Ready to jump into the unknown: West Africa!

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Saying goodbye to New Zealand is never easy..

We have everything going for us here, more than most truly know or appreciate; it is all a matter of perspective. Thats what is going on through my mind as I sit here in my final week in NZ apprehensively counting down the days till leaving. This Sunday I jump into the abyss that is travel, this time to one of the destinations I have dreamed about for many years; West Africa.

Africa for me and this region in particular has always been the spot that I wanted to defer until 'later'. It is the type of spot that I think you need both experience and enthusiasm to really take on successfully. From my view it takes past life experience and common sense to make it as safe as possible. There are no guarantees in this world however having a decade+ of travel experience especially to far out places is one of the best ways to take a leap like this. However that being said the flip-side of this is energy and as experience grows I feel your enthusiasm wanes (getting older anyone?). That sort of makes sense though, come on be serious how long does one want to continue staying in 0 star, bed bug infested places? When you are 18 yes, when you double that age, ummm maybe. When looked at it from this angle you see that as you get wiser,the energy starts dropping but there is a bit of an intersection point; best case from both sides! So with that in mind, its time for me to make a jump to this destination.

To the PLAN: after flying west from NZ to Argentina, will arrive in Morrocco. Will be tracking south from Morrocco trying to make it as far as the Congo and have around 4-7mths to do this section, well thats the overall plan. There are a number of random countries in between, many of which I didnt know existed (togo anyone?), many of which have tough VISA requirements, corruption, Malaria infested, ltd food, no roads etc etc. So the plan is loose'ish and as situations change so will the plan.

So packing is complete, carry on only! Shots are done, well that really hurts your wallet more than your arm. Malaria pills are ready to go, oh no please no! Now with all that out of the way am soaking up the last week here in NZ, stayed at the beautiful Pukehina beach on the weekend; geez us kiwis are lucky.

As you can see hard to leave New Zealand, but adventure awaits. When you are stuck at the bottom of the world if you want to experience it you can do one of two things: 1) wait for it to come to you or 2) go out and grab it!

Update you soon

Shaun

To Follow: Will be listing blog updates here and on facebook: https://www.facebook.com/shauntwilliams

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Comments

[Ingrid]

Have a great adventure andere be safe ?

[Yvette Hodges]

Bon Voyage
What an adventure you have planned! Good luck and Bon Voyage!

[fidelisblue]

Your blog is a Godsend.
I am going to do the more or less the same journey this fall. There are not a whole lot of blogs or books about traveling in West Africa. When I found this link, I realized that my prayers are answered. Thank you for sharing your experience. :)

[Tess]

PHOTO WANTED PLEASE!
Hi there :) My partners sister recently got engaged at Pukehina Beach and as part of their engagement present we would like to have your photo printed. Is there anyway we can have a digital copy of the photo so we can arrange it to be printed at our local photo printer ASAP? We would like to print it in 16x24 or 20x24 so would need to be able to be blown up to this size with good quality? What would It cost us to have this photo? Thank you!

[shauntwilliams]

Photo please
Congrats to them and sure thing. Will email it to you