Pointe Noire to Cabinda

It's not far to the border, Google said about 1:15 so we left at 8am. Poite Noire is just like many other African cities, crumbling roads, dirt, pot holes etc. Fortunately at that time most traffic was going into town, so the traffic leaving town was moving, albeit rather slowly. The border came up rather quickly, again, you know you're there when there is a lot of congestion and a rope across the road. We pulled into some parking and were immediately surrounded by hustlers and noisy money changers. Looking past that we sought out the calm money changer and it was a good move. He guided us to the police, immigration and customs offices. All very simple on the Congo side and we were cleared out of the Congo in under half an hour.

We changed some money with him and he then guided us through the Angolan side as well. We didn't ask him to and didn't expect him to but he just came along and showed us where we needed to go. We paid him for his help. You may not need a guide but it's a lot easier if someone can show you which doors to go to, who to speak to and in which order. The Angolan side dragged on for some time. Everybody was pleasant but it was slow. The visa office had no working lights so they went off to fix that. Then the officer decided to show someone how to print visas. That involved lessons on how to align the paper in the printer, how to use the software and so on. Some time later we had visas. Then off to pay. Can't do that without copies of the visa which they don't give you and of course as the visa was only printed 10 minutes before it's not something we could do in advance. OK, pay the money changer to go make the copies for us, then back to immigration to pay the $120 which must be in USD and the notes must be $5 denomination or higher. Once paid the officer wants photos of the bikes registration plates etc. then over to customs.

They peruse the carnets before correctly stating that Angola is not a carnet country and "we must pay". Those are familiar words by now, so we try to discuss it but with zero Portuguese this is not possible. A helpful local does a bit of interpreting and explains it's not much to pay. He's correct, it's 6336 Kwanza (about £9.50) so we agree and they start to process the paperwork. This takes time as they don't speak English and our bike papers are in English. Things like CC, colour, make, model etc. Then it's off to the bank as customs don't take payments. Bank teller is not in the office but arrives soon afterwards. Payment made it's then off to the police office.

An officer inspects all the documentation and writes all the details in a book. He stamps the piece of paper which serves as our import permit. We're free to go so we load up and ride on but wait, there's more........... we're stopped by a rope barrier. This guy wants to see the paperwork too. So, engine off, gloves off, helmet off, get the paperwork out. You get the picture I'm sure. Over 3 hours after arriving at the border, we're on our way to Cabinda. On our way until we come to a roadblock that is. They want the bike paperwork and are in no hurry to let us proceed. It takes a turn for the worse when the eagle eyed guy notices my bike has been listed on the Angolan paperwork as Green when it is clearly Red. This is a problem he declares. Fortunately Richard had been doing some great PR with the other guys at the checkpoint and they agreed to let the paperwork colour issue slide. After they had their photo opportunities with Richards bike, we were on our way again. It's not far to Cabinda but the road had completely disintegrated in places.

Arriving in town we needed to find an ATM. We passed a bank and waited in the queue for the ATM. It only dispensed a Max of 40000 Kwanza. We needed way more than that. We carried on to the ferry terminal. Unfortunately, the boat left earlier that day and the next one was in two days time. It took over three hours to buy two ferry tickets for us and the bikes. Can't explain why but now you've read the border crossing bit all I can say is that it was similar to that. Next it was off to find an hotel. Over 6 hours of bureaucracy but we had crossed the border and had the ferry tickets. For the tickets we had to pay 15000 per person and 93500 in cash for each bike but the receipt only showed a total of 101500. I guess you just have to consider it a tip.........!

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Had to wait a day for the ferry. Hotel had initially said they were full and we could only stay one night so first task was to find accommodation. Some further requests to the hotel meant we could extend our stay for one more night. Next up was to get Angolan insurance for the bikes. We went into town and found the insurance office. Very friendly staff looked at all the paperwork, took copies of everything, typed lots of stuff into the computer, got us to fill in an application form and after some time said they had a price. I was expecting the worst but when they said 25000 Kwanza I thought that was a bit much until I realised she said 2500 Kwanza, which seemed too little but who's to argue. Insurance done it was time to get local sim cards. Easier said than done. The network provider store was full of people. We were ushered to the front desk and told to wait there. An attendant took our passports and we went to the back of the store to wait.......and wait. The attendant did come back with the passports and eventually we had sim cards that didn't work. They assured us they would work in two hours time. We walked back to the hotel. Two hours later, the sim cards still hadn't been activated so we walked back to the shop. They looked it up and said in another two hours the sims would work........ Back at the hotel we waited in anticipation of being back online. Surprisingly the cards did get activated and we had internet again.

While walking to the network shop I heard a sweet little voice behind us. I turned to see a kid, could be no more than 6 to 8 years old with a bowl of fruit on her head. She was running after us trying to sell fruit. It doesn't matter what you do, you're not going to change the way of life for anybody in Africa but it's so difficult to see and she was so sweet, just trying to sell papaya. After the phone shop we walked back along he same street, looking for her, to give her some money. Initially we couldn't see her but then, there she was, sitting on the kerb with her friend, behind a car, trying to get some shade from a tree. We didn't take the papaya but you'd have to be pretty heartless to be able to walk past them without giving something to help out.

Cabinda to Soyo

As instructed we went to the ferry terminal at 10am. A guy told us to move the bikes to a parking lot and wait, they would come and tell us when we could go to the boat. An hour or so later we rode the bikes, with the ferry guy as pillion, down to the boat. We stood around on the dock while a crane was requested. The bikes were lifted with a strop under the frame, about where the centre stand is. The crane driver was good and before long the bikes were onboard the foredeck. It's not a cargo boat but they are happy to put bikes on it. Then it was back to the terminal for us to have the passports checked etc. Back to the boat and it set off. The sea was calm, the ride took about two hours and we docked in Soyo. The bikes were offloaded, we went to passport control then paid a small port fee and were soon riding out of the port. The whole ferry trip went well. The terminals at both ports are new and fresh and the boats were smart and clean. We had a hotel pre booked this time as accommodation can be difficult to find. The hotel was down a dirt road which had some deep soft sand on it. Soft sand is difficult to ride on, especially with heavy, laden overland bikes. Unfortunately Richard dropped his bike in the sand and it fell on his ankle which swelled up quickly.

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Soyo to Luanda

Richard was able ride but was struggling with the injured ankle. The garages in Soyo weren't open when we set off and long queues were already building up waiting for them to open. We had enough fuel to get to the half way mark and we had been advised there was a fuel station there so we decided to ride on without refuelling. It proved to be a good decision as fuel was available at Nzeto. There was also a working ATM. Once outside Soyo the road opened up into a very good highway. There were a few rough patches but generally it was all fine. We stayed at a lodge for overlanders run by Louis and his wife. Very hospitable and a great place to stop.

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Luanda to Lobito

The plan was to have a short day as Richard's ankle was swollen and painful. We set off towards Lobito and it turned out to be quite a day. The road more or less follows the coast and was a complete mixed bag. Some sections were absolutely perfect while other, smaller sections, were completely broken up. There were sections where the road was closed and dirt detours were followed. Pretty much all types of road in one day. Hopefully the photos can show some of that. At one town we passed some impressive looking hotel buildings. Two pink and one yellow building but unfortunately they were all closed up and the grounds derelict. Not sure what happened as the buildings looked pretty new. Without any other hotels in the area we rode on. It turned into a long day but Lobito has a peninsular with lots of hotels on it. First one was closed, second and third had no rooms, fourth was an apartment block and no secure parking for the bikes. I was concerned about that as we were swamped by people on the street as soon as we stopped and I had lost all my security equipment with my panniers back in Guinea. Interestingly enough, this would have been only the second time I would have needed bike security equipment since losing my panniers. The fifth hotel also had no parking but arranged for us to leave the bikes off the street at a neighbouring property. It also turned out to be a good hotel with proper food, water and AC. No internet though. The long day wasn't what we had in mind and it didn't do Richards injury any good so we decided to stay an extra day and see how things progressed.

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Lobito to Lubango

Straight forward ride to Lubango, started with a good road and cool temperature for the first half. Second half wasn't as good. The road had some major pot holes and was broken up in places so going was a bit slower. Lubango is a big place with plenty of hotels. The first one we tried was fine, reasonable price and secure parking for the bikes. Scenery has changed to hills, grass, trees. It's wasn't as humid which makes for much more comfortable riding.

Lubango to Ondangwa (Angola Namibia border crossing)

It was a straight forward ride to the border. There are two crossing points and we chose the one to the East at Oshikango. As borders go it was one of the most organised but still took 2:10 to get through. On the Angolan side you drive up to some gates. There is an office for immigration where the passports were examined, stamped and then taken away. They said they needed copies but the passports were returned a short time later.

It was absolute chaos with the money changers. The initial guy gave an exchange on the low side but that would have been OK with me just for simplicity, except he then reneged on that and I decided not to deal with him. That just opened the flood gates to all the others standing around shouting and jockeying for position. The bike was mobbed and it all got out of hand. The police turned up to disperse the crowd!. The immigration guy had a favoured money changer and we went to the immigration office to discuss the rate in peace and quiet. His rate was OK and the money was exchanged from Kwanzas to Namibian Dollars. It's about N$24 to 1GBP.

Then we rode up to the next office which was for the bike check. The policeman who had dispersed the crowd earlier was on duty there. He asked for some documents we'd never heard of but didn't insist when we gave him what we had. He took the Angolan papers and returned the registration documents to us and that was it, we were out of Angola.

Over to Namibia. Some helpful police showed us where to park and which office to go to. Unfortunately we arrived just after a massive amount of people so there was a big queue for immigration. Not sure if they all came off a bus but it was bad timing for us.

Once the form was filled in, the passports were stamped. Then to the next window to register and pay the vehicle cross border tax. It was about £9.75 but took a while to get the paperwork done. With the green slip in our hand it was off to customs.

There a customs officer took the carnets. She knew what they were and how to fill them in. She just did it and returned them to us. It's a novelty in Africa having someone who knows what to do with a carnet!

Back to the bike, but by now I know that's never the end of it so I didn't put on gloves etc. We rode further until another set of gates. The gates were open but the shouting gave away the fact we were supposed to stop. A road fund officer asked for the green paper. She checked it and that was us done, clear to go.

We rode out into the mass of people, stalls, hawkers, beggars and past a few rows of proper shops. Further down the road there was a police road block. He wanted the drivers licence. After that we rode on but there was another roadblock, this time the officer wanted our passports. At both stops they were in uniform, friendly, checked the documents and let us continue, no corruption or problems.

Riding into Ondangwa we stopped at a convenience shop. Richard's rear tyre had lost pressure earlier in the day and it was at a low pressure again. It's a knobbly tyre and had worn very well but had started cracking badly around the tread. It was now losing pressure fast. It certainly wouldn't have got us to Windhoek so we had to fit the used spare we bought in Cameroon. We did make it to the local hotel though. Unfortunately my micro SD card became corrupted and I lost the days filming. Pity as it had all the border stuff on it.