http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/pnltravels/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from pnltravels en-us Tue, 14 Oct 2008 04:05:27 BST Tue, 14 Oct 2008 04:05:27 BST We were told all along in Cape Town that the weather in Durban is the best in winter time. Hot and sunny but not too hot to handle. We were looking forward to a little sun surf and sand time. Unfortunately as our luck would have it it rained buckets the entire time we were in Durban. Well that's a little exageration ... we did get a reprieve on the Sunday but it was still windy and cool. http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/South-Africa/KwaZulu-Natal/Durban/blog-327515.html Good grief We have had the hardest time ever leaving Cape Town. After returning from our road trip we were planning to leave on the following Tuesday or Wednesday because our time in South Africa is quickly running out. There is still so much to see in South Africa and we are feeling short of time we even visited the Home Affairs office to see if we could extend our visas. Apparently ju http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/South-Africa/Western-Cape/Oudtshoorn/blog-321675.html WARNING LONG BLOG ENTRY Sorry We were excited and a little nervous about renting a car and heading off on our own but we knew that once we got going we would be fine. We packed up our everexpanding luggage a real negative side effect of staying with family and not having to shoulder our packs for two months and hopped into our tiny rental car who we called Daisy gues http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/South-Africa/Western-Cape/Cape-Town/blog-317570.html After being turned away from Robben Island we got smart and bought our tickets the day before and returned the Waterfront on Wednesday. We were incredibly lucky as the weather was perfect for a boat trip and visit to the island.Robben Island housed a prison for many years similar to Alcatraz it is now a museum. Nelson Mandela spent 19 of his 27 years incarcerated on Robben Island. The island http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/South-Africa/Western-Cape/Cape-Town/Cape-Flats/blog-313803.html They call Cape Town the Mother City. I don't know the official reason why but most locals will joke with you and say it's because it takes 9 months to get anything done. We have been lucky and we know it. We are so grateful for Peter's family and the extended time we have been able to stay and enjoy delightful Cape Town. As you can see from the amount of photos that we are posting we enjoyin http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/South-Africa/Western-Cape/Cape-Town/Cape-Flats/blog-308645.html We finally arrived yes more than 3 weeks ago now in Cape Town. Our apologies for the slow posting of entries we are finding it more difficult when we are staying with family to get to the internet to check email and post entries. We will endeavour to be better at this. We flew the milk run from Accra Ghana to Cape Town. We first stopped in Lagos Nigeria no we did not get off the plane http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/South-Africa/Western-Cape/Cape-Town/Cape-Flats/blog-304669.html Our last week in Ghana has been very good. We ran into Joanie and Phil again in Hohoe pronounced Hohway. A wonderful small town in the Eastern Volta region of Ghana. We enjoyed a couple of evenings of food and conversation with them and they very generously let us borrow their cell phone so we could make phone calls home. Surprisingly Ghana has been the hardest country for us to call home http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Ghana/Volta/Lake-Volta/blog-292865.html Remember the saying about best laid plans Well once again we were foiled by Africa We dutifully arrived at the bus station in Tamale at 4 am after yet ANOTHER taxi failed to show up and then stood around for almost 2 hours before our bus finally left packed to the rafters. We arrived in Makongo and followed the crowds to the dock and are told the ferry will come shortly. We were pretty http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Ghana/Western/Butre-Beach/blog-287308.html Warning LONG BLOG ENTRY BELOW As the last blog indicated we left Banfora in Burkina Faso and made our way to the northwestern corner of Ghana. Although one of our general rules is don't arrive after dark sometimes it is out of our control as it was with the bus from Banfora to Hamale. We arrived into Hamale just as darkness descended to find out that there is a Hamale Burkina Faso and a http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Ghana/Northern/Mole-National-Park/blog-282888.html Banfora in the southwest corner of Burkina Faso is unlike any terrain we have seen thus far. Large fields of irrigated sugar cane lakes waterfalls green fields and Drumhelleresque rock formations. The bus journey was uneventful except for the young man that I was sitting next to who spoke excellent english and was explaining the sugar cane crops to me. As we neared Banfora he told me he http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Burkina-Faso/Cascades/Banfora/blog-279386.html Back in Bandiagara after the Dogon trek. We needed a day to get caught up on laundry and repacking. We opted to sleep on the roof back at the Hotel Satimbe rather than the celllike room but it was different with the noise of a larger town and more lights. In the courtyard at the hotel we met Adele and AnneSpohie both from France. They are travelling separately on bikes but have hooked u http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Burkina-Faso/Sahel/Gorom-Gorom/blog-277507.html Pays Dogon. Dogon Country. Beautiful. Spectacular. Surprising.Our trek into the Dogon Country started early from Bandiagara with a drive to Djiguibombo delightfully pronounced Jiggyboombo. After a brief tour of the town we started our walk to the edge of the Falaise de Bandiagara Bandiagara Escarpment and then down the escarpment to the plains below. Our group of two had grown to four http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Mali/Dogon-Country/Bandiagara/blog-275777.html Sorry about the lack of bicycle story from the last blog we were encountering computer difficulties and in the mad dash to finish before our time ran out I totally forgot about the cycling adventure.On our last day in Segou we hired bikes and imagined a full day of exploring the area on bikes mountain bikes as the roads are almost all sand. Once again we forgot we were in Africa. The bikes http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Mali/Centre/Djenne/blog-271204.html The plan was to take the train from Tamba to Bamako. But you know what they say about plans ... We wanted to take the train because we were ready for a different sort of transportation besides the bone jarring jampacked dusty sweaty minibus travel we have been doing for so long.After inquiring several times at the Tamba train station and having our hotel call the station we found out that http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Mali/Centre/Segou/blog-268695.html Unfortunately I think the combination of travelling all day on a bumpy road arriving after dark finding out that the boat tours in Georgetown were very expensive and PMS I did not enjoy Georgetown at all. When we left to explore a young man from the hostel accompanied us and was to be our guide. As soon as we walked out the Toubab Toubab started and hands out for money. It was all a l http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Senegal/Tambacounda-Region/Niokolo-Koba-National-Park-/blog-266377.html We ended up staying in Serekunda one more day we were lazy and decided to take a lazy day before heading upland. Serekunda was the longest we've stayed anywhere since Mohammedia in Morocco when I was sick. We needed the break and we enjoyed Serekunda and our little motel. Our plan was thus we would travel to Tendaba Camp first then onto to Georgetown now called JangjangBureh. Just to e http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Senegal/Tambacounda-Region/Tambacounda/blog-264349.html After one night in Ziguinchor where a large spider in the bathroom had me awake most of the night we made our way to Kafountine in the northern Casamance. We checked into another paradise this time 'Le Paradise'. We were the only travellers staying here and a couple of local fellows who we saw only briefly. It was like having the whole place to ourselves The owner Eve claimed that the http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Gambia/Western-Division/Serrekunda/blog-262015.html Yoff was a little disappointing for us the beach was filthy and we were constantly hassled to sit in people's shade compounds on the beach. We left after one day and decided to pick up our passports with our Malian visas and head straight to Ile de Goree south of Dakar.Ile de Goree is a short 20 minute ferry from Dakar and is a world away from the big city. It is a tiny island that can be walk http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Senegal/Lower-Casamance/Cap-Skirring/blog-258897.html Our last night in Nouakchott we visited the famous fish market Port de Peche. We took a taxi to the port and watched with amazement the hundreds of pirogues coming into shore with their daily catch. There are the fishermen their onshore helpers women selling fish fruit and drinks children all over donkeys and carts and two Canadian tourists. It is an incredible sight that I am sure is http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Senegal/Saint-Louis-Region/Saint-Louis/blog-256715.html We arrived at the train station early a small building beside the tracks constitutes the station to be sure we wouldn't miss the train as we did not know exactly when it left. Our group of four grew steadily as other travellers joined us. Sylvia and Michiel are from Dresden Germany he is Dutch though Marty is a fellow Canadian who is from Alberta and three Japanese fellows also joined us http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Mauritania/Trarza/Nouakchott/blog-255049.html