Any way to avoid DRC going south?
 

My girlfriend and I are driving our old Landcruiser from London to Cape Town going the west coast leaving on Boxing Day. We are struggling to get a DRC visa and may have to leave without one. Anyone know a way of getting a visa en route? and, in case we cannot, anyone know if there is a car ferry from Brazzaville or even Cabinda into Angola so we could avoid it? Thanks

Home country visa.
 

Hi,
I was able to get my DRC visa in Ghana and they accepted this at the border because I did not have DRC consular representation in my country. This may not help if you have DRC representation in your neighboring country however as I traveled on a New Zealand passport, it was easy to convince them I could not easily obtained the visa prior to travel.
Regards,
Cam.

Where did you get your Angolan visa? I'm also in a Kiwi passport on the west coast now.

So far my DRC visa in in the Swiss DRC consulate in 6-7 weeks!

Angola Visa seems to be the biggest problem..not DRC.
On that route ourselves, so see you on the road..

I was thinking asking for a boat along the coast. DRC is not that long along the coast. Maybe just an idea.

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I did the west coast route in 2012, picked up our DRC visa in Togo without too much bother. The Angola visa was our biggest concern and we managed to get that in Ghana, took about three weeks to process as they have to refer back to Luanda, we were lucky to get a full 30 day tourist visa instead of a 5 day transit visa.


We picked up all our visas on the road.


We crossed the Congo river at Louozi, a hundred or so kilometres west of Brazzaville, way cheaper than the Kinshasa ferry and a lot less grief. That said the road to Louozi was awful!

Afaik, with a car there is no way of avoiding DRC unless you take the Nile side. With a bike and a double entry Angola visa, you might load it on a boat the 70 odd kms from Cabinda to Soyo, but there is no regular car ferry.

I presume you are applying in your home country, or as near as? That is usually the best option from what I have read here (ie; they make it hard at Kinshasa if you turn uo with visa not issued in home country). Otherwise on the road start in Bamako eastwards (Abuja and Yaounde are more normal places) and do the back country Luozi crossing (as opposed to Kinshasa).

I would also get an Angola double entry now if you are Brits in the UK. It's valid for 60 days - don't know if that suits your schedule but may help with DRC visa on the road.

Yes for me too Angola was the biggest problem: Adventure experience - motorcycle trip riding across Africa

We did this year from Finland to Capetown via west coast and back via est. We were travelling with EU passports, and got every single visa on a road. Nothing before hand.
Nigeria visa/ got in Burkina
DRC visa (no problems of getting in to DRC via Cabinda)/ got in Benin
Angola visa (only 10 days double entry transit)/got in Congo

Here is some more info
Bobotie-time - Blog
Enjoy! :)

Kia ora Kingkoru,
Sorry mate didn't get an Angolan visa as we traversed DRC and exited at Zambia.
Safe travels.

I got my DRC visa in Brazzaville without problems. In 2010. I applied for the visa for Angola in Abuja, Nigeria. Got that too without problems, all be it a transit visa for just 5 days. It took me six to cross but didn't had problems at the border. There is a regular ferry from Brazzaville to Kinshasa. In Brazzaville you find hotel Hippocampe, which is an overlander place.

Have a safe trip.

I got a 30 day Angolan visa in Accra just before Christmas with no problems (3 day processing).

I wasn't allowed a multiple entry visa as it was my first time visiting Angola.

DRC embassy said I could apply but at the moment it would take 4 weeks to process with no guaranty that it would work.

I'm currently in Lome trying to see if I can become a Togo resident and then apply for a DRC visa here. Also manically hunting for tyres for my DR, if anyone has any tips let me know!


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Jimmy, about the tires: there's a KTM dealer in Lomé, his name is Toni. Not sure if he is in town as he wanted to go to Europe for Christmas / New Years. Google "Togo Toni" and you should find him. http://www.ktm-togo.com Good luck ...

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I had a car accident in Gabon several years ago and considered to ship my Landy from Libreville to South Africa. The next available ship was within a week or two and the quote was about $4000. I decided to drive the car instead.

So in theory you can avoid DRC going south but I would try a small border post crossing in DRC like the one I crossed between Luozi and Kinshasa. I do not remember the name of the crossing but it was wild and the only frontier guard was fishing at the time and I had to wait for some time. For some reason he refused to stamp my carnet or to issue a TIP but other than that I did not have problems and my carnet was stamped (both for entry and exit) without any prioblems when I was exiting DRC for Angola.

Hello from Ouagadougou

We are on the road too, they are à bridge in matadi, is cheaper.