Hey Folks,
Reading this with interest as myself and a couple of others are heading to Angola and are struggling for visas. Matadi seems to be the popular option so will probably head for that if the other options don't pan out, ie, making hotel bookings in Angola for the LOI etc.
As for bomb bursting through Africa, getting through as fast as possible for some may be necessary and others totally irrelevant. It is each to their own surely? As somebody said, travel snobbery is a bit crap ain't it?
I'm not bragging or anything but I'm attempting to travel the globe on my XT, hence I'm in Mali and off to Timbuktu in a day or so and I'm having (generally) a ball but there are times where I could just ride through certain places without having even to say 'HI' to anyone just to make life easier. They were the bad times and general meaness of some of the people here that has upset some of the trip, getting robbed by a Policeman brandishing a gun in Mauritania and Arrested for allegedly killing a child in Senegal cos some guy wanted money from us.
I know this is Africa but if these events happened anywhere else in Europe or the US there'd be hell to pay for someone but here...... well nobody misses a beat and just say 'TIA!' (this is africa)
I am enjoying it and am looking forward to what the next thing or challenge is around the corner and if I meet any of you on the road, whatever your ideas are, your welcome for a and a chat about your great experiences/moans/bitches and whines cos at the end of the day, your riding a bike in a different/unfamiliar country than your own and on an adventure!

Have fun

__________________
Geoffshing

'Security is a product of one's own imagination, it does not exist in nature as a rule, life is either a daring adventure or nothing.'