Nancy Boy What is all this about then. Can't fend off one of those Ethiopian ninjas. That will teach you for prefering to practise the French Horn rather than your karate.
Sounds like fun Pictures look fantastic - and I'm glad to see you are human enough to enjoy a little luxury. And fast enough to dodge those homeless people. At least our homeless just sit quietly and drink themselves to death. Ahh, the privilege of being a developed nation!
the heads I enjoyed reading your blog, but the primate skulls for sale are actually baboon skulls, not chimpanzee. Regardless of the species it is still a shame to see primates for sale.
Where did they get them? I agree with you completely. I didn't expect to see chimp heads when I walked into the market. I asked the guy where they came from, and he told me Togo, but there are no chimp populations in Togo so godknows where they are from. They could even be fakes but they looked pretty real close up. To the witchdoctors at the Marche, these animal bits are just a source of income - and spirituality, I suppose, but they could stick to the wood and rock fetishes. Left me feeling very weird...but I didn't buy anything...
Memory Remedies Tom
I think I might try the chimpanzee heads. I just left a pan full of oil on the stove and forgot about it. I set fire to the front lawn disposing of the burning oil and the house is full of smoke. The gingko biloba obviously does not work!
Instant Impression, Instant Punishment The merchant of any Great Ape body parts should be tortured to ascertain who he got the parts from, then that man should be tortured to find who he got them from and so on up to the hunters of these last remaining creatures. After the information is acquired the men should be shot on the spot. Im no PETA animal liberation person, but there are so few great apes in the wild its sickening to see body parts for sale. With 6 billion of us and only 150,000 chimpanzees left it seems unacceptable to have these animals for sale- even for the war torn, brutally colonized, socially raped and oppressed people of Togo. More than any other species, chimpanzees resemble humans - genetically, behaviourally and physically. They provide an important link to our evolutionary history, et their numbers have plummeted and the species faces imminent extinction. At the beginning of the 20th century there were between one and two million chimpanzees living in 25 African countries. Today only 150,000 are thought to remain. Those 3 or 4 Chimp heads in one photo represent .03% of the entire population- yet the 10 dead Chimpanzee traders that should be shot for their crimes only represent .0000001% of the human population! I rated some of your photos 5/5- and I would rate the blog 6/5 if I could, very informative. Great post, the most real travelblog Ive seen so far!!
Karma Great that you have recovered most of your blogs. Great you are back online. Those tales of the treatment of the slaves are horrendous and I am sure the karmic consequences have a long way to run. see you in 7 weeks.
Unfinsihed business Well, I WROTE the whole blog up, and its there when I edit it, but it didn't all publish...obviously another glitch. As soon as I can get the story up, I shall...
Wow I like the way you write. It drew me in and rarely do I read through a travel blog having spent hours trying to work out our own (sniffandsnore). Hey, think you missed a part..... drop me a line when its done becuase I want to know the ending!!
Hey mate - what a shocker for suse. Pleased to hear she's recovering and that you missed out on the foul disease. what an amazing experience you are having! love the story about the beers - marketing, african style!
What a nightmare! Got to be honest Tom, your trip sounds like a punishment for shoplifting... bet you're loving it though! Big malaria free kisses to Suze, hope she's better soon. Chani xxoo
Jealousy in me Dear Tom and Susan,
Here is Vincent from Tangier, last destination of our African trip, but as we discovered during our last 6 weeks in this country, Morroco is more African by its geography then by its infrastructure; a refreshing change in some ways. I am incredibly jealous with you, our Australian travelling friends. If you ever come to Canada and see the few things I own, you'll notice that I have some twisted facination with African hippos and one of my greatest regret of this trip was to not see any. To fall sleep with the sound of those big creatures in the background is the most enchanting event I have encounter (we also feared for our lives a few times).
Anyways, great to hear about your amazing adventures and make sure to say hello to Mr. and Mrs. hippo for me.
Sincerely,
Vincent
L'Artiste Australienne Ehi Tom, it seems we are following a very similar route on very similar dates. Only my detour south to Bissau (a worthy one) gave you an edge of 3-4 weeks time. What's your next destination? Niger? anyway, as soon as I get to Bobo Dioulasso I think I will spread the roumour that I'm a journalist desperately searching for a famous aussie rock-star lost in Africa. It could be amusing :-)
Marco
Gonna take some time to do the things we never have... Yep, almost...the song is Africa, and Toto DO bless the rains there. But I've never watched Scrubs.
Dogon and beyond This time last summer I was on my way to Dogon Country from Burkina. It was amazing. Great to reminisce. If you haven't left Mali yet you may want to consider a trip to Mopti and then to timbulto. It was one of the more memorable journeys on my 2 1/2 mo. trip through w. africa. Travel on!!
Travel happens when I can fit it in, nowadays, but it will always be my favourite hobby. Here's my list of the best bits so far, in thirteen years of hopping around the world:
Asia Angkor Wat (Cambodia) Taj Mahal and Varanasi (India) Annapurna Range and Kathmandu (Nepal) Bagan (Burma) Koh Phiphi (Thailand) Great Wall, Terracotta Warriors and the Forbidden City (China) Peshawar and the Chitral-Gilgit road (Pakistan) Istanbul and Butterfly Valley (Turkey) Luang Prabang (Laos)
Americas Teotihuacan and Mexico City (Mexico) Lake Atitlan and Tikal (Guatem... full info
Purplemarxist
non-member comment
Cheap Shoes
This is all very well but if we eradicate poverty, how are we going to afford our trainers?