Future Trips

Future Trip to South Sudan and Congo

Preparation before Travel

Health

Before you travel you should review what vaccinations you should receive with your doctor or a travel clinic. Yellow Fever is required for entry in the D.R. Congo, South Sudan, and Uganda. I also suggest that you have the Rabies shot because we will be handling dogs. You can get a list from the CDC what vaccinations you will need and what to avoid for each country:

• D.R. Congo

• South Sudan

• Uganda

Travel Insurance

It is recommend you get at least health coverage that includes medical evacuation. This wiki covers more details.

Cash

It is highly unlikely you will be able to use your credit card in the D.R. Congo or South Sudan. Therefore, you will need to bring enough U.S. currency. It should be in denomations of $10 or $20 bills that are new currency and not wrinkled or torn. I also suggest getting a travel cash pouch that can be hidden under your clothes.

Passport

You will need to acquire a passport or if you have one that it is valid for the next 6 months when applying for a Visa. For a used Passport it should not frayed, torn, separating, or altered in any other way and have one blank visa page if entering Uganda or South Sudan or two blank visa pages if entering D.R. Congo.

Visa
 

Visa Service

I suggest you find a travel visa service. They will submit a completed travel visa application, and other required documents (i.e. Passport), to embassies or consulates on your behalf. I have used Travisa in the past. For those outside the U.S. you can find a list of the closest D.R. Congo Embassy here.

Uganda

Uganda is now encouraging you acquire a visa at least two weeks prior to travel to Uganda. You now can apply through electronic visa, but in practice they continue to make visas upon arrival available. Make sure to get a 6 month multiple entry visa as we will leaving and returning to Uganda.

D.R. Congo

You will need to use a Visa Service when applying and a letter from a host in the country. D.R. Congo issues both single and multiple entry visas. For other requirements visit Washington, D.C. Embassy website.

South Sudan

You can now apply for a visa through this website. U.S. citizens can get a single entry or a 3 month multiple entry visa.

Getting there

The final destination airport will be Entebbe International Airport. There are three routes that can be used to get to Entebbe from the USA. The first is to fly Ethiopian Airlines out of Washington's Dulles airport to Addis Abba. From there it is a two hour hop to Entebbe. The next option is to fly to Amsterdam and to Entebbe on KLM. The third option is to fly to Brussel and on to Entebbe on Brussel Air. For those in Europe they can fly to Amsterdam or Brussel and then on to Entebbe. Asia, Australia and New Zealand can fly to Dubia on Emirates and then on to Entebbe. Due to Covid-19 air travel will most likely change and what was available before may not be available after Covid-19 pandemic ends.

Staying in Kampala

Kampala has plenty of pet friendly hotels available. On my stay I stayed at Red Chilli Hideaway. Red Chilli provided the vehicle and driver for my trip in South Sudan. You can also book three day tours or longer tours to Murchison Falls or Elizabeth Park. I suggest doing any side trips to National Parks before we travel to the Congo or South Sudan.

South Sudan

I am proposing a future trip to the southwest corner of South Sudan around Yambio in search of new Basenji foundation stock. A peace treaty to end the civil war in South Sudan was signed August 6th, 2018. If the peace treaty holds, lawlessness abates, and Covid-19 is controlled, then it will be possible to travel there. Now that South Sudan is issuing multiple entry visas it will be possible to go into the DRC and back into South Sudan.

Juba

Travel will be from Kampala to Juba through the Nimule border crossing. This will take a day. I suggest staying at the Afex River Camp. It is expensive, $190 a night when I stayed in 2015, but it is very secure and is along the Nile and they were willing to accomodate any puppies in a seperate area. The Oasis Camp is also another location that we could stay and is almost next door to the Afex camp along the White Nile. We will need to register with the Department of Immigration and Aliens Control at the Ministry of Interior in Juba because our stay will be longer than three days. We will need to stay two nights in Juba as the process to get registered can take time.

Travel to Yambio

Travel by road from Juba to Yambio can take up to 16 hours because of poor roads (15 to 20 miles hour). Another option is to fly using South Sudan MFA and renting vehicles in Yambio and hiring driver(s).

Yambio

There are several hotels in Yambio that are recommended by the UN mission to South Sudan for their personal. These are Tourist hotel, Sunset hotel and Super Star hotel. I actually had lunch outside at the Tourist Hotel but did not see inside. Food was good. I do not know their policy on keeping pets at any of these hotels. Be aware prices are not cheap at these hotels.

Cell Service in South Sudan

Cell service is available along the road to Yambio and both cell and internet is available in Yambio.

Areas we can look for Basenjis around Yambio

Yambio is close to the border with the DRC. There are a few border crossings to the east and west. I suggest we consider visting the areas near these crossings as it is likely dogs are brought into and out of the DRC. 

1. Nabiapai (Ezo)

This border crossing is where the Central African Republic, South Sudan, and DRC meet. To get to DRC the road travels 2000 feet inside the CAR. Road is accessible by vehicle to the border and beyond into the DRC. Distance from Yambio by road is 100 miles (162km).

2. Nabiama

After turning off the main road the south road to the border is the Kpatua Hwy and on google maps after a couple miles from the north end of the road there does not seem to be a lot of huts or any villages along this road to the border. I believe it is vehicle accessible to the border and beyond. Road mile distance from Yambio to border is approximately 73 miles (117km).

3. Bagugu

This is the road from Nzara that I took as far as Baskukangbi in 2015 and acquired Kiri and Nzoro. Veronica Tudor-Williams acquired Fula in Nzara in 1959. Ndormo is the last village on the road that is visible on the google maps and is 7 miles from the border. The road is not visible past Ndormo on google maps to the border and I am not sure if it is vehicle accessible. Ndormo is 48.5 miles (78km) from Yambio by road.

4. Sakure

I visited Sakure in 2015 and found that the number of available dogs there was limited. There was an army post at the south end of town and they would not let us pass. It is 26 miles (42.4km) by road from Yambio.

5. Napiabai

The town of Napiabai is 21 miles (33.7km) from Yambio by road. The town is right along the border where the road crosses into the DRC and looks very car accessible into the DRC.

6. James Diko

In 1923 Lady Helen Nutting was given Basenjis acquired between the Sueh and Ibba river. I ran across this tri along the road in the same area. The town of James Diko is between these two rivers and only a couple of miles from the DRC border. The town is approximately 79mi (128km) from Yambio by road. Not sure if it is vehicle accessible into DRC.