Day 187 – Mon 5 April - 15,493km, Sumbe, Angola

Given my visa status, we have been approaching every police check point with immense trepidation, using speed, smiles and friendly greetings to mask our anxiety while expecting at any moment to be pulled over. Doing our utmost therefore to avoid police contact, it was very concerning to find Sumbe crawling with cops and even more alarming to acquire our own police tail, while looking for a place to stay. Indeed, before we knew it, we were being given an escort back to the cop shop, having our details taken and being shown to a room full of bunk beds, pvc mattresses and shady characters. The ironic news is that, far from being detained as illegal immigrants, we have been invited to stay as honoured guests, thanks to a mystery document sent from Luanda! Unbelievably our progress has apparently been followed all the way here and the police were on the lookout for our arrival. Having been in touch with so many people with inside contacts at the Luanda immigration office, I’m not quite sure who to thank for our amazing good fortune, but hopefully this means my progress should be assured as far as the border and maybe I’ll even get a few more free nights down the station, even if it does mean being disconcerted by prisoners following our every move from behind the bars of adjacent cells.