about 10 meters wide. The forest was cut and cleared, the ground was made level and smooth as silk 8O http://radiobaobab.be/assets/etogal/...arilebo021.jpg Where did this come from? We drove onto the road and immediately started sinking in. I floored it to keep momentum and we crept forward, leaving deep ruts behind us. We felt really bad when that happened. Somebody put a huge amount of effort in building a road here. And then comes along this stupid tourist and he just pulls two big ruts spot in the middle of this road. We did not stay around to take a picture of our ruts, we were a bit embarrased. The road dissapeared as suddenyl as it appeared before. http://radiobaobab.be/assets/etogal/...arilebo022.jpg What the ... ? |
http://radiobaobab.be/assets/etogal/...arilebo030.jpg
The road was pretty varied. Jungle track. 'Bouncing track', weird patches of newly constructed road, etc.. I am not sure which kind of road we liked more... or disliked more.. . Often we had to wait to let the bicycles pass, sometimes they had to wait to let us pass. Not surprisingly we would not make it to Pembeyangu today either. They gave us too much hope in Kananga that we could make it in one day. It was obvious that nobody there had recently travelled on this stretch. Or maybe they had travelled it on foot or on a bicycle, and they do not have a clue how difficult this road is with 4 wheels instead of 2. http://radiobaobab.be/assets/etogal/...arilebo035.jpg http://radiobaobab.be/assets/etogal/549/kabombo012.jpg We stopped in the biggest 'town' in the area, Domiongo. It took a bit of searching to find a cathalic mission, it was on the outskirts of the villlage. Once again we were greeted friendly and had permission to camp in their grounds. We sat together with the fathers and talked for many hours. They told us about the mysterious roads. Apparently some NGO (they did not know the details... or they told the details and we forgot) has funded the construction. Several teams started working at several locations. The different bits were supposed to connect at one point. As of recent, work had nearly stopped... no more budget. It was unclear if more budget would become available or not. In any case the idea of the construction was to invest all the money in labour instead of buying an expensive CAT. Great idea ofcourse, that way all the money stayed in DRC, instead of filling the pocket of some bigwig at CAT. If you look at the road it was quite a feat. They thought about drainage and everything. Unfortunately they could not compress the earth enough with the tools they had. We already started a few ruts, it would only take 1 heavy truck to completely destroy these roads again. These roads would not last a rainy season. The major complaint of the fathers was the upcome of all sorts of other religious movements (we talked about 7th day adventists before, but other movements were active in the area too). They claimed that they grew in popularity because of the animated ceremonies. But these movements did not have the social network and organisation behind them as the catholic missions. People would no longer work at the farm of the mission, would drop out of school, etc... Apparantly 'alternative' religions were also gaining in poularity, like fetishism, .. Anyway, we talked about many other things too, it was a pleasant evening with interesting people. http://radiobaobab.be/assets/etogal/...arilebo033.jpg In the evening the fathers would run their generator for a few hours. It was in a little hut very close to our tent. The hut was half submersed from the rain water. All of a sudden the generator shorted. Smoke and blue lightning came out of the hut. One of the fathers ran in the hut, barefoot (!), with a stick and hit the offending cable until it got disconnected. Brave father! |
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