How to visit DR Congo
In planning my visit to Rwanda, I at one point started
wondering how difficult it would be to visit Goma and the DR Congo (DRC). And
would it be dangerous? There were tour agencies, and some of them, when asked,
would laugh when I told them my budget. So I started doing the planning myself,
and had many questions, of which several were not answered until I was there.
My visit was in December 2014.
Visa
Is always my first questions when researching Africa
travel – will I have to travel to European embassies many weeks before my
travel, and what to do? Well, lucky for us, the Virunga
National Park does all this for you:
1. You need to book either a Gorilla visit or a stay at
the Mikeno lodge – and after I wrote them – it is
also possible to qualify for a visa, when booking a Nyiragongo trip. You do
this on visitvirunga.org webpage. On the visitvirunga.org webpage, you then buy
the visa – which is a 14 days single entry visa. You need a booking number to
apply for this. The cost is $105.
2. It takes about 7 working days – after which you
receive a scanned file of a fax copy from Kinshasa. Really. No kidding. Print
this, and bring it to the Grand Barriere border post
(near the lake) in Gisenyi/Rubavu.
If you don't get the visa in time - do keep in contact with the Virunga people - and they will meet you at the border and
help with the formalities.
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A nice
Congo-visa – after receiving an even nicer scanned copy of a fax. |
Getting from Kigali to Goma
It is straight forward to take the bus to Gisenyi/Rubavu from Kigali and
will not take you more time than with a driver - several bus companies leave
every half hour from the bus station in Kigali. Busses are orderly, and only
sell tickets for available seats. If you arrive in the airport, take a taxi to
the bus station in Kigali ('Nyabugogo') (15$/1000RWF
as I recall), say where you want to go, and you are on your way within minute.
In Gisenyi, it is a
short taxi ride to the Grand Barriere border post.
Otherwise, you will have no trouble having a taxi
directly from the airport. They will go down to 100US$ if you ask - but compare
this to 25$ for the bus tickets and taxis between the stations.
Border crossing (Goma DRC <-> Gisenyi/Rubavu Rwanda)
1. Change a little money before crossing the border –
otherwise there is a man under an umbrella changing money on the DRC side.
There is a bureau de change just north of the immigration post on the Rwanda
side. Dollars are used also, so change just a little.
2. Clear Rwanda immigration; get your ebola-fever
scan (both directions) and at the DRC office, hand over your visa-print out and
passport. 15 minutes after, you have your visa in your passport, and you only
need to have your yellow fever papers checked and registered at the window on
the right hand side. Everything takes about 30 minutes. The border is quiet and
not much fuss.
3. Returning to Rwanda: Nothing special to note, other
than you would need to apply for a visa before (online) – and that all your
plastic bags will be confiscated. But this you already know. Note that you can
make two applications even before you travel to Rwanda – one for the initial
entry and one for the re-entry after visiting DRC. The single entry visa is
30US$. https://www.migration.gov.rw/index.php?id=28 You select ‘La Corniche’, which
corresponds to Grand Barriere in DRC. I thought it
would be one of the other options you could select (Poids
Lourds), but they did not questions that. You go to
the immigration, hand over your password. Get some papers, go to the building
to the east, pay your visa, return and get your passport.
Places to stay
There are a couple of hotels just across the border,
which I’ve heard are fine. We stayed at Lac Kivu Lodge, also along the lake,
but further out, and we have just good things to say about this place. Secure
with good food and good lake views. We arranged pick-up at the border with
them. You can book online, prices from around 70US$. Females walking around
alone will be harassed, even on short distances and I would not recommend solo
female travel here.
Security situation (December 2014)
We spoke with UN personnel with the latest
information, and we could also read about this in the papers afterwards. The
rebels, M24, or what remains of them (about 200 from what I’ve heard) are near
the town of Beni, about 400 KM to the north of Goma.
There are 12.000 soldiers from DRC and UN (not officially) there, but the M24
do hit-and-run terror there. The LRA (Lord’s resistance Army) are also out in
the jungle, further north in DRC, and have now been avoiding the final battle
for a long time. They also have very few soldiers left – but the jungle of DRC
is big… We talked to American soldiers (‘advisors’) who are also only
un-officially there, searching for Kony – denying it
of course. In Goma, there are so many NGO’s and UN vehicles and personnel, that
it seems like daily life for them. Children shout Mzungi
and Morning! (All day – well, sadly, they say ‘money, money’ – who on earth
started that?)
Things to do
Goma
Well, you might find a couple of things in your guide
book, but enjoy the daily life of the Goma people and the lava that are
everywhere in the streets and around the houses. You will see colorful painted
beauty shops and sun flowers in the lava around some of the houses.
Nyiragongo
This was what I came for. There are 4 permanent lava
lakes in the world, one on Antarctica, Erta Ale in Etiopia’s Danakil depression (which I visited a couple of
years ago – I was ready for more!) and the one on Hawaii. But Nyiragongo is the
largest. I will not go into details about our experience, other than it was the
highlight of all my travels in 2014. You book on the visitvirunga.org webpage,
and you can choose if you want transport included (from Goma or Mikeno lodge) – or as some others had suggested, you can
take a motor bike from Goma – it is not far. Just some tips:
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Remember to bring: Rain gear (trousers, rain jacket), head lamp, sleeping
bag and plenty of warm clothes.
·
A porter costs 24US$ and can carry 15 Kg. You probably want to buy a bag of
coal at the station (5$, 5 kg) which the guide and porters will light for you
at the rim huts, and you can cook whatever food you brought. I brought a can of
tomato soup and some coffee, which was easy to warm up that way.
·
Bring walking poles. You can buy a Nyiragongo stick, but I would prefer my
own poles.
·
You need to bring all your food and water. 5 litres.
·
You leave Goma around 8:30 am. The transport is ‘door-to-door’ and you are
picked up at your hotel.
·
Tips? Always difficult. We gave each guide (2 guides for 2 people) each
10$, and the porters 5$ (though the Virunga people
said that it was not necessary to tip porters).
·
The rangers speak very little English – just so you know.
·
Go on weekdays – Monday to Thursday. We were only two people going (with
two rangers and two porters). On weekends, NGO’s from Goma and Kigali have time
to do volcano climbing, and all 14 spaces are booked.
Mountain Gorillas
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Gorillas in the mist... |
Why visit the gorillas here in DRC when you can also
do it in Uganda and Rwanda? Because you will be almost alone
with the gorillas. At least for the moment. Don’t
do it because of the price – it is a little bit cheaper than the other
countries, but with transport and visa, it will be the same. But the experience
is great, and worth the money. Do see the Virunga movie from 2014 about the park rangers and the
gorillas during the M24 period – available on Netflix.
·
You need to bring a lunch bag – a little bit strange when you take into
account the price you are paying for the tour. Your hotel can help you.
·
You leave Goma around 6:30 am. The transport is ‘door-to-door’ and you are
picked up at your hotel.
·
You need rain gear. The underground is very wet, so rain trousers and rain
jacket is a must. Also because of the many thistles.
·
Bring walking poles. You are jungle trekking, up and down, mud, vegetation.
·
Tips? Difficult. There are many people involved – the trackers, rangers and
helpers. We were 3 people going, and we paid 20$ each in tip, and asked the
main ranger to split it out. They seemed ok with this. A tip is expected, the
driver did not want to take us back, until we had paid tips.
Goma to Bukavu on the lake
You can take motor boats travelling from Goma to Bukavu on the lake and crossing back into Rwanda from here.
This is explained very nicely ‘how-to’ in this Lonely
Planet Thorntree post
Kahuzi-Biega National Park
Here you can see eastern lowland gorillas. I did not
visit this park, but it seems like a good alternative to the mountain gorillas.
https://kahuzibiega.wordpress.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kahuzi-Bi%C3%A9ga_National_Park
Last, enjoy my video – time lapsed from Goma,
Nyiragongo and Virunga:
