We hope you are getting super-excited for your expedition and adventure in Congo with CTT.
The clock is ticking down, so we are putting a checkpoint here in the road for you so as to make sure you have everything you need, and to make sure you are prepared physically, mentally, gear-wise, and so as to anticipate and have level expectations of the challenges and experiences that await you ahead.
Travel in the Congo is, as we say it, the Last Frontier in Africa for tourism. This is not a marketing slogan, it is true, and you are coming to a very special, very raw, very real place, where nothing is contrived, very few places are set up for tourism, and the rewards and challenges there-in are much greater. This may be among the most unique trips of your life, and it will also be tiring and tough at times. The expenses of travel here are still daunting, and so are the dangers.
In the Congo, travel, life, and daily needs are much much more difficult, challenging, amazingly more expensive, and unpredictable than they are anywhere else in Africa, let alone the world. This region is not only the most expensive, obstructionist, bureaucratic, and most difficult for business and travel in Africa, but the entire world. Travel here, beyond yours, ours, the locals’, and even the president’s control, is subject to some if not all of the below:
General chaos and lack of infrastructure in the interior. Changes to roads, rails, flight schedules regularly.
Delays, Cancellations, and Breakdowns of Vehicles, Services, Electricity, and Communications
Tropical Weather which halts or at least obstructs plans and transport. Strange characters who fled the west or who are daring but dangerous tourists.
Extortion and Solicitation for Bribes of our staff and crew from Officials and Villagers, especially in little visited regions on route changes.
The highest prices in the world for hotels, tourism, transport overland, and worst service culture abounding outside of in-house teams.
Expensive and Exploitative Government Park Fees and Travel Permits with Manager Overreach and administrative authority cost creep
High Difficulty in Getting Good Food and Logistics in the Interior ; Unsanitary street food & water ; Portage dependent on pace of slowest porters.
Some other countries in Africa share some of these difficulties, but none of them to remotely the same extent as the Congo. Travel in Africa does not prepare you for travel in this part of Africa. Accommodation and tourism value in Congo, though hugely expensive, never and cannot yield the same value as the selections and professional safari circuits for value-prices found in veterans like Tanzania and South Africa. Expectations should be accordant with this. There is no such thing as 5 star, anywhere here, in the interior. There is also really no such thing as budget travel, though CTT’s mission is to make it more affordable and routine in some tour routes and in the coming years.
As for personal preparations, mentally be prepared for these general local nuisances and challenges, minor and occasional major plan changes, and delays in just about everything in the environment. Mentally prepare for this trip as a military mission and expedition, not a tour. It had taken Stanley a year to get to Virunga before he walked down into the Congo forest. Today you can reach the entrance to the forest in a matter of days, and have a civilized reasonably priced and paced time and tour in Virunga and Kinshasa, but from there, you step into the abyss and the deep end.
You are advised to bring additional personal kit including but not limited to:
mosquito net and repellent
solid walking boots
sunscreen and sun repair creme like Cetaphil
snacks and dry goods for the road
hygiene supplies extra, and an extra towel
flashlight and if you have it, an extra sleeping bag if you get cold easily at night
There are bucket or outdoor showers in some national park facilities, so scrubbers and very concentrated shampoos and soaps and antiseptics.
Swimgear or surfgear if you wish to swim in the rivers, lakes, or sea (is possible and safe)
A cheap cellphone that can accept SIM cards if you wish to make texts/calls outside. Starlink mini roam with powerbank and solar backup for uplink.
Besides that, bring an open mind and a sense of patience and humor, and relax! You will largely have the whole country to yourself, and will see some of the least developed parts of the planet, with the densest culture and nature, and where you will feel farthest from home and deepest into the African heart. Secondary jungle is very hard to move through, as there are low lying thick choking grasping vines and bushes and grasses and leaves under the canopies. Swamps are self-explanatory in their misery and mucking-up ability of pace. Primary forests, the oldest, with the huge ancient hardwoods, are the easiest in the abyssal zones to move through. Looking behind you and in front of you down the scout lines and march of porters, with loads balanced, you will feel acutely here a kinship, as writers from Stanley to Conrad to Crichton said, with explorers who’d ventured through Africa a century ago. Here Central African life is little changed since Stanley explored the Congo in the 1870s, and neither is the basic nature of real expeditions to the region. Serious exploration is still carried out on foot with porters, and is treacherous, expensive, and exhausting.
None of this is metaphor or exaggeration. The trip will be one of the most serious you have ever taken, and you are in for a treat if you can come prepared. Rest up and get ready, roll up your sleeves, and welcome to Africa’s Last Frontier!
Sincerely
The CTT Team.
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