Snapshots of the trip

Namibia:  Turning 45; finding our groove; camping near Sossusvlei

Angola:  Beach camp near Lucira; raw desert beauty and wild Atlantic; três mil; chef Tony

DRC:  Kibeti - a mind-altering and liberating experience; nearly breaking Precious

Congo:  Beautiful Brazzaville; South African farmers; Dimani Falls

Gabon:  Sette Cama freedom; nearly losing Peggy

Cameroon:  Culmination of a lot of negativity on the trip and finding a way through it

Nigeria:  Surprisingly less scarey than anticipated, but still a relief to have it behind us

Benin:  A wonderful Christmas in the north; meeting Lies and Milou

Ghana part 1:  Peggy ill again

Togo:  Who else but the lecherous lepidopterist; fascinating cliff village of Nano

Burkina Faso:  Freedom from myself and long-help trip anxieties; wonderful bush camping; fun with Peggy and Jen

Ghana part 2:  Great Blue Turaco; slave histories; rastas; shooter parties; turning 46

Back where we started

On Sunday 26 May we made our way back to Table Mountain, 413 days after we started!  It was a little eerie in thick mist.

 



Precious is out of her box

At long last we've got Precious back.  We cleared her in Durban port this morning, 40 days after packing her up in Tema.  Now for the last leg to Montagu to fetch Peggy and then on to Cape Town.

 

Things I’ll miss

·         Living simple

·         Seeing the stars as I lie in bed in my tent

·         The taste of real “organic” fruit and vegetables

·         Living by the sun – up at dawn, asleep just after nightfall

·         White teeth and smiling brown eyes

·         600mls of ice cold beer

·         “Life” being your exercise routine

·         Peggy’s licks, cuddles and greetings

·         Fat pink baobabs

·         Meeting new people and seeing their faces when we tell them our story

·         Cheery waves as we drive past

·         Sighting new birds

·         The open road taking us somewhere new

·         The gentle alarm clock of birdsong as the sky begins to lighten

·         REAL companionship – my dear friend Belinda

Things I won’t miss

·         Out stretched hands – “Donné moi . .”

·         Long drops after dark once the roaches come out

·         Hand nose blowing

·         Being slimy and sweaty right after a cold shower

·         Seeing live chickens hanging by their feet

·         Smarmy policemen at check points – “What did you bring me today?”

·         Being woken pre-dawn by the incessant sweeping

·         Public urination

·         Crap internet connections

·         Skinny dogs with bloated teats

·         Longing for just a quick catch up with family and friends

·         Pigs/goats/calves trussed up on the back of a motor bike weaving through the city traffic

·         Seeing pre-adolescent girls carrying loads on their heads that would make a grown man break out in a sweat

·         The smell of sewage, burning plastic, sour manioc

Djin's on her way home

Going home in 4 parts is rubbish!  Jen left last night for Joburg.  Reunion G&T planned for Durban where we hope to collect Precious in a few weeks.

Peggy's on her way home

Last night, we kissed Pegs goodbye and put her in a box bound for Cape Town.  The poor girl will only arrive in Cape Town this afternoon and then has 2 weeks quarantine to look forward to.  It was strange waking up this morning without a wet nose in my face!

With Peggy and Preshy gone, it's really feeling like the end of the trip.

 

 

Preshy's on her way home

Bound for Durban.  All strapped down...



 

... and tucked in

This container had BETTER be in Durban by mid-May!

1 year and 1 week on the road

Last Tuesday we celebrated a whole 12 months on the road, with G&T's of course.  Quite a feat... the 12 months, I mean.  G&T's are par for the course!

Brilliant Burkina Faso

At the end of January, we left Ghana with its well-worn tourism and headed for roads less travelled in Burkina, taking a week to get there via Togo. Our original plan was to get there in time for the Festival-au-Desert in Exile from Mali, but that had been cancelled, leaving us with no fixed itinerary, free to wonder until we got tired.

Burkina is an amazing country: so laid-back and beautiful in its raw, Sahelian way. We soaked up being on the edge of the desert, driving through low scrubby bushveld and miombo woodland, stopping for water at small village pumps and passing little surprises of small damned rivers where villagers were washing (themselves and their vehicles), cattle were drinking and where even our Pegs could have a little splash or two.

Our first stop was Kompienga Lake, close to the border with Togo and Benin. We camped in the parking lot and used the freezing cold pool. Abundant bird life held our attention (we saw nearly 60 birds there) and one evening, a herd of ellies made their way to the water's edge. And we weren't even in a reserve.

On the way to Ouagadougou, we bush-camped for two nights. Burkina-Faso isn't very densely populated, so it was relatively easy to sneak into the bush away from villages. Harder to keep Peggy quiet as she chased bats and swallows competing for evening insects. One morning, we managed to get slightly lost finding the road (see Jen's earlier post). Do you really get lost, or do you just see more than you bargained for? I wonder how the toothless men on bikes who we asked for directions would answer that?

Ouaga was a real surprise. Wide streets, gentle traffic and great shopping – gorgeous fabrics and stunning brass work at the artisinals. By now we have the space to stock up on curios, but not the money. Memories will have to do. In Ouaga, we camped in the parking lot of the OK Inn Hotel. Parking lot camping was a bit of a feature of Burkina!

From there we went on to Bobo-Dioloussa, stopping at the Parc de Deux Bales en route, where Peggy had her first close encounter with elephant who came to drink at the river next to the camp. She wasn't that impressed and barked a lot at them. Imagine being allowed to camp in a national park with your dog! And then not getting kicked out when she barks!

In Bobo, we saw the beautiful stick-and-mud mosque and then visited the old town which was interesting, until we were shown the sacred catfish flopping around a stinking pool of water! Part of the tour is to throw chunks of bread into the water and watch the catfish wrestle for it. Hard to understand sanctity in such a cesspit.

Having had our fill of cities, we headed for Lake Téngrela near Banfora where we hung out for another 5 nights, laughed at by hippos joking in the lake while Peggy stalked hundreds of Jacanas screeching at her in the reeds. We racked up our 100^th bird here. 100 birds in one country! Djin also racked up another marriage proposal. These men would stand a better chance if they could remember her name!

Further south-west, the landscape becomes more hilly, with peculiar rock formations. At Sindou, we stopped for 2 nights to see the peaks at dawn and dusk. It's hard to describe them and the photos don't really do it justice. Mostly, we had the whole place to ourselves which was a real treat. Even further into the south-west corner where Burkina, Côte d'Ivoire and Mali converge, we visited Niansogoni where villagers once moved their homes up into the cliff to escape marauding tribesmen and other nasties. They only came out 33 years ago, disbelieving that the country had been independent for 27 years and the colonials were long gone. We had visited a similar place at Nano in northern Togo and we showed our guide photos from there and from Pays Dogon in Mali as well. (No, we didn't get to Mali: those pics were from a previous trip!) He had heard of these places, but was blown away by the visuals. One good reason to have a laptop with all your photos on it!

We took really minor roads to get back to Banfora, seeing even more marvellous landscape on the way. Near Banfora, we stayed for 2 nights at Campement Baobab (not a bao in the whole establishment!) and spent International Women's Day at the Karfiguéla Falls, cooling off after walking to the fantasy land of the Dômes de Fabedougou in the midday sun. Only mad dogs and English women, they say!

On our last night in Burkina, we arrived late at Diébougou, near the border with north-west Ghana. We hit a blank with the guidebook, so I asked at the police station for directions to a cheap hotel. The man on duty knew of none, but offered us the police station's backyard, complete with brambles and curious neighbours stopping to stare. What a way to end our Burkina adventure!

Grease is the Word

With apologies to Frankie Vallie and the Bee Gees 

Change Preshy's oil and I'm such a sight
All engine grease and oil, Peggy get's quite a fright

There ain't no danger of scaring Djin too

She's just as filthy now, with all that suncream goo

Grease is the word!

They think this trip is just a jolly game

Why don't they understand?  It's just a cryin' shame

Everyday we're on the working loop

The day starts at the wheel, a suit of cream and gloop

Grease is the word!

Grease is the word, is the word that you heard

It's got dust, it's so grimy

Grease is the car, sunblock, mosi-repellent

Grease is all over, oh blimey!

We take a shower and we scrub away

Grease, dust, grime, slime and filth, but then we reapply

There is no chance that we can stop right there

We need it for protection of our skins so fair

Grease is the word!

This is life on roads all dusty

grime and sweat mix up

Sun and guard mosi

What are we doin' here???

Going "bos" in Burkina.

After a few days of relatively civilised camping in the parking lot of a lakeside lodge, Djin and Tonic hit the back roads towards Ouagadougou.

 

They rattle along in the dry, dusty countryside, past baked mud houses in waterless fields. When the sun is “too hands above the horizon” the team sneak off the road to find a place to camp for the night. Sneaking is hard to do in a 3 ton Land Rover, but Precious is practiced and keeps her head low. Tonic does some skilful driving, weaving around bushes and dodging tree stumps. Once they get a fair distance from the road, they set up camp in a suitable spot.

 

They have large bottles of tonic, so Djin shares out the last  few fingersof the gin and they toast the setting sun. After cold leftovers, Djin and Tonic retire to their tents. Peggy keeps watch. They team rise with the sun and do a spot of birding over mugs of freshly brewed coffee. Djin spikes hers with the last of her gifted whiskey.

 

All too soon, the time comes to move on and they set off back to the road. But alas, where is it? It can't be far. Perhaps if they follow this track it'll lead there. Shortly, they meet 2 elderly Burkinabé men on bicycles coming towards them. Tonic gets out to ask directions. The locals are polite, but their mirth shows through their gap-toothed smiles. They must turn around and follow the track. The town isn't far. Djin offers them he 2 empty liquor bottles. They nod in an understanding kind of way and strap them on their bikes, alongside their hoes. 

 

Shortly, a Land Rover, 2 white women and a pink-tongued dog inside can be seen following a couple of bicycles along a track through the African bushveld. It's not long and the track joins the road to town. Djin and Tonic call out their thanks and wave goodbye. Peggy barks out a warning. 

 

One can only imagine the talk around the fire that night. “Les blanches! OOh la la. Elles sont absolutment fou!”

New Year - New Hair

B for Benin

A belated and brief blurb about our "besoek" to Benin

• began with a beach for a breather - but that was brief - we were bothered by barking that drove Peggy beserk
• battling with French - Belinda becoming bilingual
• brown, barren bush beset with baobabs and boulders
• bathing in blue pools below beautiful waterfalls
• bountiful birding - barbets, bush-shrikes and bulbuls 
• bargaining for bric-a-brac - beads, bracelets, batiks and bronzes
• a banquet for Christmas - our beverage . . not beer, a bottle of wine with blissful bouquet
• Abomey - barbaric kings of before - battles, bloodshed and beheadings
• Ouidah - bondage and slavery - a "billion" barefeet, chained - broken souls boarding boats from the beach, bound for beyond
• bon homie and new friendships - buddies my bru
• "black magic and voodoo - bones, beasts and boas
• a birthday - blessed am I

The Contiki Tour

On 3 Jan, we did like Contiki and saw 3 countries in one day.  We left Ouidah, Benin in the morning, had brunch in Togo and a roadside lunch in Ghana, reaching Accra in the late afternoon.  Crossing Togo's coastline took less than an hour, being all of 56km long.

In Togo, we crossed into GMT and stopped for a G&T in Lomé.  As we left the restaurant, I realised I had moved my watch forward one hour, instead of back and we had ordered a G&T at 10 o'clock in the morning.  No wonder the waitress' smile was pitiful!