Kibango (Congo) : Congolese outback

S 03°28.938’ E 12°18.949’
We almost forgot to get our passports stamped in Ndende... and the gendermerie assured us that we would have been turned back at the actual border; only about forty kilometres but more than an hour away! The road was now down to two tracks and we were often brushed by the thick, two metre high grass at the road’s edge. The only people we met here were on foot. For them having to walk for a few hours to get somewhere is normal.
The Congo border formalities were almost amusing. Our particulars were noted three times in three different offices (of two by two metres) which were a few hundred metres apart. Each had its own style like for example a plastic flower on the small desk or white curtains covering the square holes (windows) in the wall. We were impressed by the well-manneredness of the educated Congolese – especially considering that we were in a remote, and seemingly forgotten part of Congo. We were still a long way from the capital or Pointe Noire, the oil rich port to where we were heading.