I don’t know when Guinean formalities end, and Sierra Leone begins, there is no flag or sign. As I’m finding routinely, I am dealt with kindly and quickly, if only I didn’t have to keep getting off my mototaxi to the town of Kambia every few minutes for a different… Continue reading
I was less saw the next morning, and by evening I’m back to my usual self. There’s a sudden flurry of activity as everyone tried to get under cover before the next storm hits, which is longer than tonight’s electricity holds out for. Then, with a deep rumble of thunder… Continue reading
So here’s the tale of a day which I won’t forget, and don’t want to remember, though words can’t convey the true exasperation… It begins normally, travelling by transporte misto (minibus/converted van) with ‘USA vegetable oil vitamin A fortified’ tins used as additional central seating with a young guy who… Continue reading
Oddity of oddities former Portuguese colony Guinea-Bissau leans towards French as well as Portuguese and Croele for language, and is a member state of the West African Franc. Bissau city, the capital, is the best I can do coast-wise for a while. I manage to find myself a large ring… Continue reading
Its a quick romp back to the transport hub that to me is Brikama town, to catch a sept-place down to the true border town of Seleni, then a minibus to the village of Kafountine, back on the Atlantic. All by lunchtime. There is a complete absence of tar from… Continue reading
Out of Senegal and into The Gambia quickly. I catch another shared taxi to the port of Barra for the ferry across the Gambia river to the country’s capital Banjul. Today the ferry is “very late”, the first of the day arriving in Barra at 10.30am. A very stately pace… Continue reading
I arrived in Joal on Sunday and walked the 1km or so to the twin village of Fadiout across a rather stunning wooden bridge that stretcehd perhaps half a km over the sands. Fadiout appears to be a historic Christian enclave, with the first pigs I’ve seen since leaving England…. Continue reading
Saka saka for dinner the first night, mainly because I had no idea what it was. A heavily reduced black/brown stew of chopped leaves, together with chunks of tender lamb and rice arrived. A lot nicer than it sounds, and surprisingly light! Having been barred from reaching the Atlantic last… Continue reading
The land south of Nouakchott, capital of Mauritania, is noticably greener than that north, despite the occasional red dune. The border formalities on the north side of the River Senegal are more or less madness if you have white skin. Manage to get my passport speed stamped: Hustler: Did you… Continue reading
I passed the tropic of cancer on Friday without much fanfare, having travelled back up the Dakhla peninsula onto mainland Africa proper. The border formalities, both Moroccan and Mauritanian, were free of excitement and I was processed by both systems reasonably quickly. Travelling through Western Sahara/Southern Morocco and Mauritania has… Continue reading
