As we were sitting in a café called “Tornado” in downtown Windhoek, the capital of Namibia, we got to know its owners, Jens and his wife. They invited us to their home just a couple hundred meters away from their business. Thank you so much!

What a coincidence: It turned out that Jens, who moved from Germany to Namibia almost a decade ago, is a Volkswagen Bug enthusiast. His one is from 1972.

Jens recommended us a place (“Conti Trade”) where we could finally find spare parts we were looking for since Togo – a master brake cylinder and rear axle gaskets.

We hit Windhoek with a flat tire! So we went to “Fast Wheel & Tyre” and they actually sprang for the repair. Many thanks to Mr. Leon Smit, the Sales Manager, and his team! The reason for Herbie’s flat tire was a sharp sting from a tree.

Herbie’s speedometer wasn’t working anymore, after it made weird noises. Domi had to disassemble the whole part. Unfortunately he had to break the original seal from 1963 in order to lubricate the speedometer. But now it’s working again!

In Windhoek we could also get new triangular safety reflectors for our camper, “QEK”, after they got broken due to those bad road conditions in the Congo.

And we finally got the suitable axle fluid for Herbie, as we had to flush the transmission after the muddy water entry in Congo – a fully synthetic 75W-140.

Namibia – we entered this country in the Southwest of Africa coming from Angola. A lot of things have changed by then. The Republic of Namibia, which gained its independence from South Africa not until 1990, offers vast but harsh landscapes.

From now on Herbie has to be driven on the other side of the road, even though we still have the steering wheel on the left hand side. But Zainab did a great job cruising across those wide open spaces and underneath that big Namibian sky.

In “N’Gola” we had to go through hard times, because of a chaotic and nonprofessional work of the only shipping agency in Cabinda, “Zamba, Lda.”, as well as divers ocean carriers. But we also experienced great moments, amongst others because of people like Pedro Jorge F. Marçal, who offered his warm hospitality by sharing his flat with us. Therefore we left the Republic of Angola with an auspicious and a dropping eye!

Meanwhile we are staying in Windhoek, the capital of Namibia, having some cups of rooibos tea at a cafeteria called “Tornado” and connecting to the world wide web.

“Viewpoint of the Moon” (or “Miradouro da Lua”) is the name of the sight we visited in Angola, after we safely arrived at the International Airport of Luanda – together with Herbie and his trailer. We spent our first night in the camper right besides the landing runway and the airplanes coming from all over the world.

This beautiful country is nearly twice the size of Texas or five times the area of the Great Britain. We really enjoyed its tropical nature and mountain scenery. In Angola, the means of subsistence are very expensive (except fuel). After a long and bloody civil war, which ended at the beginning of the millennium, the country has been undergoing an enormous economic growth. Unfortunately the gainer of this are just a few, while the majority of people are suffering from poverty.

Herbie is flying! After spending an entire day on the base of the Angolan Air Force (“Força Aérea Nacional”, FAN) in Cabinda, finally a huge “Iljushin IL-76TD” landed at about seven p.m. It took more than three hours until Herbie and the camper were able to “check in”, because of unloading the aircraft first. We got very excited when it was Herbie’s turn to drive into this gigantic airship. The ramp was pretty steep, but Herbie made it!

We felt honored to get to know the pilots from Russia and the Ukraine. They invited us to sit as co-pilots in the cockpit. Not only was it an exceptional and wonderful experience to fly together with our Love Bug set-up, we also enjoyed this gorgeous view over Luanda’s skyline. At this point we want to thank the Angolan Air Force as well as the aircraft controller Pedro Marques (down right) and his colleague Adriano Valácio, who made our dream come true and helped us getting on one of their aircrafts.

While we were waiting for an aircraft that should take us away from the exclave of Angola, we got the chance to meet another great fellow. Her name was “Mimosa”. From the first moment on, she had only eyes for one person – Zainab.

It was so cute to see how much she was seeking Zainab’s closeness. She played as well as cuddled with Zainab and even slept between her feet when she got tired. Entertaining “Mimosa” made the long hours of waiting for an aircraft by the Angolan Air Force, flying us out of the exclave, a lot shorter.

This is no joke! In the next days, Herbie, the camper and we will go aboard an airplane by the Angolan Military (“Força Aérea Nacional”, FAN). The aircraft will be an “Ilyushin IL-76” or similar. Hopefully everything will work out and we’ll all have a safe flight!

Actually we came to Cabinda, the exclave of Angola, in order to bypass the Congo River and the DRC (Democratic Republic of the Congo) by taking a ship to Luanda. And as we just have single entry visas for Angola, the exclave was a kind of dead end for us. So, the only possibility for us to travel on, was to find a way to get to the mainland of Angola. But due to a huge hassle caused by the local shipping agency (Zamba, Lda.) and various ocean carriers, that played along for almost two weeks, we eventually decided to ask the Angolan Military Air Force for help.

We are still in Cabinda, Angola. The climate is terrible – it is hot and humid. We don’t have A/C or anything like that in Herbie or the camper and our water consumption is as high as never before on our trip across Africa. Unfortunately, water is a rare and very expensive good in this country. Drinking water costs exactly the same as gas, although gas is very cheap in Angola, because of its huge resources. The price for both per liter is 50 Euro Cents or about 2,40 US-Dollar per gallon.

Today we want to send our best regards to fellow “Travel Bugs” around the world!

To Victoria Ondarza and Federico Cáneva, who are right now touring the Pan-American Highway on a trip from Argentina to Florida in their Volkswagen Bug from 1981.

To Dirk Dahmer and Torsten Schmitz from Germany, who traveled the entire “Panamericana” in their green Volkswagen Bug named “Erbse” from 1952.

To Janet and Ed Howle, who participated in the “World Race 2011” from NYC to Paris and the “Trans-America-Rally 2012” from NYC to Alaska in “Stewball” from 1967.

To Vincent Loos, who drove his 1974 Volkswagen Beetle called “Foxy Shahzadi”, painted with unique Pakistani truck art, from Islamabad, Pakistan, to Paris in 2009.

Last night a car accident happened right in front of Herbie and the camper QEK. Luckily we spent this night at the apartment of Tony and his friend Pedro.

However, also the Love Bug and the caravan have been untroubled by the car crash. Today we asked, if there is a safer place for our two travel companions.

Fortunately we were able to park our Travel Bug and the trailer in the backyard of our friend’s flat. Now they are safe! And very soon they’ll be continuing their trip!

As the shipping procedure takes a little longer, we are so glad that Pedro and Tony are offering us and our vehicles such a great accommodation here in Cabinda.

We tried to get visas for the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) twice – in Rabat, Morocco, and Yaoundé, Cameroon. Both times, the embassies declined our applications. Of course we could have tried it another time in Brazzaville, Congo, but we’ve chosen a completely different path down south.

As we’ve been reading about many bad experiences concerning the DRC as well as the ferry boat crossing the Congo River from Brazzaville to Kinshasa, we decided to bypass this part of Africa and headed towards the coast. We entered Angola’s exclave, Cabinda, in order to take a ship directly to Luanda.

Antonio “Tony” Diaz is not only our generous host here in Cabinda, he became a good friend of ours and also a passionate supporter of Herbie’s World Tour. As an Angolan native, Tony speaks fluently Portuguese, which helps a lot.

Tony strongly believes that Angola should profit from tourism, just as countries like South Africa or Botswana – instead it is very hard to obtain a tourist visa these days.

Herbie and his companion QEK are still parked in front of Antonio’s flat, where we’re spending the nights, when the traffic is not as bad anymore.

Unfortunately we’ve just missed a boat leaving for Luanda. The local port authorities told us that we weren’t supposed to go on that vessel. So, we have to wait.

The departure of another ship is scheduled for the beginning of next week. Hopefully it will be worthy that we’ve taken this route instead of the hassle traveling through the DRC (Democratic Republic of the Congo).

As we were driving into Angola the day before yesterday, a guy wanted to overtake us with his truck. But when he saw Herbie towing the camper, he pulled back following us up to the next police check point, where he got the chance to talk to us.

His name is Antonio Diaz and it turned out that he lives in Cabinda, from where we are planning to take a ship to Luanda. Antonio, aka “Tony”, is originally from a small village called Lutete, nearby Cacuso in Malanje. His ancestors are from Portugal.

Tony’s helping us in dealing with the the whole shipping procedure and also offered us his warm hospitality. Herbie and the camper are parking just in front of his apartment in downtown Cabinda, in which we’re hanging out with Tony during the day.

Due to those bad roads in Congo and Cameroon, we still had to get some things done on Herbie and the camper just as welding broken parts, flushing the gear fluid and getting rid of all the muddy water. However, Herbie’s back on track exploring Africa and we’ve just left Congo by crossing the border to Angola’s exclave, Cabinda.

Originally we were planning to travel through the Democratic Republic of Congo (former Zaire) by crossing the Congo River from Brazzaville to Kinshasa, but we got another idea: Entering Angola’s exclave, Cabinda, and trying to find a boat shipping Herbie, the camper and us directly to Luanda, Angola’s capital.

The impossible became possible! Domi was able to get Herbie back to life. Although there is still water in the interior parts of the chassis and body, the most important thing is that Herbie’s back on the “road” (earth track) again.

Today we made it all the way to Dolisie, Congo, where we’re spending the night. Tomorrow we’ll do further repairs on Herbie, before we’ll be heading towards Brazzaville – our final destination within the Republic of the Congo.

The consequences of Herbie floating in the water were fatal! “Rien ne va plus!” – Nothing worked anymore! Needless to mention that there is no mechanic you can rely on, in the middle of Congo’s jungle.

We had to keep a cool head! Domi dedicated a whole day of work to repair the most important damages such as flushing the motor oil which included almost a quart of water, dismantling and cleaning out the mud of the starter as well as changing spark plugs, distributor cap and rotor.

During the work we had an audience of the local people who were sitting just in front of us and watching this exciting event like an amusing “television program”.

The only connecting route between Gabon and the Republic of Congo is just an earth track with countless mud holes filled with more than knee-high water due to the current rain season (in Congo). Domi attached snow chains on Herbie’s rear wheels and then we had to willy-nilly rise to this frightening challenge.

Before every “mud hole”, we had to find out where the shallowest part of the water was. We were glad that Herbie won the battle against all these gigantic ponds on a stretch of 140 miles (230 km) – except the last one, which was the result of our own miscalculation as we chose the wrong path through the water. It all went so quickly and suddenly Herbie was floating in the water.

The water level went up above the seats. We had to carry our most important belongings to a dry place and luckily after a while some men came to help pushing Herbie and the camper onshore again. Out of question, these were horrible moments we were going through, not knowing what the consequences would be…

In Gabon we crossed the Equator once again on Herbie’s World Tour. To capture this moment, we stopped in front of the sign and took some photos. At this point, we’d like to say regards to Mick from “Mick Motors” in Australia.

Traveling Gabon was pretty relaxing! The tropical nature was beautiful and the roads great, even though not all of them were paved. Here are some impressions.

As we were loosing motor oil while driving through Cameroon, but had to leave the country because of our expiring visas, we stopped by at the next garage in Bitam, Gabon. In order to change the flywheel seal, Domi had to remove the engine.

There was no car lift, so couple of men helped lifting the car bare-handed. Unfortunately the first gasket didn’t fit, so he had to pull out the motor twice. Now everything’s working great again and Herbie is ready to tour Gabon!

Last night, at 2 a.m., Domi suddenly woke up. Our bed was shaking and Domi thought, somebody’s trying to break into Herbie, who’s connected with our camper by the hitch. Immediately he jumped up and looked out the window to see what’s going on there. Domi couldn’t believe what he saw…

Somebody was cleaning the Love Bug! This nightly car wash went on for more than an hour. We didn’t want to interrupt the man at work, so we kept silent, while the guy got Herbie as well as our trailer, QEK, real shiny. In the morning we thanked the young man, who’s working for the hotel we were parking at (Hotel “La Solution”, right before Yaoundé) and gave him a generous tip. This was the first car wash since Morocco.

Tonight we’re staying at a gas station, right in the middle of Bastos, a district of Cameroon’s capital, Yaoundé. We already enjoyed a cold and refreshing shower. Tomorrow morning we’ll go to the embassy of the Democratic Republic of Congo in order to apply for visas. After that we’ll be heading further south in direction of Gabon.

Today we finally entered Cameroon, where we were confronted with the worst road we’ve driven on Herbie’s World Tour so far. Thank God it is dry season! But anyway, Herbie prevailed, although he had to carry more than 120 liters (31 gallons) of gas.

Nigeria is Africa’s gas haven. One liter cost just 50 Euro-Cent (60 US-Cent). Therefore we spent all the rest of our Nigerian money for fuel. And just before reached the border to Cameroon we spotted also a jack fruit for sale on the side of the road.

The “road” (earth track) between the Nigerian boundary and the town Bamenda, in which we’re staying tonight, is in a catastrophic condition. Chinese corporations are already building a tarmac road through this jungle of western Cameroon.

Even though Cameroon’s forest is really beautiful, all our eyes were on the track and its condition. Meters high mud surrounded us while going through the jungle. This route is still the only connecting road between Nigeria and Cameroon.

Honestly, we are very pleased that we’ve already passed Nigeria. It all started when we reached its border, coming from Benin. From the moment Domi entered the Nigerian immigration office in order to get our entry stamps, we had to hear unbelievable things:

“Why did you obtain your visa in Mali? You should get them in Austria!”
“Your first time here!? What do you bring for our table?”
“Give us something and you are free to go!”

The hassle continued and became even worse while we were touring through Nigeria. Police, military and highway patrols stopped us countless times bothering us:

“You are not supposed to tow a trailer with this car!”
”This is your driver’s license? You look fat on this picture!”
”Anything! Just give me anything and I’ll let you go!”
”Why do you drive such an old car? You should have a new one!”
”Give me your camera or telephone! Just give me something!”
”Happy New Year! Where is your present for us?”

The Nigerian border crossing was without any doubt the most upsetting we experienced in Africa so far. And people’s behavior varied from weird to simply rude. We’re trying to handle such situations with a certain kind of humor. Anyway we are happy that we left this very “special” country, Nigeria!

In the past six days we had two major brake failures while touring across West Africa. The problem started in Togo. It turned out to be Herbie’s master brake cylinder.

The owners of “Chez Alice” in Lomé, Togo, who are by the way from Switzerland, helped us finding a mechanic. He replaced the seals of the master brake cylinder.

But something went wrong! The mechanic apparently damaged the plug for the brake fluid, when he reassembled the cylinder. We lost all the fluid within a day.

Suddenly, while driving in Onitsha, a bigger town in central Nigeria, the brakes failed a second time. We stopped at a gas station, asking for help and a parking spot.

Thanks to some police men and security officers as well as others, we were able to get hold of a used plug for our leaking master brake cylinder. Back on the road again!

Meanwhile we crossed the border to Cameroon and are resting in a town called Bamenda. The sad news are, we’re still loosing brake fluid. Hopefully we’ll find out why!

After driving Herbie more than 100,000 miles (160,000 kilometers) around the globe, we reached the Gulf of Guinea today. We arrived in Lomé, Togo, spending the night at a lodge called “Chez Alice” in Avepozo, just a couple miles east of Togo’s capital.

Thanks to Herbie, our beloved little car, who has driven us all around the world! After 100,000 miles we start giving the Love Bug even better motor oil. Today Domi filled in a fully synthetic 10W-60, instead of 15 or 5W-50 so far.