Continuing from where I last left off upon reaching the border of the Congo…
Getting in and out of Uganda and Rwanda proved to be an easy task; there were no real problems crossing the border as “tourist.” I’d say the average time to fill out the necessary paperwork, waiting in line, and getting the passport stamped took all-in-all about ten minutes. Just getting into the DRC was a bit harder. After crossing the Rwandan border into “no-man’s land” (usually a stretch of land about 100 yards that separates the two countries from one another…so I pose the question, who owns “no-man’s land”?) and walking over to the DRC’s side of the land, there was a long line outside the immigration office. I could already tell by looking at the office that the DRC was a good fifteen years behind every other country that I crossed in to in east Africa. We started to wait in line, and though not really necessary to say, we stuck out like sore thumbs. After waiting in the mess of a line for about ten minutes, which when one thinks of a line they think something straight from the start to the end…this was no first-in first-out queue, this was a fight for your position and hold it as if your life depended on it, we were directed into the small office by some immigration official. Being a bit nervous about the whole situation of being wisped off into the office and not really speaking any French, or at least any that would get me anywhere soon, we began to get interrogated on our whereabouts, intentions, among other things. At first I don’t think they bought the idea of us explaining that we were there for holiday (honestly, I probably wouldn’t either). Filling out paper work was a lot more drawn out too; once that was done and 30 bucks paid for our visa, stamp in the book, we were on our way.
We didn’t know anything about our Congolese contact except his name and number. We gave our contact a heads up when we where at the Rwandan border and he met up with us as we were exiting the DRC immigration border. He was a cool guy, local musician and an actor.
Upon getting settled in at a place he suggested, Adam and I looked at each other….finally in the Congo.
Thats it for right now
Cheers,
Scott
Some pics
Rwanda
At the Congo/Rwandan border...gnarly LIVE volcano in the background
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