Morocco & Western Sahara

We spent about 3 weeks in Morocco, mainly getting visas in Casablanca. We managed to visit Rabat, Fes, Marakesh,Volubilis and also crossed the Atlas to Todra gorge and some of the old mud towns, wild camping everywhere apart from the cities.



Due to the unreasonableness of the Mauritanian embassy in Rabat one of us had to take all the passports back to London and get the visas there as they refused to give group visas to people entering from the disputed territory of Western Sahara. We were lucky that the Morocooan army had recently stopped the convoy system for travelling through Western Sahara and once we had the visas we were free to drive down the coast in our own time.



The border between Western Sahara and Mauritania was only recently opened and the road was just sand, we needed a guide to avoid all the landmines dotted around the border and spent load of time sand matting wherever the sand got too deep. It was hard work.

Mauritania

After crossing into Mauritania we stopped in Nouadhibou where we visited a peninsula armed with our video camera - after playing around we were arrested and (having hidden all our money in our underwear) payed a small bribe to a slimey officer to get back to the truck. We then found a guide and travelled for 5 days throught the Sahara, crossing 60 miles of it on a beach at low tide (the only route through). Eventually we reached Nouakchott, relaxed on the beach watching the fishing boats and then drove inland down an amazing Japanese built road towards Nema. We planned to cross the border into Mali but some more dodgy customs officers decided to try and charge us $50 each for the pleasure of leaving Mauritania, on route to the border post we grabbed our passports off one of the soldiers ran back to the trucks and drove off into the desert towards Mali knowing full well that the border guards had no radio, no vehicle and no chance of catching us. Eventually we stopped at a village and realised we were in Mali.

Mali

Mali was wonderful - we headed for Bamako, saw Alpha Blondy play in the National Football Stadium, wandered around, and then drove up to Mopti. From there we got a boat down the Niger river to the amazing Mosque at Djenne and then headed North West to Dogon country. Here we trekked for 4 days along the Dogon escarpment staying on the roof of the chief's hut in each village. The Dogon people have lived on the edge of the Sahara since they fled the Muslims in the 9th century and are absolutely amazing. In the far North they're all Animist, and as you head South they become more Christian and Muslim. There are still human sacrifices in some of the villages (we avoided one, walking with some very scared villagers) and their lifestyle is fascinating, managing to exist in a small patch of land on top, in, and below the cliffs of the escarpment. They keep crocodiles, build amazing huts and still wear traditional costume when they can. The Mali government just leave them alone. Brilliant!!

Burkino Faso and Ghana

We travelled quickly through Burkino Faso staying in the capital Ouagadougou for one night camping in the grounds of a rather posh hotel.



We then travelled across the border into Ghana and visited Mole National park where we saw elephants close up on a game walk. After this we left the truck to stay at Boabeng Fiema monkey sanctuary before hitching South to Cape Coast and the slave forts. We stayed a few days in a deserted Tourist resort and then headed to Accra to meet up with the truck again. After a few days on the beach at Big Millies we crossed the border in to Togo.

Togo, Benin & Nigeria

We stayed in Lome the capital of Togo, before crossing the border into Benin. Here we visited one of the floating villages in the delta and then drove to Cotonou to see the point where millions of slaves were taken to the Caribean by the slave traders.




Once in Nigeria we drove to Lagos - the scariest place I have ever been and then headed North to Abuja the new capital city of Nigeria. Here we camped in the backyard of the Sheraton hotel, used their facilities and a splendid time relaxing. Wild camping in Nigeria is seriously difficult as it's so highly populated and we spent a lot of time avoiding scary soldiers demanding bribes at road blocks and searching for secluded places to camp. Once away from the cities Nigeria was superb, but we were glad to leave for Cameroon from Calabar down one of the worst border roads I have ever seen.

Cameroon

Cameroon was brilliant, friendly, diverse and easy to travel through independently. After climbing Mount Cameroon (4095m) we left the truck and travelled North on the train up to Garoua and Maroua. From here we headed into the Mandara Mountaind to do a trek. We stayed in the chief's hut in each village, were invited to a wedding, entertained a market with our white skin and long hair and had a superb time. We then headed to Waza national park up near the Chad border and saw a huge herd of elephants before meeting the truck and driving into Chad.

Chad & Sudan

We stayed in Ndjamena the capital of Chad for a while, rescued a dog who now lives in Uganda, scared ourselves about the security situation in Sudan listening to World Service and then spent several days driving towards the Sudan border. On the way we broke one of the trucks so we all had to get in one truck and as our visas for entering Sudan were about to run out raced overnight to the border.



Once at the border we discovered that the fighting in Darfur was a few miles North so we hurriedly followed the train tracks east across the desert (there is no road). On the way Garon was bitten by a saw-headed carpet viper and nearly lost his arm. With temperatures regularly above 40 degrees we left water out over night to cool and then kept it in our sleeping bags all day so that we could drink cool water. Our expected 3 day drive (we had no idea!!) took 10 days and we eventually discovered a pristine tarmac road built by Osama Bin Laden that took us directly to Khartoum. We had travelled about 300 miles in 10 days and it had been really hard, Garon was hospitalised and had some serious antibiotics to stop him dying and then some rather lovely skin grafts (which didn't take) on his finger. Khartoum was brilliant, wide streets, litter bins, automatic public squat toilets, and super friendly people who were all scared of the Americans invading. We got ourselves camera permits and spent several days filming around the city , catching the whirling dervishes at a Christian church in the middle of a wasteland and visiting the fair at the junction of the White and Blue Niles. From Khartoum we headed North to the pyramids at Meroe and then east into Ethiopia.

Ethiopia

Ethiopia is an amazing country, never colonised (the Italians tried) with appalling roads. We headed to Gondar, visited the castles there, and then drove North to the Simien mountains. Once there we trekked for 3 days seeing huge troups of Simien 'baboons', lamagayer eagles, simien foxes and struggled in the 3000m+ air. From there we drove for days to Addis Abbaba - a beautiful city - where we spent a few days relaxing, shaving and getting clean. Wherever we camped loads of people would appear from nowhere and surround our tents each morning making truck security a bit of a problem. The country is full of people - 60 million of them - and after a couple of weeks we drove south towards Kenya.

Kenya

Once across the border we drove South with a soldier on each truck to protect us from any bandits and reached Marsabit where we repaired one of the trucks ready for the terrible roads ahead. In Sudan one of the trucks had got sand in the air filter and by now was using about 25 litres of oil each day and the chasis on the other was separating from the body. We got it welded all back together and headed south to Mount Kenya after a brief day at Samburu national park where we also got to visit a Samburu village. At Mount Kenya we had our first taste of luxury in a sophisticated lodge (we still camped in the grounds) lazing around the pool and relaxing. From here we went straight to Nairobi to get another truck to replace the wrecked one and then drove West towards Uganda. We had a great couple of days in Nukuru national park and then crossed the border near Eldoret into Uganda.

Uganda

Once in Uganda we went to Jinja so that people could go White Water rafting and we left the truck and travelled North to see Murchison Falls national park. After a few days there we returned to Kampala and headed off to see the Gorillas at the Virunga volcanoes in the far west. Unfortunately we couldn't get permits to see them as the road had been swept away by heavy rain. Instead we stayed at Lake Bunyoni for a few days and crossed into Rwanda to try our luck there.

Rwanda

We drove down some amazing roads, waving all the way, past tea plantations and beautiful villages until we reached Kigali. From there we drove North to Ruhengeri to get permits to see the gorillas and then the next day hiked up the volcano to look for them. We were really lucky, seeing them out in the open relaxing in the sun. You're allowed to spend one hour with them, get no closer than 3 metres and you're not allowed to touch. If you have a cold you can't go as they can catch many of our diseases. It was a magical hour, sitting a few feet away from wild mountain gorillas with the 200Kg silverback keeping a watchfull eye on us. It's an experience that stays with you forever. From here we drove back through Uganda to Nairobi and after a few days of sorting ourselves out decided to leave the rest of Africa for another trip. Once we'd left northern Kenya everywhere seemed so civilised with petrol stations, restaurants, shops where you can use credit cards and the people seemed less surprised to see us. After our journey through West Africa we felt that it would be better to visit the rest of Africa another day with fresh eyes and bodies. AFter 30,000km and 8 months we were knackered.