Central Africa 2001: 2 - Kinshasa, DRC to Sao Tome

Sunday, November 4 - After a great night's sleep and an easy morning around the hotel getting emails sent from the business centre and other things caught up, we hired a car and driver and set off to explore Kinshasa. The city itself has little to offer the tourist. It is huge, no one knows how many people but estimates are between 8 and 15 million. The accurate number is likely around 10 million. The downtown area and embassy district was fairly deserted. We enjoyed a leisurely beer at the Kinshasa Yacht Club on the banks of the Congo, watching the pirogues move up and down the river. Kinshasa in a major port with a lot of docks, and a huge number of rusting, sinking boats tied one to the other. The river is apparently navigable for 150-200 km upstream, over a week's trip by ferry.

After a considerable amount of driving through very rich and very poor neighbourhoods, we arrived in the Commune de Ksasvulzu and Commune de Notouge Victoire (Rompoint) areas, where things were anything but quiet. The shops were all open, bars booming and people everywhere. We stopped at a couple of different outdoor pubs on the roadside for beer with people our driver knew, giving us an opportunity to talk to some ordinary people and get a feel for what was going on.

Our driver then took us to the airport, where I had a very expensive omelette ($US 10). It was a better deal than other menu items - a hamburger is $US 15 and a cheese sandwich $US 17.50. These are the same prices we had at the hotel as well. Westerners we talked to who live in Kinshasa say it is very expensive there to buy many things - I'd tend to agree! Our driver ensured that we got our tickets OK, and then escorted us through customs and immigration ensuring all went well, before saying goodbye to us. In order to do this he spent an extra hour of his time which he did not charge us for, but which we paid anyhow. Having someone local who knows the ropes once again proved to be a very wise investment!

We thought our plane for Pointe Noire, back in Congo again, was over an hour late, but it later turned out that we had read the time wrong - so we had a bit of a wait but it was on time. Waiting gave Tim and I some time for reflection. This is the country I most dreaded coming to, due to the fact that I may have not been allowed entry, and due to all the warnings we had read from fellow Traveler's Century Club members who have been here, Lonely Planet, US advisories and so on about the danger. Our experience proved to be pleasant beyond our wildest hopes, from the officialdom we had to deal with to standards of accommodation, and the welcome feeling we had from the locals we drank with in their neighbourhoods! It has been a truly welcome surprise. The plane finally was ready, and after a smooth flight and easy customs and immigration we were taxied to the Hotel Azul International where I finally fell into bed at 2 AM.

We lay around a little in the morning, and missed breakfast. Our taxi driver from the previous night was to pick us up at 12:30 and the restaurant didn't open until 12:30 for lunch, so they made us a ham and cheese sandwich for "brunch". We did a tour around the city, and in the process tried several banks to change money - but all had the same problem. I'm not quite sure what it was, but they were either out of money or didn't want US dollars. At any rate, we didn't change any dollars - it was fortunate that Tim had French Francs which are widely accepted, so he paid all the bills until I could catch up.

We then drove the 35 minutes or so to the Angolan frontier. We really just wanted to go a short distance into the country to say we'd been there, so left our bags in the taxi, who would wait for us, and headed off. Corruption was at its finest! We were taken to an office where a wooden bench was provided for us. I take it this was VIP treatment, as it wasn't available to the black victim ahead of us. Our driver accompanied us - he had paid someone he knew to watch his car - and ran interference for us, almost getting into problems himself a couple of times, as we were worked over for the bribe. Our initial customs contact was also with us - this is a very low volume border, and there weren't many people crossing, and certainly not any white people. We were a real novelty!

The process was very time consuming. First one "official" sat behind the desk in front of us and carefully read, or pretended to read if he was illiterate, as many are, each and every page of each of our passports. He had a very serious conference with another fellow, who then repeated the performance. This chap then consulted with an enormous woman in a flaming bright yellow and red full length gown and head gear to match who popped in. She forced her bulk into the chair behind the desk, and once arranged there proceeded with much flair to examine each passport page in detail for her own satisfaction.

A conference was then called of all the various examiners. It was pointed out to us that that the dates on the visa had been overwritten in the same ink as the rest of the visa, but they were overwritten. This had been done by the Congo embassy employee who issued the visa - for the second time - it was one of the ones which were in the passport twice, the first having expired - a further complication. It caused us to be questioned every time. With much head nodding it was agreed that some financial arrangement could be made to overcome this difficulty. The first passport reader then took the chair in front of us and serious negotiation began. We'd been there about an hour at this point.

Our driver, who spoke only and few words of English (the others spoke none), suggested 1,000 CFA (about $1.50), so Tim placed the bill on the table. Everyone got quite excited and explained that there would have to be enough to pay 5 customs people, and that amount just wouldn't do. It would need to be 5 times that much. Tim then put a 2,000 CFA bill on the table and more head shaking. It was just not enough. Tim then indicated he had no more CFA, and only a few US dollars. After another conference it was agreed that the matter could be arranged if one US dollars was added to the other currency.

After some hand shaking, smiles, and head nodding it was indicated we could proceed, so we walked through the gate and across no mans land to the Angolan frontier. Our passports were scrutinized, and we headed on into Angola and where we found the immigration building. Immigration here seemed very straightforward and efficient. Our passports were collected and sent for inspection.

While awaiting the return of our passport a very excited little fellow from the Congo side showed up at the Angola customs building, accompanied by our driver. Neither Tim nor I had any idea what this fellow was on about, but he was spurting French at a great rate while flailing his arms about and hopping from one foot to the other. Everyone took great care to stand far enough back to be out of range of the arms! The Angolan official looked at him quite blankly. Perhaps he spoke little French, as Portuguese is the language of Angola. At any rate, he didn't appear to be impressed.

I finally got our driver aside to find out what was going on, before the poor fellow had some type of seizure in the heat and humidity. Finally it was got through to me that we had missed a step in the Congo side process, and our passports had not been stamped for exit. When I explained that we didn't have our passports, but that they were somewhere inside the Angolan immigration system, and our driver explained it to the overwrought Congo border official, his agitation cranked up even further. He began squeaking in a voice that had increased an octave in pitch at the placid Angolan official, who continued to ignore him.

Finally, our passports returned all ready to go for our admission to Angola. I explained to the Angolan official in Spanish, which is close enough to Portuguese to get by, that we thought we had better go back to sort out whatever it was that was bothering the excitable little guy. Our passports were returned to us.

Back at the Congolese border, the head of the border post - who we had not met before, but was identified by our driver - was seated imperiously in a white plastic patio chair right at the border gate. He spoke a few words of English, and pointed out to us that not having the exit stamp in the passport and leaving was a very heinous crime, and that we would not now be permitted to leave Congo. He said, and I quote, we must "go away!"

Having managed to keep a straight face through all the previous proceeds, I just lost it, and roared with laughter. This took him a bit by surprise, but I said, "You don't want us to go away mad, right? You just want us to go away?" He then laughed as well, we shook hands, and he motioned us back into the Congo with a dismissive gesture.

It made the Angolan visas a bit of a waste of money, and while we did get into Angola, it wasn't very far! On the way back towards Pointe Noire we had a flat tire, fortunately in a tiny village with a tiny outside pub with the inevitable plastic seats, right across the street from the car. Here we downed a quart of warm beer, which tasted pretty good at this point in spite of it's temperature.

After picking up some postcards and stamps we headed back to the hotel, we arranged with the driver to take us to the airport that evening for our flight. There was a business centre at the hotel, but they couldn't get Explorer to work so I couldn't get a position and update sent out. We had planned dinner at the hotel, but the restaurant didn't open until 7:30 PM, the time we had to be at the airport. They agreed to fix us something though - you guessed it, a ham a cheese sandwich!

At the airport we met a young man from India, Rajesh Parikh, who was the representative for that part of Africa for the family textile and clothing manufacturing business which was run by his father in Bombay. Rajesh does the run here every week from Libreville, where his office is, and was well known. Again, customs were very corrupt. I walked away from one area where I was told we had to declare all currency saying, "I can't understand you." Another guard was patting me down, having me empty every pocket in an obvious search for money, when a higher official of the police came along and told us to proceed through. The police official was a friend of Rajesh, who was kept on side with gifts from time to time. He was very pleased when I presented him with a Costa Rica lapel pin, which he promptly put on his shirt.

We then waited in the first class lounge, where Rajesh was also known, and were on the aircraft first. There were no assigned seats, but we picked the ones with tons of leg room right behind first class.

The Air Gabon flight was very comfortable, the plane quite new and very well maintained. They seem a very efficient and well run airline. On arrival in Libreville we were escorted by Rajesh to a first class area where we waited in comfortable chairs while people ran around getting our passports stamped for entry. He then had us driven to our hotel, the Oukome Palace, which was very nice.

After an early breakfast we took a cab into the Air Gabon office. We had a return ticket from Sao Tome & Principe for Friday, but no way to get there due to cancelled Air Afrique flights. It turns out Air Afrique has gone broke and quite flying. Air France is negotiating to take over, but had not reached an agreement yet.

We had a little difficulty getting into the swing of things in Africa again, but it came back to us quickly enough. Most Africans don't understand line ups, or first come first served. As each new person entered the crowded office, they immediately began taking whatever steps necessary to ensure they were the next served, with no consideration for others already there. We quickly perceived that the technique that seemed to work best was to pull up a chair beside a person already being served and sitting with them, thus insuring your position of next in line for that agent. Tim and I each picked one and did exactly that. It turned out that we had a tie, so I moved to Tim's agent. We had trouble understanding, but eventually it turned out that Air Gabon flew to Sao Tome only on Friday and Sunday, running weekend excursions - and our return ticket was on their Friday flight. Today being Tuesday, that didn't help a lot in getting there! They recommended we go to a travel agency.

We went to the recommended travel agency, which could not help us. Then we went to the airport and found out about a travel agency that handles Air Sao Tome and Principe back in the city again. We went there and were able to buy tickets - their flight on a small plane left Libreville at 4:00 PM. They took no credit cards and no US dollars in payment, but I'd been to the bank to buy CFA so we could buy the tickets. We then did a tour of Libreville, which is a pleasant city of about 670,000 in a country with a population of just over a million. It is a far more functional, prosperous and tidy place that most other African nations we have visited. The presidential palace is quite impressive. It should be, having been built at a cost of $US 800 million! At the end of the tour we were left at the airport.

Our Sao Tome flight left late, but I had a great seat right behind the pilot so I could look over his shoulder. What a difference upon arrival in Sao Tome - everything was completely laid back! Customs was only for the 14 of us on the flight, and was quick and efficient. We didn't see a cab, but were offered a ride into town by another fellow who said we'd have to wait for him for a few minutes. In the meantime, we were approached by someone else who said he had a taxi, so we followed him back through the airport to exit on the side the planes are on, and sure enough there was a yellow taxi. It turns out that our driver is the head of security at the airport, and also has the taxi. It seems we are in good hands!

The Miramar hotel is excellent, a two story building with lots of wood and a very cozy feel. It has a swimming pool you could hold a rowing regatta in with nice waterfalls at each end. After a few drinks in the comfortable bar, and a good meal we headed for bed.

The morning was dedicated to getting caught up, including writing this update and getting it sent. As it is the first time we have had two nights in the same place it is also laundry day! Our taxi/security man will be picking us up and 1 PM for the tour of the island.