We spent about 3 weeks in Brazzaville in the Republic of Congo, not doing much except trying to get money transferred to the local banks, sorting out visas and making friends. In Brazzaville we met some interesting and helpful people, both locals and ex-pats. We were invited to their houses and shown great hospitality. We were even taken to a local dance hall; open air with a live band playing a mix of western and African beat. Although we were the only white people there, there was no hostility, just the occasional curious glances. Memorable for all the right reasons.
The group also split into two with 4 of us in the Land Rover (including me) and the other two in the Transit. We decided the route forward: after talking to other travellers Angola was the way to go – these travellers told us it wasn’t too bad despite the civil war in progress.
We left Brazaville with the aim of getting to the coast at Pointe Noir for a boat to Angola.
One of the friends we made was a very pleasant man called Benoit who, on our way out took us to his father’s and grandmother’s villages:
The roads that we followed were often very rough tracks – even in a Land Rover you has to be careful:
The maps that we used for the whole trip were the best available, 64 miles to the inch, so it is not surprising we had trouble finding our way:
There were several ferries, mostly using a cable strung across the river and, by angling the barges to the flow, the river pushes you across:
One night when we parked up the whole of a nearby village came to see what we were doing – no hostility, just curiosity. This meant we had to cook and eat in front of an audience:
The following morning a young girl, about 10 years old, nervously approached us with a large bottle of fresh water balanced on her head. Such generosity from total strangers. Many of such acts of generosity cannot be paid back directly which is why I try to ‘Pay Forward’ by being helpful to others.
There were also bridges across rivers and ravines. We inspected each one to ensure it looked up to the job:
We finally arrived in Pointe-Noir on 20th July 1975. We camped on the beach whilst we tried to arrange money transfers, visas, a boat to Angola and made a few new friends – some people were just so helpful and generous.
We stayed about 3 weeks in Pointe-Noir but finally got ourselves a boat to Lobito in Angola.