Hi All,
Having just arrived in Kolwezei from Kinshasa, I would like to affirm what Steven has stated in his post in terms of fuel, people and crazy corruption. Myself and jaybee started out from Kinshasa on the 20th of July on a KLR 650 and KTM 690 respectively.

No issues what so ever up to Kitwit and slept in a hotel in the center of town for $15 each. However from then on, things turned pear shaped (things took a turn for the worse). Unlike Steven, we opted for the southern route through Tshipaka.

We are both experienced riders on bikes more or less designed for this kind of travel. I can only describe the next 5 days as 'the sandy road from hell'. On our worst day we managed little more than 40kms, but we persevered as the only other option was to turn around and go back, which was not a pleasant option.

Although some parts of the road to Tshipaka were 'enjoyable' othertimes we were exhausted from picking up bikes dropped in sandy tracks and dealing with curious villagers. However, there was no problem in finding food along the track if you don't mind fufu and bush meat. Water was always provided free in villages, but it is wise to treat this water before drinking. We usually filled up a 5L container daily. I started out try to give 500 fr for this but actually many times the money was refused. It is customary to give water for free to thirsty travelers. In the end I would buy peanuts and sardines from a small shop and ask them for water, that way I was at least giving something back to people who don't have much. Bottled water was not commonly available because people simply can't afford it. I didn't see any communal water pumps/boreholes until almost in Kolwezei, way in the south.

During our 'adventurous 5 days' we dreamed of cold drinks and fresh water and maybe a pizza in Tshipaka. So it was quite a shock to arrive and be sent packing almost immediately. We happened upon a police checkpoint and eventually released but one of the rozzers was drunk and ended up following us on a bike taxi and making a scene. A scene in DRC involving a mbele normally results in a crowd of at least 50 shouting people. He tried to remove the key from my ignition but i was able to swat his hand away.

Chaos and mayhem ensued. Whilst talking with another official a few metres from my bike, some other guys started wheeling away my bike, which they promptly dropped. Because of the crowds I did not notice this, I was busy holding on to our passports and wondering how to get out of this mess.

Eventually after regaining possession of my bike and ensuring I had our passports, we just decided to get out of there and took off across one of the bridges crossing one of two rivers in the centre of town. Basically 'friendly' people in the crowd were telling us to do so and before it got more funky we grabbed our chance and got out of there. That is for about another 200m where we were stopped once again. I was ready to blow right though this stoppage, but jaybee (despite his taliban-like appearance) was able to sweet talk the lady copper and we were allowed to proceed within a minute or two.

We had to sneak back into the edges of town to do all our money changing, food/supply purchasing and fueling up before taking off back to the safety of the bush again with our tails between our legs.

Tshipaka turned out to be the epicentre of all the messed up things we had heard about DRC but the further we got away from there things started to get a bit more manageable. In Kananga we stayed at the Catholic Mission described in Stevens post above and the father there was a very nice man who fed us and was extremely hospitable.

The road conditions from then on are as Steven has described however we were prepped for worse conditions as our benchmark was the road into Tshipaka, which I would never want to do again in my life. We sweat so much during this time that I started drinking oral re-hydration salts because I was getting muscle cramps in the night.

However, we decided to bush camp and sleep outside every night except for Kananga and Mbuji-Mayi. We avoided villages as the whole freak show concept didn't appeal to us. In Mbuji - Mayi we slept in the grounds of the quite impressive Catholic Mission again and were treated to a sumptuous feed as well *clap*.

People like these restored my faith in humanity a bit because sometimes I found some people to be just plain rude and aggressive. Some peoples behavior was not justifiable and in the same vein as making monkey noises is unacceptable in the football field. Luckily I had a good book to read in the night times which was able to distract me from the daily grind of dealing with ignorance.

However, it's not to say that the trip was horrible all round. We had some great motorcycling in places and did meet some fantastic people. However, this crossing is not without its challenges both in the travel part and the moto part. If you really want to cross DRC on an electric uni-cycle or a fork lift, far be it from me to persuade you not to do that, however, you will maximise your chances of completing the crossing in/on a vehicle fit for purpose. In my opinion that is a light/mid weight off road capable motorbike.

I have tried to upload some pictures here, but network is not cooperating at the moment.

Feel free to ask questions, I'm happy to answer anything to best of my abilities.

Jaybee might be able to add some pics or insights as well.

regards All
CJ.