3 Countries in 2 Days

After leaving Niamey we stopped by the village of Koure, found ourselves a guide (compulsory) and headed off into the girrafe park. It was great, we hadn't gone far at all when the guide spotted one munching away on an acacia tree, then another and a little further away a mother girraffe with its baby. Wonderful. We decided to stay in the park that night and after putting out our sleeping bags settled down to watch the sunset.
A long day followed, too long infact and a lot of it on piste road (pot holes as big as a house and sandy, gravelly corrugation) but we made it to Maradi as planned, completly exhausted, with no energy to even complain about the cockroaches in the bathrooms!
Rested, we set off to Zinder, again alot of piste but less km's, so we made it to Zinder with some of the afternoon left. A guide immediately sprung upon us and announced that today was a special day in town, the opening ceromony of a festival was taking place and the Sultan of the town and his ministers would be in attendance...and the highlight - a blind competition! Whatever that entailed we had no idea but we all hopped on the back off moto-taxis and wizzed off.
A huge crowd was already gathered when we arrived with many offical looking poeple in great outfits sitting down listening to a man giving a speech to the local TV cameras.
Then the main event.....5 blind people, from of a very large group of blind people, were led into the middle of the area, told to kneel down in a large circle and when they were all positioned correctly a live chicken was thrown in to the middle of them, the 5 blind people then frantically tried to catch the chicken, one man caught it almost immediately (the winner being the one who catches it first) The crowd then errupted into loud laughter as the four others were busy scraping around on the ground still trying to catch it.
I thought I had seen a lot of things already on this journey but that, well that just topped it all!!!!
We then had a guided tour of the palace of the Sultan before sunset, then sorted out some necessties - buying fuel, changing money into Nigerian Niara, stocking up on water...
Next morning we set off to the border town of Diffa, where we stayed the night amid cockroach infested bathrooms and lizards to wake us in the morning!
So to the border. An easy exit from Niger and 20 metres further on an extremely friendly welcome into Nigeria. We gave Pierre a break from being translater for a while and enjoyed being able to chat in English. The border was quick and painless and we were not even asked about the Lasse Passe for the vehicles. So with confirmation from them that the road onwards was good all the way to Maidaguri we headed off into Nigeria.
Well the good road turned very quickly into an absolutely terrible road....a sandy bumpy track became thick sand with occasional streams to cross and 3 hours and only 30 km's later we made it to the tarred road.
I have never felt so exhausted trying to ride the bike through sand like that - I could have wrung my t-shirt out with all the sweating! The bikes are too heavy for such conditions...and my legs are too short to push myself out when I get stuck!!
But another challenge overcome and we found our hotel in Maidaguri....a rather hilarious totally un-renovated or un-touched place since the early 70's.
After some money and currency dealings the next morning (its impossible to use Mastercard anywhere in Africa, even with banks displaying MC signs and there are limited Visa ATM's) we sped off to the border at Banki to cross into Cameroon.
We got stamped out of Nigeria with no problems but with no Visa in our passports for Cameroon we were escorted to the police station and told that we would have to stay the night in Banki and then be police escorted to the next large town in the morning as it was getting late and not only would the visa office be closed but they could not guarantee our safety if we continued!
So we holed up in a campement, ate some rather awful chicken and played cards to keep our spirits up and hoped morning arrived sooner rather than later.
Which it did, so we collected our (very serious) police escort and drove with him all the way to Maroua.
Passing through great scenery along the way....mountainous and green.
At the immigration office, after being told we had insulted the Cameroon people by arriving in the country with no visa, we waited a few hours until we paid up and got the stamp.
After all this excitment we thankfully checked into the nicest hotel we have stayed in all trip.....monkeys and Ostriches in the garden, a swimming pool, a great restaurant and bar and a huge en-suite room for 4 for the bargain price of 7 euros per person! Yes!
Not to be too idle though we hooked up with a guide who chatted with us about an itinerary for the next couple of days if we stayed in Maroua.
We all agreed to a visit to a village amongst the Mandara Mountains, Rhumsiki and a days visit to National Park Waza.
We have had a great day today (thurs) at Rhumsiki, a beautiful place, surrounded by huge volcanic rock formations and in the village we met lots of the locals; potters,weavers. The highlight for me was meeting the village fortune teller/witch doctor who told our fortunes using a pot of sand, some carefully placed stones and a live crab thrown in on top. We each asked one question of him, he spat a few times on the crab, asked the crab our question, threw it in the pot and waited....a moment or two later he took the crab out of the pot and listened to the crabs answer....all i can say is that was one hell of a wise crab.
So tommorrow we are off to Waza to see some big game and then Saturday we will continue south through Cameroon. Next stop the town of Garoua, then N'Gouandere.
with love to everybody....xxx

No stopping us now!

After four long and hard days in Ouagadougou, we finally came to a desicion. Our days were spent in absolute confusion mainly, one minute convinced we could not make it to Gabon and the next positive we could. All that and the 3 boys with stomach bugs and in bed most of the time.
With a lot of help from some african guides and talking to officials and embassies we have decided to cross the South of Niger, into the north of Nigeria at Diffa where we can drive through to the Cameroon border at Banki in a day or two at the most. We will then drive through the whole of Cameroon and into Gabon.
We left Ouagadougou yesterday morning (weds) and drove nearly 600 km's, crossed the border into Niger, no problems there, and made it to the capital, Niamey, where we successfully got the visa for Nigeria this morning.....well i say no problems....not for everyone else but if you are British....that'll be 100 euros thanks. As the consul put it 'the colonial master has money' ....i felt embarrased but paid up of course with a sweet smile!
So we are now about to eat lunch sitting on the beautiful lush green banks of the Niger river here, watching the locals do their laundry, and then we will set off to Dosso, where we sleep for the night, passing and stoppping a small village on the way to see some giraffes....cant wait.
Then cross the whole of southern Niger in the next few days and cross into Nigeria next Monday or Tuesday. Exhausted just thinking about it!
xxxx

Off-Roading

40 kms's of sand on the way to Bamako

Waiting at the Border

Friday afternoon is prayer time, not much to do but sit,wait and catch up on some much needed sleep.

A Different World

We have now left Mali (sadly) and crossed the border into Burkina Faso yesterday, however my last blog post was so brief i will back track a bit....So we left Nouakchott in Mauritania and attempted to drive the 600 or so km's to Ayoun el Atrous the town before the Malian border in one day, we were doing well and enjoying the changes of scenery, from the dust, sand and dunes the landscape became more savannah like, endless....occasional rolling hills, the roadside littered with dead cattle in various stages of decay, cows and goats drinking from waterholes, huge herds of cattle crossing our path....it was like being in a nature programme, just needed David Attenborough's voice to narrate, it was perfect. We had about 90 km's to go to Ayoun when my bike ran out of petrol, we filled it up from one of the the jerry cans and were all ready to set off again, but the bike wouldnt start, battery dead....again! Jump-started the bike and continued for a bit but the long day was beginning to wear on us and luckily within a few km's we saw an Auberge on the side of the road and quickly turned into it and tucked ourselves into the tent for the night.
Next morning, we jump-started my bike again and decided the bike needed to be looked at before we went much further. We drove into Kiffa where some very handy mechanics, looked and listened to my bike, all agreed it was the battery and promtly removed it, bought a bottle of new acid, emptied the old and re-filled! Within about half an hour, new acid charged the bike was running again!!! Not sure thats how we do things back home, but who cares!
So back on track after lunch, and off to Ayoun, where we stayed for the night.
Next day we crossed into Mali with no problems at all. All of us of course very excited on entering the next country and all before lunchtime! Well the excitement was rather short lived - 50km's from the border and about to take the turn off to Bamako we were stopped by the police and invited to the customs to show our vehicle documents and buy the Lasse Passe (a kind of passport for the vehicles)....no problem we thought, we had had to do that in every country so far (just not 50km's into the country). What we had not thought about was that it was now friday lunchtime.....prayer and rest time for most muslims....the customs man in charge will be back at 3 we were told! Ah well, Bamako would have to wait another day.
So after getting our vehicles stamped into the country we drove into the town of Djema and found a place to stay - and we were now in Mali, they had cold beer- heaven!
What they also had hopping around the courtyard and into the rooms all night were frogs! My irrational fear caused quite alot of laughter all night and finally had Palli sweeping our room with a broom after one was seen hopping under the door!!

The following morning we set of to Bamako, a good road for most of the way, except for 40 km of red dusty gravel, which was challenging to say the least but we coped ok and stopped for a bite of melon afterwards in a lively village along the way, where we became (as usual by now) the spectacle, being the only whites to be seen around and our motorbikes as always attracting much attention!
We arrived into the city just before dusk and the shock of being in a city was quite something after driving through empty countryside and quite villages for weeks. Mopeds everywhere, crazy driving and smog. After settling into an auberge on the edge of the Niger river we re-gathered our energies and headed into the nightlife of Bamako to find some great Malian music.
We went from groovy bar, then listened and danced to a great Malian salsa band (Haukurs dancing caught everyones attention!!) and then a Malian club with singers, a great night and where we met 2 malians who invited us to listen to some African music the next day, which we did.
Abdroman (one of the guys) also invited us to let him be our guide to the Dogon villages.
So we headed off with him towards Dogon country, stopping in Segou and then Djenne - the most beautiful town that can only be reached by boat and with the largest mud built mosque and then onto Bandiagara and the Dogon villages.
This area is truly amazing and beautiful, the people are wonderful, friendly and charming, children holding our hands all day... we have all found it very hard to leave. I never thought a place or people would have such a profound effect on me, and has certainly thrown up alot of questions for me. People live here with no electricity, no clean drinking water, no medicine and totally live off the land and away from any Malian laws or rules. It is very humbling to see and experience life like this. We helped to treat 2 people, (with some antiseptic and bandages that we have with us) with terrible sores on their legs and i can only wonder how many other people needed such treatment.
We visited 4 villages, did some climbing and some rather adventurous off roading in sand....and then agreed that Burkina and the rest of the trip was beckoning, so we left Dogon said our goodbyes to Abdroman and have arrived in Ougadougou, in Burkina Faso.
We will stay here over the weekend, maybe take a visit to the crocodile lakes near here tomorrow and then go to some embassies on Monday and Tuesday for visas and answers to some question we have. We have some big desisions to take about where to go next, time is ruuning out to get to Gabon and we must choose the safest, quickest and of course most enjoyable route we can.
Will keep you posted!
xxxx

Mali

Just a quick update......We crossed the border into Mali on Friday and have spent a couple of days in Bamako, quite a crazy city. Met up with some Malians on Saturday night here and yesterday they invited us to listen to some great African music, we had our own private concert in a tent in a small village on the outskirts of the city , it was truly unforgettable. Today we leave and head east for the Dogon villages and are taking a man from there with us to be our guide for a couple of days. We will then head into Burkina Faso and onto the town of Ougadougou.
xxxx

Sandy & Sweaty

Cant tell you how hot it is here in Nouakchott, the coolest place is this internet cafe! With over 35 degrees plus in the shade and with a hot sandy wind blowing its exhausting just to sit. Sleepless nights just pouring with sweat.... mmmm, its lovely!
So, we are in the capital of Mauritania and planned to leave yesterday, head eastwards and then down to the border of Mali but of course things are very different here and the simple issues like exhanging or withdrawing money takes a long time. There are no cash machines in Mauritania, there is one in the city here but it's not open until December! The banks will not change our Moroccan money into Mauritania currency so we have spent quite a few hours transferring money via Western Union and in the Bureau de Changes exhanging our emergency euros! And when the person in charge feels like a break, well, you just have to wait until they have finshed. However we did manage to get the Visa for Mali this morning and insurance for all the vehicles for all the countries we will now travel through, except Ghana, so that's a huge bonus and hopefully will save some time at the borders.
We are all quite pleased to be away from the hassles from people in Morocco, people there are very pushy, not really taking no for an answer and the invites of "come and look in my shop, just look, no pressure" was becoming quite tiresome.
People here so far are quieter, calmer and seem just genuinely interested in who we are and where we come from.
Although the incessant barking of dogs in Morocco has been replaced by the honking of car horns, here in the city at least....its relentless, and seems rather pointless, our taxi driver to the fish market seemed to be beeping just for the fun of it, but with no clear rules of the road maybe it helps somehow.
We are looking forward now to getting to Mali- to visit the Dogon Villages, listen to great music in Bamako at the weekend and I have to admit buy a nice cold beer....its been a while! We have been drinking gallons of coke instead and a trip to the dentist when we return is not out of the question!
Thanks to you all for all the messages you send, keep them coming and yes, thanks I am feeling much better. Love and sweaty hugs to you all x

Mauritania dunes and the Mosque in Noaukchott

Crossing no-mans land between Morocco & Mauritania

At the 4 star hotel in Dhaklar!

Camping, ,jogging, filming in the Sahara

Lunch time in the desert

Western Sahara

Southern Morocco

Cascades d'Ouzoud, Morocco

Mauritania

We crossed the Mauritania border last night!!! After 4 very long and tiring days driving down the entire coast of Western Sahara; which is stunning...and very windy; we made it to the border. We had actually planned to cross this morning but suddenly found ourselves at a military post (of which we had come across many) and realised the border was 60kms sooner than we had thought! So 3 hours later with not a single problem with visas or insurance or bribes we safely crossed and made our way to Nouadhibou and camped up for the night.
Carring on further south later; heading towards Noukachott to obtain further visas.
All well; but the bugs have started biting!!!!!