Well, I spent more time than expected in Brazzaville, as I was a kind
of suspicious of maybe having malaria. So, I wanted to be sure and do a
test in a clinic, before heading in the bush. The test was negative, so
the following day, I boarded a bus to Oyo.
 |
| Oyo |
Oyo is the place of the president, here he was born. As a decent
president should behave, he looks after his native country and so Oyo
has definitely better infrastructure, better streets, schools,
administrative buildings and even soon a hospital than other places
about the same size (about 10,000 inhabitants). Oyo is also connected by
a narrow, but very good tarred road with Brazzaville. Therefore, the
coach trip for these 400 kilometers took only 5 hours. In RC, people are
very friendly towards strangers, but, nobody thought of me a tourist.
Usually, foreigners come here for business.
In East Africa, I was often called mzungu; the equivalent here is
mundele (white person). Here, I encountered something a bit bewildering,
as lots of children called me Chinoise the french word for Chinese.
Well – as in many other african countries, also in RC it is mainly
chinese people, who are working in road construction. Local children
make quite obviously no difference between foreigners from Asia and
Europe, and as I am obviously not black, I must be Chinese. No doubt
about this!
In Oyo, I visited the most important things by motorbike: the
residence of the president, the huge villas for the big family of the
president, the cemetery where the favorite daughter of the president and
wife of president Bongo of Gabon is buried, the lodgings for the
ministers of the president… Not difficult to find out without even being
there, this is the town of the president! And the locals are proud of
it.
 |
| Oyo |
 |
| Construction work |
 |
| Hairdresser, Oyo |
In between all these palatial buildings, there is also space for
normal citizens. In Oyo, they have a big, well organized market, a
harbor for cargo and passenger ships, and a few supermarkets usually run
by Lebanese and Mauritanians and all-important: a small chicken
barbeque, where half a chicken was sold for only 3 US! Currently, the
most important streets around the president palace are a big mess and
about to be paved soon, as in mid march, the president will held a big
party with many African presidents and all available ministers. Apart
from dust and noise due to the road construction, most of the habitants
along these roads did not have running water or electricity since weeks,
as both was put down because of security reasons. This also affected my
hotel, but a bucket shower with water from a nearby river is nothing
unusual in Africa, and they also provided candles in the hotel. A
problem was the heat at night – 30 degrees centrigrade in the room
without a fan is somewhat unpleasantly warm…. Although I am already
quite African when it comes to temperatures after more than 8 months
traveling here, but, however, 30 degrees is definitely too much.
Anything more than 27 degrees for sleeping I still rate as a bit
uncomfortable…
 |
| Market, Oyo |
The original plan was to stay in Oyo only one night, finally, I spent
three nights here. The reason was a little bit weird, as I was robbed
the first evening – by a young man, which appeared first quite nice and
normal. We visited his family and friends, exchanged telephone numbers
when we sat together in a small local bar. When I went to the bathroom, I
asked him to take care of my backpack. Better not to take a bag in
African public toilets… Shortly after he accompanied me back to my
hotel, which was very nice as it was already dark, especially; as there
was no electricity and the streets were dotted with gigantic holes due
to the road construction… The fact, that the camera was missing, I
realized only the next morning, when I packed! As I had the telephone
number of this guy, I took my miserable french and called. He stated he
does have the camera and, moreover, left Oyo this morning for work. I
explained in drastic words, that I will finish him in this small village
of 10,000 souls, if he does not hand over the camera. First, I went to
the police, accompanied by a few hotel employees, some neighbors and
other interested people (finally, there is some action in sleepy Oyo),
then the military. After that, a lot of people wanted to help and
swarmed out in the whole town to tell everyone on the street, whom we
search and why… Well, in the early afternoon, the guy got cold feet, and
camera was delivered to the hotel by a small boy…
 |
| Marietta from Oyo |
After that day, I was probably known by at least half of the
population of Oyo as the mundele with the camera! In Oyo at least I was
not rated any more as Chinese! After all, the delay had many positive
sides. First, I got to know Tayssir, a Lebanese and hotel and restaurant
owner. As he offered me a special room rate, I moved into is hotel.
Moreover, I got to know an absolutely charming local lady, Marietta. We
had a lot of fun at the market, went to a tailor, I even tried myself in
crushing seeds and palm fruits at her home… I always knew that I am not
very good in cooking, but I even failed in crushing seeds into fine
powder… Something else happened because of this delay: At Hippocamp
Hotel in Brazzaville, there is a book for overlanders, where people can
write down their reports about their travels and share their experiences
on the way. A lot of people raved about Michel in Okoyo, who happily
helps out travellers passing through, even providing them with an AC
room in his own house, nice food and all other amenities. He is the big
boss for the road construction project between Oyo and the border to
Gabon, and for sure, as it was on my way anyway, I wanted to visit this
hospitable french guy in Okoyo. It turned out, that Tayssir knows
Michel! He gave him a call and so we found out, that the following day,
Michel would travel by jeep from Brazzaville via Oyo to Okoyo! I took
that as a great sign of destiny and got ready for a lift for the
following day! The road to Okoyo is under construction, and therefore
still a bad road. This part, I was about to travel by truck.
