After 17 hours spent in planes and airports we finally arrived in Cairo from Douala via Casablanca (figure that connection out). Appropriately, the hotel where we met the rest of the group was called the Canadian Hostel - 7 of the 15 group members are Canadian. Our first full day in Cairo we went to the Cairo Museum and paid an extra $20 to see the royal mummies. Neat experience, no photos to show for it as they made us check our cameras at the door. The museum is incredibly disorganized and it probably helps to have a guide (we had none). There are so many artifacts in there and there is little description to go along with them. Still, it's one of those things you have to see when you go to Cairo. Our second ... read more

One of the real bright spots that we encountered in Nigeria was the Drill Ranch conservation project in the Afi Mountains. Drill Monkeys are one of the most endangered monkey species due to hunting and habitat destruction. The conservation project has a breeding and re-hab centre in Calabar and then the Monkeys are taken to the Drill Ranch in the rain forest of the Afi Mountains where they are prepared to be released back into the wild. The project employs local people and interacts with the nearby villages by using local produce to feed the animals. They truely are doing some good work. We began our day with a tour of the larged fenced enclosures where we could observe the Drill Monkeys and Chimpanzees. We then went for a canopy walk in the rain forest, followed ... read more

That is definately the question. The answer is a little bit of a mixed bag. When we first arrived in Togo we headed to Klouto where we went for a guided walk through the forest. There were three guides trying to get the business from our group and this is where our limited knowledge of french paid off. Two out of the three guides spoke english (though not very well) and the other spoke only french. We chose to go with the french guide along with another couple from our group and it was the best decision we could have made. Being in a small group allowed us to get a lot more out of the experience and we both feel that we'd rather try and understand someone else's good french rather than the broken english ... read more

Prior to the leg from Dakar to Accra, Jordan made the commitment that he would only shave in hotels. Considering that the only hotels along the way were the joining hotels on either end he had roughly 4 weeks to look as rough as possible. A few comments have been made about the "new" look, but by the time we got to Accra, it had to go! So we decided to have a little fun with it. Feel free to vote for your favorite! It should be noted that while it's strange for everyone at home to see Jordan with a full beard, the group didn't recognise him the day after shaving. It adds a good 5 to 10 years don't you think?... read more

From the city of Kumasi, we ventured towards the coast of Ghana and stayed at the Brenu Beach Resort. A gorgeous setting, very quiet, and the ocean felt like a warm bath (although a bit of a rough bath). We had a really fun and relaxing time; how could we not? This was a fitting place to spend the last couple of nights with several of the group members who would be leaving the trip in Accra.... read more