"The Catholic Mission in Bangui" Central African Republic by jorgejuansanchez

The Catholic Mission in Bangui, called Centre d’Accueil Notre Dame, helps all the travellers.

I arrived in Bangui in the night, one hour before the curfew. Not wanting to hire an expensive taxi I ran until the Mission, that was closed,, but they specially opened it and let me sleep in the library. Next morning I took a room and made friendship with the missionaries, who told me fantastic stories about the life of the people in that country. They even helped me to get to the border with Chad in their jeeps.

That Mission has a very familiar atmosphere. It is a very safe place, better than a hotel because the locals respect it. It is very frequented by ONG’s and missionaries who will tell you stories about the population and will take you for free in their land rovers to their missions in the heart of the country. They also serve dinners very cheap, and if you do not have money they will arrange a special price. It is located in the same downtown of Bangui. Price for a single with breakfast and dinner per night: 7000 CFA francs.



After Central Africa it took me ten days to reach N’djamena from Bangui crossing in three days Central African Republic, then, via Cameron (without visa), I arrived to Chad and had to give some baksheesh in the borders, otherwise they would open your bag and check carefully everything confiscating you whatever they wanted.

During seven more days, until finally I reached N’djamena, I slept in horrible huts without ventilation, ate worms and meat hard as the sole of a shoe, and travelled like a sardine in jeeps with 40 PAX when its capacity was for 8 PAX, and with an armed guard with weapons in his teeth travelling with us to protect us. During the nights we slept in the villages for fear of bandits.