Friday, 23
February 07
Around
The noises of the jungle are sometimes so loud that
they even over-sound the humming of the engine. The Cakophonie
of millions of birds sounds from the trees and accompanies the constant screaming of the apes.
Somewhere out in nowhere we spend the evening in a
private hotel. Outside heavily armed men guard the doors and inside some
Israelis and Brazilians celebrate their weekend off. They are active in the raw
material export business.
One may not forget that the Exklave
of Cabinda is one of the richest spots of resources
on earth in relation to its size. Particularly in oil and
diamonds.
This combination naturally does not promote the
general security of the region. Here is the only place in
Saturday, 24
February 07
But of course, nobody is there and the port area is
closed on a Saturday. We drive back to the catholic mission again and spend the
weekend there.
Due to the strong rainfalls I pitch my tent on a
destroyed veranda. Together with millions of mosquitos.
Today I go running in the morning and look around
town. The roads are partly flooded and only the cathedral hill can be used for
running to some extent.
As I want to ride my motorbike to the internetcafe early in the afternoon, I experience an
unpleasant encounter. I turn into a small road and suddenly a man in uniform
blocks the road and points his rifle at me.
Since I am already used to such a kind of greeting
from
Whereupon the policeman answers I drove against a
one-way and besides that into a road closed for civil traffic. On this road
only government vehicles may drive and also only in one direction. My offence
weighs doubly heavy so. As to be expected he takes away my passport immediately
and tells me to get off the motorcycle. Shit, I should have watched out!
After half an hour of discussion, innumerable
apologies and the friendly support of some bystanders I may keep the motorcycle
and passport, as well as I highly officially pay 7 Euros of fine that just as
officially go directly into the breast pocket of the cop. In addition, for
inexplicable reasons my ride-on is only tolerated with closed motorcycle
jacket, which the policeman himself closes for me!
For dinner I take the taxi then.
Today we drive to the port again. However
without Sarah and Steve. Despite all warnings they have decided
themselves to try it over the piste roads along the
As we come into the office of the shipping company, we
soon get disappointed. They tell us that the next ship probably goes after
Thursday. This African expression for, we don’t know when, can also mean after next week.
Very unhappy about having to spend some more days on
the damp camp site without shower we drive over to the supermarket to go
shopping.
By pure coincidence we meet the manager there, who
seems to know a way out of our situation. He suggests us to drive to the
military airport and ask whether a freight plane can take us to
Said and done, with the correct name of the flight we
steer our fully loaded machines to the airfield that looks like a fortress. As
we come to the entrance we require to speak the
responsible officer for the air transport to
The guard, who has probably never seen three white men
with such a request so far, hardly trusts his eyes.
As he immediately wants to bann
us from the area, we answer completely naturally that we can not go away in any
case, since this evening the flight goes and we are on it. Whereupon we say the
correct name of the military flight and the contact person and act as if we
always fly with Angolan military machines when we are in the area.
In the following discussion with the responsible
officer we agree on the price and the transport conditions. 200
US dollar cash per person and motorcycle, no papers and no questions. We
drive the motorcycle on the plane ourselves and when we arrive in
We take, traditionally for
The crew, which consists of some Russian guys, opens
the loading hatch in the trunk of the plane and one of the men puts up a board
as a ramp. The height difference is about two meters and as I take the ramp
with gas my front wheel raises precariously far into the air. Fortunately it
finds traction in the airplane again and I have just completed my first
motorcycle ride on board an aircraft.
The rest of the journey goes simple. The machines are
lashed to the wall and we take place beside it on folding banks which are
normally meant for parachutists.
As we reach
Totally exhausted we spend the night in the tent,
directly besides the cathedral San Domingo.
I spend the day in the monastery with some work in the
library. We get permission to use the Internet and may feel just like at home.
With brother Adriano we go for a small city tour in
the afternoon.
Wednesday,
28 February 07
Today we continue our trip. A brand-new road leads
from
One very often finds red and white boundary stones at
the roadside. After some closer examination they do not show the distance to
the next city, but they indicate a mine field! You must not leave the road here
in any case. After nearly 30! years of civil war huge
parts of the country are still mined and again and again new mine fields are
discovered.
With dusk coming in we pitch our tents at the beach.
We drive to a small farm and ask whether we may camp. The people are happy
about the distraction and insure us that the beach is free from land mines.
The sunset is fantastic and we spend the evening at
the campfire.
The landscape of
At some parts of the coastal road you need to watch
out, even a truck can lose grip due to strong longitudinal grooves in the
tarmac.
In the afternoon we arrive in
As we stop at the supermarket to buy some food a man
comes up to us. He saw us and our motorcycles would gladly get to know us
better. He offers us to do our shopping free of charge because today we are his
guests.
That has never happened to me before, I go to a store
and someone lets me shop on his bill!
Also, about tonight’s accomodation
we do not have to think, we can stay in his house, a private yacht club at the
beach. He shows us the way.
We follow a brand-new jeep Grand Cherokee and come to
a remote bay. There the heavily guarded mansion is located. On the compound are
armed guards with search headlights pointing to the sea, on the roof is a
satellite dish and on the terrace a video canvas. The private vehicle park
consists of jet skis and power boats.
I rub my eyes to make sure that I did not accidentally
land in Miami Vice.
But everything is for real! After some cellphone calls of our host, hasty a car comes around the
corner and no, not the Cleaner with hydrochloric acid steps out, it’s a friend
who brings
Friday,
2. March 2007
This morning I hit the road alone. My friends Taco and
Martin would like to stay a bit longer. I must get myself on the way to
The next three days will present me with a selection
of the heaviest piste roads of the country. The route
leads from the sea into the mountains and for the next 800kms goes on with
everything African roads have to offer.
It is like a test,
The day begins with destroyed bitumen and potholes
filled with rain water.
Later the piste leads
through mine fields. Rests are only possible on the road.
Then there are sections, which remind of a Motocross
Circuit.
Saturday,
3. March 2007
Today life on the road continues in the same way. Road
signs are still shot into pieces.
The piste leads over
slippery soil and through fog banks.
In the afternoon a thunder storm comes up and I drive
through the worst water holes since the
Beaten in the bushes and blown out from
the trail I reach a small village as a fire red sun goes down, giving an almost
mystic aura to the place.
Sunday,
4. March 2007
Still 200kms to go to the border to
In the next moment however I am glad again that my
bike is not really the strogest when it comes to
acceleration. Behind a right curve the piste suddenly
ends in a river! With a new R 1200 GS I would have probably landed directly on
the other side, with my R 80 GS I take the bridge, 100 meters down the road.
For the cooldown part of
today's joyride I pass by some destroyed tanks and finally roll up at the
border post in the afternoon.
As I tell the officials that I came here all the way
from
