Central African Republic
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Visas, Embassies & Border Crossings
No domestic flights exist. There are small aircrafts for charter at the airport. The airport tax is now CFA10,000 to any destination.
You can get to Congo along the Oubangui River on irregular cargo boats which accept passangers for CFA25,000 on the only deck they have. There are no cabins. You can bring your bed and food. It takes seven days to reach Brazzaville. Ask at SOCATRAF in the city centre. The boats mainly serve cargo transportation needs and leave once or twice a month.
Haralampis Bizas, Greece (Oct 02)
Moving About
All travel and safari agencies have disappeared, even the government one. This makes it more difficult to organise visits to the parks or areas of interest.
Haralampis Bizas, Greece (Oct 02)
Scams & Warnings
For CFA2,000 you can take a pirogue ride on the Oubangui river. I had this intention but the police who control the ID of the passengers in the harbour, wanted me to pay a navigation fee of CFA7500. When I refused to take the pirogue because of this demand they dropped it to one Coca Cola. I walked away leaving the poor boatman with them.
Haralampis Bizas, Greece (Oct 02)
Yarns, Fables & Anecdotes
I left for M'baiki and the Pygmy territories at 5.45 am by shared taxi. I left from Place de la Republique and took the taxi to K-Cinq to catch a mini bus to Zinga. I intended to go and come back the same day. The driver told me it takes 5-6 hours to reach Zinga and there is no bus coming back the same day. So I went to M'baiki instead to see some of the tropical forests and check how easy it is to visit the Pygmy settlements. The bus filled up at 7.30 am and after we passed 2-3 ID controls on the way we reached M'baiki at 10.30 am.
Although the area is quite green there is no rainforest visible from the road. M'baiki has a small town centre with friendly people. I found out from the locals that much time is needed to visit the nearest Pygmy settlements and it was not possible to return back to Bangui the same day.
I started walking back to the bus station when two policemen asked to see my passport. I followed them to the nearby police "station" where his excellency the commissaire asked me if I had permission from the Ministry of Mines to visit the area "because here we have diamonds and uranium and it is protected area". Since I did not have a registration stamp in my passport I was asked to take the bus back to Bangui. When he finished his show he returned to his wooden chair under the tree to clean some ground nuts.
Haralampis Bizas, Greece (Oct 02)
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