Cabinda (Angola) : an overlander’s dilema

S 05°33.377' E 012°13.477'
It was an easy two and a half hour drive to the next oil town in the Angolan enclave. Also dollar-driven, the prices are sky-high with accommodation starting at US$ 80.00! Here’s where knowing the language gives you the edge, because it was the tip of the two watchmen at a full motel out of town which solved our problem. The fact that the border with the Dem. Rep. of Congo is closed on Sundays gave us time to ponder the option to go from Cabinda to Soy by boat and thus skipping the Congo. We’d heard that the road through the Dem. Rep. of Congo was very bad (and sandy!), but the Monday boat to Soy was running (approximately) three days late. We lazed the day away and on Monday headed for the Dem. Rep. of Congo border. Our curiosity for a country on the brink of it’s first free elections in forty years won the battle against the odds of an uncertain boat schedule and the handicap of a tough stretch over land.