The End of the Road - Accra to Marrakech 2016

So that’s it! Here I am in Marrakech preparing to fly back to the UK in a few hours time. I last wrote in Essaouira which I really enjoyed exploring. Although relatively touristy, it had a laid-back feel to it and you could happily spend many hours wandering through the streets of the medina, exploring the souks, and drinking tea in the numerous cafes and restaurants. Although I have to say, I am quite over drinking the Moroccan tea - a sugary minty tea served in small glasses - and eating the ubiquitous tagines! 

Marrakech, on the other hand, is much harder to enjoy. The volume of tourists here is mind boggling after having spent three months visiting places that few tourists ever venture. The main square, Jemaa El Fna, is a spectacular sight particularly at night with the buzz and aromas of the open air eateries and juice stands. The down side of Marrakech is the constant hassle from traders, “would-be guides”, the snake charmers trying to drape a snake over you as you walk by, and the general ill treatment of animals. Horse drawn carriages abound and whilst the standards of equine care seem to have improved since my last visit here in 2004, it is still all too common to see lame horses with harness sores being made to work. Not to mention the monkeys on leads being hawked around the square for tourists to have their picture taken with.. 

In essence, there is no such thing as a quiet wander around Marrakech and you certainly need to brace yourself before venturing out. Having visited before, this time Marrakech for me has been a chance to relax and enjoy some luxury and pampering after three months of basically living in a tent. Hence booking myself into a luxury riad spa for my last two nights. A chance to get clean in the hammam, soak in the bath, and sleep in a comfortable bed - bliss!

But what an incredible three months it has been and I consider myself very fortunate to have visited many places most people have never even heard about. Learning about the histories of these countries has been fascinating - the slave trade, the civil wars, the beliefs and traditions. By the way, the best book that I’ve read in a long time is “A Long Way Gone - Memoirs of A Boy Soldier” by Ishmael Beah recalling his experiences as a child in the Sierra Leone civil war. It is difficult to pick out individual highlights of such a diverse trip, but it is always hard to beat camping in the middle of nowhere, enjoying the vastness of Africa, or strolling along a beautiful deserted beach, watching the sunset. Lots of special moments and memories I will treasure forever… 

Mauritania to Western Sahara / Morocco

The penultimate blog of the trip as we head to Marrakech tomorrow where my journey ends…

We’ve covered a lot of ground since my last post from Mauritania, through the Western Sahara and now in Morocco. Leaving Mauritania, we drove through a few miles of a true no-mans land with no actual road and an area littered with unexploded land mines and abandoned rusting vehicles before we reached the official Western Sahara border. Controlled by the Moroccans, this was the most officious border we have crossed with the truck even being put through a scanner to check no one was concealed on board. A far cry from the piece of string across a dirt road and the hand written ledgers of earlier border crossings…

The Western Sahara provided us with some beautiful drive days and bush camps. For much of the journey, we followed the coastline with the turquoise blue ocean glistening beneath the jagged cliffs, stopping occasionally to take photos of the views or slow down for camels crossing the road. We stayed one night in a town out on the peninsular called Dakhla which seemed to be a mecca for kite surfers. Hundreds of kite surfers in the bay did look spectacular and so colourful after miles of empty desert landscapes. A highlight of our time in the Western Sahara was staying at a bedouin camp and hiking across the salt pans (which appear like snow), climbing rocky peaks and exploring sand dunes.

Eventually we reached Morocco, although without fanfare as there is no border crossing as such since the Moroccans unofficially control Western Sahara, albeit that this is not recognised internationally. We have visited a number of historic towns in Morocco - Tarfaya, Tafraoute, Tan-tan, Tiznit, Taroudante and are now in Essaouira (pronounced Essa-weera). Lots of exploring the medinas, the old towns contained within the city walls, and wandering through souks. North Africa could not be more different from West Africa. Very easy travelling now as hot water, electricity, wifi, etc are fairly standard. Tafraoute was a beautiful sleepy town in the Anti-Atlas mountains and we did a great day long hike there. Today will be spent exploring Essaouira which is on the coast and is known as the “windy city”. I am being slowly eased back into European climates as the last couple of weeks have been markedly colder as we’ve headed north. The final drive day tomorrow into Marrakech where I will be spending three nights before flying back to the UK!

Senegal to Mauritania

Nouakchott, the capital of Mauritania, and perhaps one of the most bizarre and random places I have ever visited - certainly the most dusty and sandy. A city that was born not much more than 50 years ago and set just 5km inland. It doesn’t have the most attractive climate given that 200 days a year, it is subject to a sand storm and the temperature is topping 40 degrees today. A day when one would prefer to be wearing minimal clothing, but given this is the Islamic State of Mauritania, quite a lot of clothing is required so as not to offend. I can’t honestly say that Nouakchott is in any way a beautiful city, but it is still quite exciting to be here. How many people can say they’ve been to Nouakchott. Indeed, who even knew that Nouakchott was the capital of Mauritania? I didn’t, but it might come in useful as a quiz question one day….

Since leaving Dakar a few days ago, we headed into northern Senegal which could not be more different from the southern part. Getting ever closer to the Sahara desert, the land is very dry and barren. Vehicles are replaced by horses and carts which seem to be the transport of choice. Most of the horses are in good condition despite the lack of grass. The Senegalese, for the most part, seem to value their horses and treat them well as it is common to see them resting with their harnesses off and their heads in a nose bag of food. 

Our first night after leaving Dakar took us to the town of Touba where we visited a large mosque. We then headed out of town to find a bush camp for the night. As there were lots of villages and people around, we didn’t find a particularly quiet spot, but despite quite a few people trotting past on horse drawn carts they didn’t seem to be the least bit surprised or bothered by a bunch of white people setting up camp for the night. I’m fairly certain that 20 Africans setting up camp somewhere in the UK without permission would not go down so well!

The next day we had a fairly short drive to the peninsular where we camped by the beach at a great campsite which even had hot showers. You may not think that noteworthy but Dakar was the first hot shower after over two months on the road so a hot shower is still very much a high point for me! Our next stop was the city of Saint Louis which was formerly the capital when Senegal was a French colony. The city is spread over the mainland, an island and the peninsular which are connected by bridges. We arrived at midday and pitched our tents in a sandstorm. Sand is very much the theme of this section of the trip and we are growing accustomed to the fact that our bodies and possessions are permanently covered in a layer of sand. Travelling on the truck in the heat of the day with the windows open is akin to having a hot hairdryer blowing in your face continually. Despite the sand storm, Saint Louis was a very pleasant place to explore with some attractive crumbling buildings, nice restaurants, and lots of fishing boats.

An early start the next morning in preparation for a long day ahead. We needed to cross the border into Mauritania and then get to the capital in daylight hours, so we had a lot of ground to cover. Large parts of Mauritania are very much off limits due to the security situation in this country so camping other than within the grounds of a hotel isn’t really an option. In any case, Mauritania is basically a desert so we would more than likely get stuck in the sand if we tried to drive off the road. To make life a little bit more challenging, we had been unable to obtain Mauritanian visas in Dakar as the Embassy were changing systems and weren’t able to issue them. Getting them at the border would be fine but would inevitably take many hours. Many, many hours….

First challenge was to get stamped out of Senegal and then join the long line of trucks waiting to board the ferry to cross the Senegal river to get to Mauritania. Some palm greasing was required if we were ever going to get on that ferry, especially as it stops for three hours over lunch time. Once we got to the other side, more palm greasing if we were going to get 17 visas issued that day without the officials taking breaks for lunch and prays. Several hours later, we were finally on our way driving through the desert landscape - lots of sand dunes, lots of camels, and lots of police checkpoints. We made it to Nouakchott only to discover the hotel we had planned to stay at was now a building site. Plan B worked just fine though and we found another place to stay (the appropriately named Auberge Sahara). Another long drive day ahead of us tomorrow as we leave Mauritania and cross the border into the Western Sahara, a disputed territory but currently under de facto control by Morocco.

The Gambia and back to Senegal

After two nights at Paradise Beach, it was time to pack our bags and explore some more of The Gambia. We definitely could have stayed there for many more days with its perfect climate of sun and gentle sea breezes, delicious freshly squeezed juices, and fabulous fish each day. 

We went further north to the city of Serrecunda as we wanted to visit Abuko Forest Reserve which was nearby. Serrecunda is basically the transport hub of The Gambia and not really a tourist destination, but it made sense to us from an ease of transport and cheap accommodation perspective. After finding somewhere to stay, (a cheap hotel which quite possibly doubled as a brothel as well!) we took the bus out to Abuko Forest Reserve where we spent a really pleasant afternoon wandering around seeing lots of birds, monkeys, crocodiles and duikers (small antelope). It was incredibly peaceful despite being near the city. Particularly memorable was getting really close to a troop of red colobus monkeys and seeing a kingfisher catch a tilapia.

It was something of a struggle to find somewhere to eat in Serrecunda. We found a local restaurant where the lady produced a bucket of pre-cooked chicken and fish as the menu options. Despite the questionable hygiene and length of time the food may have been sitting there, we had a decent enough meal of chicken, chips and salad. 

Thankfully we suffered no ill effects and were able to continue with our travels the next morning. It was quite a mission to get to our next location, Jinack Island. A local bus from Serrecunda to Banjul, then a shared taxi to the ferry port, and the ferry across The Gambia River from Banjul to Barra. That was the easy part. We then needed to get from Barra to the island which according to the website could be done by taking a shared taxi from Barra to Kayang village crossing, then getting a boat and finally a donkey cart to the lodge itself. Well, in Africa, nothing is ever simple and so far our transport had been going suspiciously well…  On reaching Barra, it seemed to be impossible to get a shared taxi and we were repeatedly told you had to take a 4 wheel drive vehicle at inflated tourist prices to get to the island. Once we finally managed to sort out transport at a reasonable price, our driver suggested that if we waited an hour, he could take us all the way to the lodge because it is possible to drive across to the island at low tide. You can probably guess where this is going… 

After having lunch, we set off an hour later only to arrive at the crossing to discover the tide was not yet low enough. Therein another hour and a half of waiting. Africans have an amazing ability to sit around and wait, and Gambian men even more so because they seem to spend their entire lives sitting about smoking weed and talking about the greatness of reggae and Bob Marley. Finally, after wading out into the river to test the depth, and numerous suggestions from us that we just take the longer route and get the boat, our driver in his infinite wisdom decides it will be okay to cross. If he had a decent vehicle and the ability to drive it, then yes it would no doubt have been fine but as neither of those boxes was ticked, we inevitably got stuck half way across and the engine cut out. Luckily by this stage, we had a couple of other guys in the vehicle so between them they got out and pushed it across to the other side. Miraculously, they got the engine going again and we finally made it to the lodge. It would have been a long walk otherwise!!

Jinack Lodge was an interesting experience. Billed as an eco lodge on a paradise island, it could have been that and may well once have been. However, like so many places in West Africa, it had rather gone to seed. We were again the only guests and if you wanted somewhere to get away from it all in basic surroundings, then it would certainly fit the bill. The island technically lies half in Gambian waters and half in Senegalese waters, although all the people living on the island speak Mandinka. 

After two nights on the island, it was time to make the long journey from their to Dakar and rejoin the rest of the group. It took the best part of ten hours to do that so for those of you who think travelling is all lovely and beautiful beaches and sunsets, sometimes it is really very far from that!! By 10am in the morning, we had not only crossed the border from The Gambia to Senegal, but were on our sixth different mode of transport. A 15 minute walk from the lodge to the river at 6.15am, a boat, an overloaded four wheel drive being attacked by sandflies, a local bus, a motorbike across the border, and a supremely uncomfortable sept-place for the remainder of the journey. I could bore you with the logistics of trying to balance remaining hydrated whilst also ensuring that you don’t need the toilet for long periods of time - suffice to say, it is a challenge! Still it is all an adventure with equal elements of frustration and amusement along the way. The Senegalese immigration was particularly entertaining. The police officer seemed most concerned as to why I wasn’t married with children. We had quite a chat, in French, I might add, about this! 

A long day, but we are now back with the rest of the group in Dakar in a surprisingly nice hotel for three nights. Dakar is rather more modern and cosmopolitan than any of the other West African cities we have come across. On the whole, it is quite clean with actual pavements and sewage systems, tarred roads, nice restaurants. Some of the group will end their trip here and some new people join for the next leg of the journey from Dakar to Marrakech, through Mauritania and the Western Sahara. Bring on the desert!

Senegal and an escape to The Gambia

From Guinea-Bissau where I last wrote, we crossed the border into the south western corner of Senegal - the Casamance, described by guide books as Senegal’s “most seductive region”. Our first stop was the fishing village of Elinkine where we spent two nights camping on the sandy banks of the Casamance River, and took a pirogue (wooden canoe type boat) over to the island of Karabane. From Elinkine, we headed to the rather more touristy resort of Cap Skiring - very popular with French tourists. We had a day here to shop and lunch in the many French restaurants before heading off to the smaller village of Diembereng where we camped for two nights. A 15 minute walk from Diembereng took you to miles of virtually deserted beach, perfect for long beach walks where you might bump into a few fishermen pulling in nets or some cattle sunning themselves on the sands but no tourists. Senegal has certainly provided a reprieve from the heat with a breezy coastline and much cooler nights - in fact we have complained of being cold a number of times!!

After four nights in the southern Casamance, it was time to cross over the river into the northern part. Here we stayed in the village of Abene, again close to a windswept beach. Evening entertainment at camp came in the form of a kaumpo dance, a “kaumpo” being an evil forest spirit, and some amazing drumming. We also visited the town of Kafountine nearby which has a huge fish market. Hundreds of colourful boats line the shores, and as the fishermen bring in their catches, the fish are gutted and then dried and smoked. It is a massive operation with thousands of fish smoking away, and lorries lined up to transport them away. Fascinating to see but the smell is quite intense as you can imagine!

The plan after our week in Casamance was to head into The Gambia, a tiny little sliver of a country that splits the north and south of Senegal. However, the Presidents of Senegal and The Gambia are currently locked in a war of words (which is not uncommon for these two countries) and have closed the borders. This happened a few weeks ago and varying reports have been heard as to whether it is just closed to commercial vehicles or whether tourist vehicles are able to cross. Understandably, OWA decided they could not risk taking the truck into The Gambia after reports of some other overland vehicles being allowed in but then not being allowed out the other side! So the trip has had to bypass The Gambia and take a 1000km detour around it to get to the northern part of Senegal. 

However, as it doesn’t seem to be a problem for small numbers of tourists on foot to cross the border, Lexi (my tent mate) and I have decided to leave the truck and do The Gambia anyway. A rather more appealing option than long drive days through Senegal and given we have been on a truck for over two months already… we will rejoin the group in five days time in Dakar.

Consequently, I find myself writing this under some palm trees on a beautiful Gambian beach after a fun filled journey of local transport to get here. It felt somewhat liberating to be making our own way after two months of decisions being made for us. We left the truck in a town 15km from the border where we hopped into a minibus which took us to the border, got out, walked through Senegalese immigration / customs, got our passports stamped, hopped back in the minibus to drive through no man’s land, then got out again for The Gambian immigration. Visitors passes stamped in our passports, we purchased some Dalasi (the local Gambian currency), and then found a “sept-place” taxi (a seven seater taxi that leaves when it is full) to take us to the next main town. From there, we got on another bus to take us west to the beach. We thought the bus was full when we got on but it turned out that our definition of full and the Gambian definition of full are somewhat different. Packed to the rafters, we reached the village of Sanyang, where we had a restorative cup of tea, before taking a bus to the beach along with the ladies taking lunch to their fishermen husbands. Three hours after leaving Senegal, and having spent only the princely sum of about two British pounds, we found ourselves on a beautiful stretch of Gambian beach eating freshly caught fish for lunch. The Gambia is a seriously small country because our journey on a map looked like it would take all day, but actually took no time at all.

The Gambia has something of a reputation for being rather tame compared to the rest of West Africa given that it is a popular British package holiday destination. However, the beaches to the south of the tourist areas are delightfully quiet and we are in fact the only guests at our hotel. There is one other hotel next door where we had dinner last night and were also the only guests! We feel as if we have our own private resort and a bargain at less than ten pounds a night each for our room and breakfast. Will have a couple of nights here before exploring some more of this little country…

Guinea to Guinea-Bissau

When I try and recall what I’ve done over the past two weeks, what mostly stands out in my mind are the bumpy dusty roads, hiking in the Fouta Djalon highlands of Guinea, and a whole lot of swimming in rivers and waterfalls (in a futile attempt to wash off some of the dust and grime from my body).

Of course, there has been a whole lot more besides. After crossing the border from Sierra Leone into Guinea, we headed towards Conakry, the capital city, spending a night camping about 20km away. As is often the case, it was a long day as it involved a border crossing and we only arrived just before darkness. A post dinner dip in the river under the moon and the stars was most welcome since, whilst the campsite did have western style toilets, it didn’t have showers. And actually the toilets didn’t flush either. What you have to accept in West Africa is that not much works as you might expect. For example, if the toilet did flush, then the chances are the electricity wouldn’t work or the door wouldn’t close. Just have low expectations and then you won’t be disappointed!

The main purpose of our visit to Conakry was to obtain visas for Guinea-Bissau. This was a simple process because the Embassy didn’t require us to complete reams of paperwork or make any pretence that they would be assessing our applications in any way. All they wanted was the money, our passports and a passport photo, and a visa was duly issued. Whilst in Conakry, we also made a visit to a refugee school. The civil wars in countries such as Liberia and Sierra Leone led to many fleeing to other WA countries to seek refuge. The school was quite an eye-opener as it was based in a dark dank concrete high rise building where you could barely hear yourself speak due to the noise of traffic below.

From Conakry, we headed up into the Fouta Djalon highland region of Guinea. Spectacular scenery and slightly cooler nights made for a pleasant change, although the roads were, as always, dreadful. As we head towards the end of the dry season, there is just so much dust. Passing another vehicle leads to the truck being swathed in dust but it is also unfathomable to close the windows because of the heat. 

There were some fabulous hiking opportunities in the Fouta Djalon. One of my favourite places was a village called Doucki where we stayed in little thatch roofed round mud huts. Superb walks abounded with stunning views, vine ladders, scrambling over and jumping off rocks into rivers and waterfalls. We also had a nice break from cooking off the truck as the village provided meals for us. Not that Guinea has been challenging from a food shopping perspective as the fresh fruit and vegetables in the markets have been fantastic. Meat is always a bit more difficult to source and we did have an interesting time in one place trying to purchase chicken since only live ones were available. Trying to explain in French that you want chickens that have been killed and plucked to people that presumably buy them live and then just slaughter them as and when they want them was tricky. We did ultimately get chicken for dinner - very skinny ones but chicken nonetheless.

We have now left Guinea behind and are in the tiny country of Guinea-Bissau which only has a population of approximately 1.7 million. G-B is a former Portuguese colony although fortunately French is also reasonably widely spoken, otherwise communication would be difficult. G-B uses the CFA as its currency as do a number of other West African countries. Guinea, however, has its own - the Guinea Franc - and I am not sad to see the back of that. The largest note is 20,000 francs which equates to about £2. You are very unlikely to come across these notes (not quite sure why they don’t print some more), so normally you have even smaller denominations which means that you need a bag to carry your money around in rather than a wallet because so many notes are required to make up any sensible sum of money. 

We’ve spent just four nights in G-B. The first night at a bush camp just after crossing the border. For a country with such a small population, it took a very long time to find somewhere to camp that night as ideally we don’t want to be too close to a village since a bunch of white people setting up camp for the night does tend to draw a crowd! Then a night camping by Saltinho Falls (more swimming in rivers) and now two nights in the capital Bissau. As a city, it is totally different from any other West African city that we’ve visited. Much quieter with a lot less hustle and bustle, and lots of crumbling Portuguese colonial buildings. Our hotel is in one such building and I’m rather enjoying sitting out on our balcony watching the world go by below. Making the most of the wifi and air conditioning today - it’s a mere 39 degrees centigrade outside. Off to Senegal tomorrow….

Liberia to Sierra Leone

Six weeks gone and six new countries visited. The first leg of the trip is now over after arriving in Freetown yesterday afternoon. A day to regroup and say goodbye to those that are leaving us and meet the new passengers joining us on the next leg from Freetown to Dakar.

We’ve had some fabulous beach time in both Liberia and Sierra Leone which boast some of the best beaches in the world. Palm trees, golden sand, crystal clear warm seas and very few people - in fact, it is very easy to find stretches of coast line that you can have entirely to yourself. The Sierra Leone beaches are particularly spectacular with forest covered mountains meeting the ocean (the name Sierra Leone meaning Lion Mountains). These countries are both hidden gems which will surely one day have tourist industries. After their turbulent pasts, they were both starting to get back on their feet before ebola struck. It has been fascinating particularly to visit Sierra Leone, a country that I always think of as prefixed by the words “war torn”. Whilst most West African countries have had civil wars, Sierra Leone’s was particularly brutal in terms of the nature of the fighting, its child soldiers, the methods of killing, and an estimated one in three women and girls raped. It is shocking and hard to comprehend what these people have lived through. In a small village on the banks of the Moa River, a young man who took us on a walking tour of Tiwai Island described how, as a child, their entire village was burnt and the many times they had to run and hide in the forest to escape the fighting. Three of his siblings were killed during the civil war.

Tiwai Island is a conservation area that is home to 11 different species of primate and numerous birds, as well as the very elusive and nocturnal pygmy hippos. Suffice to say, we were not fortunate enough to find any of those, but we did see Red Colobus monkeys, Diana monkeys, Campbell’s monkeys and the Sooty Mangabey monkeys (who even knew that there was a monkey known as the Sooty Mangabey?!). It was a special experience to take an early morning walk through the forest to the sounds of the monkeys and the birds in the trees above.

The roads in Sierra Leone have been the worst yet. I feel as if I have spent several days of my life driving along single vehicle width dirt roads bordered by dense jungle on either side, although in fact it was probably only two days. The “main road” from the border with Liberia was particularly slow usually only covering about 10km (6 miles) per hour. So yes, it is entirely possible to run faster than that, however the heat, the dust and the humidity might slow you down! Sierra Leone has a rainy season and what the locals call the baking season. We are currently in the baking season which is probably just as well because the roads would all be completely impassable during the rains. Seemingly, there is no happy medium between torrential damaging rains and insufferable heat here… Will be making the most of my air conditioned hotel room today as we head out of Freetown tomorrow to cross the border into Guinea.. which means guaranteed sitting around at the border for several hours in the blazing heat for no apparent reason..the joys of travelling in West Africa!

Cote d'Ivoire to Guinea to Liberia

This could be a long post as we had only just reached Cote d’Ivoire when I last wrote, and since then we’ve been to Guinea and are a few days in to Liberia.

When I last wrote we were in Yamoussoukro, the capital of Cote d’Ivoire, where a former President built a basilica to rival the Vatican in Rome. A stunning building yet totally out of place. One could question where the funds came from to build such an incredible structure but apparently it was “a gift from God”!!

From Yamoussoukro, we had a day long drive before finding a bush camp in a logging clearing. The forests of Cote d’Ivoire are seemingly being felled at quite a rate. Next stop was a remote village, with no running water or electricity, where we watched a stilt dancing performance. We had quite a welcome with the whole village turning out to greet us and never leaving our sides. An audience of at least 100 watching us eat meals, wash up, put our tents up, brush our teeth, etc, etc. To be honest, you couldn’t even go to the toilet in peace as the pigs follow you into the bushes and are rooting around your feet ready to provide a clean up service!! 

Time to leave Cote d’Ivoire behind and head to Guinea. The roads heading towards the border crossing were nothing more than dirt roads and got progressively worse the closer to the border we got. As you may recall from my previous post, we had to get special permission from the Prime Minister to cross this border. Consequently it took a while to get to the border because we got stopped at several police check points and even taken to the police station whilst they checked the validity of our document with the authorities in Abidjan. We finally made it to the border at sunset with the intention of camping at the border. The Cote d’Ivoire officials let us through to the Guinea side although they couldn’t stamp our passports to confirm our exit because they didn’t have a stamp to hand! Then the Guinean officials couldn’t be bothered to process us unless we paid a bribe and didn’t want to grant us permission to camp there for the night either. So we were rather stuck in no-man’s land between the two borders. However, a river runs between the border so whilst negotiations continued, we took the opportunity for a much needed wash and cool down. Ultimately we were allowed to camp the night and the Guinean officials said they would process us in the morning. 

Another waiting game the next morning as it was all obviously too much like hard work for them to bother stamping our passports, so they sent us on to the next check point. Here a very serious border official spent a couple of hours meticulously recording all our details into his ledger before we were finally stamped into Guinea officially and could get on our way.

Our time in Guinea was just five days in the south east corner as we will be returning to other areas of Guinea later in the trip. We spent two nights in the town of Nzerekore camping in the grounds of the best hotel in town - which sounds way more glamorous than it was. Access to showers limited to the outside showers by the pool, but at least there was a pool and a chance to unwind after a busy few days on the road. We also went dancing in the hotel nightclub which was lots of fun but probably the sweatiest place I have ever been. They don’t sell drinks - it really is just a place where people go to dance but the floor is wet from sweat - kind of like dancing in a sauna actually….!

Every day of this trip, it just keeps on getting hotter and hotter. I have never known such relentless heat and humidity. On leaving Nzerekore, it was time for a bit of activity with a walk to visit a vine bridge. Amazingly, bridges are built entirely of woven vines across huge rivers. We also went trekking in the forests of Guinea to see chimpanzees which was a highlight. They are now becoming increasingly rare as their habitats are under pressure from human impact. Such a treat to see them in the wild. We had a young male hurling sticks at us from a tree so clearly he wasn’t quite as pleased to see us!

All in all, I really enjoyed Guinea and look forward to returning. They really don’t get many tourists and we were met with huge smiles and hordes of children running out of schools to wave as we drove through villages. Dreadful roads but beautiful lush green forests which makes a pleasant change from the dry dusty flatness that we saw so much of in Ghana and parts of Burkina Faso.

And on to Liberia. Once again, terrible roads to get to the border and I seem to recall several hours of waiting around to complete our exit of Guinea - clearly they didn’t want us to leave because it took them a ridiculous length of time to let us through. I would love to have photos of some of these borders but photography at border crossings is strictly prohibited. Most of the borders are signified by a piece of rope across the road, a corrugated roofed hut or two, and a bunch of men wearing a motley selection of combat clothes, some wielding the odd AK47.

Liberia seems to be slightly more ebola aware than other countries as we had to wash our hands and have our temperature taken - luckily we were all recorded as “healthy” in the book. Unusually, there was also a female customs official who was very determined to do her job fully and for the first time, the truck was searched - not in any way a proper search but they made a token effort of opening a few bags! Interestingly, Liberia is the only African country that has a female Head of State. This might imply that Liberia is slightly more advanced than other African countries but far from it. Liberia, “land of the free”, is where the Americans freed their slaves who then, knowing no other life, went about enslaving the indigenous population of Liberia. Ultimately this led to a very unhappy state of affairs and a 20 year long civil war. The US pour in a massive amount of aid to Liberia but seemingly to no avail. The capital, Monrovia, is full of UN marked vehicles and this is the first country where we aren’t greeted with open arms. Liberia has no tourism to speak of so a bunch of white people are initially treated with some distrust. That said, it is a beautiful country. We headed up into the hills for our first night and had the most spectacular views over Cote d’Ivoire / Guinea / Liberia. Swam in a beautiful lake the next day, and some waterfalls a couple of days later. Shower opportunities are infrequent to say the least so any form of swim / wash is always a highlight! Now off to the beaches of Robertsport on the coast of Liberia and frantically rushing to complete this before we depart Monrovia so I will leave it there for now..

Burkina to Cote d'Ivoire

Our departure from Ouaga was slightly delayed by the need to obtain visas for Mali through which we may or may not be taking a quick detour via depending on whether we can get permission to cross the Cote d’Ivoire / Guinea border. This border has been closed on and off over the past year due to Ebola and presidential elections in both countries. Ouaga is the last place in which we can obtain Malian visas so we have acquired them just in case… Consequently we didn’t make it to Bobo that day and had to stop and bush camp en route.

Bobo, Burkina’s second city, was in places reminiscent of India with animals grazing on mountains of rubbish. Actually the rubbish throughout West Africa so far has been quite astounding. Sadly the countryside is littered with plastic bags and cities are full of smouldering piles of rubbish.

From Bobo, we headed to the southwest of Burkina, the Banfora region, which is much greener and lusher. Spent an afternoon by some fantastic waterfalls and then a beautiful bush camp for the night amidst these incredible rock formations shaped like domes.

From there a short drive early morning to take a piroque (wooden canoe type boat) on the lake to watch hippos. As it turned out, just the one hippo put in an appearance... Then on to visit a sacred baobab tree whose guardian was quite a unique character! Next was one of my favourite places so far - Sindou peaks which are these stunning rock formations where we enjoyed a late afternoon walk and the fabulous views. We were based here for two nights and also made a visit to a cave village in the hills that tribes formerly used up until the 90s to escape tribal conflicts.

Next stop - Cote d’Ivoire, a country that was once doing relatively well, then was torn apart by civil war which only ended in 2004. One can reasonably anticipate that a border crossing will take several hours even if you already have a visa for the country that you are entering. This one was yet further delayed by a new rule introduced by the Ivorians that you now must have proof that you have had the meningitis vaccination. With typical African logic, if entering by air or any border other than a northern one, it is not required. However, the officials refused to budge and so we had no alternative but to have the vaccination. Once across the border, the roads became very pot holed and dusty thus further slowing our progress. 

Some more longer driving days ahead as the distances between places of interest in Cote d’Ivoire are greater, but there is never a dull moment on a road trip through Africa. There will always be numerous road blocks and police stops to contend with, although to be fair the majority of officials so far have been very friendly. They seem to be fascinated by the truck and use any excuse to get on board and have a look around! One of my favourite sights was that of four cows being transported on top of a minibus! They appeared to be quite content - probably a normal mode of transport for them - but I couldn’t help but wonder how they got there in the first place. I wish I had been able to take a photo but as there was a policeman nearby, I wasn’t able to do so. A definite no-no is taking photos of armed police!

News just in is that the Ivorian Prime Minister has finally signed off our permit to cross the Cote d’Ivoire / Guinea border. Great news as it means we won’t have to make the Mali detour after all so a lot less driving and only three nights of bush camping ahead of us as opposed to five which in fairness was not an appealing prospect given the oppressive heat. The humidity has increased massively in the last couple of days and we are all slowly melting…

Trying to upload some photos as I write this but - quelle surprise - the wifi is a little on the slow side...

A Birthday in Burkina Faso

When I woke up yesterday morning and my tent mate asked me what I wanted for my birthday, I replied a shower and the opportunity to do some laundry. When you’ve been on the road for a while, it is the simple things in life that you crave! I had forgotten just how grubby overlanding is. Layers of dust and filth, wearing the same clothes for days on end, but also seeing and experiencing so many amazing places and things, that ultimately it is all worth a little discomfort along the way.

So my day started in the village of Tiebele in the south of Burkina Faso. Waking up in my tent pitched on a roof top of a mud brick painted house to the sounds of chickens, donkeys and pigs below. A breakfast of pancakes, then packed up the truck and back on the road to Ouagadougou (pronounced Waga-do-goo), the capital city of BF. Arrived there around lunchtime to discover that the campsite we had been planning to stay in had closed down. Whilst Al and Jase went off with the truck to find alternative accommodation, we were left with five hours to kill in Ouagadougou. A blazing hot day, a hectic city, and not the ideal way to spend my birthday it has to be said! However, on the plus side, we have had to stay in a “hotel” for two nights so a bed and a shower - as in a proper shower, not a bucket, very exciting as it has been about a week since I’ve had one of those. And we weren’t expecting to sleep in an actual bed until Freetown in mid March, so what an unexpected bonus. The “hotel” is run by nuns and is university halls of residence type rooms, but it is more than adequate (when you’re used to a tent anything would seem good). It is quite an oasis in the centre of the city.

When we crossed the border from English speaking Ghana into French speaking Burkina Faso, it was immediately noticeable how much poorer BF is. A landlocked country with not much in the way of natural resources, most people get by on subsistence farming. It is very hot and dry, as was the northern part of Ghana. I last wrote when we were about to leave Kumasi, Ghana’s second city. From there, we spent a night bush camping (i.e. zero facilities) by some waterfalls, then it was on to Mole National Park for two nights. Whilst Ghana can not compete with East or South Africa for safari experiences, it was probably better than I expected. We did a walking safari one morning which ended with us standing by the water’s edge watching the elephants come to drink and bathe. The elephants and the warthog are very habituated to people so you do get very close. The warthogs were all over the campsite, as were the rather less welcome baboons. There were also a few different types of antelope around - bushbuck, hartebeest, impala and waterbuck.

From Mole, we drove north towards the border, spending the night at a lovely quiet bush camp. To be honest, it is sometimes easier to bush camp because you have no expectation of being able to do anything other than have a wet wipe wash. Whereas if you are staying at an actual campsite, you start to envisage running water, showers and toilets, only to get there and discover they aren't working which is always a disappointment. Our driving days are generally punctuated by stops in towns to buy fresh food, explore the markets and visit any other sights of interest along the way. We are split into four cook groups so every fourth day is a shopping / cooking day. It can be quite a challenge to buy foods depending on where you stop. Most of the time you are shopping in local markets as supermarkets are only found in large cities. We’ve all had some fairly horrifying meat purchasing experiences as you watch a guy hacking hunks of beef off a carcass on a dirty wooden table in a hot market with flies buzzing around. Having said that, no one had been ill, so it would appear that if you cook something for long enough all germs will die!! And amazingly, despite the limited resources, there have been some very good meals produced. 

The border crossing from Ghana into BF was typically African - slow and painful with lots of waiting around for no apparent reason. Bizarrely, it took a lot longer to get our passports stamped to leave Ghana than it did to purchase visas for BF and enter that country. After crossing the border, we spent two nights in Tiebele which was a new stop for Overlanding West Africa. It was a really interesting place and our local guide there showed us a lot of the area and explained the history of the painted houses. We also saw pottery making, gold mining, farming and traditional dancing. Now we are in Ouagadougou for two nights. A chance to be away from truck life, have some internet and eat out in restaurants. Birthday dinner last night at "Le Showbiz Restaurant” complete with wine and cake, and now for a relaxing Sunday catching up on chores such as laundry, sorting out photos, and internet. Tomorrow we head to BF’s second city, Bobo, which will be a very long driving day...

Ghana - forts, castles, rainforest and beaches

A very speedy update from Ghana! Was planning to write a blog update later today but have just discovered the internet cafe closes in an hour's time and won't reopen again before we leave town..

Since leaving the capital city of Accra, we headed west along the coast to a place called Elmina where we spent two nights camping on the beach. A beautiful spot - palm trees, white sand, and warm water, although we were mostly out and about visiting various places so only found time for a quick swim on the final afternoon. Whilst the weather is hot and the sea was warm, the skies are very hazy rather than sunny. Apparently this is typical of this time of year when the Saharan winds blow a dust over West Africa. Whilst we don't feel the winds this far south, the sky is grey and hazy.

There are several forts and castles along the coastline where the slave trade once flourished. This was where the slaves were held for months on end before being traded and shipped overseas. Very interesting and humbling to visit when one considers the unimaginable suffering that once took place there. On a brighter note, we took a trip inland to a great area of unspoilt rainforest which had canopy walkways in the treetops. We also saw the coffin makers at work. In Ghana, many people are buried inside the most incredibly intricate coffins carved out of wood. Shapes range from cars to tigers to a coke can!!

We are now in Kumasi, Ghana's second city, and home to West Africa's largest market. Arrived here yesterday late afternoon and we are camping rather randomly in the grounds of the Presbyterian Mission for two nights. Today is very much a free day in terms of deciding what we do be it visiting the market, cultural centre, relaxing, etc. We will leave tomorrow morning to head north towards Mole National Park which is apparently home to lots of elephants so looking forward to seeing some wildlife.

Accra, Ghana

Arrived in Accra late on Saturday night after flying from Heathrow via Lisbon and then on to Accra which is the capital city of Ghana. The trip officially started on Monday morning, although several of the group met before that as most of us were staying at the same hotel. Fourteen of us, plus our two drivers (Al and Jason), will be traveling via truck from Accra to Freetown - a 42 day trip taking in Ghana, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Guinea and Sierra Leone. Many of us will continue on subsequent trips north towards Morocco whilst some passengers will leave in Freetown and some new ones will join. For this section of the trip, we are a largely British contingent, although we do have a token Aussie, Kiwi, Canadian and Uruguayan. Apart from a couple of people who have travelled together before, we are all independent travellers so I’m enjoying getting to know new people. Everyone is extremely well travelled so all have interesting travelling stories to share.

After meeting on Monday morning, unsurprisingly there have been lots of administrative matters to sort out before we can get on board the truck and on our way. Despite having travelled extensively in other parts of Africa, I can see already that West Africa is going to be a whole different ball game from a logistical point of view! Obviously, visas are required for all the different countries we are to visit and whilst some we were able to obtain in London prior to travel, many have to be applied for en route. So our first task on meeting as a group was to complete applications for our Guinea visas. That was a fairly painless process as we were not required to attend the Embassy in person but sent our passports, applications, passport photos, visa fees, etc off with a local guide. He magically reappeared that evening with our passports complete with Guinea visas!

However, we also need to get visas for the Ivory Coast before we leave Accra and that particular Embassy has chosen to make the process rather more painful. Firstly, you have to make an online payment and print off proof of payment. Sounds simple right? Not when you are in a country that barely has workable wifi. The wifi at the hotel is pretty much non-existent although we are told that it is the best wifi that we will have for some weeks to come!! So based on that, you may not be hearing from me very often.. Anyway, after time spent in internet cafes we all managed the first part of the process yesterday. Then today, we had to go in person to the Embassy and submit our applications. Those visas will hopefully be issued tomorrow afternoon, but Jason is going to stay behind to collect them so that we can continue on our way and not waste any more time in Accra. Hopefully he will catch up with us at some point with our passports!!

After stocking up on food and drink, we are now ready to head out of town first thing tomorrow morning. Really excited to be getting back on the road and seeing what else Ghana has to offer. We will be heading west along the coast, and camping on the beach for a couple of nights before heading towards the northern part of Ghana.

Aside from all the admin, there has been time to see some of Accra too. It is a typically dirty, dusty, sprawling, bustling African city. Friendly people, but very anti-photographs so not easy to get pictures of street scenes for example without upsetting someone! No taxi driver seems to have a clue where anything is, although inevitably they will say that they do and then get hopelessly lost! Some of us did a walking tour yesterday and visited a local school and the markets. Music seems to be a big part of Ghanian life and school assembly at the end of each day includes lots of drumming and dancing which was great to watch. Certainly seemed a lot more fun than my school assemblies! The local markets are fascinating with masses of spices. I was particularly intrigued by the bowls of dried chameleons which apparently have great medicinal qualities…

Whilst I could undoubtedly rattle on for longer, I will leave it there for now because I’m not entirely sure that the wifi is going to allow me to post this…fingers crossed.

Here we go again....

Well, it has been a while. So much so, that I’m not sure where to start! I kept a blog when I took an overland trip from Cairo to Cape Town in 2011. Now I’m about to embark on a new adventure and due to several requests from family and friends, I am starting up the blog again. This is the “test run” blog entry to check that I can still remember how to string a sentence together and that my log in works!!

As most of you will know, I have a huge love affair with the African continent so it will come as no surprise to learn that this is where I am headed once again. Having visited 16 of the 54 African countries, this next trip will take in a few more. (And yes, I did just google “number of African countries” to find that out!). This trip will focus on West Africa, beginning in Ghana on 1^st Feb and finishing in Morocco at the beginning of May. As the itinerary stands, I will be travelling from Ghana, through Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea Bissau, Senegal, Gambia, Mauritania, and Western Sahara before reaching Morocco. For more info, visit www.overlandingwestafrica.com who I will be travelling with.

If my next adventure interests you (or horrifies you which seems to me a common reaction), then feel free to follow the blog.

Off to complete the dreaded packing now and I leave you with this quote…

“Africa changes you forever, like nowhere on earth. Once you have been there, you will never be the same. But how do you begin to describe its magic to someone who has never felt it? How can you explain the fascination of this vast, dusty continent, whose oldest roads are elephant paths? Could it be because Africa is the place of all our beginnings, the cradle of mankind, where our species first stood upright on the savannahs of long ago?"

Brian Jackman