Access to DRC granted!

We made it, we are finally in the DRC. What a country. It has its own unique flavour, and we were surprised by what we experienced. We only sampled a small part of this incredible country for only 2 short days and loved every moment!

The river Congo is HUGE and majestic. The French and Lugana languages spoken are beautiful to hear, and the people we encountered were kind, friendly, and welcoming. The roadblocks were many, the traffic in Matadi was not for the faint-hearted, the state of the roads was not as terrible as we feared, and the landscape, well, she was wild, wet, and dense, with awe-inspiring views.

It was remarkable to see sedans carrying yellow oil containers, secured to the roof in creative and artistic ways, and the ease with which we could find all that we needed, from fuel to food to beer, which was greatly appreciated after the time spent in the Angola queues :)

We did learn that to avoid a potential bribe situation at the last roadblock to exit the county, it is wise to get three blue tickets to indicate that the road tax has been paid. We obviously did not know this when we paid for road tax, and the attendant only gave us 2. The officers at the last checkpoint recommended that we pay $10 to pass, but we were able to chat with the chief, who said that we were free to go without paying. Boom, bribe attempt avoided :)Read more