Hope for a Transit Visa for Angola

A smile was not enough. The tourist visas issued to Angola have a 60 days validity. No more, no less. With that, there is no point on getting a visa now. It would be totally useless...

Fortunately, not all were bad news! It should be possible to obtain a transit visa to cross Angola in 5 days. That allows us to cross to further south in DR Congo (avoiding the crazier areas) or, in the very best case, directly to Zambia!
According to the Angolan consulate in Lisbon, it requires:

• Complete application form
• Passport with 9 months validity and with a valid visa for the destination country
• 2 photos
• Copy of the ticket to the next country
• Criminal record   

detailed information here (in Portuguese)

We don't expect it to be a straight forward process, but we have hope to get the transit visa... with a smile!

A smile for the Angolan Visa?

After reading the testimonial of a father and son's journey throughout Africa, we confirmed that the Angolan Visa is one of the hardest ones to obtain for the entire trip and, virtually, impossible to obtain on the road. Nothing new. What we didn't know were the options to circumvent Angola (quoting Carlos Carneiro on his tips for Angola):

For those coming by car [...]: (a) load the car onto a freighter in Ponta Negra to South Africa and fly there, (b) do the terrible road all the way to Lubumbashi and descend via Zambia, the latter only for the brave with 4x4s and that have adequate mechanical and dry season know-how, (c) otherwise, one may make use of air cargo in Kinshasa that costs $ 5,000 to load the car and a further $80 per person.

Even though we are riding a motorbike not a car, this does not sound great...

At least we are going during the dry season said Sweet Potato, with an impressive cold blood and full of optimism. I reply with Yeah, we hope!  while opening our brand new Rough Guide for First Time Africa. On page 263 the rainfall figures for Democratic Republic of Congo pop-up: 165 mm in August, 183 mm in September, a yearly max of 218 mm in October and 198 mm in November. Yes, if you think we plan to be in that region of Africa in October, you won!!


Anxious, I check Angola: 5 mm of rainfall in October! Tomorrow we are going to the Angolan Consulate in Lisbon!! As Sweet Potato doesn't live in Portugal, we hope her smile can obtain the Angolan Visa... If not, Tear Drop is the next on the mud!