Entering the Republic of Congo

30 APRIL 2023

One thing that you learn when travelling is never to make assumptions. Today tested me yet again around trying to control an outcome without having all the information.

At 8:00 the manager at the hotel rang for a taxi. It was the same driver who I'd been introduced to yesterday. He took me to the immigration office where my passport was stamped with the exit stamp for Gabon. The Belgium motor bikers were there too - this time we exchanged itinerates and travel stories. They were doing the same border crossing as me today.

I then sat for two hours at the market waiting for the driver to return from doing errands. I was getting agitated and frustrated. It turned out he'd been at the garage getting a puncture repaired and awaiting the spare tyre!

We loaded up the truck; provisions for people along the road, two other passengers doing the border crossing to Congo, a mother and baby, a young man in a wheel chair with a catheter and a football team that had travelled to play a match last night. All carefully assembled with an agreed price by the driver Youssouf.

The road becomes a track shortly after leaving N'dende and much is wet and muddy due to the recent heavy rain last night. The driver navigates it all with ease often with one hand on the steering wheel and the other holding his phone. We stopped to buy some fruit and a iguana on route. The young man, mother and baby got out at a house in the middle of the forest. The wheel chair was taken from the back of the truck and assembled. The young man gingerly moved himself into it and a relative pushed the chair up a bank towards his house. One wonders how life will be for him and what the future holds.

We stopped often at check points to have our IDs checked before reaching particularly wet section of the road. Two lorries had stopped and were loading the Belgium guy's motor bikes on board. They had made it so far but there was a river to cross soon and their engines were already waterlogged. They were so lucky that the lorries had come along and were able to transport their bikes s far as was needed. At the border with Congo, we stopped for drinks and food. As is the norm, beer was the drink being had by many locals. Youssouff drove us on further to the end of the rough part of the road. A line of taxis awaited passengers for the next leg. I paid Youssouf the fare for the ride so far; 12,000CFA!!

Carlos was our driver for the next section to Dolisie. I had no idea how long this section would take, where I would sleep the night and what the condition of the road was like. In these situations I just have to trust the process - go with it.... Our merry band totalled 8. Carlos and his girlfriend/wife, the two passengers from N'dende, a young man from the border crossing village and later we picked up two civil servants who were returning to Dolisie after working in one of the villages. The road was rough and the car battered. Carlos drove like a pro. slipping and sliding along the track and its verges. It started to get dark. We hit a rock and the car came to a halt.

We ended up getting towed by another taxi to a neighbouring village / settlement. This had an adjacent compound for workers working on the road development. Incredibly loud music was booming from the village somewhere and few drunk people wandered past. It turned out that Carlos had asked for a mechanic to be brought to help get the car back on the road.