Burkina Faso is a pretty small country and we didn't get to see a lot of it. We headed south from Ouaga through some national park (didn't see any wildlife except the usual ant and mossies) to the Ghana border. Again this was a quick crossing. Initially the border guys wanted to see us individually with our passports, but when 23 of us showed up outside his rather cramped office, he changed his mind! For those following on maps, the nearest big town is Bolga something. Ghana again appeared different from BF pretty quickly. More trees, friendlier people, the kids would jump up and down shouting and waving at us as we drove by, things unbelievably got even cheaper, and best of all, the official language is English - we could understand people and signs again! ... read more

Thanks for all your messages, sorry that the weather in the UK is not good, its really hot and sunny here! We are of course still having a brilliant time. Christmas day we spent in a campsite near the small town of Bandiagara in Dogon Country (50 people and one toilet!!) We did a huge cooked breakfast without the meat, a light lunch then a massive dinner. We'd bought a pig and a goat that the campsite slaughtered and cooked for us (and upset people by bringing in the live goat on the back of a moped, draggin it “screaming” round the back of the camp, and then...silence...one dead goat!), then had roast pumpkin, roast onion, jacket spuds, coleslaw, gravy, banoffee pie and pizza (there are a couple of part Italians on the other truck who ... read more

As you are not allowed to take alcohol out of Morocco, and Mauritania is almost a dry country (upwards of US$4 for a beer, who is going to pay that!?) we spent the last night in Morocco/Western Sahara burying all beer, wine and spirits deep inside the truck hoping they wouldn't be found. On all previous trips apparently the trucks had been searched and alcohol removed (lucky border guards!). So after all that effort, we didn't get searched at either border, all we lost was a jar of coffee (Tesco value instant coffee!) and a few tea bags to the Mauritanian guards. As soon as we left Morocco, we lost tar sealed roads. The 10-15km of no-mans-land was all soft sand, so it didn't take long for the sand matting technique to be perfected! We were ... read more

All I can say about Morocco is that the weather this time of year sucks. On the coastal side of the Atlas mountains it is very wet; we have had some amazing thunder storms. The desert side has been hot and sunny during the day, but cold at night. Morocco has been interesting though, Colin has found it better than he thought (based on a previous trip), not as much hassle from touts etc. We have mostly been round cities so far, Rabat, Meknes, Casablanca, Fes and now Marrakesh. We stopped at the Roman ruins of Volubilis, walked around Todra Gorge, had a camel ride in the desert staying overnight in a Berber tent, and seen plenty of souks, kasbahs and mosques. The main square here in Marrakesh is meant to come alive after 5.30pm when ... read more

We are back in the UK again now, back to the cold! But back to a decent hot shower as well. Turkey was good, we'd love to go back again and look round properly. This trip all we had time to see was Cappadocia and Istanbul. We stayed in Goreme, Cappadocia, in a room that was part real cave and part concrete cave. The area is known for its weird and wonderful rock formations, cave houses, and some underground cities. We tried to see a bit of everything. The first day there we took a bus tour of the highlights, getting a feel for the surroundings. We saw plenty of rock formations, a huge underground city 8 levels deep, a well preserved caravanserai, and the local pottery. The tour ended at the pottery, we were given ... read more