DR Congo?
 

Anyone done any travel in DR Congo lately? Going to be heading to Africa in a few weeks and have always wanted to see the country side and experience the culture a bit.

Lot's of travel warnings on the State Department website, but have heard of people still going.

Thoughts?

DR Congo?
 

I'm currently reading up on DRC myself and I think it really depends on where you want to go as it varies a lot - and is big! There are some gruelling trip reports of crossings between Kinshasa and Lubumbashi and seems to be very little information on the North and North East.

Crossing from Kinshasa to Angola seems straightforward but not exactly an exploration.


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LifeScribe,

Read the news in the Kasai and kasai central area and see if you are comfortable going from Kinshasa to Lubumbashi.

I'm currently on my way toward DRC and I'm very disappointed by the news. West DRC has been stable for at least a decade but now it is not the same anymore.

As for going North East, i would assume one would be leaving DRC by entering in South Sudan. It is/was a war zone until recently. As for exploring the north, i looked in Google earth for tracks from kinshasa to Kisangani: big sections disappear in the forest. Sounds really cool to try. If i would go for it, i would buy a local bike so that it is light and i can abandon it if needed.

Do check the rainy season in the region you are planning to go.

Patrick

The reason you don't hear reports of the North of the Congo anymore is that there isn't anywhere to go or come from... South Sudan is a no, Central Africa is in civil war and the Eastern side of the country is 'controlled' by rebel groups. Essentially Congo has 3 islands, the Northern part of the country, Kinishasa area and Lubumbashi area. Kinshasa-Lubumbashi at least has "Route 1" and some which however messed up it is is still possible and is done regularly.

However, when I was there in 2015 I picked up some information (or hearsay). I met a South African who had gone from West to East Bukavu by motorbike. He claimed that the security situation 'isn't that bad' in the East. He lived, in any case. I also met a Congolese guy and his moto-taxi (with driver) in Ilebo. They had come from Dekese, which is very near to the place where the 'Northern' roads begin. I should mention one of them was very fat. They said the road was passable to Dekese (they made it in a day). So for a motorbike anyway, crossing from North to South is possible without going to the at all East.

Wow... 3,330 dead by violence in the Kasai region from Oct 2016 to June 2017, according to new data released today by the Catholic church. Very sad...

DR Congo Kasai conflict: 'Thousands dead' in violence - BBC News

We will be in the DRC in a week or 2 and doing Kinshasa-Lubumbashi. We will have more insight then. Otherwise we are posting our experiences over at http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...ad.php?t=91795


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