Drc
 

Hi, I am in Yaounde now. DRC visa is not available here any more. Two persons tried to get it unsuccessfully. I think to obtain it in Brazza. Does anyone have an advice? I want to go to Gabon in Wednesday. Should I try a Libreville?

Alex

Please can you let us know if/where/how you manage to get your visa. We'll be needing one in a few months and it'd be good to know what the protocol is now.

Many thanks.

same here, hoping to pass there somewhere in march.

considering your heading via Gabon I assume cameroon-brazzaville isn't possible atm?

Thereby, I think i read here before a visa for onward travel to angola is needed before entering DRC. Anyone knows where that one's obtained most easily?

Drc
 

hey Alex!
Long time no hear my friend!!
Mark, Migo and I have just put in our applications here in Yaounde for DRC, we obtained Gabon visa easily but expensive at 70,000 XOF and the DRC is 45,000 XOF. They said if the application gets refused we'll be refunded 40,000 XOF and will find out monday at 2pm if were successful. I'll post if we are.

Have fun!

angola 30 day tourist visa?
 

hi guys,

glad to hear you're making good progress. i met miko briefly with peter when they were in rabat (i'm on a bicycle, in mali at the moment).

i'm just wondering if you have already picked up your angolan visa and where you got it? just trying to figure out my options with that one. i would need a one month tourist visa, not just a 5 day transit.

i know that it has been harder lately to get it and have seen abuja mentioned a few times. even if possible to get in accra, i don't think i'd make it to the angolan border within 2 months if that is the requirement.

all advice much appreciated,
good luck
julian

Good luck all. Please update this page with your experiences. I'm trying to get together a decent reference page:

Visa Summary for EU citizens - Wikitravel

Loving Mark's blog of the west coast trip, tell him to hurry up with the next entry though! We'll be following down the coast, in Barcelona at the mo, crossing into Morocco at the beginning of next week. Maybe we'll bump into you Julian.

Many thanks and good luck all.

I'll have a look at the notes we made for our trip. Glad to hear you've made it to Cameroon and looking forward to hearing how the journey is. For now I wouldn't leave Yaounde until you are sure that you can't get that Visa - if DRC is 'locked-down' then you'll need that Angola Visa to get into Kinshasa (otherwise I imagine you're planning to go to Matadi (DRC) to get the visa there).

Regards,
Ed

Transit visa at Matadi??
 

Hi, does anyone have any idea on the success rate for getting transit visas for Angola at Matadi??
or if Abuja is the place to try for Tourist visa? and time taken to issue? am currently Quagadougou.
Many thanks
ps sorry if this is off the original thread!

Up to date visa info
 

Hi to all who is wondering about visas...

My husband and I are currently in Matadi. We've been travelling down the west route for 3 months.

Our Congo, Brazzaville visa was obtained in Yahounde - no problem.
50 000CFA. We got it the next day.

The Gabon visa is also obtainable in Yahounde. 50 000CFA and you get it the next day.

DRC visa you get in Brazzaville. Don't even waste your time to try in Yahounde, they don't give it anymore. This application in Brazza was also without any problems. It cost 35 000CFA and we got it the same day.
Important: Don't get the 'transit' visa, get the normal tourist one, it's valid for one month. With the transit you might be refused entry into the DRC if you don't have an Angolan visa... (and as we all know, Matadi is the only place to get it!)

Now for the shocker!!! We've been in Matadi since the 1st of January for our Angolan visa! (today is the 8th!!!) According to them they are closed until the 15th... There are actually people at the embassy office and one of the guys took our application... We're hoping to get the visa tomorrow, but there's no guarantees.
For anybody en-route at the moment, please be aware of this! You will most propably NOT get your Angolan visa before the 15th! (For some strange reason they are closed for the public from the 23rd of Dec until the 15th of Jan!!!)

Another important thing to be aware of is that there is a 'vehicle disinfectant scam' on the DRC side of the ferry crossing between Brazza and Kinshasa. Official looking guys in white coats approach tourist vehicles and insist on spraying your car with disinfectant for US60!!!! We had a huge argument with them for over an hour and eventually got away with only paying US30. It's not legitimate and try your best to get out of it. Everyone is in on the scam though and you will not get an official to bail you out!!
Best tactic is to say you are asmatic and that you can't tolirate disinfectants - just refuse for them to spray the car. Then, park your car in front of the exit gate so that nobody can leave if they don't open for you!!! It will propably not work, but it's worth a try!!!
They will of course tell you that no other tourist resist the payment and you are the only one being difficult, but that of course is also a lie! We met other overlanders here in Matadi, and we all had the same experience.

I hope this is helpful to you guys! After our trip I'll post a message with a lot of handy hints for the western route. If anybody has any questions about the route etc etc etc, please drop me an email @ deniel.erasmus@gmail.com We're hoping to be back in the UK by the end of Jan,, so I'll propably only be able to reply then.

Just saw a link on the Thorntree (Lonely Planet) posted by Tim Cullis saying the Angola/DRC border is closed due to Ebola fears. Don't have the patience to go search it out and re-post here, but if you're stuck waiting around for another week you might look for it.

Edit: ok, I broke down and searched out the link. Not Tim Cullis, but another poster. afrol News - Angola suspends border operations as DRC grapple Ebola . Hope that helps, and curious to hear more about this.

Mark

scam
 

We got out of paying the disinfectant scam by driving our bikes through the gap between the red cross container and the wall and then just pushing our way past the guards when they opened the gate for locals, waving documents as we went.
The disinfectant scam started when the customs guy came to view our bikes for the carnet and two other official looking guys came with him. We thought they were with him but when he left they stayed behind and began with the scam.

It all became quite 'fun' on the Africa trip trying to avoid these traps. One time near the Zebrabar we ended up spending an afternoon by the side of the road 'out-waiting' a policeman who accused us of 'not indicating' when he pulled us over. We spent 5 hours there, eating biscuits, talking to locals and even changed the rear tube on Chris' bike before he caved-in, gave us some water to wash our hands and handed us back our drivers licenses. Fun and games! We just weren't going to back down and we considered it a 'duty' not to give in to these people, at least for the sake of the other travellers who will come after us.

Safe travels!

DRC Visa in Abuja, Nigeria
 

Tried the DRC embassy here in Abuja, Nigeria. They have to send the passports to Kinshasa, takes 2 weeks, no guarantees that you will get it. We decided to try in Yaounde.

BTW, don't know where to post it, the Angolan embassy in Abuja is moving to a new spot next to the new American embassy, they don't process visas for the next week :(

Angolan visa at Matadi??
 

Hi Guys & Girls,

Any definite news on the issuing of visa's at Matadi? am heading that way...

Many thanks

Angola visa
 

Angolan embassy in Abuja coordinates: N9.03970 E7.47557

Entry to the embassy is only allowed if you are wearing "suitable" dress - ie: long trousers. If you are wearing shorts or 3/4 length trousers you will be refused entry.

Transit visa: 3 working days to arrange, applications accepted 9am - 12:30pm on Mondays and Wednesday. US$100, copies of passport, yellow-fever certificate, Nigerian visa & entry stamp, Carnet & Nigerian entry stamp, Vehicle registration, Drivers licence

Transit visa allows 2 entries (ie: you can go through Cabinda & still enter Angola mainland)
You must use within 60 days of issue, and exit within 5 days.
You cannot extend the visa

Tourist visa: 15 working days to arrange, applications accepted 9am - 12:30pm on Mondays and Wednesday. US$100, Invitation letter, copies of passport, yellow-fever certificate, Nigerian visa & entry stamp, Carnet & Nigerian entry stamp, Vehicle registration, Drivers licence

Tourist visa allows 2 entries (ie: you can go through Cabinda & still enter Angola mainland)
You must use within 60 days of issue. They can issue 60 day tourist visas.
You can extend the visa for a further 60 day period.

If you do not have the invitation letter you will struggle to get a tourist visa.

Hope this helps

Steve
www.overafrica.org

DRC transit visa
 

Does anyone know where the DRC transit visa is available from?

Is it possible to get one in Pointe-Noire or Cabinda? What about the Cabinda/DRC border? (we have our Angolan visa)

Thanks
Steve

www.overafrica.org

DRC visa
 

Hey there,
We've just received yesterday our DRC visas from Brazzaville. 2 week duration costing 35,000cfa. It took overnight and an extra 5,000cfa for the chief to make a 'phonecall' but all's well.

My bike is having troubles at the mo with suspension, starter and piston ring problems so I've applied for a Congo extension and should have it. Anyone know of any bike shops in Brazza, as far as I know there isn't anything here. The bottom pin for the busted monoshock is well and truly stuck and I'm having a 'mare trying to get it out.


Thanks for the info on the cleaning scam.

Are you sure about this? Did it work in reality? I was told similar, also that with transit visa you can overstay, no problem, etc etc. This was all BS. Number of entries is written on visa, by default it is 1. Maybe it is possible to get 2-entry visa on some cases and you got one? At least in Paris they told me that it is impossible to get multi-entry visa and that single-entry visa can't be used for both Cabinda and mainland. So I had to get another Angola visa in Matadi (a few years ago it was possible).

Hey Steve

When we went through in July, we got our DRC in Yaounde, but I also visited the consulate in Libreville and they also were issuing visa's and they were 5000 CFA cheaper.

We ended up having to get a double entry visa in London, but it was not cheap...We went Pointe Noire through Cabinda, then DRC, then the border just before Matadi and headed into Angola. Drove through in 5 Days once in Angola ( Luanda ) with a Scania truck, but very long days. It took 9 days from Pointe Noire to Windhoek, road works everywhere.
Is the 5 Day transit visa from the day you enter Cabinda, or is a seperate 5 days visa for each Angola?

Good luck with DRC.

Grant and Andi

It is possible... Insha'Allah!
 

I have no idea if it works in reality! We haven't got our passports back from the embassy yet - Friday they come, hopefully!

Both the Transit Visa and Tourist Visa application forms state explicitly both visas are valid for one or two entries. Whether that is upheld or not is yet to be ascertained!

I'll let you know in due course
Steve

www.overafrica.org

content of letter of introduction?
 

Thanks guys for all the info.

RE the Angolan tourist visa application in Abuja:
I'm just wondering what exactly is required for the letter of introduction and if I can bring a copy/original with me, or if it needs to be sent directly to the Angolan embassy in Abuja? Or perhaps someone can point me to an uptodate source online where I can get this info?

Cheers,
Julian

DRC visa scam in Yaounde
 

Julian, you don't need an introduction letter for the tourist visa, you need an invitation from someone in Angola. Best is to make a hotel reservation and get it from them (Yes, I know its difficult on the road.)

Now, trying to get the DRC visa in Yaounde. We gave in our apps, they were expensive, 180 000 CFA for us 4, they got refused and the embassy retained 60 000 CFA "Administration Fee", the money goes into their pockets, you don't get receipts, nothing. Some British travellers got the same treatment. We then went to the South African Embassy and complained, the guys there was super helpful and they had to fight for 2 days so we could get our visas. In hindsight it was a waste of time. The British embassy was not helpful for our friends and they got theirs here in Brazzaville without problems.

Thanks...
 

Thanks a lot for the info Jean.

Through my friends I hope to find someone living in the country who will write a letter of invitation for me and I was just wondering if there was a format that people on here had found to work.

Happy, scam-free travels on from Yaounde!

Julian

Any news? :)

Angola visa in Abuja all good
 

Just to let you all know that our mates just obtained double entry transit visa's for Angola in Abuja. They applied on Wednesday and have just picked them up today ( Friday ).

Thanks for the information Steve, it was agreat success

Now they just have to worry about DRC visa's

Cheers Andi and Grant

Angola visa in Abuja ! ...DRC in Libreville?
 

Hey Folks,

just thought some of you might want to know that you can get the Angola Visa in Abuja in one day...if you ask nicely! We got it a week ago (thanks for the tip, Jean) and they do give you 5 Day Doubleentry - ask for that too.

The things is, they will accept applications on monday and wednesday, be there early, as they open 9.30 but theres lots of people waiting. They won't give you any form at the gate, you'll have to "order" that from here (sconsangobuja@gmail.com) in advance. They want two copies and it won't hurt if you bring along a copy of your car documents. Good luck!

Oh, talking of the DRC Visa. Does anybody know if it's available in Libreville?

cheers,
robin

Yes! We received five day transit visas for Angola in Matadi a few weeks ago -- late January 2009. They were issued in about one day. No letter of invitation was required ... but we did have to supply the names of aunts and uncles and disclose how much we paid for our respective passports. :)

Our transit thru Angola took six days. At the Namibian border, two of us were fined $75 USD each for overstaying the visa. For some reason I was let thru with a smile and no fine ... :)

Good luck.

Mark

Angolan visa woes
 

Hi all

Ok, so we finally got our passports back from the Angolan embassy in Abuja, and although we'd explicitly asked for 2 entries, we were given 1. When I pointed out this would not allow me to pass through both Cabinda and Angola Mainland the embassy guy in Abuja said it's not a problem, we'd be allowed to pass through with this. I have my doubts!

Having heard from Jean Visser the DRC visa is available cheaply and quickly in Brazzaville we decided that we'd go the Brazza - Kinshasa route and laugh off Cabinda, not wanting to risk being turned away at the Angolan Mainland border, and having wasted our month-long Angolan visa on transiting Cabinda.

Angola Embassy Dolisie, Congo Republic
While in Dolisie, Congo, we heard there had been 4 trucks robbed at gunpoint by the Ninjas on the Dolisie - Brazza road, and so decided this route was perhaps not a good idea! We then met with the Angolan ambassador in Dolisie, explained our problem with the single entry Angolan visa, and he said he'd happily change the visa to 2 entries. The only problem is his visa section isn't yet working - he will be able issue Angolan visas in 1 month's time. He said he'd phone the Angolan ambassador in Pointe-Noire for us and get him to arrange the visa change for us.

Angola Embassy Pointe-Noire, Congo Republic
We have now arrived in Pointe-Noire and have been unsuccessful in even getting through the gate of the Angolan embassy! We are busy tracking down the contact details of the Angolan ambassador in Dolisie and will ask him to arrange us entry to speak to the ambassador here in Pointe-Noire. That should happen tomorrow.

If we fail to get a visa here we will probably end up using our month-long visa to get through Cabinda, and apply for a transit visa in Matadi and just laugh off spending any time in Angola. It's a pity but the bureaurocracy is such a nightmare and we have a deadline to be back in South Africa so have to try keep moving.

For those of you wanting to apply for Angolan visas here in Pointe-Noire they accept applications on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, between 9am and 12pm.

DRC Embassy Pointe-Noire, Congo Republic
We went to the DRC embassy here in Pointe-Noire to try arrange visas, and were told that as South Africans we could get visas on the border. We were dubious about this, so have requested a letter from the DRC ambassador here in Pointe-Noire to show to the border officials saying we can get a visa at the border. They are doing this for us and we hope to get it tomorrow. It will cost 45000CFA per person. You should phone ahead to meet someone at the embassy, but we got there and got someone on the street to call, and they were there in 10 minutes.

I'll let you know if any of this is successful as and when it happens... at the moment we're enjoying chilling out at the Yacht Club in Pointe-Noire which is an absolute haven after Congo's awful roads. I'm writing this using their WiFi which is the first Internet we've used since Nigeria!

Adios, wish us luck!
Steve
www.overafrica.org

One month Angolan visa is real luxury, pity if you need to spend it in Cabinda.

There is also immigration office in Cabinda, where it may be possible to arrange something. Location of the office: S 5 ° 33.417', E 12 ° 11.577'

I went to this office to ask about visa for mainland and they also told me I don't need one, because 1 visa is for both Cabinda and mainland (by their words)! I spent a few hours there, guy made copies of my documents and told me he arranged everything. But basically he did nothing useful. :)

DRC transit visa sorted... Angolan on the way (hopefully)
 

Ok, we went back to the DRC Embassy this morning and they gave us a formal looking letter giving us permission for a transit visa to be issued on the border. We paid 25000CFA each for the letter, and apparently this is for the transit visa so there won't be any fees on the border... we'll see about that!

For the Angolan visa we're still struggling. We've managed to get the South African Ambassador in Brazzaville on the case, and he's at the Angolan Embassy in Brazzaville as I write this trying to swing things for us. Apparently the Angolan Ambassador in Brazzaville is really pissed off with the Angolan Consulate here in Pointe Noire for being such a**holes to us... We've stood 3 days outside the consulate refused entry and unable to speak to anyone.

The SA Ambassador will attempt to get the Angolan Ambassador to arrange to allow us to transit Cabinda and use our 30 day visa for Angola mainland... Insh'Allah!

I'll let you know how we get along.

Cheers
Steve
www.overafrica.org

Cabinda closed to vehicles
 

After a long fight with the Angolan embassy in Pointe Noire about letting us drive through Cabinda it has emerged they have very recently passed a law expressly prohibiting foreign vehicles to enter Cabinda.

It would seem the only west coast route open to overlanders is to drive Brazzaville, Congo - Kinshasa, DRC - Matadi, DRC - Angola.

Be warned that the road from Dolisie to Brazzaville goes through the Poule region which is still subject to rebel activity and recently 4 trucks were hijacked at gun-point on this road. We were in Dolisie when this happened, and why we came to Pointe Noire to try drive through Cabinda instead of to Brazzaville.

We are now trying to get our truck onto a train from Pointe Noire to Brazzaville so as to be able to continue. The train is notorious for theft though, but we're stuck between a rock and a hard place here so will have to chance it...

My advice is to drive to Franceville in Gabon, and from there to Akou or Ndongo and into Congo and take the road south to Brazzaville. Don't take the main north/south road through Lambarene in Gabon to Dolisie in Congo as you may well have issues getting to Brazzaville from there. I can't comment on what the Akou or Ndongo border crossings are like, since I didn't go that way, but if you can get through it could well save you a lot of trouble down the road...

I've posted this on a couple of the forums to try and spread the word... this has become quite an issue for us. In the meantime our Congo visas have expired so we also need to try arrange for those to be extended. At the same time our DRC transit visas expressly name Cabinda as our entry point so now we'll need to change those to Kinshasa. No-one said Africa would be easy!

Hope this helps
Steve
www.overafrica.org

Steve, sorry to read about all your hassles … again! A few comments that may help others:

1) We (three motorcyclists) rode from Lambarene (Gabon) to Dolisie to Brazzaville in January 2009. It took us three days to make the 180 miles from Dolisie to Kinkala, after which the road is paved to Brazzaville.

It had been raining and the road was big-time mud. Some trucks had been waiting for a week to pass thru the worst quagmires. Rebels said to be active and saw lots of gun-toting dudes but no problems. All in all a true adventure...

2) Took the ferry from Brazzaville to Kinshasa, no problem, one-day ride on paved road from Kinshasa to Matadi, DRC.

3) In Matadi January 2009 the Angolan consulate issued five-day transit visas in about 24 hours – easier than expected.

4) If you do get into Angola – the road directly south from Matadi to Noqui to Lufico to Tomboco is quite rugged and remote. Over a two-day ride from Noqui to Tomboco we saw maybe one or two other vehicles on the road...

Doable and fun on bike or 4x4 (not 2WD) but the road from Songololo DRC to M’banza-Congo is said to be better.

5) Motorcyclists from Scotland and Denmark were denied in February 2009 Angola visas for entry for the south, from Namibia (Windhoek and the two main border towns in Namibia (Oshikango and Ruancana). They finally gave up and flew their bikes from Windhoek to Ghana. More info here … http://www.scotlandfromthecape.co.uk/#/namibia3/4532807789

And here www.scotland from the cape.co.uk

6) My Congo visa was about to expire while I was in Brazzaville. It was extended with little hassle.

Good luck all.

Mark

In case someone reads this!
 

It's been a long time since I was on this thread, and I must apologise, I haven't given the results of my fights with beaurocracy!

1. DRC transit visa available in Pointe Noire
This is bullsh*t! I don't know who we saw or where we went (clearly couldn't have been DRC Consulate), but the "visa" we were issued in Pointe-Noire wasn't actually a visa - god knows what it was!? We had a HUGE problem at the DRC border when we presented our visa... apparently whatever it is that we were given is valid for Congolese people to use to enter DRC, but not for tourists.

2. Cabinda closed to vehicles
This is also bullsh*t! I don't know the reason the Angolan Amabassador chose to lie to us about this, but you can definitely still drive through Cabinda! We did, no problems!

If you want to be completely boggled by how we found this out - read here (fighting with the Angolan Consulate in Pointe-Noire) and here (attempting to use fake visa to get into DRC)... I laugh now (sort of), but there was no laughing then, I can assure you!

Hope this helps someone make better use of their time!

Cheers
Steve
OverAfrica - overland, over Africa

Alternative route
 

It was one of the high lights of our trip! :thumbup1:

Hello Folks:

I just returned from a business trip to DRC. In the past, I have obtained my (business) visa in Canada, the country I am a citizen of. No problems with that other than it takes a while - about a week for the DRC embassy to process it.

This time, I headed off for Africa without getting the DRC visa in Canada - not a good move. I discovered in Kenya that the 'official' policy of the DRC is to only issue visas from the embassy of the country in which the applicant is a citizen. Fortunately, I already had one (expired) visa in my passport, and the staff at the DRC embassy in Kenya were very gracious, so, they gave me a visa there (same day!) - but reminded me that in the future, I need to get the visa from the DRC embassy in my country of citizenship.

FWIW.