The Accurate Reloading Forums THE ACCURATE RELOADING.COM FORUMS Hunting African Big Game Hunting So close to going to Angola but .... Grrrrrrrrrrr !!Go | New | Find | Notify | Tools | Reply | |
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I am so damn frustrated right now. I am due to leave on Monday to Namibia for a hunting trip. I am really low on sharks so decided that this year would be a good time to go out to the coast and catch one. I gotta do something in my life to impress the grand childen. Well, the outfitter and good friend suggested that we drive up into Angola .. a real adventure. Excellent idea. Now these dudes must not like Canadians so a visa is required. So one had to send them (Angolan Embassy) an itinerary, proof of funds, letter of invitation from Angola, passport, $125 U.S., two passport sized pictures etc. Now all this was done weeks ago and I phoned last week (I leave on Monday, March 2nd) and was told that they don't issue visas until the last week .. ??? I phoned Tuesday. Embassy was closed. I phoned Wednesday three times ... finally on the 3rd call they agreed to send out the visa that very day so I would get it on Friday. (Ottawa is about 3,000 miles away from where I live) Today they phoned to tell me their 'machine is broken' and that the repairmen were coming later today... so the visa would not be shipped today .. Thursday !!! I told them to at least send me my passport back so I can go to Namibia at least ... All this is enough to drive you nuts... No word at end of day what has happened ... | ||
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Best of luck, sincerely. | |||
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Sorry to hear it Scruffy!! Not surprising, when dealing with gov't embassies, but very frustrating. Hope they at least get your passport back to you on time! You might have to change your flights to transit Ottawa and pick it up yourself!! Best of luck my friend. Wish I could visit you in Namib....but it will be a long time before I can travel again. Know anyone looking for foresters???  Cheers Canuck | |||
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Some Nigerian guy is probably using your passport to enter Canada under your identity. Gator A Proud Member of the Obamanation "The heart of the wise inclines to the right, but the heart of the fool to the left." Ecclesiastes 10:2 "There are some ideas so absurd that only an intellectual could believe them." George Orwell | |||
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What I find so amazing is those countries which really need visitors to spend money there make it so difficult for them to enter the country! Zimbabwe had the best system. One pays his money at port of entry and that is it! | |||
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Used to spend a lot of time in Angola. Entirely too much, actually. Watch out for all those mines they haven't recovered... | |||
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If you are going to drive up you are going to have a great time. Tuesday was public holiday here in Angola. (Carnival) That is why it is closed. I had to do same exercise as you getting visa in South Africa. I did a bit of fishing outside Luanda last weekend http://forums.accuratereloadin...7221043/m/7331088301 Good luck and if you do get the visa prepare to get stretched by those Bronze Whaler Sharks... Gerhard FFF Safaris Capture Your African Moments Hunting Outfitter (MP&LP) Proffesional Hunter (MP&LP) History guide Wildlife Photographer www.fffsafaris.co.za | |||
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Well, I talked to the Embassy this morning and their machine is still broken and they have no idea when it will be repaired. ???? She did mail back my passport yesterday so hopefully it will go 3,000 miles and end up in my mail box on Monday when I leave for Namibia .. and I guess ... only Namibia. I asked the lady if I could have done anything differently ?  No, she said. I wonder if there is an embassy in Windhoek ??? Personally I think that I am screwed !!!!  | |||
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If you can not get into Angola its not the end of the world. Namibia is renowned for big Bronze Whaler Sharks. Not sure if you can get there but if I remember correctly the Cunene river mouth was a good hunting ground... http://www.wikimapia.org/#lat=...399&z=12&l=0&m=a&v=2 Gerhard FFF Safaris Capture Your African Moments Hunting Outfitter (MP&LP) Proffesional Hunter (MP&LP) History guide Wildlife Photographer www.fffsafaris.co.za | |||
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Hey Richard, maybe some angolan dude have read one or two of your books and decided that it was safer for them to keep you outside their borders  L | |||
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 I remember what you said last March in Argentina about me. ' We must keep Richard occupied. A month every year in Argentina writing and hunting pigs, a couple of months in Namibia ... a weekend in Uruguay (phone ahead) ... (the quote is already in my new book that I am writing. I must be a frickin' masochist.  If my passport makes it here on Monday I am going on that day to Namibia and hopefully go to the Angolan Embassy in Windhoek and see if I can get a visa there. I know that normally one must apply from one's own country unless there is a good reason not to .. and with the Ottawa Embassy not being capable of issuing a visa just now - that should be a good enough reason. Lorenzo ... I hope that you and the brothers shoot magnificent red stags ... I'll see you all in July - if I don't end up moving in with the Himbas ... | |||
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Years ago, we got our visas in Brussels. Took a couple of days. | |||
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I'd highly recommend that anyone on a tight schedule or going to a country with questionable infrastructure use a passport/visa agency to get their visas straightened out. It costs a few dollars but they can work miracles. I once had one get me multiple entry visas to 6 central Asian countries in under 24 hours. It's worth it. | |||
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Good advice. Thanks.  | |||
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The Accurate Reloading Forums THE ACCURATE RELOADING.COM FORUMS Hunting African Big Game Hunting So close to going to Angola but .... Grrrrrrrrrrr !!
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