http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Warthog/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Warthog en-us Wed, 09 Dec 2009 22:53:27 +0000 Wed, 09 Dec 2009 22:53:27 +0000 So one lunch time the truck just turns up out of the blue from the project in the south the driver has a list of stuff the project needs including 4000 litres of diesel in drums and doesn want to drive the truck back because of the crossingAlthough I knew the convoy had arrived at the camp down near Kajo Keji I had no idea what conditions were like or the road between Juba and there we had r http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Sudan/South/Kajo-Keji-County/blog-457221.html I wasn't going the full length with this convoy I would be following the guys down to the border making sure there were no hassles or major problems at the border then turning round and heading back to Juba.Because the roads are so bad the convoy was going to have to head south out of Yei town at the Congolese border at Morobo the road turns south east right along the border to the town of O http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Sudan/South/Kajo-Keji-County/blog-451583.html So am at the end of the second month and it has been an adventure it has been incredibly busy. OK so a bit later than 2 months but has been stupid busy again... After the trip to Malakal in the north it was time to start on the 2 machines in the south so a quick day drive down the road to a town called Yei south west of Juba 160 kms only takes 6 hours the road isn't great it was apparentl http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Sudan/South/Juba/blog-443456.html Well it sounded like fun and the toys are bigSo i have changed career yet again well more gone back to something I have done before from the offshore world of submarines to the world of machines that are designed to run over chew up and blow up landmines of both the AntiPersonnel and the AntiTank varieties as well as allsorts of other goodies that they come across when doing something calle http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Sudan/South/Juba/blog-440757.html Slowing down calming down and blowing bubbles.....After the totally hectic dash to get to the plane fly through what remained of the night and get to Kenya to hop on another plane quick smart to head to Dar having completely forgotten there are direct flights to Zanzibar which would have saved 150 or so in flights then a taxi transfer to Terminal 1 for a ZanAir flight to ChakeChake in Pemb http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Tanzania/Pemba/Wete/blog-438543.html Best laid plans of mice and men...So after completing what will probably be my last offshore trip for a while which was actually my most interesting to date doing lots of flying and fixing lots of indepth stuff that was very interesting. Getting out was another story entirely.Because Omar Bongo died suddenly the Air Gabon route through Libreville was no longer safe.... the fact that quite a fe http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Malawi/Lake-Malawi/blog-432859.html Belgium and namesJust realised that I missed a few photos of oddities in Belgique in particular a shop which at first glance appeared to be a translation issue one of those were in Dutch or Flemish the name sounded good then someone decided to put it up in English the give away came in the picture on the door it seems to be a high class boutique clothes store with the picture on the door....w http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Belgium/West-Flanders/Bruges/blog-431657.html Well I was trying to get caught up just too many photos to share...So having driven back through Spain and France pretty much nonstop we hit the ferry port with 2 hours to spare not bad timing after a nearly 1600km drive.Unfortunately luck was having a wavering moment as the customs department decided to take the Landy apart so the entire contents was spread out over the loading ramp at Diepp http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/Aquitaine/Gironde/Sainte-Foy-La-Grande/blog-431118.html So much to write too much time enjoying the sightsApologies for it but there seems to be too much adventure to catch up with so I will try and use this post to catch up from the desert to the present in time it has been less than 6 months I have been trying to catch up my writings but am just not managing it.An important lesson learned though write ups for the blog needs to be written when http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/blog-428617.html Heading south into Zagora and the SaharaHeading out we drove through the back route of Tamnougault passing the old Kasbah and having a small disagreement with a lad on his BMX who rode past just after I had taken a picture of the kasbah figured he was in it and demanded in English impressively money not asked nope demanded as if it were a right so I did relent I gave him a 5 Malawi Kwach http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Morocco/blog-423409.html A proper Offroad adventure between the GorgesOnce warmth had returned and we had made tea and Jonathan had packed up his tent we headed out for what we figured would be a long day.We planned to head up past Tineghir and up the Todra gorge before hopefully finding the bush track over the mountain pass that leads down to the Dades gorge. What a day it turned out to be.....Such splendour the walls http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Morocco/blog-423357.html Continuing the adventure heading south for the Gorges of ZizNorth Africa is a place you think of warmth not on this morning...it was freezing as we drove south out of Fes towards the Middle Atlas and the town of Midelt heading for the gorges of Ziz.We were on the road well before 6 with the light slowly fighting it's way up into the clear blue sky seemingly struggling with the cold morning.We http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Morocco/F-s-Boulemane/Sefrou/blog-408508.html A day but what a day in FesWhat an entrance the road in took us past the great gate of ldquoBab Fettouhldquo with the huge cemetery on the hillside opposite just below the ldquoBorj Sudrdquo the southern fortHaving managed to avoid getting the ldquomotorcycle guiderdquo killed in the process of trying to stop us and persuade us to use his services he was riding alongside at 60km http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Morocco/F-s-Boulemane/Fes/blog-407853.html Crossing the Border entering Morocco and onward....Well didn't start off to well we waited for the rush from the ferry arrival to dissipate at the border by parking on the beach front under the impressive walls and sea moat of an old fort out came the Coleman stove and on went the water for a tea to pass the time I went in search of one of the most elusive things in the ldquodevelopedrdquo http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Morocco/Taza-Al-Hoceima-Taounate/blog-390009.html From a wet and Windy YUK to the southern tip of Europe which was as wet and windyAfter the usual mad dash to organise the 100 things that got left to the last minute we made it to the ferry at Newhaven on the south coast of Mud Island on a miserable March night howling half a gale and raining we thought it can only get warmer the further south we go....not quite but a good hope being as we http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Gibraltar/Gibraltar/blog-386967.html Back to Malawi a lush green beautiful land.....Following on from the debacle of getting out to South Africa as chronicled in the last episode.... So nice to fly into a thunderstorm The captain had warned us in advance and we had slowed down bit of turbulence understatement....there was a lot of bouncing around then down from the clouds the hail had moved off to the northeast of the airpor http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Malawi/blog-384906.html Point Noire Congo to Lilongwe Malawi.... 4 days and lots of patienceA laughable attempt to get homeSo this was it the day finally arrived after 6 weeks my flight home was approaching and I made the biggest mistake of all looking forward to it.All was set having managed to walk into Point Noire and find an internet cafe that worked after the internet on the boat died again.... all was arran http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Congo/West/Point-Noire/blog-368445.html Dry land for the first time in a monthWell if you can really call it that not much of the experience I would normally look for but the chance came up to head into town via the FRC Fast Rescue craft so I took it to go and have a pizza in Pointe Noire.Having been on something that moves constantly with the motion of the ocean since 26th November I ended up on a boat anchored in Pointe Noire http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Congo/West/Point-Noire/blog-359337.html Congo and Pointe Noire a deep green sea holding the future of a countryArriving off the Air Gabon flight from Paris CDG I am joining the many oil workers that have descended upon the West coast of Africa in recent years. I have to say I was pleasantly surprised that the airport worked well and efficiently passport control took less than 5 minutes there was the usual gaggle of give me lugga http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Congo/West/Point-Noire/blog-356735.html Still trying to learn to type in HTML thing so apologise for any mistakesI'm just going to add in here some photos of the rig the GSF 135 on the Moho Bilondo field off the Congo coast. Before anyone gets to up in arms about it just consider for me it's a job and someone would do it anyway and the computer you're using to read this with is probably using fuel from a fossil fuel powered station.. http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Congo/West/Point-Noire/blog-359006.html