After a good solid sleep team Lipstick proceeded to the border crossing between DR Congo and Angola which is about 4km south of Matadie.
The procedures on both sides of the border went very well and 1 hour later Lipstick was in Angola on a gravel road with the Congo Riverwavinggoodbye on its right hand side.
The mighty Congo River and Lipstick saying good bye to it
From the border post the team was escorted to the next town’s police station so Andre had to do the drive on Lipstick’s veranda.
Whilst the border officials on the Angola side proudly forecasted very good roads in Angola Lipstick soon faced another 170km of a gravel road which nobody would love to drive on.
In retrospect the border crossing from Songololo (DRC) into Angola would have been better as this would have reached the tar road leading to Nzeto much sooner but it was too late.
The road Lipstick was on now was nothing more than a track through dense bush with a village appearing every 30km or so and the 170 km to Nzeto took the team about 9 hours realising that all communication with cell phones is impossible and so with Andre at the steering wheel extreme care was taken n not to have a major breakdown or even a flat tyre.
Road from the Matadie Border into Angola for about 170 km….
The drive was often along dense bush with orange trees so close that one could pick an orange from the tree whilst driving.
The few villages the team went through showed very friendly people waving hands and shouting “Amigos Amigos” whenever the team hit a village.
Villages along the road proudly show the Angolan flag…
Half way down the road a truck appeared in front and with the size of the road allowing only one vehicle Lipstick had to be manoeuvred back into the bush to allow the Truck to pass.
Most villages have solar lights brightening the main street at night!
The truck driver had a look at team Lipstick and in his own Portuguese – English word mentioned that this road is not drivable for motor cars but only by 4×4 trucks.
The area next to these potholes is mentioned as “road” on the map of Angola
Helloo Mr Angola truck driver some 10 hours later by 6pm Lipstick hit the tar road close to the town of Tomboco and from there it was plain sailing to Nzeto which is a small town of about 2000 people and still showing some Old Portuguese architecture.
A rest place was found just after 8pm and still being unable to communicate with cell phones a cell phone was hired from a local man in order to tell Lipsticks man at the base – Nathan – that all is well and going.
With a restaurant across the road team Lipstick proceeded to have some local food accompanied by some red wine from Portugal to celebrate the bush drive entering Angola.