With all the organizations and people we met and talked with around the world, often it felt like people were just wasting time and money with silly ideas for aid. Often these ideas provide little to no real lasting help to people in the world in need. This story is genius.
There are a variety of different medicines that you can take to reduce your risk of contacting malaria in endemic areas and if you are traveling to some of these places for less than a couple of months you may want to consider taking the medicine. However, we decided against taking the medicine because of the amount
Traveling around the world gives you an unparalleled view into the daily lives of people in countless cultures around the globe. In many ways, people throughout the world do a lot of the same things, but the interesting part is how they go about accomplishing those things. Take for example the simple task of taking a shower.
Our original plan was to leave Dolisie and head directly to Brazzaville, however, our sources in Dolisie said that the road to Brazzaville was not safe and we would most certainly encounter rebels along the way. The only other alternative was to head west to Pointe Noire and get our Angola visas there. From Pointe Noire, we could cross through the Angolan province of Cabinda before heading south into the DRC and then continuing on into mainland Angola. This was the same route our friends the African Surfers had taken so we headed west without hesitation considering it would save us a lot of driving on poor roads, we had been offered a place to stay in Pointe Noire and assistance with our visas and I was still extremely ill with malaria.
The road to Brazzaville was probably one of the worst stretches of road we had encountered on the entire expedition for multiple reasons. It was the time of year when the rains were subsiding, but not yet completely over which meant that the roads would almost certainly be inundated with water and mud making the journey difficult at best. None of realized how bad the roads would be and how exhausting driving them would be. The stretch of road from Pointe Noire to Brazzaville is about 350 kilometers and it took us about four days to complete the journey. We were constantly getting stuck in mud that came up to your thighs, navigating seemingly impossible sections of road and at one point, having to rebuild an entire bridge in order to continue on to Brazzaville.
