We arrived in Bangui to the news that Zaire had closed its borders. After discussions with other travellers we met coming up from the south we decided on a river trip down the Ubangui and Congo rivers to Brazzaville.
This covered the period 16th June 1975 to 25th June 1975. Obviously we had to pay for the trip then get the vehicles onto the barges. This photo shows the transit being loaded but I wish I had a a photo of the Land Rover being loaded – it was so rear heavy that it leaned backwards at an alarming angle:
There were a fair number of boats pushing barges up and down the river. This photo shows one that was a paddle boat:
From a canoe that came to the barge, we were offered some bush meat of monkey which we declined. But there was a baby monkey clinging to its dead mother which Lynda decided to rescue. Unfortunately it didn’t live for many more days:
On the 21st June I estimated that we crossed the equator, so going from midsummer’s day to midwinter’s day! The river joined the Congo on this day:
We were invited to stay at the Catholic Mission in Brazaville by a very generous and interesting nun, Sister Dorothy Falmer:
We stayed about 20 days at the Mission. In this time we met many kind, helpful and interested people. It was here that the group split in two: 4 of us in the Land Rover and 2 in the Transit.