The DRC visa dance

Day 1:  Waited for contact to get information on what's required.

Day 2.  Learnt we needed a letter from the South African embassy, so spent half a day trying to locate their new office.  SA embassy refused to assist until we'd registered online.

Day 3:  Drove back to embassy after registering and waited 2 1/2 hours for attaché to attend to our request, only to be told that one of our reference numbers was invalid.  He added that we also needed to write an affidavit declaring our intent to visit the DRC.  Dashed home to fix registration reference number and write affidavit.  Returned to embassy and waited an hour for the attaché and then he just drove out the gate on another errand.  Waited another hour and a half for him to return to help us.  An hour later (and several games of noughts and crosses on their moving boxes and skating the office on their office chairs in petty retaliation for the wait), we left the embassy with stamped and signed affidavits, copies of passports and Angolan visas and a letter in Portuguese confirming we are who our passports say we are.

Day 4:  Handed all over to contact who then found out that we had to apply in person.  Surprise, surprise!  Spent another 2 hours missioning about town to fetch our papers and find DRC embassy.  Can you believe it was 10 minutes walk from where we were staying?  Handed all papers, except affidavit, over to DRC embassy.  Figured Portuguese letter said what it had to say.  DRC official said letter said nothing and that we need a letter saying we intend to visit the DRC.  Oh!  Contacted SA attaché who said that's what the affidavit is for.  If only he'd made that clear to start with!

Day 5:  Waited an hour for the DRC embassy to open and another hour for someone to help us, but our papers are in, our application is approved and we'll collect the visa on Friday.  Went to the beach for fresh air and fun with the frisbee.  Luanda is a hectic city with no green spaces for Peggy to run.

Ola Amigos, com estas?

So here we are in Angola and we are all safe. Talk about a range of contrasting experiences so far! We first tried to cross the border from Namibia at Ruacana where the officials wore board shorts and refused us entry, forcing us back to Oshikango, where the smart uniformed men and women bent over backwards to help us get through. Accommodation is astronomical, but beer and fuel are cheap. The Angolan people are warm and welcoming but no one speaks English. The roads are either brand new tar or rocky, rutted, corrugated and pot-holed! We've had crazy traffic and bustling city experiences and also camped on a wind swept beach where we saw no one else for three days. It's exhausting and exhilarating and we still feel amazed every day that we are actually here.              Adeus e tchau!

That was Namibia

89 birds
13 animals
2800 km
26 days

Mostly Nam was about finding our groove, which I think we did. We're getting more familiar with the enormous bird book (2100 entries for Sub-Saharan Africa – I ask you!) and where everything fits in the car.

The inverter has broken before it even got used, which is very annoying, but we'll cope. Preshy had another check-up in Windhoek to sort out the shock bushes and fix a broken wheel-hub bolt. Those are the last of the problems resulting from disastrous training with Herman Duiwelbrecht. Steer well clear of the cowboy at Angel 4x4.

Peggy is well into her groove now and has survived one cut ear and many thorns in her paws. She's very adventurous and takes herself for walks when allowed, but as soon as we start packing up to move on, she gets into her bed and stays there until we get to the next place.

And we've had at least one G&T so far, as well as many beers and at least 10 litres of “doos” wyn. All is well on the Djin and Tonic tour so far.

We're off to Angola tomorrow

Wish us luck!  We'll post when we next get internet access - possibly in Lubango.  Credit card pin still has not arrived, but we can't wait anymore.  Thanks D for doing all the checking.