Angolan Visa in Dolisie
 

We just had our Angolan Visas issued at Dolisie, Congo. Bit of a process, but friendly and helpful staff. Always a good sign.

They wanted following for transit :

Letter requesting visa
Letter of motivation
Supporting letter form your embassy
Copy of passport
Copy of carnet
2 Photos
Copy of vaccination cert

To apply for 7 day short stay you need:
The above plus a hotel booking or a letter of invitation.

We didn't ask about 30 day visa.

50 000 CFA for single entry. We paid 100 000 CFA for multiple entry.

Also coming into Congo it sounds like the Ndende-Dolisie road is currently in much better condition than the Franceville road. Also the road between Brazzaville and Dolisie is in horrendous state.

Hope this helps the guys behind us. Good travelling.

Henri and Dominik

Brilliant news
 

That is great news. Can i quickly ask what the supporting letter from the Consul was, did you visit your home country embassy on route and ask for a supporting letter, or where you carrying this with you from home.

Thanks again and enjoy the transit.

Andi

Not possible in Kinshasa or Matadi
 

We were unable to get an Angolan visa in Kinshasa. We were told the same will apply in Matadi, although we haven't tried.

Despite assistance from our embassy, the Angolans will not issue these visas to overland travellers who are not resident in the DRC. The Angolan embassy here informed us that this is a directive from the Angloan government and it would be unlawful for them to issue a visa to us.

This obviously is contrary to the situation in Dolisie, although we didn't bring it up.

The only option, if you are in the DRC and you need the visa, is to have your passports returned to you country of residence for processing. Or totally avoid the country, of course.

Angola can suck eggs as far as we're concerned, we're making other plans. We're taking our bikes and our tourist dollars elsewhere.

A German/Philippine couple got transit visas there last year. If I remember the story correctly the price was up for discussion and they got either 7 or 15 days.

You shouldn't have to pay double for the double entry.... bargain politely, though hardly from a position of strength!

I crossed in 4 days with 20 mins to spare, and a Lithuanian friend who went through Cabinda said they didn't notice his one day transit.

Good luck, and welcome to the rally of Angola!

Crossing Angola with Transit Visa
 

Hey Guys,

We just arrived in Namibia a couple of days ago. We decided to go via Cabinda to skip the VERY bad roads to Luozi (we had dual entry Angolan Transit visa's). We got our DRC visa in Yaounde. Had no problems entering either of the Angolan or DRC borders with our visas issued along the way. When leaving DRC at Luvo they where surprised that we managed to enter with a visa from Yaounde, but gave us no problems to leave.

We overstayed our Angolan visa by one day, but no one noticed the day spent in Cabinda so didn't have any issues. Travel through Angola was fantastic, the Police and locals super friendly and helpful. We where only stopped at about 5 or 6 road blocks and only had one half hearted attempt for a 'gift to remember us by.' But a 'no' quickly changed the subject. Not one bribe/payment made in all of Angola. The police also asked us to register in the provincial capitals in the north, but after explaining our limited visa time they waivered this for us.

Our route was : Songololo/Luvo crossing (very slow, 7:30 - 12:00 am)- M'banza Congo - Nzeto - Caxito - Luanda - Benguela - Lubango - Leba pass - Lubango - Santa Claire crossing. The roads are 90% good new tarmac, but there are some bad sections especially where they are building new tarmac (Longest about 40 km). The exception and worst section was the whole route form Nzeto - Caxito. Long and horrible. Would be even worse if wet.

Fuel : There was a shortage in Mbanza and Nzeto, but bottled fuel was easily found. Once one the tarmac towards Luanda there are lots of fuel stations all the way to the southern border. Mainly in the bigger towns, but shouldn't be a problem. Never more than 300km apart.

ATM's : Available in all big towns. Especially south of Luanda. Cash shouldn't be a problem, but we never used them. Thought ATM's would be scarce so we carried a lot of cash.

Letter from embassy : The SA embassy in Brazzaville emailed me a letter stating they have no objections that I apply for an Angolan visa. Dominik's letter from the Belgian embassy only stated that he presented himself to the embassy with plans to apply for an Angolan visa. The Angolan Consulate in Dolisie are not specific about what the letter should state, they just want something form your home embassy.


Hope this helps everyone on their way.

Safe travels and good luck with Angolan Visa's.

Henri & Dominik.

Forgot to say - Luis had his Angolan visa issued in the UK, but it expired along the way. He had it reissued at Dolisie without any issues. (They refused him entry into the embassy in Ponte Noir, told him to go back to the UK to sort it out).

Support Letter
 

Thanks very much for the update, that is great news. The road from Nzeto to Caxito was rubbish last year, some things never change. Have a great trip around Namibia

visa dolisie
 

hi henri and dominik,

were in brazza now having no luck with the angola visa either. we decide to go to dolisie as you said you got it there. Any tips how to sweet talk the officials?

Currently there is no visa at the Angola embassy in Dolisie. Angola changed visa system starting Nov 1st 2016 to computer printed visa only (saw the instruction manual myself). Not sure if or when they will get the necessary computer system.

Point-Noir has it though.

Any update on how these visas are getting issued?

There is no embassy in Australia for Angola which kind of rules out that option for me.

Does anyone have any idea which embassy is the current go to for overland travel?

Point Noire for Angolan Visa.
 

BMP776,

Dan of The Road Chose Me just wrote up a very detailed report on how he did it in Point Noire, Congo.

You might want to start here;
http://theroadchoseme.com/pointe-noire-congo

As this is very recent information I would read as many of his post as possible.

Safe Travels,