{"id":12853,"date":"2013-04-15T13:42:00","date_gmt":"2013-04-15T13:42:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/g-adventures-west-africa-day-8-point-noire-congo\/"},"modified":"2013-04-15T13:42:00","modified_gmt":"2013-04-15T13:42:00","slug":"g-adventures-west-africa-day-8-point-noire-congo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/2013\/04\/g-adventures-west-africa-day-8-point-noire-congo\/","title":{"rendered":"G Adventures West Africa: Day 8, Point Noire Congo"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Pics: The Atlantic Palace Hotel, idyllic-looking beachside scene, intriguing
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artefact, main thoroughfare in front of hotel<\/p>\n

Well, what a contrast! From the ready smiles and cheery waves of Angola, we
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set foot in the busy port of Point Noire in Congo. While ‘hostile’ might be
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a bit of an exaggeration, there was an air of brooding suspicion evident in
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the air.<\/p>\n

Just as Lobito in Angola had been a lucky dip in terms of our official
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reception, Point Noire was another unknown. Thankfully the custom procedures
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were swift and we were ashore and into a motley fleet of buses and minivans
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and on our way. Being a Sunday morning, the otherwise bustling town was in
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a state of weekend slumber. Groups of people lolled about in front of
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ramshackle roadside shops drinking, occasionally wandering across the road
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while our minivan driver hurtled along the dusty streets with an urgency
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that seemed uncomfortably out of place.<\/p>\n

Those residents curious enough looked on with a barely bemused, nonchalant
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sideways glance as our convoy of rubber-necked, camera-toting tourists
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rattled down their street. Our first stop was at a sad-looking, remote
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cultural museum about the size of a suburban house. We examined the dusty
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exhibits that dealt with slave history, religion, local arts and crafts and
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plain household items. Some of the carvings and sculptures were quite fine,
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although totally exposed to the elements and sticky fingers.<\/p>\n

The rest of the day was comprised of random disorganization that saw one
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group in two minivans, myself included, roar off into the wilderness along a
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pot-holed dirt track that led to a quaint seaside ‘resort’ \u2013 really just a
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collection of small huts – where a couple of European families and their
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children were surprised by a horde of befuddled tourists. The balance of the
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group, their bus too big for the narrow, twisty track, was left to wile away
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the next 90 minutes waiting for our group to return.<\/p>\n

At the beach, some took to the water with local children for a dip, while
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others tried to make what they could from the photo opportunity. The water
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contained an unfortunate mix of oil residue from the rigs dotting the
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horizon, so swimmers quickly abandoned the meager surf and proceeded to peel
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bitumen poultices from between their toes. Oil in the Congo is a relatively
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recent development and one can only hope this rich resource does not create
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another environmental fiasco of Niger Delta proportions. The ingredients,
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however, are all there.<\/p>\n

Another suburban sprint completed the day’s outing and the various
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detachments reorganized at the glitzy Atlantic Palace Hotel near the centre
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of town. Hoping to send home a postcard or two, and with the post office
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closed, I enquired at the front desk about stamps and sundry postal
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services, but each enquiry was met with a smiling shake of the head. The
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Arab-owned (I think they were either Turkish or Lebanese) hotel at least
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offered Wi-Fi in the foyer and cool drinks by the pool. Service? Well, let’s
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move to the next question.<\/p>\n

Today was a day when the catch cry “WAFA!” (West Africa wins again) was in
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order and the adventurous nature and patience of our contingent gently
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tested. Conrad, our ever-cheerful and worldly South African staffer, could
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only apologise during the recap and remarked about our local tour leader,
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“Well, we won’t be using her again!” Tonight’s happy hour is on the house.<\/p>\n

For more detail on this itinerary, see www.gadventures.com<\/a> > West Africa<\/p>\n

For semi-daily updates, see www.expeditioncruising.com<\/a><\/p>\n

More images at www.flickr.com\/photos\/rodeime<\/a><\/p>\n

Sent to you over a satellite phone using GMN’s XGate software.
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Please be kind and keep your replies short<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pics: The Atlantic Palace Hotel, idyllic-looking beachside scene, intriguing artefact, main thoroughfare in front of hotel Well, what a contrast! From the ready smiles and cheery waves of Angola, we set foot in the busy port of Point Noire in Congo. While ‘hostile’ might be a bit of an exaggeration, there was an air of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[344],"class_list":["post-12853","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-gap-adventures"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12853","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12853"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12853\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12853"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12853"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12853"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}