The Vuvuzela Diaries

More a geographical concept than a fully fledged nation, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC, formerly Zaïre) is a bubbling cauldron of untamed wilderness carpeted by swathes of rainforest and punctuated by gushing rivers and smoking volcanoes. Rendered almost ungovernable by the central administration in Kinshasa, the country remains closed to all but the most brave-hearted travellers. The nation’s history reads like something out of Dante’s Inferno – from the brazen political folly of King Leopold of Belgium to the hideously corrupt ‘kleptocracy’ of maverick megalomaniac Mobutu Sese Seko, and the blood-stained battlegrounds of Africa’s first ‘world war’.

The DRC isn’t all failed politics and wasted natural resources, however. Somewhere in the midst of this proverbial heart of darkness lies a lumbering African giant. With ground-b­reaking national elections in July 2006 giving voice to 60 million shell-shocked inhabitants, a corner may have been turned. Despite early post-election violence in Kinshasa, incumbent president Joseph Kabila took office in October 2006 under the watchful eye of the world’s largest UN peacekeeping force. In some senses, the future can only get better. With five Unesco biospheres, whole ecosystems of teeming wildlife and an estimated US$24 trillion of untapped mineral capacity lying underneath the ground, it goes without saying that the country’s potential is breathtaking.

With thanks to Lonely Planet

So Neil and I decided to hop out the car for a week whilst the others (with two new honorary members, Tony and Ted) headed for Lope National Park. We had a week to kill, public transport at our fingertips and the bags on our backs (or Neil’s to be slightly more precise). We decided not to rough it too much – what is the point on being too hard on oneselves?

Our first stop was Nyonie. After a debacle with the travel agent, and me losing my cool, we managed to book ourselves two nights at the Nyonie Camp and were to be collected from Michelle Marina in Libreville the next day. We were a little apprehensive to see if the booking which was made on the phone in French/Spanish/English was actually confirmed, and were most relieved when we found other tourists at the pier and the boat that was to take us. From here it was an hour’s ride on the speedboat and up the estuary through Mangrove swamps. We were then transferred by 4×4 along a bumpy track through rainforest to reach our final destination – Nyonie Camp. The camp overlooks an isolated beach and is truly stunning. We put our bags in our bungalow and headed for a drink and lunch. The bar was open and you literally helped yourself as you pleased (it was a lucky thing for the owners that we were both fending off stomach bugs, so we couldn’t overdo things) and meals were served with a ring of an old bell from the Titanic and all the guests sat down at a long table to eat their three course meals (with vin rouge, of course – this is catering for the French market).

In the afternoons there were game drives and we were lucky to see some very skittish Forest Elephants. They are much smaller than the African Elephants and tended to hang around the edge of the forest. When we drove up to them, they literally took two steps into the forest and were gone – you could not see an inch of them. The bird life was abundant and we also saw a few monkeys and a host of dolphins frolicking in the waves. The camp gets very busy over weekends and was very festive on Friday lunch – being the only English speaking people amongst about 50 guests was a challenge but we still managed to meet some interesting people.

From here we headed for Point Denis. The ferry also leaves from Michelle Marina, so we conveniently hopped from one to the other and steamed off to Point Denis at 5pm on the Friday afternoon. The guide book advised that all the accommodation was close to each other on the beach and if you weren’t sure where you wanted to stay you could hop off the ferry and choose on foot. This was far from the truth, and whilst all but two of the resorts had closed, they were about 3km from each other! So I sat on the beach whilst Neil walked down the beach and slowly discovered this vital bit of information. We ended up staying at La Maringa, which was actually very nice. The bungalows you stay in are very quaint with en-suite bathrooms and aircon. We ate a delicious meal in the restaurant that evening which overlooks the beachfront and in the distance bustling Libreville twinkles away at night on the other side of the estuary.

After a relaxing day at Point Denis we decided to head back to Libreville and then on to Cap Esterias. We did a quick shop of food supplies, as we wouldn’t be able to get anything once we were at Cap Esterias, and caught a taxi to the outskirts of town. From here we had to hop in to a taxi-brousse, or shared taxi (think Mowbray-Kaap), with our bags and shopping and travel in the dark for about an hour over a bumpy dirt track. Luckily the taxi drops everyone off at their doorstep and as we were the last stop we went round the village dropping everyone off. The guy just before us hoped out, and we noticed that he was wearing handcuffs! He had a policeman with him and then we realised that we were at the local police station – little did we know that this guy was sitting on the seat right behind us the entire journey!

Our last few days we spent at La Maree at Cap Esterias and we partook in the large Sunday lunch vibe that was being served up on the weekend. The weekdays are very quiet without any diners at all (the restaurant is basically closed) and the weekends extremely busy with expats. The owner was very kind allowing us to camp on her property for free and we were very grateful for the amazing location she has which overlooks a beach with a reef that makes a natural tidal pool on her doorstep.

The week flew by and we had some good relaxing time on the beach and at the game reserve. It was great to see Grant, Paula and Tony back in Libreville, along with Maude who we surprisingly missed as we have got so used to living out of the car!

16 April – “Welcome to Nigeria!”, the sign came a little sooner than expected as we hadn’t yet checked out of Benin. After a quick trip back into Benin to locate the unmarked customs office to collect the requisite stamps and relatively uneventful customs procedures in Nigeria (painful nonetheless, these chaps are some way off installing a Heathrow style ‘Iris’ machine!) we were back on track.

We covered the next 100km to the first major Nigerian town, Abeokuta, in 3 hours due to 12 police, army and customs checkpoints en route (‘please park very well next to the road and come with me’ said the large Nigerian wielding a Kalshnikov, fortunately just another police checkpoint!).

Arriving late in Abeokuta we treated ourselves to the ’presidential suite’ at the Mokland hotel. As you might imagine the chocolates on the pillows and a few other niceties such as running water were absent, but the price was right after we had split it between the 7 of us that crammed into it so no complaints.

17 April- We had hoped to make the 600km to Abuja despite the potholed roads but hadn’t counted on 80% of the rest of the traffic comprising slow moving petrol trucks, so we settled for half that distance to Jebba.

18 to 20 April- One of the advantages of travelling through post-colonial Africa has been that we have often been able to make use of great (if somewhat past their prime ) clubs, hotels and resorts, often at no cost and almost always with no one else to compete with for service from the bar. The staff at these places are mostly just happy to see a few customers, even if they turn down the rooms in favour of putting up tents in the hotel courtyard.
Abuja is not a city that fits into that mould. Having been built as the country’s new capital using oil revenues it is neither post-colonial, and its hotels struggle to attract guests. Despite this, and we are still not sure why, the Abuja Sheraton allows overlanders to camp within its grounds. No complaints.
Its a modern city with good infrastructure that contrasts starkly with the decrepit state of its neighbouring African capitals, as does its citizens obvious wealth with the poverty of the majority of Nigerians.

21 April and 22 April – Two day trek to Calabar to check out the town which is well known as being one of the nicest in Nigeria, as well as to get our Cameroonian visas. Tracks 4 Africa took us to Le Chateau, where the owner was so excited to be the only hotel in town on the GPS that she put us up for the night and also very kindly took us on a tour of the town the following day.

23 April – Obtained Cameroonian visas in Calabar and headed back up to Ikom, a small town near the Cameroonian border. We had dinner with two bikers also heading to SA, which is the final destination of almost all overlanders we meet these days.

Written by Laura

We entered Benin at different times as Maude’s air-conditioning problems took a little longer than planned. Unfortunately this wasn’t all Maude’s fault, but instead was ‘helped’ by the Lome mechanics who somewhat frustratingly damaged a working part when trying to fix the broken one. Maude’s passengers were therefore very happy to enter Benin – all in air-conditioned comfort but with lighter wallets and a few days behind schedule!

Straight away, it was easy to see that Benin is a wealthier country than Togo. Other first impressions included the vast array of water that reminded us of South East Asia’s rice fields. Andrew, Dee and I visited the village of Ouidah which is known as a voodoo stronghold. Voodoo means spirit, demigod or intermediary and the benevolence of voodoo is sought through offerings. Communities often pay homage to a specific voodoo who becomes their main spiritual protector. In Ouidah, the spirit Dangbe, has a special place and is represented by the snake. Our interest levels took us to visiting the local python temple. On arrival there were chickens and ducks for sale that we could offer as sacrifices in we so wished. We decided to spare the chickens and ducks. From the outside, the temple is nothing to write home about. However the inside definitely got our hearts racing. At least 50 pythons live in this 15 or so square meter temple. As you can imagine, it was therefore difficult to stand anywhere without having snakes in front of us, behind us, either side of us and above us. Our guide assured us that they wouldn’t harm us but this information did little to calm Dee when our guide wrapped one of the pythons around her neck without warning! Needless to say, we didn’t stay long.

Back in the days when the shore of the Gulf of Benin was known as the Slave Coast, some of the largest trading posts and slave markets were around Ouidah. We followed the same route that the slaves were made to march until they reached the ‘Door of no return’ which is where the ships left from. It was harrowing to think that is this where the slaves had their last view of Africa and their previous lives as free people.

We slept in a beautiful location in Grand Popo, right next to the beach. We enjoyed relaxing with watermelon smoothies, grateful that we’d all made it to this piece of paradise with Maude’s aircon working. A few of us started our second day in Benin with a picturesque run along the beach, around lagoons and through the nearby village. The people and pigs were all surprised to see us running – understandable given the level of humidity!

We drove a couple of hours to Ganvie which is said to be Africa’s largest lake village. The people initially moved here in an attempt to get away from the Dan-Homey King as he was trading people from weaker communities as slaves. For religious reasons, the Dan-Homey people were forbidden to attack over water and so the people of Ganvie set up their entire existence in wood and thatch houses built on tall stilts above the water. The village is only accessible by boat and the floating market was quite a site to see as women sold various items from their pirogues (canoes).

That night we slept in Abomey – capital of one of the great West African kingdoms in pre-colonial times. Unfortunately not much of the royal palace remains and we had to leave early to ensure we made it to the Nigerian border as early as possible. We were surprised to reach a sign that said ‘Nigeria’ when we hadn’t yet cleared Benin customs or immigration. After seeking help from the locals, we ascertained that we had to drive back 17km to an obscure building on the side of the road to clear customs. We had to clear immigration in an even more obscure building tucked away amongst the chaos close to the Nigerian border. It seems it hard to achieve anything quickly in Africa but we thoroughly enjoyed our stay in Benin and wished it could have been longer.

On leaving the Fells in Accra, we headed for the Ghana/Benin border via Lake Volta. Our border crossing strategy has by this stage become fairly standard – head to a smallish border, get there with plenty of time to spare before night-fall and be sure to dress appropriately for the day (soccer or Madiba t-shirts are preferable). We spent the night prior to the border crossing at the ‘Mountain Paradise Lodge’, north of Ho. It was a pretty spot amongst the Biakpa hills and we were lulled to sleep by the staccato beat of drums being played in a distant village. After a quick walk the next morning to a view-point situated near Amedzofe, we set off for country number 12!

Our border crossing was thankfully uneventful (possibly thanks to Mik who managed to make the border official laugh out loud with her imitation of a lion when describing a South African R50 note which he had been interested in seeing), and we were once more grateful for our South African passports which meant we didn’t need visas. We crossed over near the Togolese town of Kpalime, following a small road towered by enormous trees and palm leaves the sizes of elephant ears, and then headed for Mt. Klouto situated in the coffee-growing highland district of the region, and famous also for it’s forest and butterflies. We spent the night camped on the summit, where we drank ‘Mt. Klouto Kick Mango Rum Smoothies’ and debated the possibilities of starting a ‘Togo-Juice’ business, inspired by the abundant array of fruit we had seen and bought on our way up to the summit. Innocent® be warned, competition awaits!

The following morning, we went on a guided walk of the surrounds, led by Guillime. We were led through patches of beautiful lush forest, sadly interspersed far too frequently by fields of ‘slash and burn’ farming. We saw a few of the 200 species of butterflies, but it was probably too early in the morning for the full spectacle to be observed. Or perhaps the reduction of their habitat is not helping the expansion of numbers! (We did however see beautiful display cases of butterflies – ‘a vendre’ – the colours and variety of which would impress any entymologist worth his salt). Guillime was incredibly knowledgeable regarding the local medicinal uses of plants; and he showed and described to us the local cures for malaria, infection and fever. He also explained that the leaves of the cassava plant are chewed if someone is bitten by a snake, and this apparently helps to slow down the spread of the venom (perhaps by slowing down one’s heart-rate?) while the unfortunate victim seeks medical attention. After purchasing batik art-work from a great local artist, pineapple jam and locally produced coffee, we set off for Lome.

Lome is a bit of a shock after the impressive infrastructure and economic drive found in Accra. Togo’s first democratic elections were held in 2007.  It is incredibly dilapidated and the signs of its corrupt and unstable government are glaringly obvious, bar the tarred main seaside boulevard, no doubt a Chinese ‘contribution’. We checked ourselves in to ‘Chez Alice’ and then set off for our appointment aboard the Mercy ship, currently moored in Lome. (The taxi ride there was pretty scary to say the least!). Neil’s brother had helped us to organise the visit the ‘floating hospital’ through his fiancée who had worked as a volunteer on board. Kelly and Estelle kindly showed us around the ship and answered our hundreds of questions with much patience! We were amazed by the extent of the facilities, from fully equipped operating theatres and school-rooms to a Starbucks cafeteria! The Christian organization that runs the Mercy ship is based in The States, and relies solely on donations to keep it going. If ever there was a worthy cause, this is it! The surgeries range from maxillo-fascial tumour removals and orthopaedic osteotomies to cleft palate repairs and cataract removals. There are also extensive community education and training programmes. After attending a vibrant church service onboard, we disembarked and headed for ‘The Pumpkin Man’s Fast Food Restaurant’, so named on account of his sign-board, which was anything but fast but did serve great local dishes at very affordable prices.

The next day was meant to be ‘head for the border day’, but unfortunately Maude developed a problem with her air-con bearings, and her loud screeching protests meant that we stayed another day in town as the crew tried to source parts. Andrew, Laura and I took the opportunity to check out the “Voodoo/Fetish” market in town. Interesting, if a bit touristy, and rather devastating for the poor animals!!

So, here we sit in Togo, as we await Maude’s repairs.