Blogs from Africa - page 3342

Still in Casablanca - we had the misfortune to arrive over their equivalent of a bank holiday weekend - the end of Ramadan - so today was the first day we could get our visas sorted for Mauritania. Unfortunately many other travellers were in the same boat = massive queues of French, Spanish, German, American & Australians all jostling to be let in. Having dragged ourselves from the roof tent nice & early - 7am - we eventually got our visas at 2.30pm! By the time we'd found a bank to change some travellers cheques, which believe me was no easy feat, it was too late to set off for pastures new, so another night at the lovely Camping International Oasis in Casa - a 100% improvement on Sunday night's campsite further out on the coast; ... read more

Arrived in Casablanca at sunset and treated ourselves to a hotel room with hot (well tepid) shower. I say treated as have spent last 3 nights sleeping rough. Camped in the mountains en route to Casa last night...we were just building the fire (well Neil was) and a man appeared from the shadows, and joined us round the camp fire for tuna & cous cous, cafe au lait & MOD army ration chocolate! Mohammad didn't say much and we tried the odd berber word, but he seemed happy enough sitting on my little stool...got a fright when he pulled his axe from under his tunic though! Refreshed, he made his way off in the pitch dark to whence he'd come from. Was absolutely freezing in the mountains last night, but glad things are at last warming ... read more

Awaiting our rather nice dry cleaned clothes! so have time to update the journal, drink mint tea, sleep..... Heading for Azrou 100km south of Meknes then on to Casablanca to attempt a repair on my expensive semi proffessional camcorder.....I will let katherine tell you about that faux pas needless to say my coca cola stroke (damn Arabic keyboard!) Mcdonalds budget gone for the trip. Also still unsure about whether we can collect visas for Mauritania on border so will try in Casa first, saving a 2000km round trip if were wrong. N Still haven't got to grips with Ramadan - spent ages trying to find a restaurant last night to no avail - seems the locals all eat at home throughout the whole month. So, lovely campsite meal of tuna oeuf omelette & bread....forgot to mention ... read more

Meknes! at last here to see an old friend get some work done on the Disco and take it easy before heading into the heat, alas this was not the case a full day spent changing springs on car as we were dragging our big fat end all the way from the UK and 30 euros spent on one bag of laundry! yes you heard right 30 euros I wont say who made that mistake.N Dont bother with Meknes unless you really like wasting money, large, dirty, smelly and cold??????????????? He forgot to mention that deluxe campsite has no running water - hence the laundry faux pas. On the up side we were treated like kings & queens last night by chief mechanic Samir. He invited us back to his house for an evening of food, ... read more

After a 24 hr ferry crossing and 3 days in Spain we finally made it to Africa despite a near broken ankle on the eve of our departure. Spent last night in Pension La Castellana in Chefchaouen in the Rif Valley. Despite hundreds of offers for kif en route from Cueta we managed to resist and set off early this morning for Meknes. Lots of mechancial work on landrover planned for next few days...photos to follow soon we hope...... read more