Local Costs

	UK	Central African Republic	Congo
Tea/Coffee	£1.50	£1.00	£1.00
Soft Drink	£1.50	£1.00	£1.00
Bottled Water	£1.50	£1.00	£1.00
Bottle of Beer	£3.50	£1.00	£1.00
2 Course Meal*	£15.00	£5.00	£5.00
3 Course Meal**	£20.00	£10.00	£10.00
Bottle of Wine	£14.50
Breakfast	£5.00

*Cheap local fare in a small cafe or restaurant.
**Typical food in a simple, reasonably comfortable mid-range restaurant.

Important Information

Travel Insurance

It is a condition of joining any of our tours that you must have valid travel insurance. It must indicate that you have cover for (at least) medical expenses and emergency repatriation in the event of illness or injury. We also strongly recommend your policy includes cancellation protection as all deposit paid are non-refundable.

If you require travel insurance for your tour, Explore Worldwide is an appointed representative of Campbell Irvine Limited, who is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services authority. Our travel insurance policy is specially tailored to the needs of the adventure traveller and will cover you for any included activity on any Explore trip. You can either purchase this at the time of booking or call us 0844 499 0901 after you have booked.

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Visa Requirements

All visa information is subject to change. You should confirm all visa related issues with the relevant Embassy prior to departure.

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Central African Republic

British nationals need a visa to visit Central African Republic (CAR) which has to be obtained before departure. 

A single entry visa to Central African Republic (CAR) is required.

You can either obtain your visa directly through the Embassy or through the Explore's recommended visa service, Visa Swift.

Please contact our office and we will produce the letter of invitation needed for your visa application.

If you intend to obtain your visa through the Embassy rather than via Visa Swift, please make sure you get in touch with them to double check their requirements.

Republic of Congo

Visas are required to visit the Republic of Congo and have to be obtained before departure.

A single entry visa to the Republic of Congo is required.

You can either obtain your visa directly through the Embassy or through the Explore's recommended visa service, Visa Swift.

Please contact our office and we will produce the letter of invitation needed for your visa application.

If you intend to obtain your visa through the Embassy rather than via Visa Swift, please make sure you get in touch with them to double check their requirements.

Please note A Letter of Invitation for both ROC and CAR can only be sent through at the earliest within 4 weeks before departure – you can only apply for the visas within this time frame and no sooner. It is not possible to obtain the letters any earlier. Within 14 days before departure our Agent will send the master letters for ROC and CAR to the Ministry of Defense in Brazzaville for stamping – this normally takes 2 to 3 days. Any clients travelling on the tour must show these stamped letters upon arrival.

In view of this visa process we recommend no travel within 9 weeks before the departure date.

Please also provide a clear colour copy of your passport to Explore no later than 9 weeks before departure

Health certificate Info Required

In order to apply for the visas we require copies of the following health certificates:-

Yellow fever
Polio
Results of a measles titer test
Documentation confirming you are TB free

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Vaccinations & Protection

• Proof of yellow fever vaccination is required for entry to ROC and CAR. International health certificates are checked upon arrival.
• Malaria is endemic throughout the Republic of Congo and Central African republic. Malaria is transmitted through mosquito bites; therefore try to minimise the chance of being bitten by wearing long sleeves and long trousers, especially at night. Anti-malarial tablets can also be used - please discuss with a pharmacist or doctor the most suitable for your circumstances.
• If you are allergic to insect stings, please carry your own emergency medicines.
  
  
• All visitors must furnish proof of a negative TB test administered within six months before travel for permission to gorilla trek in Nouabale-Ndoki National Park. Proof of vaccination against yellow fever, polio (if for the first time, administered no less than eight months before arrival) and measles is also required. There will be no exceptions. Gorillas are highly susceptible to human diseases.
• It is strongly recommended that all visitors are vaccinated against hepatitis A and B before travel in Central Africa.
• If guests arrive in the parks ill, or show any symptoms of illness (colds, flu, cough, diarrhoea, etc), they are not allowed to visit the habituated gorillas and may be barred from Mbeli Bai observation platform in NNNP as well.
• All visitors are supplied masks to place over their nose and mouths when visiting the habituated gorillas and they must maintain a distance from the animals of seven meters. This is strictly enforced.

 

• Please see more on important health requirements and instructions for your visit to Nouabale-Ndoki National Park in the Republic of Congo below in the general information section.

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The above is not an exhaustive list. Further information regarding vaccinations and travel health advice can be found by following the NHS and NaTHNaC links at http://www.explore.co.uk/Travelhealth/ and from your local healthcare provider.

Visa and vaccination requirements are subject to change and should be confirmed before departure.

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Know before you go

We strongly recommend that you check your government’s travel advisory for up-to-date information and advice about your destination: safety and security, entry requirements, health, local laws and customs, including advice re: the legality of and local attitudes towards same-sex relationships. For UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office Advice follow the link at http://www.explore.co.uk/Traveladvice/

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Preparing for your tour

Climate

The region has an equatorial and tropical climate and temperatures remain high throughout the year. At lower levels near the equator they rarely fall below 18°C/64°F, even at night. Daytime maximum temperatures, however, rarely rise above 35°C/95°F. Humidity remains high throughout the year and rarely falls very low during the hottest part of the day, so that the weather can feel sultry and oppressive most of the time. Except during occasional thunder squalls, winds are light so that the temperature feels higher than the thermometer might suggest. Temperatures rise rather higher during the daytime in those areas where there is a pronounced dry season; at this time humidity is also lower and these higher temperatures may not feel so oppressive as the lower temperatures during the wet season when there is higher humidity, much cloud, and little sunshine.

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Seasonal weather patterns can be unpredictable. For up-to-date information on the weather worldwide please visit www.bbc.co.uk/weather.

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Packing for your tour

To assist with packing for your tour, we have detailed some of the essential items you should take with you. 

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Luggage

Unfortunately it does occasionally happen that luggage does not always reach its destination on the same flight as its owner, or possibly it may be damaged in transit. If you are unlucky enough for this to occur, it is important that you file a PIR (Property Irregularity Report) with the airline before leaving the airport. This is essential when you come to make a claim either against the airline or from your travel insurance company

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One main piece of baggage and daypack. Total allowance: 44lb/20kg. Remember you are expected to carry your own luggage so don't overload yourself.

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Clothing

Make sure you pack light as temperatures are warm and humidity is high all year round. Warm clothing is needed particularly at night and in the early morning. Lightweight, hard wearing gloves are useful for protecting hands during the treks. Long sleeved shirts and long trousers are recommended for protecting arms and legs as well as a raincoat, as showers can be unpredictable in the rainforest.

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Footwear

Sturdy walking boots are recommended for the treks.

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Equipment

Bring insect repellent, sunscreen, sunhat, torch and a waterbottle.

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Personal First Aid Kit

For an exclusively designed Explore Medical Kit, visit www.nomadtravel.co.uk/explore

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Need help on Clothing or Equipment?

Then we suggest you contact Nomad Travel, our equipment partner, who specialise in kitting people out for adventurous travel. You receive a special 10% discount in-store or online. Visit one of their stores, phone 0845 260 0044, or visit their website www.nomadtravel.co.uk/explore for further information.

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General Information

General Information

Physical Fitness: This is a very active safari. When it comes to gorilla trekking, the habituated gorilla groups may be 30 minutes walk from the camp or three hours. You will not know until you arrive at the starting point. In Nouabale-Ndoki National Park in the ROC, it is a two to three hour walk just to arrive at the starting point for a gorilla follow. The forest treks are not arduous in terms of elevation gain or loss. The terrain is for the most part flat so all that is really required is stamina. There are also patches of swamp to wade through and stretches of river to cross. This requires wearing rubber shoes. The park's other attractions are the bais, saline clearings in the middle of the forest which attract elephants, buffalo, sitatunga and bongo antelope, and gorilla. Accessing these bais requires more walking, which is why we spend all day at the observation towers which have been built overlooking the forest clearings.

Respect for Quiet: The ability to remain quiet -as you walk through the forest and for the long hours that you spend on the observation platforms - is a requirement of this tour. The trackers and guides enforce silence. Scientists on the platforms work in silence too. (Your days here offer you the opportunity to experience a researcher’s life.) Wildlife conservation in Central Africa has supplanted a long tradition of hunting. Animals have long ago learned to fear man. The trackers who now habituate gorillas or who escort us through the forest, ever vigilant about spotting elephants, once hunted them. If we talk on the observation platforms the wildlife will leave the clearing. If we are noisy in the forest we risk startling gorillas and elephants. We need to be quiet as we walk through the forest so that our trackers can do their job and avoid any distressing man-wildlife confrontations.

Elephants: There are large numbers of elephants in these forests and there is always the chance that we encounter them. Our forest guides are unarmed. We are briefed before entering the forest to always stay close, remain quiet, and follow our guide’s instructions at all times.

Annoyances: Primary rainforest is extremely humid. It can cool down dramatically at night but during the day, it is hot. There are also insects with which to deal—most of them of them harmless but annoying nevertheless, like the little sweat bees. Not so hard to ignore are tsetse flies, ticks, and the large biting army ants. A rainforest is arguably nature at its most indomitable. If you stand stationary long enough it attempts to break you down into leaf litter!

Accommodations and Food: In Congo’s case, the accommodations are decidedly no-frills. At Mbeli Camp, we share raised wooden chalets with toilet and bathing areas below. At Mondika Camp, we share tents with separate ablution blocks. In Congo too, the majority of food is tinned and the end results bland and repetitious. While vegetarians won't have any problems, any special diets other than vegetarian are impossible to accommodate. There is a noticeable improvement with services in the Central African Republic, but at the end of the day, meals and accommodation are not the highlights of travel to this remote part of Africa.

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Electric Supply & Plugs

Central African republic and Congo both have Type C plug/socket. 2 parallel prongs - "European" type
Voltage in Central African Republic and Congo: 220 V
Frequency in Central African Republic and Congo: 50 Hz

There will be opportunites to charge batteries at most night stops, some however have no power after 9pm and on some nights there will be no access to electricty at all. We advise you to bring back up batteries for cameras and other electrial equipment that you may wish to use during your trip.

 

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