Practicable overland routes in DRC
 

I'm looking for advice on road conditions in DRC. East-west / west-east routes, not Congo - Angola.

I'm not looking for security advice, just which roads still exist.

Does anyone know (from first or second hand experience, not from maps) which routes across the DRC are driveable in a four-wheeled vehicle these days?

I've read an excellent account on here of the Kinshasa - Lubumbashi route, what about routes further north? Zongo - Bunia or Zongo - Bukavu? I know the latter is doable on a bike, but not sure if the tracks / ferries / bridges are suitable for cars any longer.

Would be very grateful for any experience (I have the Michelin 746 but don't believe it is up to date).

EO

Hurst Publishers released a new book (September 2016) "Crossing the Congo" by Mike Martin, Chloe Baker and Charlie Hatch-Barnwell. It tells of their intrepid and hair-raising journey in a 25 year old short wheel base Land Rover from Kinshasha, DRC to Juba, South Sudan. The journey was in 2013. They were lucky to get through alive and with their Land Rover intact.

Here is a YouTube taster of their incredible journey.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWORlge9Mks

I do not believe that any of the roads eastwards in the DRC are still viable. Furthermore, the east of the DRC is in turmoil plus an Ebola crisis.

Good luck!

Wow, thanks very much for sharing this. Looks like some adventure, I'll send them an email.

Cheers

EO

I just bumped into a guy who did it two years ago in a 4x4.


He said the Lumbashi to Kinshasa run is totally doable in a 4x4. Seriously nasty mud and sand, and expect vehicle damage, etc. etc. but actually doable.
The last 600 or 800 kms coming into Kinshasa are paved highway.


He said the bit from Goma down to Lumbashi was seriously, seriously, seriously F***ed. They had water up to the bottom of the steering wheel multiple times, got held up at gunpoint on day 1, etc. etc. They were stuck in the mud for days, absolutely impossible to get through on their own steam - they had to wait for massive trucks to come and pull them out. Said it was wild.


They bought a Defender 110 for 4000 euros before the DRC, and when it got to Namibia nobody would give them a cent for it. The route totally destroyed it.



I also know a guy that just rode a motorbike Nigeria->CAR>DRC->Goma.


His photos and stories made it extremely clear any vehicle with 4 or more wheels would not get through. Trucks blocking the roads that have been there for years, monster trees blocking the way, etc. etc. He was *just* able to squeeze by on his africa twin.


All in all, sounds like a riot, and a lot more fun than my crossing from Congo to Angola through Dolice, Londela Kays, Lwozi


-Dan

And then there is this truly remarkable read...

http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...kinshasa-53285

Great information, thanks (does this guy have a website?). Sounds like some adventure, though I'm not sure I want to damage my beloved Hilux...

I think I know the guy you mention who did the Zongo - Bukavu route on a motorcycle last year, awesome, inspirational trip.

However, I'm going off the idea of trying to cross the country on four wheels... I'm thinking cycling might be a better idea. From research most of the country's infrastructure has deteriorated to bike / footpaths. Also, from reading a few accounts I can see that the reception people get on a bicycle is quite different (much friendlier) than in a car. Ultimately, I want to go to experience the country and meet the people, so everything is pointing to doing it on a bike. It's probably not much slower either, given the terrain. It has also been a bucket-list dream of mine to take a ferry / barge up the Congo River from Kinshasa to Kisangani, a la Heart of Darkness.

So, probably makes sense to leave the truck in a neighbouring country and spend a few months exploring DRC on the rivers and by bike; as the locals do when they travel.

Here are a couple of decent cycle blogs on DRC:

https://petergostelow.com/thebigafri...ournal-part-1/

Guide to travelling through the Congo – The first 500km

Cheers

EO

Peter Gostelow’s account - which I read a few years ago - is truly awe-inspiring. I am not so sure that his account of the weeks he spent on Congo river barges (with raging diarrhoea) isn’t enough to make most westerners realise that the DRC is really, still, the “Heart of Darkness” and such a trip requires more than just physical robustness.

Hats off to Peter Gostelow, Radio Baobab, and the intrepid Martin/Baker/Hatch-Barnwell trio. All, of course, on slightly different routes through the DRC, but all incredibly tough.

I bumped into a woman in Zambia who had just cycled across the DRC from Kinshasa back in 2010. She didn't seem to have any major problems, I was quite surprised how it all seemed easy and unremarkable according to her descriptions.

Perhaps it was Helen, whose blog I linked above?: Guide to travelling through the Congo – The first 500km

Things were different in 2010. The Kasai region was peaceful. The crossing from Kinshasa to Lubumbashi was safe. It is not the case now.

Patrick

I have just come upon this excellent blog of a motorbike crossing from Lubumbashi to Kinshasa in 2015. As said above, they went through Kasai province which is not now safe.

DRC: The Route | Earths-Ends

Well found! What an excellent blog; adventurous, thoughtful, well-written and focused on the place rather than the egos.

Thanks for sharing :)

EO

I travelled from Bolobo to Lubumbashi in May 2016 on a motorcycle.

The first 140km heading east from Bolobo towards Nioki were doable but tough on motorcycle. Every now and then I came across wide tracks which would be suitable for 4x4s but I wasn't sure if it was going anywhere. It might have been made by bicyclists which go further to the left and right if the ground erodes too much and becomes too soft. I didn't see a car there nor definite proof that there was a car driving there lately(tracks or the like) and I don't think it would be wise to go there in a car without further research. There were also some tree trunks over rivers which where used as bridges and a steel bridge with the ramps on either side missing so I had to prove my trial skills.

As soon as I left the remnants of the RS204 for the RP201 the conditions got better. From there on the road was clearly frequently used by cars as grass was growing up to my hips on the road except in the tracks that were just wide enough for a car but not for a lorry. The road got better especially around Bandundu it was proper compacted piste for maybe 30km. After that it got sandy again until I hit tarmac on the N1 1h West of Kikwit. This part is certainly doable in a car as long as that vehicle has a respectable off-road capability.(Landcruiser, Defender etc.)

The tarmac got continously worse the further east of Kikwit I went until I left the N1 at Gungu(I had the glorious idea to visit the Gouffre de Loukwila, don't ask me about how that went) at which point there were 20m long stretches where the tarmac was missing altogether.

I rejoined the N1 just West of Tchikapa and left it again just east of the city when I went towards Luiza. Arount Tchikapa the N1 was a piste. Not horrible but with quite soft sand on top not great either. But doable in pretty much any car.

Between Tchikapa and Kasaji the driving was a little technical. Especially in the northern half there were multiple places with deep cracks in the road(1m deep, 50cm wide) which had to be navigated and I came across some bridges that where just trunks and branches. In the southern part there were some water crossings that the locals master on their Jakartas(Chinese knock-offs of Honda 16 inch scooters)

From Kasaji to Lubumbashi the road was a mess in the beginning. Deep rutted sand and cheeky hip-deep potholes but overall easy to do in a 4x4. Between Likasi and Lubumbashi it's almost flawless tarmac.

What I didn't mention: You can't trust your GPS or maps. I used OSM which seems to use maps from colonial times. Sometimes the road is a few 100m from where it should be. Sometimes it doesn't exist anymore. Sometimes it's just a path wide enough for 1 bicycle. Sometimes the road just stops.

You can't trust the locals. Time and time again they made contradicting statements. Once I was chasing Italian nurses because they offered me to stay at their place. I thought I was 7km away when it was already getting dark. Then I arrived in a village and they told me it's 30km away, the next village I was told it's 28km. So I just stopped and spent the night there. Time and time again I was told that the road is gonna be perfect after the next village only to get stuck in a swamp. Also they thought that I could cover 700km on Congolese roads in a day when on average I made 300km with a maximum of 480km and a minimim of 50km. They mean no harm, but they have a very limited understanding of anything outside of their sphere(as do we) and rather give you their best guess as the truth rather than not giving an answer at all.

With all that being said; I would not do this trip today because of the situation in Kasai.

If you're interested you can find gpx files of my trip on wikiloc.com if you search for herr_buenzli

I am presently in DRC. Been in North Kivu and Ituri for the last 4 months working in the Ebola response. I have driven from Butembo (and surrounding areas) to Beni, Komanda and onward to Bunia in a landcruiser.

The main road is passable in a non 4x4 when dry and Toyota 2wd cars are plying these routes regularly. Security on the other hand is another story. I was travelling in an escorted convoy when we were ambushed outside of Beni and sat 40 minutes in the crossfire between govt forces and rebels. The vehicle just in front of me was hit by shrapnel from an inbound rocket propelled grenade. You may have better luck than me...

Getting a Lubumbashing
 

Fyi, a vid from March by a couple of French guys on heavy T7s heading for Lubumbashi.

Great series of vids - they've been pretty hardcore so far (considering the bikes) but the tough section east of Tshikapa did them in.
Don't know if they got as far- or were planning to cut down the N39.

They went to Angola instead, and I imagine now Ang visas have become much easier, this route will slip back into the shadows.

(In Angola Covid restrictions caught up with them and the bikes got parked)