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The day the Land Rover learned to fly:
In southern Algeria we were crossing a flat and boring stone desert. The surface, smooth and rounded pebbles, made it possible to go fairly fast. We were happily cruising along in excess of 70km/h when all of a sudden a drop appeared. We and the car got airborne. When the front wheels hit the ground, everything like dates, bottles, boxes and cameras came flying to the front.
We inspected the damage and measured the flown distance: one and a half meters. Not bad for a three ton car. As for the damage: we had to do some realigning of the steering geometry - but only after we drove the 700 kilometres to Tamanrasset.

Datum: Mittwoch, 23. Dezember 1998 18:54 Betreff: News from Niger Hello everybody, Yes we are still alive and well. Thanks to everybody for the messages and let this be a reminder for the ones who have not sent a message yet. At the moment we are in Niamey/Niger and we'll spend Christmas and New Year here. Our route so far: Genoa - Tunis - Sfax - Douz - Nefta - Hassi Messaoud - In Amenas - Djanet - Tamanrasset - Arlit - Agadez - Tanuot - Zinder - Maradi - Niamey. Tunisia was relaxing. With no worries about fundamentalists we spent a couple of days digging around in some sand dunes, swimming in the hot water springs of the oasis Ksahr Gelane and drinking beer. In Algeria things changed - no beer and no tourists. The first 500 km were tar road and after that only sand and dust. The scenery changed from huge sand dunes and flat stone deserts to mountains. Most of the time we slept in the open and water was rare. Occasionally we got a bath in a hot water spring or could make use of the Hamada - the public steam bath. Some of the highlights from Algeria:
across the Sahara			The day the Land Rover learned to fly: In southern Algeria we were crossing a flat and boring stone desert. The surface, smooth and rounded pebbles, made it possible to go fairly fast. We were happily cruising along in excess of 70km/h when all of a sudden a drop appeared. We and the car got airborne. When the front wheels hit the ground, everything like dates, bottles, boxes and cameras came flying to the front. We inspected the damage and measured the flown distance: one and a half meters. Not bad for a three ton car. As for the damage: we had to do some realigning of the steering geometry - but only after we drove the 700 kilometres to Tamanrasset.
Begging in the name of Allah: Having read about the possibility to buy food at one of the drilling stations, we stopped there and asked the guard. In my rural French I tried to tell him that we wanted to buy some food. Somehow it did not quite get across
car repairs			the same way. He asked me if I was hungry. Truthfully I said yes. He left and shortly after came back with some friends all of them carrying food like couscous, rice, cheese and water. We then wanted to pay but they vigorously refused. One of the five pillars of Islam is to give to beggars… Border Crossing: A long stretch of 500 kilometres of sand brought us to the border of Niger. There we had a lot of hassles with the customs. A little bit of money for this document and a little bit of money for that stamp. When one guy came and demanded money for parking, a spot in front of a little sand dune, we had enough. Pretending to fetch money we climbed in the car and drove off. Quickly we drove off in what we thought was the right direction. In the rear mirror we saw him running after us. But we missed the track completely and spent 4 scary hours driving through the desert, not finding the way. Only with the help of the GPS we managed to find the next town.
Niger: On the way from Agadez to Zinder we met a Tuareg family in the desert and they invited us back. It was great! We spent the night in one of their tents, visited the school, got a tour around their herds and were treated to supper. In return we disinfected some wounds and did some fault finding on the generator.
a tuareg families hospitality			A couple of days ago, disaster struck. A faulty thermostat caused the engine to overheat and the cylinder gasket broke. We made it to a catholic mission and with the help of the priest, his belief in god and our ability to improvise we got the car going again. Three days later we were on the road again. There are still more stories and impressions that I would like to tell you. But there is no time. Right now we are at the house of some friends we met up with. We had to order some spares from Switzerland to properly fix the gasket. For the next two weeks we'll be stuck here. No problem for us. The plan for the next couple of months: Mali-Cote d'Ivoire-Ghana-Togo-Benin-Nigeria-somehow to Kenya-Tanzania-Malawi-South Africa-Madagascar-Brazil-Ecuador-Borneo… Have a good time Axel and Herbert