As soon as I arrived at Lusaka airport I knew I was in for a different kind of African experience. For a start, there were only two planes at the airport and there were hardly any cars on the road. After Lagos and Accra though, I was craving a bit of space so this was great news! Another difference was that it rained every day, compared to West Africa where it didn’t rain at all. In Lusaka I spent time with a guy called Daliso, his wife Isabel and their newborn son, Daliso Jnr. Daliso runs a football academy with two [View Full Entry]

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Impressions of Ghana Accra is a lot more ordered than Lagos - there are sealed roads, traffic lights, shopping malls and constant electricity. I still couldn’t get any cash out here, but this time because my debit card didn’t work in the ATM, rather than there being no ATM’s in the first place. Religion is just as prominent here as it was in Lagos and once again Christians and Muslims exist side-by-side without any reduction of their religious practices. There is still no sign of tension between the two groups, which I was definitely on the look out for given how [View Full Entry]

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The trip from Lagos to Accra by road is definitely an experience! After being refused by one bus company because I didn’t have transit visas to cross through Benin and Togo (apparently Nigerians without passports were less of a problem!), we eventually found a bus company that would take me, albeit for twice the normal fare (about $100). Then, as we set off in our 15-seater van, a strange thing happened - we had a church service. A “preacher” jumped on board just before the doors closed and then proceeded to lead the whole bus in singing, prayer and with a [View Full Entry]

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Nothing can prepare you for Lagos. It is an overwhelming, claustrophobic city and a dramatic introduction to Africa. The best word to describe Lagos is …chaos. The roads are something else. There are no traffic lights, stop signs or roundabouts, so every intersection is a mess and traffic slows to a crawl at each one as cars “merge”, inches apart. Drivers pay little attention to lane markings, where they exist, and have little hesitation in driving off-road to gain an advantage. Car horns sound constantly as thousands of cars, buses, bikes and pedestrians contend for t [View Full Entry]

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