We entered Mali relieved to be back on the road again, our latest breakdown behind us. After having a coke in the border official's brother's shop, per recommendation of the border official, our passports and Carnet were stamped and we were on our way to Dogon Country. The ride out to Sanga on the southern edge of Dogon Country was very pleasant, and the road was in reasonably good condition from Bandiagara despite people warning us about the roads in this part of Mali. Dogon is one of Mali's premier tourist attraction, but the heat among other things meant one day [View Full Entry]

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We crossed into Senegal at Kidira expecting requests for bribes after experiencing them on the Malian side of the border, but the Senegalese officials were relatively efficient and never asked for money. The day was of course blazingly hot- West Africa in the hot season is borderline unbearable, and we never got fully used to the heat. However, Senegal had one joyous surprise in store for us: Red Bull. Throughout West Africa, we had found that the best way to fight the dull, sleepy feeling that came with riding through the heat of the day was to have a coke, and [View Full Entry]

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Burkina Faso is the third poorest country in the world, but I'm not sure what factors are used to determine this. While it seemed no poorer to us than other poor African countries we have been to (for example, Cameroon, Uganda, and Malawi), we only spent time in the capital, Ouagadougou, and one night in Ouahigouya, also a large town. Hence, we did not see the "real" Burkina Faso, nor did we get the best possible impression of the country. Ouagadougou is a dusty, chaotic town, which is in a large part due to the central market burning down a few [View Full Entry]

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We entered Ghana in the Volta region, coming from Togo, and it was typical for West African borders of the non-busy variety. Since this is probably hard to picture for those who have not crossed one, I’ll illustrate this particular crossing. The Immigration woman at the gate was on a power trip when we arrived, yelling at a Ghanaian wanting to cross into Togo. She was ordering him around, telling him to shut up, stand there, stay there, etc. There was a trickle of people from both sides paying a bribe equivalent to US$0.50 to cross over for the day. Eventually [View Full Entry]

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As much as we loved Nigeria, and our lack of harassment in the country must be record-breaking, it was still something of a relief to leave and really know that we had made it through. The Beninese border officials were so friendly and relaxed that they actually stamped us in without giving us a visa. I was rusty on the French, and was trying to ask how many days in Benin they had given us, but they just said, "You are tourists, you will be fine with this!" "Combien de jours?" "No problem, no problem! Haha!" It was a typical African [View Full Entry]

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Nigeria, Nigeria. This has been the hardest blog entry to write. I don't want to sound like the peace-and-love Africa geek, raving on about how friendly a country that most people hate is, but I think the enforced extension of our stay in Nigeria allowed us to see a different side of it. Most people travelling through West Africa try to spend as little time as possible in Nigeria due to the country's formidable reputation. Some of the most corrupt officials in the world man the road blocks, crime is rampant in Lagos and other parts of the south, and violence [View Full Entry]

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On the Kenya Airways flight from Nairobi to Cameroon, I had the bizarre and probably once-in-a-lifetime experience of disappointment that I would only be on the plane for 4 hours. While in the air I could savour the thrill of embarking on the final West African leg of the trip, but once we touched down reality would hit as we tried to get the bike out of Customs and put it back together (assuming the bike was actually on the flight, which we were not sure of). Eventually the descent into Douala was announced, the air hostesses stopped serving us drinks, [View Full Entry]

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Returning to Kenya our goal was Ethiopia, but even though we had not planned to do or see anything along the way we managed a few delays, and had a crazy journey through northern Kenya on the back of a truck. The Tororo border coming from Uganda was fine, though one official on the Kenyan side did try to tell us that since it was “outside office hours” (it was a Saturday morning, which for a border is not outside office hours) we had to pay for our free gate pass. Why call it a free gate pass if you are [View Full Entry]

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We stepped across the border from Ethiopian Moyale into Kenyan Moyale, very much like crossing a road as it is the same town, and were in another world. It was rip-off beans and rice land with a local guy shouting “organize me bread!” as I bought an orange. Showers were a bucket and pitcher affair, and we thought to ourselves, “Oh, yeah, back to this again.” Who are these people that complain about Ethiopia? We were also in one of the least desirable positions in Africa: poised to take a truck through the bandit road in northern Kenya. The truck ride [View Full Entry]

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*Note: I learned how to post videos so went back and put one on my Uganda/Rwanda blog. It’s of a baby mountain gorilla- wicked cute, check it out! After stumbling off the truck, totally beaten down by the harsh travel experience of northern Kenya, we dragged ourselves through Kenya border control and walked to the Ethiopian side where the border was closed. We would have to come back at 3pm when it reopened. Spent the next hour or so walking up the hill that Ethiopian Moyale is sprawled across looking at every accommodation option; they were all just that bad. We [View Full Entry]

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