Subject: News from West Africa
Hello everybody,
Ninety seven days and 18'095 kilometres later we arrived well in Lome
the capital of Togo. On our way we used more than 2000 litres of diesel,
4 shock absorbers, broke one drive shaft, wore out 2 tyres, replaced one
cylinder head gasket, spent lots of money and drank a countless amount
of beer. Nevertheless we are still having fun.
A short account of the last two months:
Christmas and New Years we spent in Niamey capital of Niger. Herbert was
down with a stomach bug and developed a rather funny way of following
the call of nature in crowded places with no public toilets. Since that
day we don't have a dishwashing bowl...
In Niamey we also had a good encounter with the police:
CHARGED FOR CORRUPTING
THE POLICE:
We were driving through town when we heard a whistle blow. The next moment
a police man jumped in front of our car and directed us to the side.
What happened next was a game we had played many times before and we knew
so well: The police man slowly walked over to our car looking very serious.
We on the other hand were trying hard to look innocent. In a loud voice
and with a lot of gestures he explained the crime we have committed: turning
without using the indicator. For us hardly a crime in a country where
most of the cars don't even have an indicator.
The sentence for our serious offence was either a large fine paid in cash
right then and there; the taking of our car into custody or torture in
the dungeons of the police headquarters. We pleaded for forgiveness and
put on our most innocent of faces. That softened the policeman's heart
and he suggested that we talk about the price. What followed was more
a scene from a Moroccan market - hard bargaining for a reasonable fine.
It didn't take too long. Fifteen minutes later we had settled for a fine
of a few CFA's (the currency in most West African countries). When we
handed the
'May he burn in Hell' - were my thoughts when we drove off.
Shortly after New Years we left Niamey and drove towards Mali. We spent a few nights at the base of the massive walls of the Homborri mountains. Ed February and Andy de Klerk opened a route there last year (Harmattan Rodeo 8c+). We managed to do some bouldering and missed Fred Nicole by only a couple of days. In Mopti we had the chance to see the Paris-Dakar Rally and spent the night in their camp. It is impressive to see the whole circus and the organization that goes into it.
MUSA - 'THE MECHANIC'
It was also in Mopti where we had our first lesson on how to become a
bush mechanic. On the way to Dogon country the bolts that hold the rocker
assembly on the cylinder head came loose. The threads of all four cylinders
were stripped! Four days we spent under the palm roof of Musa 'the mechanic'.
We helped and more often watched how he made four sleeves from a steel
tube used for domestic plumbing, cut threads and fitted them into the
heads. All done with a hand drill. There was no electricity! It is still
working (8000 km later) now. We had a good time with Musa. He is Muslim
and it was during Ramadan. So we cheered him up by reminding him about
the advantages of being a Muslim but he didn't share our enthusiasm for
polygamy. He also couldn't understand our interest in the sleazy bars
of Mopti. Despite the fact that he had never set foot in one of them,
he knew them all and could tell us if we'd been ripped off with the beer
prices.
Musa choosing the right tools for the job
We had enough of the desert and were looking forward to the tropics. So in Bamako/Mali we bought two very expensive visas for Guinea. We checked out at the border post in Mali and drove a couple of kilometres to the border post in Guinea. There they informed us that the border had been closed for over a month now and that they wouldn't be letting anybody enter the country now or in the near future. We turned around, anxious to see if they would let us back into Mali since we already had an exit stamp from there.
In order to avoid stomach problems (it didn't work for Herbert - remember the dishwashing bowl) we had been careful and wary about what food we ate and followed the golden rules: only drink purified water, be careful with salads, no ice cubes, meat only when it is well cooked (i.e. it looks like shoe soles), etc…
For weeks we had avoided meat for the obvious reasons. It is sold in open-air markets covered with millions of flies while roasting in the sun. Potential buyers take the raw chunks of cow-, goat- or sheep meat, turn it around in their hands, evaluate it and if they don't like it throw it back onto the dirty table. Not very appetizing. But after nearly two weeks we were craving for some meat and the most
A while later we were sweating and covered with scratches from all the thorn bushes but had still had no luck. A local came by on his bicycle and at first watched our efforts with great amusement before he joined in our hunt. With his help we trapped the little Houdini quickly. From there everything went quickly: one quick picture and then it lost it's head and then the feathers. Anxiously we waited for our Houdini to roast. But what a disappointment! It was inedible - the bird was as tough as Indian rubber. A real African runner!
me cooking some steaks using the sand ladders as a braai gird.
(after our experience with Houdini we learned how to get fresh meat: they kill the animals early in the morning on market day - get there before the flies wake up!)
earplugs because they got headaches from the engine
noise. These stories made us forget all our worries about our car. From
Abidjan we drove to Accra, Ghana. There we spent some time working on
the car as Land Rover parts are cheap in Ghana.
The plan for the next couple of weeks is to get to Cameroon. On the 27th
of February there are elections in Nigeria and by that time we want to
be out of here. In Cameroon we will make further plans as to how we get
to South Africa.
Right now we are enjoying the luxury of a camping site run by a Swiss woman in Lome. Yesterday we had Fondue Bourguignonne. Life can go on like this.....
So far so good. Besides some stomach bugs, hangovers and sun burns we
are quite healthy. We also have good tans (although when we shower it
always comes off).
I hope we'll get a lot of new messages and thanks for the ones we have
gotten so far.
Enjoy the work
Axel and Herbert
