When traveling in the Congo, you will (undoubtedly) come across people who wish to make your traveling a little harder than it already is. Despite all of the "fees" and "tips" you will be told you need to pay in order to pass a…Read More

When traveling in the Congo, you will (undoubtedly) come across people who wish to make your traveling a little harder than it already is. Despite all of the "fees" and "tips" you will be told you need to pay in order to pass a certain checkpoint or town, you are not required to pay any bribes or what-not (aside from obtaining a permit/visa).

The recent Bradt guide to the Congo mentions that you should carry a lot of small bills and be prepared to hand them to those who seek a bribe. This is nonsense. Though I was often asked to pay a fee or buy someone a beer, I almost always played dumb with a smile, said I had nothing on me to give (a total lie), and was able to avoid paying most bribes. In my two weeks there, I knowingly paid $10 in bribes, only to speed up my travels and avoid an argument with an armed man.

The biggest obstacle I came across was when stuck in the town of Komanda. As my interpreter and I sat down in a restaurant to eat, a man approached us. He claimed to work for the government and demanded to see my passport and permit. Speaking in French and Swahili (none of which I understand), he claimed I was illegally in the country (because I lacked a real visa), wrote my name and information down in a small notepad (his "official records"), then claimed I had to pay a $20 fee. I knew this was bogus, and so (being cheap and stubborn) I began arguing though my interpreter. Telling him I'd give him $5 or nothing did not make him too happy.

Next to us was man eavesdropping on the conversation. He turned out to be a reporter from the town of Bunia, and as he left he tried to shame the official for harrassing a tourist. Of course, the official said the reporter was wrong and that I had to pay this fee. As my interpreter was not willing to argue too much for me, he called his boss in Kinshasa. The interpeter's boss then argued with the official. But, that went nowhere as he still demanded I pay $20.

Realizing arguing with me was not going anywhere, the official decided to call his boss to see what he said...his plan being that his boss would agree with him and I'd have to pay $20. My intepreter listened-in on the conversation (in Swahili). Then, when it was over, the official stood up, gave me my passport and permit, shook my hand, said good night, and walked out. His boss had told him to leave me alone. After 30 minutes, I won the battle and paid no fee.

The next morning I came across the same man down the road at the Ituri River crossing, though this time he was all smiles, greeted me by name, shook my hand, and wish me well on my travels. The moral of this story is you don't have to pay a $20 fee in Komanda.Close

After crossing into the Congo from Uganda without my own transportation, my interpreter and I needed to find a ride to get us to Beni, several hours up the road. On a map, Beni is close. But, the road between Kasindi and Beni…Read More

After crossing into the Congo from Uganda without my own transportation, my interpreter and I needed to find a ride to get us to Beni, several hours up the road. On a map, Beni is close. But, the road between Kasindi and Beni is a rough, rocky, dirt road.

A couple hundred meters beyond the border post, following the main road into Kasindi, is a main intersection with numerous parked cars and motorcycles. It is here where you look for a ride to Beni. You should have a few options: shared minibus, shared car, or motorbike. Shared minibuses are about $5, shared cars $7, and motorbikes $10. Minibuses only leave when full, cars leave when they have 3 people (suppposedly), and motorbikes on this route are just plain uncomfortable.

After refusing to wait for a shared minibus to leave, my interpeter and I found a shared car that only needed one other person in order to leave. After sitting in the car for 15+ minutes, the driver drove us back towards the border post to supposedly pick up another person. As we waited for him to find the person, another woman got in the car. But, our driver was nowhere to be found, so we couldn't leave. Eventually the woman got irritated waiting for the driver, so she left. Five minutes later, my interpreter and I left, too...and we walked back to the main intersection to start the process over again.

We quickly found another car heading to Beni, but had to wait for it to fill up with other travelers. Minutes turned into hours, and we finally left around 5pm, nearly three hours after we crossed the border just a few hundred meters down the road.

After clearing a police checkpoint, we were on our way to Beni. No more than thirty minutes later, though, we blew a tire. As we sat on the side of the road while the driver fixed the tire, and the sun went down, I remembered something I had read before coming here: don't drive at night, and that the area we were in was known to have rebel groups in it. So, I admit I got a little nervous since Beni was still hours up the road and it was nearly dark. A few trucks passed us by, one carrying a group of Congolese teenagers all with guitars. Only in the Congo, I suppose.

After driving with no problems for the next hour or so, we came across a traffic jam. Several trucks were stuck on an uphill portion of the road, blocking it for all other traffic. After assessing the situation, the driver got impatient and took his tiny car off the road to bypass the other trucks. The sound of the entire undercarriage scraping the rocks and stones underneath us didn't deter him. Amazingly, we didn't get stuck or rip anything underneath the car, and we kept on moving.

Just outside Beni is a police checkpoint. At the gate, a few men surrounded the car and peeked inside to see who was in it. We had a group of about 8 to 10 people crammed into the car, and I was in the middle seat inthe back, so they didn't see me or suspect us of smuggling anything. Just as the police were about to lift the gate, though, I heard one yell out, "Muzungo!". For you newbies, that is "white man" in Swahili. I had been caught. The police then demanded we all get out of the car so they could search it and question me, as a white man in these parts is not an everyday occurrance.

I was brought into a small police shack next to the road, where my papers and passport were scutinized. After some stuff was written down, I was basically asked to bribe them to get out of there. As it was getting late, and I was tired, I quickly gave them $5 and left. Five minutes later we were in Beni and at our hotel.Close

Though not as easy to arrange as a motorbike from Beni to Epulu, it is possible to hire motorbikes for the journey between Epulu and Beni. On my trip, my interpreter and I found motorbike drivers at the Ituri River crossing in Komanda who…Read More

Though not as easy to arrange as a motorbike from Beni to Epulu, it is possible to hire motorbikes for the journey between Epulu and Beni. On my trip, my interpreter and I found motorbike drivers at the Ituri River crossing in Komanda who were based in Mambasa. They agreed to drive to Epulu the day before we wished to leave Epulu, then depart for Beni the next morning.

The road between Epulu and Beni (via Mambasa and Komanda) has been improved within the past year or so. It is still dirt, but major potholes and problems with the road have been fixed, making it a mostly smooth ride, even on a motorbike.

Only one of our two drivers showed up the night before our departure, when expected. The driver who arrived said the other would be there in the morning for the planned 6am departure. I was happy at least one of them came, so I fed him some pasta (which he had never eaten before) and tea before he left us at the Okapi Reserve to head to a relative's house for the night.

The morning of the departure, the second driver never arrived. We waited around until 7am before deciding that we had to start asking around in the town to find another driver. Our guide at the Okapi Reserve (Katsongo) volunteered to do this. However, just as he left a second driver arrived...not the one we hired, but a new guy who his friend sent due to having bike problems. After a very short goodbye to Katsongo and our cook at the Okapi Reserve, we hopped on the back seats of the bikes and left.

The first 30 minutes we fine. The weather was cool, and the road was smooth. We blew past village after village with kids screaming at the muzungo on the bike. However, my driver then noticed my interpreter and his bike were gone from behind us. We doubled-back to find them in the last village we passed with a popped tire. So, we waited while they fixed it.

I was probably the first white man to pass through the town in a while, as the children became quite fascinated with me. I soon noticed they were mimmicking everything I did. So, naturally, I started to do really odd things with my hands and make weird facial expressions. They copied all of it. After an hour and a half of waiting, the tire was fixed and we left.

The rest of the ride to Mambasa was relatively uneventful. We only stopped a couple times to say hi to the drivers' parents or wait for the interpreter's bike to catch up. The worst thing that happened was that I got bit, through my pants, by a huge wasp of some sort as we rode. That was painful.

In Mambasa, the drivers refueled and spoke with their bosses about the rest of the ride to Beni. They needed some paperwork, though their bosses figured they'd be fine without it...and that they could get paperwork for the return trip once in Beni. The drivers, as sly as they were, told the bosses we were paying them $40 each for the ride...obviously so they could pocket the difference and make a nice profit.

From Mambasa to Komanda it is 2 hours. We reached the Ituri River crossing again. Luckily, it only took 30 minutes, and not the 5 hours it took with the bus a few days before. We briefly stopped in Komanda for lunch, though my interpreter protested and the drivers decided to keep moving instead. All was fine, aside from nearly running over a snake slithering across the road, until we reached the border crossing between the Orientale and North Kivu provinces.

Each region has their own motorbike association that employs local motorbike drivers to transport people in the area. If you're doing a long-distance trip like I was doing, the drivers are supposed to only drive you in their region. If they decide not to oblige to this rule, they are at least not supposed to cross into neighboring provinces. My drivers, however, were planning to do the whole Epulu to Beni run themselves, which is why they needed paperwork in Mambasa. Their reason for this was two-fold: 1) I convinced them to, and 2) they probably wanted the extra money.

So, at the Orientale-North Kivu border post, the police recognized the drivers as not being local. We were forced off the bikes and sat down in a makeshift shack on the side of the road. For the next 30 minutes, a series of policemen and their boss took turns yelling at us in French and Swahili. It was very obvious they were not pleased, especially when they discovered that one of our drivers had no official form of identification.

Word spread fast about our situation, and then the local motorbike association manager approached our drivers. He was mad that the drivers were taking business away from the other local drivers. So, a bribe was demanded for our drivers to leave the border and return back to Mambasa.

Away from the police, my interpreter and I struck a deal with the drivers and paid them accordingly. Of the money we gave them, they then had to give up at least one-third to the police and local motorbike manager to get out of there. My interpreter and I, though, now had no ride to Beni. Since the local motorbike drivers knew of our situation, all we got were inflated prices for rides to Beni. After getting a decent price, we left.

From the provincial border to just north of Beni (about 2 hours) was uneventful. However, literally one mile from Beni I noticed my interpreter's bike was missing again. We waited for almost 30 minutes before he showed up on another bike, because he had popped another tire. We then rode the last 5 minutes into Beni and arrived at 4:05pm...5 minutes too late to renew my temporary travel permit.Close

Taking the bus to Epulu seemed straightforward enough: Buy a ticket, board the bus (Les Enfants D'Abord), and get off in Epulu. But, as you may have guessed, not everything goes as planned in the Congo.In Beni, the bus station posted fares to the…Read More

Taking the bus to Epulu seemed straightforward enough: Buy a ticket, board the bus (Les Enfants D'Abord), and get off in Epulu. But, as you may have guessed, not everything goes as planned in the Congo.

In Beni, the bus station posted fares to the various towns their buses traveled through...Butembo, Bunia, Komanda, Mambasa, Beni, etc. Epulu was not posted, but we knew the bus would be passing through. So, we got a price quote of $20 per person, and the bus would be arriving in Beni at 10:00am that day. It was 9:00am at this time. Doing the math, my guide and I figured we'd get to Epulu by late afternoon. So, we ran back to Hotel Source Kabungulu, grabbed our bags, checked out, and went back to the bus station. Just as we were about to buy the ticket, the attendant said the bus driver decided he wasn't coming that day, and so the bus was delayed until the next day. Splendid.

We spent the rest of that day trying to arrange other rides to Epulu, but eventually returned to the bus station to buy a ticket for the next day when we realized the bus was the cheapest way to go. Of course, when we returned the price was now $25, which is the full fare to Nia Nia...though Nia Nia is hours beyond Epulu. We were told to come back at 9:00am the next day for the 10:00am departure.

At 9:00am sharp the next day we arrived at the bus stop. 10:00am came and went, as did 11:00am, and 12:00pm. My interpreter and I decided that if the bus did not arrive by 1:00pm we would demand a refund and look for another ride. Sure enough, at 1:00pm the bus showed up...looking overcrowded, and extremely dangerous to step foot in. With no backup plan, we boarded. Only then did we realize that the bus was not going to go to Epulu that day. Instead, it was only going as far as Mambasa, then continue to Epulu the next day. Splendid.

I scored the seat right behind the driver, which had a good view, but was anything but comfortable. I sat between my interpreter and another man on a bench meant for two people, with my legs wedged between bags and the driver's seat. There were no working gauges on the bus. The speedometer was always on zero, as was the RPM dial, and the fuel gauge was always on empty. But, before we left Beni, the driver made sure to have his deluxe horn fixed...so as we passed through villages he could blare various horn sounds at the kids. If this bus was going to plunge off a cliff, at least I could hear Dixie (or maybe a lazer horn sound) as the bus and I desintegrated upon impact.

The four hour ride from Beni to Komanda was uneventful. By "uneventful," I mean that we only had to stop a minimum of five times for police checks in which my papers were scruntized and my name recorded in their records, and the barrel of an AK-47 hanging off the shoulder of a policeman got dangled in my face as he climbed over people in the bus to check their paperwork. Luckily, the trigger was not sensitive.

In Komanda, the bus pulled over unexpectedly at 4:45pm, and the driver said something to us in Swahili. I turned to my interpreter and found out that the bus was not going any further that day, so we had to spend the night in Komanda. Splendid. Apparently 7km up the road was the bridge across the Ituri River. However, earlier in the year an overloaded truck collapsed the bridge, which meant the only way across was on wooden rafts and ferries that are hand-pulled across the river. Those rafts stopped working at 5pm, and the bus would never make it in time.

We were welcome to sleep on the bus, though that was the last thing I wanted to do. Sitting in the darn thing was uncomfortable enough. Luckily, not far from where the bus stopped was a restaurant (see my review of Restaurant Taux du Jour), and the owner had rooms to sleep in. I'm not sure what the other passengers did (there was another hotel in town, though it was a dump even for Congo standards), but my interpreter and I had a good nights sleep and didn't see any other passengers where we slept.

The bus was supposed to depart at 6:00am the next morning. Amazingly, we left at 6:15am. Ten minutes later we were at the Ituri River, in a queue to cross the river. The process was simple: all the people get off the bus and cross the river on a raft, the goods are unloaded and floated across on another raft, the bus is then floated across on another raft, and then the goods are loaded back on the bus, followed by the people. I figured it would take an hour. Four hours later, as I sat in the bus writing in my journal, I realized we wouldn't be leaving anytime soon as the men outside seemed perplexed as to how they were going to fit everything back in the bus. Somehow, though, they got their act together and we were on our way at 11:30am...five hours after we arrived at the crossing.

The next four hours were relatively easy. The road is dirt, but flat and smoothe. We hardly had any police checkpoints, and only had one extended stop in Mambasa. The scenery changed to more forest and jungle surroundings, and we soon reached the entrance to the Okapi Reserve. Epulu, though, was another hour or two down the road, deep inside the reserve. It's called the Pan-African Highway, though by American standards it would be better called a bad, rough, terrible, dirt path.

At 3:30pm we reached Epulu. The bus dropped us off right at the gate where I was supposed to go, and then it continued on it's way after the driver checked-in with the park rangers.

While we waited at the river crossing near Komanda, we asked the driver when he would be returning to Beni through Epulu. He said "Sunday", which was two days too late for us. It didn't matter what he said, though. I feel like I will never want to take that bus again, if I ever had to. But, I must say it was a really awesome experience, and I have a bunch more stories to tell from my trip because of it. Plus, it was only $25.Close

There are several ways you can travel to Epulu from Beni. Flying, renting a car, hiring a motorbike, taking a bus, or riding on top of a truck are all possible options.The fastest, and most expensive, is by flying. MAF Congo offers flights…Read More

There are several ways you can travel to Epulu from Beni. Flying, renting a car, hiring a motorbike, taking a bus, or riding on top of a truck are all possible options.

The fastest, and most expensive, is by flying. MAF Congo offers flights to Epulu at about $500 each way, which is for the entire plane. I believe the flight time is only an hour or so. There is not a set schedule, and there is a possibility their planes will be in use elsewhere the day you want to fly. Contact MAF Congo for the latest prices and availability.

For about $100 per day, plus fuel, you can rent a car with driver in Beni. The best way to find a car is to simply ask around town. Prices will vary, and a little negotiating will be needed to get a good price. There is an internet cafe next door to Hotel Source Kabungulu (outside the hotel grounds, not the one directly inside the front gate), and the owner there offered us a car for $300 + fuel for 4 days. With the road in good condition and no delays, driving straight should take approximately 6 hours via the Komanda-Mambasa road. The road from Beni to Mambasa (bypassing Komanda) is in bad condition and not a good idea to drive on.

Motorbikes can also be hired. Drivers will ask for about $100 each way, per bike, though this can be negotiated down to about $75 each way. A price of $300 round trip should include fuel and their expenses while waiting in Epulu (granted you are only staying for a couple days). Drivers who work the local Beni motorbike association will need special paperwork to enter the Orientale province. Make sure your driver has proper paperwork, otherwise you will run into problems at the provincial border. Driving time is approximately 8-9 hours, without many delays (again, on the Komanda-Mambasa road).

There is bus service from Butembo to Nia Nia, passing through Beni, Komanda, Mambasa, and Epulu. It is run by Les Enfants D'Abord. I believe the bus normally starts in Goma, but at the time of visit and writing the road was closed due to the ongoing conflict with rebels (hence the bus starting in Butembo). Unlike the other options, the bus takes 2 days to reach Epulu...spending a night in Mambasa if it crosses the Ituri River before 5pm, or Komanda if it does not cross the river before 5pm. Travel time from Beni to Komanda is approximately 4 hours, and Komanda to Epulu 9 hours (including the time to cross the river). The cost is $25 per person, each way (which is actually the same price to Nia Nia). Budget a few more dollars for the night spent in Komanda or Mambasa. The bus station in Beni is located on the side of the gas station on the southeast side of the main traffic circle where the main road meets the road to Kasindi.

Finally, it is possible to sit on top of a truck loaded with goods. I met one local man who claims he traveled from Nia Nia to Beni in one day using this method. Traveling this way can be dangerous, though. If the truck tips over, and you're on top, it will be a hard landing. Prices should get generally cheap though...less than the bus. Travel time, though, is very slow because of the trucks being overloaded, stopping often, and breaking down.

For any of the road options, keep in mind that the Ituri River crossing in Komanda closes at 5pm each day. A car or motorbike should only take 30 minutes or so to cross. A bus or truck, loaded with goods, takes over 4 hours. Also, if it rains, the roads can become quite a nightmare, and travel time will definitely be longer.Close

The thought of entering the Congo is enough to give most people the heebie jeebies. While it is anything but simple to do, it is possible to do with a little patience. I crossed into the Congo in mid-November 2008 at the Kasindi…Read More

The thought of entering the Congo is enough to give most people the heebie jeebies. While it is anything but simple to do, it is possible to do with a little patience. I crossed into the Congo in mid-November 2008 at the Kasindi border with the help of an interpreter from Go Congo.

To enter at Kasindi, you must first make your way from the main Fort Portal-Mbarara road to the border. Kalita runs buses from Kampala to the border. Alternatively, you can hire a local car to take you to the border from the intersection where the road to the border meets the main Fort Portal-Mbarara road. This costs $5-$10, however you can pay the same price from Mbarara to the border on a Kalita bus.

Once at the border, you must fill out an exit form in the Uganda border office (left side of road). This is generally straightforward and painless. After this, your local car, or motorbike, can take you the next few hundred meters on the zig-zagging, rough road to the Congo side. Alternatively, you can walk this.

Immediately after crossing the border, agents will know you are a foreigner and will take you inside a very small office. Here, you will be asked to empty your bag(s), and they will do a thorough search of everything. Luckily, I was able to get through this without them confiscating my satellite phone nor camera. When they're done, they ask for a bribe (or drink)...just play dumb, ignore them, and leave.

Now, you enter the main border office to get your temporary visa/permit to be in the Congo. On the temporary permit, they will list your itinerary. To avoid future hassle, be honest and tell them your itinerary. I was with an interpreter from Go Congo, who knew a high ranking border official. Still, we waited over 45 minutes before we finally got the permit (an 8x10 sheet of paper). A 7 or 8 day permit costs $50, plus a supposed extra $10 for them to stamp your passport. Once this is done, you are free to leave their office, though they will ask for a bribe or drink (again, play dumb and leave ASAP).

If you plan on staying more than the permit allows, you MUST renew the permit and pay another $50-60. This can be done in Beni.

After getting your permit, you then must walk next door to where they check your yellow fever vaccination certificate. This supposedly costs $2, though I suspect the $2 I paid was another bribe. Once this is done, you're all set and free to go further in the Congo. Just keep the permit with you at all times, as it will be scutinized often from this point forward.

To avoid some of the hassle at the border, obtain an official visa prior to arriving at the border.

P.S. Do not take photos of anything in the border area.Close

Mutsora is a very small village located 1-2 miles south of the village of Mutwanga. Mutwanga, itself rather small, is located approximately 5 miles east of the main road between Beni and the Kasindi border. Though the road from this main Beni-Kasindi road…Read More

Mutsora is a very small village located 1-2 miles south of the village of Mutwanga. Mutwanga, itself rather small, is located approximately 5 miles east of the main road between Beni and the Kasindi border. Though the road from this main Beni-Kasindi road to Mutwanga can handle 4x4 vehicles, it is narrow and rocky, which makes travel time relatively long and more suitable for Yamaha dirt bikes or the usual "Senko" motorbikes in the area.

From both Beni and the Kasindi border, travel time is approximately 2 hours on a motorbike...give or take some time for possible flat tires. In Beni, all it takes is a little bit of asking around for a motorbike driver to take you to Mutsora, ideally the day before you wish to travel. They will ask for $10, which is slightly negotiable, and will meet you at your hotel.

If you're coming from Kasindi, it may be a little harder to find a driver willing to go to Mutsora. But, it is possible. Again, the price will be about $10. If you cannot find a driver direct to Mutsora, you may be able to find a shared taxi to take you to the village where the road to Mutwanga/Mutsora intersects. Here, you can then probably find a motorbike to Mutsora much more easily.

If heading in the opposite direction (that is, Mutsora/Mutwanga back to Beni or Kasindi), it might be easier to arrange a driver to come to Mutwanga on the day you wish to depart instead of trying to arrange a driver from Mutwanga to bring you to where you need to go. Not all Mutwanga drivers are willing to go as far as Beni or Kasindi.

Obviously, if you have your own vehicle, you don't need to worry about arranging motorbikes and settling on prices.Close

Finding a tour company to take you inside the Congo can be a tricky undertaking, especially if you're going to eastern Congo. Months in advance, I contacted a tour company based in Goma (that I will not name here). Upon Laurent Nkunda's threatened…Read More

Finding a tour company to take you inside the Congo can be a tricky undertaking, especially if you're going to eastern Congo. Months in advance, I contacted a tour company based in Goma (that I will not name here). Upon Laurent Nkunda's threatened takeover of Goma in the summer of 2008, this tour company simply closed shop and disappeared (I would eventually learn that the owner fled to Kisangani). Looking at my only other option for a Congo-based company, I contacted Go Congo to help me out.

Go Congo was nothing but helpful. They presented me with all the options I had for what I wanted to do, and never said it would be impossible even with all the fighting in eastern Congo. The owner, a Belgian man living in Kinshasa for decades, has intimate knowledge of the country, and he hires great local people to run his business in Kinshasa and Goma.

Go Congo offers a variety of tours on their website, including multi-week long trips down the Congo River. However, I simply wanted to hire them for a guide/interpreter. In return, they provided me with Jacques Sherty (), a man local to Goma who runs the Goma office, and who was just as eager to see more of his country as I was (my trip involved areas he had not yet been to).

At one point during my trip, I was confronted by a supposed government official adamant on me paying a bribe to him. Jacques helped me as much as he could during the argument. But, when that didn't work, we called the owner of Go Congo to help us out. I felt good knowing I was with a company that was willing to do anything to make sure my trip went smoothly.

Rates for a Jacques were $30/day, plus food, lodging, and transportation costs. As Jacques only seemed to eat once a day, and was willing to sleep in my hotel rooms, he was a very inexpensive guide. Jacques met me upon my arrival in Kigali, Rwanda, then helped me make my way through Rwanda and Uganda to the Congo border at Kasindi. Once inside the Congo, he was by my side at all times to assist in anything and everything throughout my trip. I can easily recommend Jacques as a guide for anyone in eastern Congo.

For more information on Go Congo, and to see their tours, visit their website: http://www.gocongo.com/Close

If Cancun is your kind of vacation, you can stop reading now and close this page.I recently made a trip to the Democratic Republic of the Congo where I was able to get out and meet the people in the villages. After a lot of…Read More

If Cancun is your kind of vacation, you can stop reading now and close this page.

I recently made a trip to the Democratic Republic of the Congo where I was able to get out and meet the people in the villages.

After a lot of research and dead ends, I contacted Go Congo and they were able to set up a week long dugout canoe trip out of Mbandaka. It was one of the best experinces of my life. Michel, (the company owner) was my tour guide and he did a fantastic job setting everything up and interfacing with the local authorties and village head-men.

At one point I told Michel the story of how my family was affraid that I would be harmed or killed in the DRC. He relayed the story to some villagers in Bakote and Ikoko and they all errupted in laughter like it was the funniest joke they had ever heard. I always felt safe and the locals (Pygmy and Bantu) always made us feel like we were part of the village. I met some amazing people that I will never forget.

If you want to see what Central Africa is really about, put down the headlines that are designed to sell and go take a look for yourself. I would also recommend Go Congo to help you navigate the country.

Note: Give yourself at least two months to set everything up. Close

The day was here. I had wanted to trek up Nyiragongo Volcano, to an active lava lake for two years now. It had been closed due to the rebels’ attacks on Goma in 2008 and had only been open again since March 1st of this…Read More

The day was here. I had wanted to trek up Nyiragongo Volcano, to an active lava lake for two years now. It had been closed due to the rebels’ attacks on Goma in 2008 and had only been open again since March 1st of this year. Just three months after it’s opening, I was going to trek up one of Congo’s most fascinating natural wonders with Hakuna Matata Tours. My driver Tomote picked me up and we took a short five-minute drive to the Rwanda-Congo border. I paid my $35 visa fee, and we met my guide Peechin. Then we drove into Goma to pick up two UN workers from Tanzania who would also be trekking with us. It was a bumpy ride out of Goma to the Parc National des Virunga. I had heard that in Goma there were a lot of UN workers and peacekeepers but I was still surprised. I passed three UN camps just on the way to the volcano. Virtually every other car on the road in Goma is from some sector of the UN.

We got to the Nyirgongo Volcano base and waited for eight more people to arrive. Only 15 people are allowed to trek per day, and four armed guards escort them. Therefore, you are required to hike together. People trickled in, and at 11:30am, we started the climb. Within the first 15 minutes, I was breathing heavily. The altitude was really difficult for me. I was also surprised to discover that there were no switchbacks; you hike straight up the mountainside. Our first stop was an hour and a half in, and it couldn’t have come a minute sooner. I was already tired. I knew we had another three and a half hours to go, and I was questioning whether I would make it. But, of course, the reward of seeing a dramatic lava lake at the top kept me going. By stop two, I was wondering what ever gave me the crazy idea to do this. While my muscles were holding up okay, I was short of breath. The porters refused to pass the hikers going up, so those poor souls carrying all of our heavy gear had to pause every time I did. My guide Peechin from Hakuna Matata was so helpful, encouraging me to go slow and take rests if I needed it. And I did just that! I knew I would make it up, I just wasn’t sure how long it would take me. We reached the top in five hours. After gasping for air up the last bit, I was still short of breath just walking around at the top. When we reached the summit, you see two things: the summit sign telling you that you’ve made it and a small wooden cross. Unfortunately, a Chinese trekker lost his life by falling into the crater. Since my balance was not good, I tried to stay a foot back from the edge. It was cloudy when we first arrived, but the porters thought it would clear up in an hour.

Unfortunately, it was a rare event but the clouds never lifted. It was freezing cold and windy at the top! We set up our tents on a narrow strip of land with a steep drop-off. I got a few glimpses at the lava, but for the most part it was just a red glow. As much as I was disappointed about not seeing this 2km wide lava lake at its best, it was still more than worth it. The stunning views of Lake Kivu, Rwanda, and Congo were amazing. And even without the lava, the crater was still really impressive. Due to the altitude I had a headache and was a bit nauseous. the guide and porters cooked up a delicious meal of rice and beans, and I bundled up in all of my clothes and my sleeping bag. The night was so windy so it was on and off as far as sleep.

We got up the next morning, just hoping that maybe we could see the lava lake, but as soon as we unzipped our tent, it was just thick fog. The hike back down was tough! The only thing that made it better was that I could actually breathe. But my muscles were definitely not happy. I slid a lot of times, but luckily only landed flat on my bum once. I would like to note here that falling on volcanic rock… not so great on the tush. It took us three hours to get down the mountain, where a car from Hakuna Matata Tours was waiting to pick us up. Nyiragongo Volcano had completely and utterly exhausted me! It took a day or two for me to recover and even as I write this, I’m still a bit sore. I put on my running shoes this morning and found two holes in the sides of them; these bad boys aren’t going to hold up much longer (luckily I have a backup pair with me). So, it’s probably best to do this trek with hiking boots. Hakuna Matata Tours did an excellent job arranging transport, guides, porters, and camping supplies. I felt very safe traveling in Congo with them and recommend the company for all of you adventure junkies out there! As tiring as it was, I have to say, I’m really proud that I made it, and maybe I’ll do it again in five years- when I forgot how tough it was! Check back tomorrow to see all of the pictures from my Nyiragongo Volcano trekking experience. You won’t want to miss them!Close