Backpacking in Central African Republic🇨🇫: The ONLY Place To Stay Is The Fantastic Gust Hotel, Bangui

“Here is a sunrise. Ain’t that enough?” – Teenage Fanclub.

First things first here – don’t even consider sleeping anywhere else in Bangui. Gust Hotel is your place to sleep in the capital city of Bangui, Central African Republic. This was my home, Marek’s home and should be your home in the enigmatic chaos that is Central African Republic. Get your trip to Central African Republic booked and get Gust Hotel booked and tell Tognama I sent you, say hello to him for me…

Introducing Tognama, The Manager

Tognama is our new friend. He’s the Gust Hotel manager, but he’s way more than that. Hello Tognama!

Tognama sorted our visa (a story and a half – we got it 7 minutes before our flight), he hosted us here, he toured we us, he wined and dined with us, he organised our trips, he organised getting our passports back safely, he ensured a safe and smooth arrival and departure from his country. Tognama is the star 🌟.

“Days that found you; grace that bound you” – Teenage Fanclub.

Tognama knows more about customer service than most hotel managers in Africa ever will. He prioritised Marek and I for our 3 nights, 4 days here in Central African Republic.

“Before my eyes, beyond the stars, beneath the sun” – Tim Wheeler.

Here’s 11 reasons why you should absolutely definitely stay at Gust Hotel, Bangui, Central African Republic.

Reasons to be cheerful” – Ian Dury and the Blockheads.

1.Proximity To Airport

This is the closest hotel to the airport. Super, this means you are maximising your time in the country. It’s a 5 minute drive from Gust Hotel to Bangui International Airport – Bangui M’Poko International Airport.

The airport even has 5 different bars in it – we managed to drinkpack 4 of them before leaving Central African Republic behind! Nuts loyal and one for my Thirsty Thursdays series.

2.Collection To And From Airport

You’ll get a smooth and safe airport collection from Bangui International Airport as organised by Gust Hotel. Just make sure you organise it with Tognama and his team first. Desiree collected us on a wild night, on a day where we started in the BIGGEST Hotel in Africa in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, transitpacked through Douala in Cameroon and finally got our visa (see later) with 7 minutes to spare before the flight closed.

3.Visa Solvation

At the fourth attempt, our visa issue was solved, by the legend of Tognama with 7 minutes to spare while we were desperately trying to board our flight from Douala, Cameroon to Bangui, Central African Republic!! Phew!!!

Firstly we tried to get the Central African Republic visa from the French Embassy in Warszawa. We filled in all the relevant forms, sent them all a month before our trip, 5th December 2024. They refused us, and were frankly very rude to us. Oh well, shame on your moon…

Secondly, we tried to get the Central African Republic visa at their Embassy in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. Our contact Fabio promised the visa would be processed within a few days. We arrived in Burkina Faso on 19th December and left on 26th December. You would think a week would be enough time, especially as he took a whopping 260 Euros off us (130 Euros each) in cash. Christmas time didn’t help, and the embassy’s only guy there decided to go on holiday instead of granting us two visas.

Thirdly, our final attempt was in Ivory Coast. The Internet told us there is an Embassy in Abidjan. But after spending over an hour touring the city’s embassy district, it was clear that the Central African Republic embassy here, no longer existed. We found the building though, and decided not to backpack through it seeking a visa…it was derelict and shut to the world.

But we battled on, and via our contact Tognama, manager of the truly excellent Gust Hotel we finally got granted a visa with 7 minutes before our flight, via What’s App. We made a mad dash and were the last two passengers to board the plane. Phew!

4.Downstairs Bar at Gust Hotel

This was our home for 3 nights, 4 days. We actually had a beer in here on 4 consecutive days, even necking a cold one on our last day.

Great staff with Constantine and Alicia always working hard and on hand to serve and help.

We tried Cameroonian red wine, Central African Bilibili, Irish Bailey’s and of course Mocaf here. Mocaf is the main beer of the Central African Republic.

5.Breakfast Included

The same downstairs bar at the Gust Hotel serves up a fine breakfast daily from 7.30 a.m. We were always there at exactly half seven for it.

An omelette, bread and coffee all served individually.

6.Excellent WiFi

A big surprise was that the WiFi worked well. Tognama knows his stuff. It’s a priority these days for tourists to be online. The WiFi worked fastest downstairs in and around the bar. But a bigger surprise was it also worked in my room so I get some blogging done!

7.The Spontaneous Wedding Invite

On the Saturday night, Tognama tells us there’s a wedding booked on the top floor for over 100 people. We couldn’t possibly gatecrash it, could we?

Even better, we got a spontaneous invite thanks to meeting Daniel Yadin. We were quite overwhlemed by it all – the only two tourists, foreigners, Caucasians, white people here.

8.Range Of Rooms

Tognama gave Marek and I a room each. Marek wanted a fridge and hot water, so he was in a triple room suite – bedroom, shower room, lounge. We hung out in Marek’s room most nights as he had the big table, sofa, chairs and the fridge. He was in Room 209 on the second floor (3rd level up).

I was next door in Room 211. The cheaper backpacker option of course but I loved my room!

All rooms have a mosquito net, desk, chair, wardrobe, lights, ensuite shower room, bin and a window view of Bangui.

9.Safety And Security

When we travelled to Central African Republic, The UK, Irish and Polish governments all advised against it. They did that as fake scaremongerers who never backpacked anywhere. We were safe and secure here at Gust Hotel. The UK government fakepacked Central African Republic – they never even visited it but told us not to – how wrong they were, AGAIN!

10.Organising Tours

If you want to tour the sights of Bangui, you can easily organise it from here at Gust. Just ask Tognama and his staff and they’ll sort you out.

You can also organise tours further afield, we headed a few hours inland to the magnificent Boali Falls (you can also spend the night in a hotel there but we loved Gust Hotel too much!).

You can organise a tour to the Pygmy Village (the world’s smallest people) and the Zhsngiiiiiuuuuiiu (the world’s least visited national park). Plus if you’re heading overland to either Republic of Congo or The Democratic Republic Of The Congo 🇨🇩, you can also organise heading to those borders from here.

11.The Bilibili

We had wanted to try the local alcohol Bilibili but it’s not easy to find in bars and shops. Ask at reception here and they can order it in for you.

We sipped the Bilibili on our last night and even were given 2 bottles of it for 1000 Central African Francs, a total bargain. We took a small bottle each back to Poland so our Polish friends could try the famous Bilibili.

A big shout out to Bruno Yamanza too – the Reception Manager!

Overall we simply loved Gust Hotel, a breath of fresh air in the travel industry. The customer comes first here, we were king. Tognama’s Castle.

If you stay here and meet Tognama, say hi from Jonny and Marek. He’s a great lad who played a massive part in our journeys on this planet. Tell him you heard about Gust Hotel on Don’t Stop Living.

“Search for the hero inside yourself” – M.People.

Here are the details of Tognama:

[email protected]

+250 791 750 721

Here are the details for booking the Gust Hotel in Bangui, Central African Republic:

Address: 

Here are some videos I made at the Gust Hotel in Bangui, Central African Republic:

Bili Bili Videos –

Wedding Party Invite Videos –

“Here is a sunrise, ain’t that enough?” – Teenage Fanclub.