Well, now that i am in Nigeria with access to an internet connection i can write up Ghana. The moment we entered Ghana from Burkino Faso we could tell the difference immediately. The signs were all in English, along with the shouts of welcome from the locals as i drove along. No more begging are requests for "gifts". We got to Kumasi in the evening, which i found to be a rather pleasant, if not run down (in parts) town. We stayed in the Presapatarian church hotel, which was very clean and even had UK power sockets! (so laptop owners were [View Full Entry]

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Well, What can i say about Mali other than what a wonderful little country it truly is! Yes, it may be one of the poorest in the world, with a sadly high infant mortality rate and low life expectancy, but the people are friendly beyond their means and make the place what it is... truly wonderful. To start with lets just get rid of any bad things you hear about Timbuktu... if Bob Geldof said "is this it" when he visited then he obviously didn't bump into any friendly Toureg. We were fortunate enough (as it turned out) to arrive in [View Full Entry]

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Well, and interesting day if not exactly as expected. The day started off with what was supposed to be a two hour river cruise to see some crocodiles on the river Niger... However, the local chap running it decided that he could double his profits by cramming 14 of us into two litte fishing boats; i say boats, they were canoes the local fisherman (in crews of two) use. There were 8 of us in one boat, and 6 in the other (it should have been ' in each boat). Due to this the canoes were very low in the water [View Full Entry]

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Well, after a good few days bush camping (i.e. just camping in the woods or by a huge sand dune etc) we have arrived in Mauritania. Everyone was glad to see a shower as the rolling about on a hyge sand dune seemed to get everyone very sandy... apparently the girls suffered the worst... We had to use the sand boards to get the truck across no mans land between Morocco and Mauritania, which was rather enjoyable.. reminded me of that war film: Ice cold in Alex. We have a few more days pottering around here, going through a nature reserve, [View Full Entry]

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Just to make you all feel better about not being away from blighty, it is raining here in Marrakesh. I had a great time on Monday, climbing up at Todra gorge, then struggling down again afterwards... it was rather treacherous as we had no climbing ropes or anything but were making our way down vertical parts... all rather good fun once we had got back down - pretty damn scary at the time. One of the guys ended up stqying there the night as he couldnt get down in the day. I am really enjoying the camping, though cooking for 20 [View Full Entry]

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Am in the capital Rabat, waiting for visas for Mauritania and Mali. If they come through this afternoon then we should be heading off for Marrakesh this afternoon. Food is far too healthy with fresh vegetables in every meal!!! A distinct lack of grease.. Sky is blue and it is warm in the day - though still very chilly at night. The rest of the group are great - a mix of pohms, aussies and South Africans. [View Full Entry]

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Right then... What do you take for 11 months travelling around Africa?? I'll tell you what i wish i had and what i did have that i didn't need when i get back. Thanks to all of you i've seen recently (amongst trying to sort my life out in this mad rush) and goodbye to those that i've wanted to see, but have been too busy faffing to organise myself to a point where i could have seen you. I shall try to update this as often as i can, but apparently communications in Western African aren't as hot as the [View Full Entry]

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