Epic African Congo Trip

Not me of course but a young couple, Josephine and Frederik from Belgium drive their Toyota Land Cruiser across some of the roughest terrain in Africa's Congo region and live to write about! It's really quite amazing and engrossing so be aware...........once you start reading it, it will be very difficult to stop until you are done. It took me several hours to get through it as now it is many pages. There is also a youtube vid posted on page 46 if you want to get an idea of what the roads are like there.

All the usual applies.......if this is a repost blah, blah, blah then kindly move on. I came across this on NASIOC but it is originally posted on Expedition Portal and seems to be making it's way around the web.

Link:

http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=50799

yeah its good. but many other great posts on there.

Kinda like picking "One" post on Advrider... They're all good.

I saw this a couple days ago and read the whole thing (at least an hour) in one sitting. Great story (and site, for that matter).

Great story! Still reading...

...and the cannibalism? Holy E36 M3!

dj wrote: Great story! Still reading... ...and the cannibalism? Holy E36 M3!

I warned you...........it's hard to stop.

i will read it later, but the Congo was the scene of the modern Irish army's worst loss of life during a U.N. stint. the tribe responsible were called the Balooba's, so that became an epithet in the South for a while - whilst in the North the Gaelic football club I played for wore the Balooba nickname as a matter of pride - too weird. I'll check out the link tomorrow, but cannibalism? I'll make sure I'm not eating.

Just spent a couple of hours reading the whole thing.

It's a hell of an adventure! and sounds purely frustrating and tedious at times...not sure I could (nor would particularly want to) hack it out there.

Also, this made me chuckle: They only knew two tools: a hamer and a screwdriver. And the screwdriver was mostly only used in combination with the hamer.

Do you think they chose to best vehicle for that trip? Something a little lighter and not quite so wide might have been better. My first thought was motorcycles but where would you put all your food? How about some sort of off road buggy with a roof rack? Maybe just an old toyota pickup truck?

You are responsible for making me late to work...and I am only at page 15.!

Used to live in Nigeria for five years...out in the bush. So much of what they are going through rings close to home. I really do not know how they were not killed. They typical African views all business to be conducted as between Lion and Zebra. Just need to decide who will play what roll. It is the root of all the Nigerian scams that we like so much!

They certainly were quite brave. The whole time I'm reading I can't help but wonder what is going through that women's mind while her husband is trying to negotiate out of those situations.

On the vehicle:

Motorcycles are extremely good for that type of terrain (with varying width of road), but I'd be worried about running out of food or water.

Plus the truck also works as shelter.

Can you imagine trying that in a Chevy or Ford?

Otto_Maddox wrote: Do you think they chose to best vehicle for that trip? Something a little lighter and not quite so wide might have been better. My first thought was motorcycles but where would you put all your food? How about some sort of off road buggy with a roof rack? Maybe just an old toyota pickup truck?

They travelled for 715 days non-stop, 100.000km.

I don't think an offroad buggy would be good for that.

I'm reading a book called "Dead Aid" that talks about how badly money is used in places like the DRC and other African countries, and reading this adventure I get the feeling that much of what the author says is quite true:

People in many of these countries see whites as the giver of handouts

PHeller wrote: I'm reading a book called "Dead Aid" that talks about how badly money is used in places like the DRC and other African countries, and reading this adventure I get the feeling that much of what the author says is quite true: People in many of these countries see whites as the giver of handouts

It also explains the Somali pirate trade. What ever is out there is theirs for the taking and they apparently feel like somehow they deserve it.

NOHOME wrote: Can you imagine trying that in a Chevy or Ford?

I can't imagine doing that in any type vehicle!

What ever is out there is theirs for the taking and they apparently feel like somehow they deserve it.

That's some Ivory Tower Syndrome you're spewing right there. Might want to keep that in check.

Wow, didnt take 15 minutes to stumble upon this analogy:

He was a good example of the older generation. Theygrew up in a prosperous (relative) Congo and have seen it go downhill. They still have the pride every person should have. The younger generation grew up in disastrously f*cked up country and lack the pride. Why should they, they know they do not get any chances?

No surprisingly nobody they offered their assistance, they even had some shovels. But they wanted money first. By now you probably think we are just stupidly stubborn and naive. We probably are, but we refused to give in to corruption.

Gotta say, though, that calling this corruption is a crock of E36 M3. I dont know about Belgium but this is exactly the kind of capitalism that USA reveres and there's nothing wrong with it. Sure, the part where they stand around and watch is a little voyeuristic by our standards, but honestly Westerners are in no place to define what is and isnt voyeuristic anyway, we have more options for pointless and counterproductive time-wasting than we could ever use (and someone makes money off it.). Down here in Texas, if you go out on the beach and get stuck in an unpopulated area of it, MAYBE some guy will come along and pull you out for free. Almost always, if you are in the popular sections. But many other times a person will offer to pull you out with the expectation of some reward, or outright saying that it will cost you this or that. The first part is no different from us paying waiters $2/hr and 'expecting' the tips to raise that to a fair wage, and the 2nd part is no different than what these Congolese people are doing.

Love the story, and its understandable that in crazy circumstances one can lose their sense of perspective. However, as forum-readers we ARENT in those crazy circumstances, so perspective is the name of the game imo.

In reply to Vigo:

I kind of had the same thoughts when I read it all. I was with him on the negotiating with various people for ferries and such, but expecting free help from the destitute populace was a bit much. Most of those people looked to poor too afford to expend the calories for free. Being cheap is one thing, but jeez.

We do a lot of business in Africa, so some of it sounds familiar. We just had a guy get back from there on Tuesday, it was his first trip. So I asked what he thought, and he basically said he didn't get to see much, he spent most of his time trying to stay alive! We do have to hire armed escorts for our personnel as they leave the airport. It's not the safest place ever and the corruption is unreal.

My thoughts:

1) He should have had a winch. I know he claims he got out of everything without it, but BS. That last stretch where he had fwd only and got help they ended up using a "come along"-basically a crappy manual winch with a range of 10ft. With a winch they probably would have made it out of the bush driving instead of walking. Right tool for the job and all that.

2) Paying corrupt police who are making up charges is B.S. and should be refused if it doesn't get you shot or in jail. Paying someone to help you get unstuck (assuming they didn't get you stuck) is perfectly reasonable. That said-if he didn't want help just because he wanted it to do it himself that makes perfect sense.

Irregardless of my opinion on their methods of travel and interaction with the locals, that was a cool story.

racerdave:

What do you guys do? I was doodlebuggin i Nigeria in the late eighties/early nineties and ca tell stories that are hard to believe.

While I admire the teacity of this couple, I have a hard time deciding if they are stupid or tenacious. Taking his wife through that part of Africa with a huge wad of cash in that vehicle is like sending a nude playboy model into the excercise area of a maximum security prison. The difference in civilization levels is that extreme.

NOHOME wrote: racerdave: What do you guys do? I was doodlebuggin i Nigeria in the late eighties/early nineties and ca tell stories that are hard to believe. While I admire the teacity of this couple, I have a hard time deciding if they are stupid or tenacious. Taking his wife through that part of Africa with a huge wad of cash in that vehicle is like sending a nude playboy model into the excercise area of a maximum security prison. The difference in civilization levels is that extreme.

Tell us your craziest story, Seriously, I am very interested.

Well I did it. I spent Friday night reading this entire Epic trip.
If you want some condensed version or a reason to read it, try reading the long post titled "the Wrap Up" on page 54.
http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=50799&page=54