The dream of driving the length of Africa on the west coast has died a miserable death. It was a slow and painful death that started in Lome around the middle of January, taking the best part of two months to come to fruition. The method of death was the lack of visa for Angola. Like the ever present threat of an African virus we were aware from the outset of the possibility that we may succumb to a heart breaking end but had hoped upon hope that we would be able to pass through unnoticed.
I’m not going to go into the details as this is certainly not the medium for such things, but we tried every embassy (and consulate) from Timbuktu to Pointe-Noire and were flatly refused entry; not only to the country but usually to these buildings as well! From experience we are now aware that having concurrent passports is the only way forward to achieve the dream down the west coast!
Of the 26 people that started the journey:
Two planned to leave in Accra; which was without question the worst day of the journey. The two Americans from Arizona could not have been a nicer couple and the news of them becoming engaged recently was met with shouts of joy and many beers from all that remained
Eight did not attempt the Angolan visa (in the case of one it was understandable as she would not have got it); the other seven clearly booked the wrong journey
Seven have concurrent passports so they are currently en-route; I take my hat off to them! Life is always about the journey, not the destination
The rest of us went to Pointe-Noire with the small glimmer of hope that we would get good news. We did not! I suspect we would have tried another route to head further south, but on meeting an independent overlander who had been waiting in Congo for four months we thought better of it.
Having resigned to the fact that we would not complete the west coast journey Katie and I booked a flight to Jo’burg with the intention of making the most of our time away from the truck… this is being achieved every day, and today is no exception (more just the rule)! I am reflecting on our failed attempts to get the visa from the comfort of our private terrace at the Amphitheatre Backpackers, which is nestled at the foot of the northern Drakensburg mountain range. There are no clouds in the sky to speak of from our terrace and what a wonderful view it is. The sight of the sun’s rays piercing the morning mist to light up the vast vertical walls of the Drakensburg range that then plateau off to the landlocked kingdom of Lesotho is something truly spectacular.
Our plan now is to spend another week here in South Africa. This time will be split between the Amphitheatre Backpackers here in the northern Drakensburg and the state of Gauteng, where we will almost certainly be taking in another Super XV game (having seen the Sharks v Reds on Saturday in Durban). Following this we are flying to Windhoek (from Jo’burg) to meet up with the truck to finish the journey! It would be a travesty not to arrive in Cape Town with the team that we have spent so many weird and wonderful experiences with!
On the dream front; Katie and I have decided to extend our stay in Africa until sometime in August when we are hoping to complete the north bound drive from Cape Town to Cairo. This will give us some satisfaction in completing the traverse of a continent overland*, not what we had set out to achieve but when circumstances are taken out your control you have to adapt, otherwise you will die wondering; not something either of us are prepared to do!
*Overland from Cape Town to Cairo for Katie and I will actually be achieved in two journeys; one that started in 2007 (Nairobi to Cape Town) and the second which will see us rejoin the truck in Zanzibar at the beginning of June to head north to Cairo. We are expecting this to be incredibly difficult, particularly northern Kenya and North Sudan, where we will be driving across the Nubian Desert at the height of summer… bring it on!
Better head off; it has just reached 7AM and the sun’s rays look to be heating the high veld just nicely so it is the perfect time to get out and get amongst a four hour hike in the foothills.
Don’t worry … we have not forgotten about Cameroon, Gabon or Congo and will be updating the blog accordingly; we just thought you would want to know where we are and what the story is.
Shot.
Overland to Cape Town 