CAMEROON

When it Rains it Pours

The drive from Maiduguri in Nigeria to Banki, a dusty border village, took us about two hours. As per usual the road condition became worse and worse the closer to the border we got. We took advantage of the cheaper diesel in Nigeria and filed both tanks prior to departure.

There had been a fair amount of rain in Banki during recent days and the normal route to Nigerian immigration and customs was closed off. A friendly local on a motor bike led us through a series of winding dirt roads through the village until we eventually arrived at a boom saying ‘Welcome to Cameroon’.

The Nigerian officials were very friendly and proficient and within no time we were through and on our way to the Cameroon immigration offices. Whilst our papers were being processed I was approached by an insurance broker who enquired whether I had the correct car insurance. I insisted I had and showed him the insurance purchased in Nouakchott, Mauritania, for the Central African counties. He stated this was not valid for Cameroon and when stopped by the police they would not recognise it. I pointed out to him the list of countries covered on the form, but he still insisted that I needed a different insurance and a Carte Rouge (which is a small piece of paper which is attached to the insurance). I weighed up the pros and cons and decided that I should buy the Carte Rouge to make my transit through Cameroon smoother. It is true that right hand drive cars are illegal in Cameroon and I didn’t want to exasperate a potentially tense situation, if it arose. When I asked to purchase the Carte Rouge, he said he couldn’t sell it without selling new insurance as well. I suspected that what he was telling me may not be entirely accurate so I decided to stick with what I had.

Actually, right hand drive vehicles have been banned but if you state clearly that you are a tourist in transit you should be fine. If that doesn’t work then you can explain that the government’s immigration and customs have given you permission, clearly knowing you are from the UK, and if they have a problem with the government rules then they should take it up directly with them.

Once finished at immigration we went down the road towards the Customs Office. Again, the rain had closed some roads off so we asked a local to show us the way. He led us through a series of streets and then to a river which he said we needed to cross because that was the only way to the Customs Office. The river was about10 metres wide with flat sandy banks. Clearly other vehicles had gone through so we put the foot down and plunged through. Once on the other side we soon found the Customs, but were told that the person that processes and stamps the Carnet de Passage was not in as it was a Sunday. This reminded me of Will and Hanna’s (Mind The Elephants) experience so with some gentle persuasion and a phone call I managed to get the official to come to work. Obviously the office could not be officially closed as the border itself is not closed on a Sunday. After about an hour’s wait the official arrived and he was very proficient in processing the necessary paperwork, presumably because he wanted to get back to his Sunday nap !!

We had heard that there would be many police and other check points around the border, so expected the 200km journey to Maroua via Mora to be long and tedious. The road for the first 40km to Mora was in poor condition, but to our surprise we were not stopped once. Actually many of the check points were unmanned, whilst a few of them were but they couldn’t be bothered to move from their comfy seats. Travelling on Sundays definitely does have some advantages. The road from Mora to Maroua was much better, and as we approached Maroua one policeman did attempt to stop us but he was too late as a young assistant had already lifted the boom and we sped through.

Maroua is Cameroon’s northernmost major town and a good place to stop before going across neighbouring borders. We decided to stay at Hotel Porte Mayo which is run by a German called Norbert. One of our main reasons for choosing to stay in such places when entering a country is to gather reliable information. We have often found that information provided from locals can be wildly exaggerated or just plain inaccurate. You can save a lot of hassle, and have a much better in-country experience, by getting to the facts in a timely manner. I spoke to Norbert about the Carte Rouge issue and he advised that, whilst not necessary, it could make travel through Cameroon simpler. For me, the simpler the better, and Norbert kindly offered to have his assistant go to Axa Insurance and have one attached to my existing insurance. The cost was only 1000CFA, and I did not need to buy a completely new insurance.

When the assistant returned with the Carte Rouge attached, it was pointed out to me that my car insurance was actually only valid in two days time. It was fortunate that we had not been stopped on the way from the border as insurance irregularities in Cameroon are taken seriously. On the plus side, our journey was pretty much on schedule as I had ‘best guessed’ our arrival date in Cameroon some three months ago in Mauritania.

The landscape in Northern Cameroon is similar to that in Northern Nigeria. It is a Sahel environment and has minimal rainfall. Generally the area is quite flat, although the Mandara Mountain that straddles the border breaks the mould. We enquired about visiting the remote scenic villages around the mountain range but, when we were told that many of the dry river beds that needed to be crossed were now in flood, we decided to skip it.

The following day we jumped on taxi bikes and headed to the central market, which is described in positive terms in the Lonely Planet. The market really was not worth visiting and within 5 minutes of arriving a storm hit and the market traders scrambled to close their stores. We took shelter for almost three hours until it abated and headed back to Hotel Porte Mayo through severely flooded streets. Later that afternoon, I updated my Blog and called family and friends back in England.

As we had another day to kill before my car insurance became valid so I had some spare time to plan our route towards the south, via Garoua and N’Gaoundere. Having heard some horror stories about the road that connects the north of Cameroon to the South, I made some enquiries. The road in question is the 270km route between N’Gaoundere and Garoua-Boulai which lies on the border of Central African Republic. There are in fact two routes, a western route (via Banyo) and an eastern route (via Garoua-Boulai). Although most over-landers seem to take the eastern route, I was slightly cautious because of our experience taking the ‘popular route’ in Nigeria from Mokwa to Bida....which was a big mistake. I met a local businessman at the hotel who insisted that the western route, as it had been recently graded, was the best one as the eastern route was in very poor condition. This sounded like good advice, but as it conflicted to what Norbert was telling me it needed to be double checked. The gateway to both routes is N’Gaoundere so I figured that when I arrived I would go to the local tour bus operators and ask them. One thing for sure, the local bus drivers always know where the best roads are.

The following day we left at day break and headed southwards. The road was in good condition and we reached our destination of N’Gaoundere in seven hours. The drive down was pretty unremarkable, and we had a fair amount of rain on the way. When we arrived, we drove to the Touristique Tours office and were relieved to find the manager spoke excellent English. He called a couple of his drivers and translated for me. The feedback was in complete contrast to what the local businessman in Hotel Porte Mayo had confidently advised me. The drivers estimated that the eastern journey would take about 7 hours, and to not even attempt the western route as the conditions were appalling. Within this sea of conflicting information, I decided that the bus drivers were the most reliable source and opted to take the eastern route. To add further mystery to this, Rene, a German biker friend, had travelled the eastern route two months previously and reported he had had a terrible journey and one should allow at least 10 hours to complete it. The following morning, not sure what really to expect, we left at day break for the eastern route. It had rained heavily over night and was still raining when we left. We hoped it would not turn into a major down pour, as travelling on laterite roads in such conditions could be dangerous. Once you leave town you are instantly in the bush and driving on laterite. The first 10 km were fine and just as we were wondering what all the fuss was about the road suddenly deteriorated into a real mess. Potholes covered the road like Swiss cheese and they were large. Thankfully, despite the area having had a fair amount of rain, the road was not too muddy. Our progress was slowed to an average of 25km and hour and it looked like it would indeed take us over 10 hours to get to Garoua-Boulai. Because of the rough road conditions, and the fact that we needed to protect Proper Job as much as possible ahead of the journey through hundreds of kilometres of rough roads on the way to South Africa, we rotated driving on two hour shifts. The next 50 km were very rough and needed total concentration. Thankfully there was hardly any traffic and the road wound its way through lush green bush. There were some signs of significant road workings along the way and after two hours it was time to switch drivers. I was quite tired after my gruelling two hour shift and sitting in the passenger seat contemplated what lay ahead. I silently hoped we would not snap something on Proper Job as I didn’t fancy the thought of getting it repaired in a small border village. We couldn’t believe our eyes when after only a few more kilometres, some 75 km from N’Gaoundere, we suddenly came upon a new graded road. The road was so good we could confidently travel at around 80 km per hour. The question was could this last. To our even greater surprise, 20km later, we next hit a very new tarred road which lasted for another 70km. By the time it was my turn to drive again the tarmac had ended but it was still very good graded road. We had now covered 160km of the 270km eastern route. We wondered how this road, which we assumed went all the way to Garoua-Boulai, could have been built within the time that Rene had gone through here and had reported such bad conditions. Surely the Chinese can’t build roads that fast. We raced on and now planned to get as far as Bertoua, which lies along the road to Yaoundé, the capital city of Cameroon. Our jubilant mood however was cut short 50km later when the road deteriorated again and we were forced to revert to an average of 25km per hour. After driving for 6 hours we decided to look for somewhere to pull over and make a sandwich and a cup of coffee. Finding convenient places to pull over on roads that are bound by dense bush is not that easy, but eventually we found a mud track that led to a pleasant clearing in the bush. After half an hour we were refreshed and resumed our slow drive along the rough road. We were surprised when 30 minutes later we drove into Garoua-Boulai. We had made more progress than we had though and it had taken us six and a half hours to complete the eastern route. The new road that is being built when finished will be one of the best roads in Cameron and will crucially link the south of the country to the north.

The road to Bertoua was excellent tarmac and we covered the 300km in two and a half hours. The further south you drive the taller the trees become and the thicker the rain forest gets. The road to Bertoua winds its way through a scenic hilly rain forest landscape and one is struck by the immenseness of it.

In Bertoua we stayed at the Talma Hotel, which had been recommended to us by a Cameroonian fraud auditor we had met the previous evening. It turned out to be excellent value and also had a great restaurant within walking distance. That evening, I decided that we should not prolong our stay in Cameroon. Because of the daily rains we could not visit the nicest parts of Cameroon and didn’t fancy hanging around the coast in the rain.

So as to avoid crossing a border on a Sunday, we planned to drive in the morning to Ambam which lies 600km away and is fairly close to the Gabon border. Overnight it rained again and when we left Bertoua at 6.30am it was still raining. We had been told that there was a 40km stretch of poor road just after you leave Bertoua and we soon hit it. Because of the recent rains there was a lot of water on the dirt road and the first obstacle we came across was a flooded section where a river had burst across the road. I enquired with some locals if it was fine to cross and when they affirmed it was we put Proper Job into low transmission and made our way through the river. The river was deeper than I thought and when we emerged from the other side Proper Job was covered in red mud. I hoped that there were not more rivers like this to cross. The road was very poor and slippery but we did not come across any more seriously flooded sections and once we were through the 40km stretch the road was very good to Yaoundé The road wound its way through rolling hills and thick green rainforest and it was very relaxing. When we got to Yaoundé we found a power wash and gave Proper Job a though clean, especially making sure we cleaned all the mud from the brakes. That finished we pushed on towards Ambam, but as time was getting on it was clear we would not make it. Instead we opted to stay in Ebolowa, which is approximately 150 km from the Gabon border.

Again we hardly saw any police barriers along the way and the few times we were pulled over, they were just curious about where we were going and wished us well on our journey. When we arrived at Ebolowa we opted to camp at Hotel Relais. When we pulled in we met up with a Swiss couple who were making their way towards South Africa, We camped on an old tennis court where there were a few Chinese men making some sort of blockwork. The tennis court was right next to the jungle so there were a lot of mosquitoes around and the bush night life was loud. The Swiss couple had bumped into a few of the same people we had along the way and we spent a couple of hours going through routes and places to stay. Cameroon has wonderful patisseries so we popped into town to get some for breakfast the following day as we would be leaving early for the border.

Overnight there was no rain and making as little noise as possible so as not to awaken our Swiss friends, we pulled out of the tennis court at 7am and headed towards the border. Our plan was to get a substantial way towards Libreville in Gabon so we hoped that the border crossing would go smoothly.

As we approached the Cameroon border we easily found the immigration and customs and our paperwork was processed quickly and efficiently. We made such good progress that we took the opportunity to have breakfast and a cup of coffee in the immigration car park.

We found the Cameroonians to be friendly and, unlike others we had heard about, we did not have any problems with the police at road blocks. On the odd occasion we were stopped we were only ever asked to show our driving license and not one official mentioned the fact that Proper Job was a right hand drive. I would have liked to have seen more of Cameroon as it is a fine looking country. However, for us, the constant rain kept us moving southwards towards the dry seasons.

NIGERIA

The Big Kahuna

The drive from Abomey to the Ketou border crossing took us about 2 hours. The actual crossing itself is 15km past Ketou and the Benin border control offices are a little difficult to spot. We got to a boom with Nigeria on it and were told we had come too far. Looking behind us there was an immigration official waving to us from a building so we backtracked a 100 metres and went inside. He informed us we had gone way past the Customs Office which was 15km back on the outskirts of Ketou. The friendly official offered to arrange for a motor bike to show us to the Nigerian border controls and also to have a trusted money changer exchange our CFA’s into Naira. We completed our immigration then sped back to Ketou and completed custom exit formalities for Proper Job. The officials were all extremely helpful and friendly and reinforced my conclusion that Benin is a great country to spend time in.

I did wonder why the immigration officer suggested we have someone show us to the Nigerian border controls as I would have thought they were straight ahead through the barrier....not so. We followed a bike along a winding dirt track for a couple of kilometres, through a village until we came to the Nigerian border control offices. Formalities here were straightforward and by 10.30am we were through and on our way. We were now on the road that we had heard so many bad stories about concerning constant police stops and hassle from ‘stick boys’ who push nail studded planks of wood in front of your car. We soon hit our first stop, then our second and then another fifteen or so. We passed many others that were not manned. Some of the official stops were only a couple of hundred metres apart and seemed pointless. The customs, immigration, health and a few other stops took us 2 hours to drive 25 kilometres. It is, of course, very frustrating but you have to keep your sense of humour. One check point made a story of how our Yellow Fever certificates were not valid as the nurse had not stamped her signature, and another said our car was illegal as it was right hand drive. I told him that the border customs knew it was a UK vehicle and had allowed us into Nigeria as we were only in transit. The problem with these stops is that it wasted valuable time, and we wanted to push as far as we could towards Abuja that day.

Eventually we got past them all and then we hit Abeokuta, our first large Nigerian town. The traffic was manic and it took us ages to get through. Reading other journals of overlanders and referring to our Tracks4Africa it appeared that most head from here to Ibadan and then northwards through Ilorin to Mokwa, where they turn eastwards via Bida, Minna and Suleja to arrive in Abuja. Hence we decided to take the same route...much to our regret. When we got to Ibadan the heavens opened and the rain was so heavy we could not continue. It was 4.30pm and we had been driving since 6.30am so we pulled over and stayed the night.

The following day it was still raining and we left at 6.30am to try and make it to Abuja, which lay 600 km away. I estimated we would arrive by about 5pm but I had not taken into account the condition of the roads. To be fair, the road northwards to Jebba and Mokwa are pretty good, but after that was appalling. A word of warning for others, do not take this route if you can help it as the road eastwards from Mokwa to Bida is very bad and mega dangerous because it is the route used mainly by lorries. A few hours later we reached Mokwa and headed eastwards and the lorry traffic was unrelenting. The Nigerian driving, as anyone who has been here will attest to, is abysmal. We saw the aftermath of some horrendous crashes, and in these rainy conditions it takes absolute concentration and continual honking of the horn to get through unscathed. The road itself was full of potholes and ripped tarmac and we can’t remember having even 1 kilometre of clean tarmac. It really surprised me that others who had taken this route have not warned of the dangers, as there is a much faster and safer way via Ife and Lokoja to Abuja.

Eventually we arrived at Suleja, which is a major oil truck stop over town, just as the light was fading. We knew that we were close to a major expressway which leads straight to Abuja. I sent a text to my friend Bill Hussey in Abuja and told him we would arrive at around 7.30pm. What I hadn’t accounted for is the fact that Suleja stretches for kilometres along the road that passes through it and it took us an hour to get through. Bill mentioned to his ‘Mr Fix It’ called IK where we were and he was shocked we had even attempted this route. One of my golden rules for this trip is that we do not drive at night because of the risk of an accident. There were people milling around everywhere and a multitude of bikes and cars, most of which had no brake lights or even headlights. In hindsight we should have stayed in Suleja (if we could have located a motel) but we were quite close to Abuja so we pushed on. We made it to the expressway and continued to Abuja where we arrived at 9pm....absolutely exhausted after a marathon 15 hour drive.

We met our friend Bill, a fellow Camborne School of Mines mining engineering mate, at the Sheraton and made our way to his house where we would stay for the week while acquiring our final 3 visas that would take us all the way to South Africa. We had a quick look for any other overlanders at the Sheraton but could not see anyone there. That evening we chatted amiably about our trip, had a few cold Star beers and hit the sack.

The following day was Sunday and that would give us time to catch up on the progress and challenges of Bill’s gold exploration projects in the north of Nigeria which we planned to visit, relax some more and prepare for the Angola Embassy which we planned to hit as soon as they opened on Monday. That afternoon, we toured around Abuja which is a very clean and quiet city. We had a delicious lunch at Wakkis Indian restaurant and then watched the World Cup final over a few more Star beers and a nice home cooked beef stew. I wasn’t particularly bothered who won the final, and the game turned out to be very edgy and both teams had their chances to win it.

Monday morning we arrived at the Angola Embassy at 8.30am to apply for our double entry visa, only to find out that it opens at 9.30am. Whilst waiting for the gate to open we met an English couple called David and Jane who were 8 months into an 8 year drive around the world in their Land Rover.......yes 8 years !! When we got into the embassy you are given a number and then sit and wait to be called out. Once called you ask for a visa application form and then sit and wait again. When the form eventually arrived we read through it and realised that we needed almost as many supporting documents for the Angola visa as we did for our Nigerian visa. We didn’t have these so had to shoot over to Bill’s office to make copies of passport with Nigeria visa, relevant Carnet de Passage pages, vaccination certificates, car insurance and International Driving license. We arrived back at the Angola Embassy at about 11am and reclaimed our numbered badges and sat and waited to be called. Another word of warning, you can only apply for visas on Mondays and Wednesdays so plan your week in Abuja carefully if you are seeking other visas. Eventually we were able to submit our forms and were given a receipt with a collection time and date, which was two days later at 10am.

We decided to go to the Cameroon Embassy and Congo Embassy to show our faces, get visa application forms and find out how long they would take to issue once we submitted them. We were told the Cameroon visa would take up to 48 hours and the Congo visa 24 hours. Without our passports (that were now in the Angola Embassy until Wednesday), we could do no more and looked likely that we would be here for the full week. The longer than expected time to get the Angola double entry visa meant that we also could probably not go to the north of Nigeria to see Bill’s gold projects.

That evening Bill took us to Rooftop Cafe at the British Council where we had nice pizzas and a couple of cold star beers. Thinking about the journey ahead through Cameroon, Gabon, Congo, DRC and Angola we decided that evening we should get Proper Job serviced and checked over, even though not due for another 2000 km. The thought of trying to get this done in a French speaking Central African country did not appeal much. Bill and IK offered to take us to a mechanic they use for their Toyota services so we had a worthwhile task for Tuesday.

The following morning IK showed us the way to S.H. Sonny Motors (tel 0803 7008053) where I spoke to Sunday Kwashue (Director) about our journey and what we needed doing. Sunday, like many others we had met, was genuinely in awe that we could have driven from England and agreed to do the work for 20,000 Naira which I thought was a good deal. I left Sam with Proper Job and the Sonny Motors mechanics and headed back into the centre to withdraw money from the MasterCard accepting banks (Zenith and GT Bank) and check out the rates from the hordes of official money changers that line the street outside the Sheraton Hotel. I know that there are very few ATM machines in the next few countries we are driving through so decided to stock up with a stash of central African CFA’s. Remember that you cannot use your West African CFA’s in Central Africa.

Later that afternoon, Proper Job reappeared and all seems to be well. We know that ahead lies some of the roughest roads we will meet on our journey so I wanted to be as assured as one can be that we have prepared as well as one can do.

That evening we headed to an outdoor bar restaurant where we had some local food, including a large catfish. The restaurant has a pond full of them and you point out the one you want and later it appears cooked and wrapped in foil. The fish was very spicy and peppery but we washed it down with a few more cold star beers...maybe a few too many.

The following morning, feeling a bit groggy, we headed back to the Angola Embassy at 10.15am to hopefully pick up our passports. The fellow overlanders that we had met on Monday were already there waiting. Again we had to get a number and wait to hand in the receipt with collection date and time on. The others, who had earlier handed in their receipts, soon got their passports with visas and headed over to the Cameroon Embassy. Thirty minutes later, at 10.45am, our number was called and I took the chance on asking if our passports were ready as our receipt said 10am pickup. Fortunately the lady immediately handed us our passports with visas, which saved us from having to wait once again for our number to be called out. I asked her for confirmation on the double entry and 5 days, and was told that we could go in twice but the total number of days for both was 5. As we planned to go through Cabinda (Angola) into the DRC and then via Matadi into Angola, we would have to ensure that the border officials also understood this....let’s see what happens when we get there.

IK then drove us to the Cameroon Embassy and, on the way, I decided to change plans and firstly go back to the Congo Embassy and ask the helpful lady officer if it was at all possible to get our Congo visas in a couple of hours. If we could do this then we would still have time the same day to put in our application for our Cameroon visas, which meant we could then go on Thursday to see the gold projects and northern Nigeria. Definitely worth a go. We had got our DRC visas from Lome, Togo in just 3 hours and upon arrival at the Congo Embassy were very surprised to hear that they would give us our visas in just 1 hour. It was 11am by the time we submitted our forms so we headed down to the money changers to stock up with CFA’s. It is worth asking different dealers for rates, but they generally all gravitate to the same number. That completed, we headed back to the Congo Embassy where we arrived at 12.10pm. I was assured the passports were about to be collected and after a 10 minute wait they appeared and we set off to the Cameroon Embassy which is just down the road. Upon arrival, the ladies remembered me from my Monday visit to get the application forms and after a bit of friendly banter they went through our completed forms and supporting documents. Besides copies of our Nigeria visa (which we had provided) they also asked for a photocopy of our Angola and Congo visas. I queried whether they also would like a copy of our Gabon visa but they said this was not necessary as you can get this visa in Yaunde, Cameroon. Whatever, so I walked 20 metres down the road to get the copies done, came back 5 minutes later and formally submitted our application forms. The staff at the embassy were very friendly and helpful and told us we could in fact come in tomorrow afternoon to get our visas. I thanked them for their offer and explained we would be in the north on Thursday and so we come in on Friday.
We made a lot of progress on Wednesday and had managed to achieve three visas in three working days. If it were three consecutive days it would have been even better but this is not doable because the Angola Embassy keeps hold of your passport for the almost three day duration it takes to apply and issue their visas. The plan now was to head to the north for a couple of days, pick up our Cameroon visa on Friday and then make the long journey to a northern border crossing into Cameroon. We spent some time with IK plotting a route that would take us along good roads only, as we didn’t want a repeat of the mistake we had made coming from Ibadan to Abuja.

The journey north to Kaduna took almost 3 hours but the road was very good. Again we wondered at the driving of some Nigerian’s as it was quite common to have oncoming traffic on your side of the road. The further north you go in Nigeria the more Muslim it becomes. However, by all accounts the north is supposedly the nicest and safest part of the country. We did not stop at Kaduna, where we would be spending the night, but travelled for another 2 hours to take a look at Bill’s gold exploration projects at Birnin Gwari. Bill forewarned us that the road between Kaduna and Birnin Gwari was poor, but in comparison to the Mokwa-Bida road it was in great condition.

I had reviewed the Birnin Gwari gold project on maps but was struck by the scale of the concession area, each one being 200 square kilometres. We drove through the barrier past the gun toting security guard, though it did look home made. Arriving at the site offices we went on a 2 kilometre hike through the bush to take a closer look at a series of artisanal workings. These consisted of numerous hand dug pits and trenches covering numerous out-cropping quartz veins. Artisanal mining has been going on here for decades and through their back breaking labour must have recovered many ounces of gold. Bill’s plan is to test the area for its potential by carrying out a modern day exploration program which includes drilling to depth. Next we went to a nearby village to see how they extracted the gold. First they pound the pieces of rock with a metal pole. The locals had a good laugh when I attempted to do so as I spilt more than I kept in the wooded pounding bowl. The workings near the village indicated that the quartz structures they had found here were rich in gold. The area looked a bit like a rabbit warren as there were a multitude of tunnels and vertical holes more than 10 metres below surface. Beware the person who decides to walk around here at night as it will definitely end up with a fall down one of these tunnels. We watched how they set up sluices to wash and capture the pieces of gold. The preparation process is quite meticulous as, if it is not, the result could be you miss the gold altogether.

The villagers were all extremely friendly and this has much to do with how Bill has managed the project and local relationships from day one. If one does get it wrong it could well end up in a real battle. Bill correctly concluded that the locals, by digging their pits and tunnels, were actually doing valuable early stage exploration. Certainly where they dug deep holes there was rich gold structures. I was pleased I had managed to come here to see these extensive workings and it brought back memories of the great times I had had in the gold mining industry. For me, there is not a more exciting sector to be in than exploration as you really never know what will turn up. Bill has done an excellent job in setting this project up from scratch and I applaud a fellow Camborne School of Mines graduate that has made it happen in a difficult environment.

Later that afternoon we headed back to Kaduna where we planned to have dinner with a group of Nigerian Camborne School of Mines graduates (Ebenezer, Samson and Jesse). It was a great evening reminiscing about the people and lecturers and they were genuinely delighted to meet up with us. Dr. Ebenezer Damisa graduated a year ahead of me and is in the process of establishing a school of mines at Jos, a famous Nigerian mining province. Jos is known mainly for its rich tin reserves, but also has nice emeralds and tourmalines.

The following morning, we drove back to Abuja and went to the Cameroon Embassy to pick up our last visa. We would spend one last night in Abuja before heading 700km north eastwards to the Mora border crossing and into Cameroon. The drive took us through Jos, Bauchi, Potiskum to Maiduguri, where we planned to spend a night before hitting the Cameroon border.
Bill Hussey has been a great host and friend. He went out of his way to ensure that we had a good time in Abuja whilst getting our visas for our onward journey to South Africa. Having use of his ‘Mr Fix It’ called IK (full name Anslem Oparah) made the trips to and from the embassy’s as stress free as possible. I am not sure how many beers I owe Bill for his help, but I am sure the Bolingey Inn near my hometown of Perranporth, Cornwall will benefit handsomely. Bill goes back to Tehidy, Cornwall in a couple of days for a well deserved break and I genuinely wish him all the best. I just hope he hasn’t blamed me for his delay in going home to see his wife Sue and daughters !

TOGO and BENIN

Jekyll and Hyde

The road to Aflao is not that good and it seems a recurring feature that most of the near-border roads in Africa are in poor condition. I am not quite sure why this is.

The border crossing at Aflao is as hectic as described in the Lonely Planet. It is probably the most chaotic border crossing we have encountered so far on our journey through Africa. Arriving at Aflao, you are swamped with an array of people trying to exchange money and help you through the system. We needed to change some money so got the selected money changer to show us the various offices which were scattered illogically. Firstly, you have to go through a barrier and head through what looks like a lorry park to an office where you get registered and given a small piece of paper. You then go to the customs and then the immigration where you fill out an exit form. Be aware of the money changers though. Make sure you get them first to count the money owed to you, and then you count the same money and repeat with the money you owe them. They will try to short change you, as they tried with us, so be aware.

We were sorry to be leaving Ghana, but were keen to get on with our visa gathering exercise and prepare for our push through Central Africa to South Africa, the half way mark. The Togo border was quite straightforward, but the offices are just bamboo shelters. The Customs didn’t have a stamp for the Carnet du Passage but assured me it would be no problem when I presented it at the Togo/Benin crossing. We were through in 90 minutes and headed to Lome, the capital of Togo. We realised the border was actually Lome and I found this odd as I have not come across another country where its capital is the border crossing. The road was not that good and the place appeared generally run down and noticeably very different from Ghana.

We wanted to get our visas for the DRC and Gabon in Lome so we decided to stay nearer to the centre rather than come in from the popular overlander stopover at Chez Alice, which is 12km out of town. We found a reasonable small hotel called Belle Vue which is run by a French couple.

Monday morning we grabbed a taxi whose driver said he knew the way to both embassies. This was not the case and after asking for directions many times we arrived at the DRC Embassy where we were warmly greeted. The application was very straightforward and we were told we could come back at 1.30pm the same day to pick the passports up. Great, so in the meantime we headed to the Gabon Embassy where we were expecting things to be more difficult as we had heard that none of the staff will speak English. Again the taxi driver had to ask for directions, but we lucked into a local who could speak English and knew one of the senior members of the Gabon Embassy. He jumped into the taxi and off we went. When we arrived at the embassy, the person he knew was out of town but we asked him anyway to come in and help us with forms etc. It is true that they will not speak English and I would highly recommend that you take someone with you that does. The reason we wanted to get two visas here was so we would not have to stay longer than necessary in Nigeria. The application forms we were given were poor photo copies and without the translator and help from the embassy staff we would not have been able to fill them in. We gave back the completed forms to the officer and promised to be back as soon as we could with our passports, which were still at the DRC Embassy. We returned to the DRC Embassy at 1.30pm and were given our passports as promised. Not bad going as they had completed formalities in 3 hours. We wondered if we would be able to get both visas in 24 hours....which would surely be a record.

By 2pm we were back at the Gabon Embassy and handed in our passports to a senior lady officer decked in gold jewellery who told us to sit patiently and wait. So we waited and waited. Three hours went by and, as we were about to leave, the same lady came down and was clearly irritated about something....including the fact we could not speak English. She asked for some additional information such as address in Gabon and proof of funds. Luckily another person present could speak English and we managed to explain that we were only going to be in transit and were going to be camping. She walked away telling us to come back in two days time as it takes up to 72 hours to issue visas. I explained that we needed to go to Benin the following day and hoped that we could get the passports back the next day. After she left we were told by another staff member to come back the following morning at 11am, presumably to pick the passports up.

That evening we decided to walk towards the town centre and Banque Atlantique which, according to the Lonely Planet, is the only bank and branch in Togo that accepts Mastercard. It was dark and as we walked onto the coastal main road my senses told me to be wary. It reminded me of Rio de Janeiro in the 80’s. There are no street lights and within 200 metres some police or military came out of the shadows and asked us what we were doing. We explained where we were going and that we were tourist and they advised us not to walk along this road because the area was renowned for night time muggings. I thought they were also looking to extract money from us, so thanking them for their professionalism we headed back to the hotel.

The following morning we went to the Gabon Embassy at 10am only to be told that the visas were not ready and that they would call the driver from the hotel at 3pm to report progress. Nothing more we could do so we headed down to the Grand Marche area for a few hours and enjoyed the vibrant activity. The market is known for its gorgeous cloth and the colours and patterns are really cool. We ate some local tasty food and had a cobbler repair our sandals. We also found a money changer in the main undercover part of the market and his rates were much better than others I had asked. I decided to change some CFA’s into Naira so I would not have to do so at the Benin border in a captured market. We also found the Banque Atlantique and, although it has the Mastercard sign, it definitely does not accept Mastercard.

That evening at around 7pm the driver that took us to the Gabon Embassy told us that he had been called at 5pm and they confirmed the passports were ready. Great, we could at last leave Lome and Togo, neither of which I have been enamoured with. A week earlier the military had shot dead three people that were demonstrating against the high price of fuel. Lome is a decayed city and has the worst roads that we have seen in a capital city so far on our journey. I would not have stopped here at all unless it were for visas. I have heard mid way northwards in Togo, across the border from Ho in Ghana, is very scenic and pleasant. But Ghana versus Togo.....Ghana any day.

The next morning at 8am I jumped in a taxi and went back to the embassy. A few minutes after I arrived the visa officer appeared and gave me the passports. I thanked him for his help and headed back to the hotel and departed for Benin. The drive along the coastal road to the border was unimpressive and an hour later we were ready to exit.

The formalities on the Togo side were straightforward. Immediately, on entering Benin you notice that life in general was better. The people were more friendly and the officials more professional. We were through the Benin border in no time and headed eastwards. We decided not to stay at the popular overlander haunt of Grand Popo and instead head inland to stay on the shores of Lake Aheme in a village called Possotome, which is a Voodoo stronghold.

However, on the way we wanted to go to Quidah and learn about its major involvement in the slave trade. This meant a bit of a detour but when you try to get your head around the fact that over 10 million Africans left Quidah as slaves to go to Brazil, Cuba and Haiti you have to go there and try to comprehend. It had started to rain so a visit to the museum and then a tour along the slave route would be perfect. The tour takes you along a 4km dirt track that the slaves walked in chains from the Portuguese Fort to the ocean, where the boats were waiting to transport them to the other side of the world. Men, woman and children were captured from far and wide by the Dahomey Kingdom and sold to the Europeans. I asked the guide how the Africans felt about the fact that Africans were so cynically involved with this human trade. As you can imagine, the guide was a bit lost for words at this indisputable fact. It is estimated that half of the Africans that left the shores never made it. As we looked through the gateway at the Point of No Return I could well imagine that many of these slaves had not even seen the ocean before and it must have been an absolutely traumatic experience. Before they departed, they had to walk a number of times around a tree to symbolically forget Africa and then a lesser number of times around another tree so that their spirit could find its way back to these shores when they died. It really was very hard to comprehend the reality of what went on here during 400 years of slavery. The sheer numbers itself just beggars belief.

We then retraced our footsteps and headed westwards for 25 kilometres and took the road northwards at the village of Come towards Lokossa. The roads in Benin are very good, in total contrast to Togo. We drove for 18km to the village of Possotome and as it was still pouring with rain we decided to stay at a small hotel called Chez Theo.

This part of Benin is very lush and the lake itself, which is only a few feet deep across its entire length, provides a valuable source of protein in the form of catfish for the locals. That evening we went to a local restaurant ate some tasty Benin style food and watched Spain outclass Germany to go through to the World Cup final. Rene did you make it to South Africa in time ?. We enjoyed our brief stay here and would have liked to have spent more time, but with only a 48hour visa we had to move on.

The following morning we headed towards Abomey which was the capital of the fierce Dahomey Kingdom. The drive along good roads took about two hours and went through scenic villages and bush lands. We checked into a neat lodge called Chez Monique and arranged for a guide to take us on a tour to visit the places of interest, including an underground village and a voodoo village. The Abomey Kingdom were into their gothic art, as you can see by the carvings in the gardens of Chez Monique !!

I am not sure what to make of voodoo, but this area is a stronghold for it. Voodoo, as explained to me, is for peaceful purposes and is only rarely used to bring harm to a person. The King would have his army visit the voodoo villages to give them strength and to make them invisible from their enemies. The voodoo chief went through a series of rituals and blessings on the various fetishes, and you could clearly see where many animals had been sacrificed. One particular moment made me laugh and was quite surreal, when during one of the rituals a Michael Jackson song blared out from his radio. Maybe he is a fan, who knows. Anyway, make what you want of it, but voodoo is deeply embedded in the local culture.

The underground village is a complex of caves and tunnels made by the Dahomey tribe to trick their enemies. The warriors would go underground to live and wait for their enemy to pass by. They would then emerge behind enemy lines and attack. The caves and tunnels were discovered when a large earth moving truck that was building a nearby road collapsed into one of the caves. Whilst we were in the village the heavens opened and we ran for it, so our visit was cut short.

So Togo and Benin, two small countries, were a bit like Jekyll and Hyde. The former I would not be in a rush to go back to and the latter I wish I had been able to spend more days in.

The following morning we left at 6.30am to get to the border in good time. We had read other journals that warned about the problems faced with road blocks (official and unofficial) on the Nigerian side so we wanted to give ourselves a good chance to make it to Ibadan in Nigeria that day. This would then get us within striking distance of Abuja, which was still a further 600km way. Our plan was to be in Abuja at about 5pm to meet up with my friend Bill Hussey from Cornwall. Bill has kindly offered to put us up for a few days, take us to see the north of the country and lend us his driver to go to the embassies to get the remaining three visas that we needed........a good mate indeed.

GHANA

Sweet-Oh

We entered Ghana in the far north western corner through the Hamile border post. It was great to be able to communicate in English again and with the positive vibes we were getting from being back, we were sure we would have a great time.

We had been told by other travellers that the Ghanaian police would constantly ask for money and gifts, but after passing many road blocks and not even being stopped we wondered whether this could be that same country.

We had decided not to go to the Nazinga Game Reserve in Burkino Faso and instead had opted for the Mole National Park in Ghana’s northern region. We were told at the border post that the road down to Wa was good except for the first 50km. Indeed this was the case and we made quite good progress although, as per usual, it took us longer than we thought. Just before we reached Wa, we struck a goat that decided to shoot across the road. Unfortunately, the goat was instantly killed but there was really nothing we could have done to prevent that accident, and the locals knew it. From Wa we headed southwards to Sawla which is where the east access road to Mole National Park begins. We naively hoped that it would be a tar road because the park is a major tourist attraction. When we found the road it was a rough laterite road that had been damaged by recent floods. We had no other option and being conscious that it was now late afternoon, and that driving on such roads in fading light would be tough on Proper Job, we pressed on. The road was one of the roughest we had driven on since Gambia and 3 hours later we arrived with relief at the gate to the Mole National Park.

The map of the park shows a number of camps but it soon became apparent that these were inaccessible so we opted for the spectacularly situated Mole Lodge which was a couple of kilometres inside the park. The lodge is perched on a hillside and overlooks a large watering hole. Theoretically this should be a great place to see animals but as we were in the rainy season it was probably better to go out on safari to look for them.

As it was a weekend, the lodge was alive with volunteers and NGO’s from all over Ghana so had the chance to meet lots of them and do some information gathering. We dumped our things in the room and headed to the swimming pool for a quick dip. Jane and I were keen to try a cold Star beer after so many years away from Ghana so we got stuck into a couple or three bottles (big). After a good Ghanaian meal we headed for the room and planned to do a safari the following day. It was our first night back in Ghana, and at midnight the park was hit by a tremendous thunder storm. I always enjoyed the big storms that swept through the Ashanti area, but I recall these normally lasted for just an hour or so. The storm that night raged on through the night and only stopped at 8am.....a nice welcome back to Ghana.

All safaris were cancelled that morning so we opted to go on a walking safari in the afternoon. I wondered around the outskirts of the lodge and noticed the prolific bird life. There are over 350 bird species at Mole and it is worth keeping your eyes open for some truly beautiful birds. We met some very nice people at the lodge and in particular we enjoyed the company of Stephen Kelly from Ireland who is working as a volunteer and also Aggie and her mum from Canada. We have to thank Aggie for giving us some great tips on where to go and what to see in Ghana. All her recommendations were excellent and she exuded the kindness that Canadians are renowned for. At 3pm we headed out on a walking safari and saw a few types of antelope and lots of warthogs. We did not see any elephants and, as Jane was desperate to see her favourite animal, we decided to go on a driving safari the following morning.

That morning we found the vehicles had been overbooked, so as I had seen loads of elephants on other African safaris, I volunteered to stay behind. Plus, I remembered a story of a German in Zimbabwe who had stayed at camp whilst his animal loving wife headed out into the bush. He ended up seeing the Big 5 (Lion, Buffalo, Rhino, Elephant, Leopard) from the camp bar that overlooked a watering hole, whilst she saw very little. I headed over to the restaurant for breakfast and as I finished, there was some commotion as a bunch of elephants had just come down to the water hole. Jane returned from her safari a little disappointed as they had only caught a brief glimpse of an elephant. She was delighted when she found out that there were some around the watering hole and we joined a group that were heading there by foot with an armed guide for a close encounter. We got within 30 meters of the elephants that were in the water and got some great close up shots.

We planned to leave the following morning and I arranged to go on a two hour early morning bird walk. We went far into the bush and saw many nice species, including some malachite kingfishers. On the way back to the camp, we stumbled into a herd of 6 elephants and got very close to them...in fact so close I urged the guide to increase the distance between us !

The drive westwards to the Tamale-Kumasi road was reported to be just as bad as the road we had taken to get to the park, and we soon found out that indeed it was,. Some hours later we got to the main road - shaken but not stirred - and headed southwards towards the Kintampo Falls in the Brong Ahafo region. Arriving in the town of Kintampo we found a mango-addicts dream market. There were mangoes of many different sizes, including a giant variety (the size of a soccer ball) that they called a papaya-mango. The market mama told me that the medium sized ones were the best and to prove the point offered me a free taste. I obliged and, a bite later, bought a bag full of some of the nicest mangoes we had yet found on our travels. We also grabbed a couple of nice big pineapples for the ‘pineapple loving’ Jane.

We continued southwards and went to the Kintampo Falls which were delightful. The water is very clean and we jumped straight in and sat under the cool cascade for a couple of refreshing hours. Our destination that evening was Nkoranza, where the Hand in Hand hospice for mentally handicapped Ghanaian children is situated. This establishment has nice comfortable chalets which are reasonably priced. I wish that I could have such accommodation throughout my African journey and I highly recommend Hand in Hand to other travellers. Thanks to Aggie once again for pointing us in this direction. In addition, the money they get from the chalets all goes to an extremely good cause. Handicapped children in Ghana are treated with much suspicion, and are thought to be the product of the Water Spirit having secretly fertilized a woman. These children are generally abandoned and left by the rivers to be reclaimed by the Water Spirit. Hand in hand was set up many years ago by a Dutch medical doctor and the establishment with its kind volunteers is very inspiring.

The following morning we went to visit the monkey village called Baobeng Fiema. The people here believe that these monkeys are sacred and that is why they are protected and it is illegal to hunt them. They even have a monkey graveyard where they hold funeral services for departed monkeys. The guide told us that the monkeys actually come into the village to die. The walk through the reserve was nice and we saw two different types of monkey, the black-and-white Colobus and the Mona.

Our plan today was to get down to Obuasi where we were to meet Doug Hayes, who had arranged a tour of the Obuasi area and mines for us. On the way we wanted to stop at the Kumasi Club near to the old Fort. This is where we used to always come for lunch whilst visiting Kumasi from Obuasi so it would be interesting to see how it had changed. Kumasi is a busy place and we soon got lost and ended up driving through the central market. It was total chaos in the market but we managed to get through unscathed and eventually found the Kumasi Club. The outside has not changed much and I did not easily recall what the inside was like back in the old days. Jane however, has a much better memory than me so she was able to describe the differences. We had hoped for a lunch but found they did not serve food anymore. We were determined to have lunch there so I popped around the corner and found a couple of roadside food stalls with plantain and groundnuts. I also grabbed one of nice big pineapples that the barman kindly offered to cut up. Lunch finished we jumped into Proper Job and headed southwards towards Obuasi, where we arrived an hour later. I have written a separate Blog on Obuasi, so from here I will skip straight to the coast of Ghana.

The drive from Obuasi along the road to Cape Coast was very pleasant and we passed the hours away reminiscing about the old times in Obuasi. Our jubilant mood however has been tempered during the last few days as news that Tony Silvey, one of our best friends in Perranporth, Cornwall, had been diagnosed with a tumour on the brain. I think of Tony daily and desperately hope that he will be well soon. It was Tony that procured from out local pub the Proper Job beer pump badge that is on the front of my Landcruiser (named Proper Job).....and I will try to make sure that the badge makes it all the way back with me so we can return it to its rightful owner (Bolingey Inn).

It was really nice to get back to the coast again and the cool sea breezes. The stretch of road between Accra and Dixcove is notorious for its speed traps so we proceeded carefully. We were stopped a few times at police check points, but after some good humoured banter about the World Cup football tournament, we were waived through.

We arrived at Busua in the late afternoon and found sea front accommodation called Busua Inn. This place is run by a French couple, Olivier and Daniella, and was recommended to us by Xavier, our French friend in Bobo Dialoso (Burkino Faso). I was keen to check the area out and see how it had changed from the early 80’s. Back then there was just one lodge (a restaurant/bar and 7 basic chalets) situated in the middle of Busua bay and Busua village at the far end of the beach was a very traditional African village with no block buildings. We used to go down and watch the fisherman come in with their catch of sailfish, manta and shark. Busua has changed a lot, and there are now dozens of lodges and small hotels. The old Busua lodge has been transformed into a posh resort with 50 or so modern chalets. The old restaurant bar building is still there but is not in use anymore. The beach front between the lodge and the old Busua village has been filled in with buildings, but has not completely lost its charm. We went down to the village and met some fishing boats coming in with their catch. Today though, like many parts of the world, the fishing has been hard hit and they only seem to catch sardines. The foreign fishing fleets (Japan, Russia, China etc) have moved in and this has resulted in a fish depletion that puts the viability of coastal fishing villages in grave jeopardy.

The next day was my birthday and it was nice to be spending it in a place where I have so many good memories from the past. We found a couple of great beach front bars and restaurants and had celebrated in style...with lobster, pineapple, tuna, mango and cold star beers. The kids from the village are extremely friendly and we spent hours mucking around with them and taking photos. The adults in the village are initially reluctant to let you take pictures but once you engage with them in conversation they soon relax and allow you to snap away.

We walked to Dixcove which was another place we used to visit on our sojourns to Busua. We stayed overnight a couple of times in the old fort, but in those days the accommodation was really rough. The old footpath from Busua to Dixcove through the dense bush has gone. Instead there is a dirt road so that is what we took. Dixcove is still a bustling fishing village and, from that perspective, hasn’t really changed that much. One change is that the village dogs don’t chase the white man anymore. The fort has been restored and is in good condition. I remember staying there in the 1980’s with Chris and Justin Warwick and, after the mine truck dropped us off, trying to wake the care taker. He eventually woke up and gave us a room which had insect ridden beds. Didn’t have a god nights sleep and after we ate our breakfast eggs and bread we walked along the bush path to Busua where we had a couple of great days with the Ghanaian Air Force.

The following day we departed and headed towards Ezile Bay lodge which is situated at Ezile Bay, about an hours drive westwards from Busua. The nearby fishing village is called Akwida and it reminded me of Busua in the old days....no development and no electricity. Ezile Bay lodge is owned by Olivier and Daniella from Busua Inn and is renowned for its safe swimming and isolation. The Green Turtle lodge is about a 30 minute walk in an easterly direction past Akwida, but there is no road connection between the two lodges. As it was the low season we were the only ones at Ezile Bay. Unfortunately the weather was not that great and the whole coastal strip was getting lots of rain. For me, being an ardent non-sun-bather, this type of weather suited me fine.

The following day we made a trip to Cape Three Points, the most southerly point of Ghana. On the way back to Ezile Bay we stopped at another coastal eco lodge called Escape, which is being developed by Ketty (a volunteer from France) and Akwesi (whose parents own the Rainbow Hotel in Busua and who was born in Saskatchewan, Canada). They still have some way to go to get fully established, but it is in a super location.

We also wanted to stay for a couple of days at the much vaunted Green Turtle Lodge, which we could only get to by taking a circular route back to Dixcove and then follow a rough dirt road for about an hour. The road was pretty poor in parts but even with the rains the local taxis were making it up the worst sections, so it would be no problem for Proper Job. Along the way we saw a few more spectacular coloured birds, one being an almost fluorescent orange/red called a red bishop. As the weekend was over, the hordes of volunteers who descend on Green Turtle lodge had left so it was just the right atmosphere. Walking towards the reception I noticed a familiar figure that we had met at the Mole National Park. It was nice to bump into Alex ( a Brit) and Veera (a Fin) and we had a great couple of days with them.....including one dinner where we consumed a fair amount of beer. We wish them both the best with their move to Cape Town where Alex is taking up a research post in Oceanography.

Green Turtle Lodge deserves its fine reputation and, with an ultra friendly and efficient staff, it is a place one can really chill out. Watching the World Cup at the lodge was fun as a generator had to be used, that every now and then would run out of fuel which in turn would trigger a quick reaction from the football crazy Ghanaian staff to drive to another village to get some more !! We noticed an old surf board with the St Pirans flag on it that had been made into a sign post. We wondered what the history of that one was but unfortunately the English owners were not there to ask.

We had a great few days on the coast but with Jane’s departure time approaching, and our need to pick up our Nigerian visas in Accra we reluctantly had to leave and head back eastwards. I am not a big fan of the big African cities so we hoped to spend a minimal amount of time there. One of the bonuses for me this time for venturing into a big city was that we could catch up with some old Ghanaian friends. I was looking forward to meeting with Ben Adoo (who I had been involved in a mining venture with) Kofi Adu Labi (the advisor to the governor of the Bank of Ghana whom I had befriended in 1991 whilst doing an MBA at Bradford University) and Carolyn Yarboi (our friend from the Obuasi days).

The drive to Accra went well and we were not stopped once by the police, and managed to avoid any speeding fines. We opted to stay at a place called Afia Beach Hotel which the Danish teacher friends we had met in Mauritania had told us about. It is owned by an Australian lady and her Jazz playing Ghanaian husband and is also well located for a number of embassies. It is also well priced for its location. Once we reached Accra we continued to follow the route marked on our GPS which heads southwards from Nkrumeh Circle. Unfortunately, this was not the one to take as we found out a few days later. We ended up driving through the busy market and railway station area at snail’s pace. An hour later, with our plans for getting our Nigerian visas applications in, we arrived at Afia Beach Hotel.

I was still determined to give it a go as today was Thursday and I knew that there was no visa applications allowed on Friday which would mean putting them in on Monday.....and I really didn’t want to stay until Tuesday I had read that the Nigerian visa applications requires a lot of supporting documentation (Ghana visa, travel insurance, car insurance, Carnet showing Ghana entry stamp etc). Luckily the hotel had a photocopier so within 10 minutes of checking in we were off to the Nigerian Embassy which unfortunately had recently moved near the airport. We arrived at 1.50 with only 10 minutes to go before the visa office closed. The security was very helpful and we quickly filled in the 3 page application form and rushed to the visa receptionist to formally apply. The receptionist was also friendly but told us we had to pay in US dollars and not Ghana Cedis. I explained that we had recently changed our dollars to Cedis and she agreed to go any change it back for us...but at least the process had started. Another thing in our favour was Nigeria were playing today in the World Cup so the staff were all in a god mood. I am glad the game hadn’t finished as Nigeria ended up loosing !! We sat down to watch the start of the game and after a few minutes one of the African guys asked if he could help us. He was the visa man, so after a bit of banter he went through our forms, clipped all the pages together and told us to come back the following day at between 2.30 and 3pm to pick them up. One thing to note about the Nigerian visas is they are expensive, and ours cost us US$130 each (US$100 for the visa and US$30 for the application process). Not much you can do about it though.

That evening we had arranged to meet Carolyn and when she walked into the hotel lobby we recognised her instantly by her big friendly smile. It was very nice to see her again and she invited us back to her house for dinner to meet her family. Her Husband Peter is originally from Holland and runs a sucessfull logistics supply company. As we chatted we found we knew many of the same people from the mining industry. Carolyn served up some delicious steaks from South Africa and after not having any decent meat since we left Cornwall they were a real treat for us. We agreed to meet with Carolyn again the following day, which was also the day England are playing Algeria.

The following day I had arranged to meet for lunch with Ben Adoo, whilst Jane went looking for Golden Tree chocolate and real Ghanaian peanut butter. I enjoyed a super Ghana lunch (chicken with groundnut stew followed by sweet fried plantain) with Ben and after he kindly agreed to take me to the Nigerian Embassy afterwards to pick up the visas. We arrived in good time to pick up the visas and then I bade farewell to Ben and headed back to the hotel. That evening we went to Champs Sports Bar where we had agreed to meet up again with Carolyn. England had another awful game, but rather than sulk Carolyn and arranged for us to have dinner at the Monsoon restaurant which was famous for its sushi. We arrived to find the place in full swing and Peter also had a number of his friends there which made for a great crowd. Dinner was super and we thank Peter and Carolyn very much for their kindness......hopefully you can put that bill on the company account Peter !

Saturday had arrived and this was Jane’s last day. It would be a shame when she left as she was truly a lot of fun and a value-added member of our team during her 4 weeks with us. Over the last couple of days we had a lot of rain in Accra which seemed to be following us along the coast. I had arranged to meet Kofi and we would watch the Ghana v Australia game at his house. It was great to catch up again with him and his fun wife (who is hilarious when she watches football). Ghana really should have won that game, but they can’t finish....the same problem as the last World Cup. After the game we dropped Jane at the airport and said our farewell. I would really miss her company in the days and weeks to come.

Later that evening I touched base with Bill Hussey, who is a friend of mine from Cornwall (we seem to get everywhere !) who is based in Abuja. Bill had kindly offered to let us stay with him and help us get our visas for Cameroon, DRC, Congo, Gabon and Angola, That is a lot of visas to get though, so I will try and pick up a couple of these whilst in Togo. Bill enquired whether I had yet called his good Camborne friend Angelo Massimino, who was based in Accra. Angelo has been in Ghana for 35 years and he would certainly be able to help get our darned air conditioner fixed. I had literally forgotten, so with Bill’s prompting, I called Angelo and although I wanted to leave Accra on Sunday, I agreed to extend my stay by a day and meet up with him on Sunday afternoon. And I am really glad that we did that, because as soon as I met him I instantly liked him. He even agreed to loan me US$1000 to top up my foreign currency fund for the trip through Cameroon, Gabon and the DRC. He has no worries that I will pay him back as I wouldn’t want the Camborne mafia after me...ha ha. We went to Champs for Sunday roast that, whilst not as good as a Bolingey Inn roast, were a welcome change. We had a few cold Club Gold beers and then Angelo insisted that we went to Ryans Pub. I could see that this was to be a long day (and night). After a few beers at Ryans we headed to Captain Hooks and had some of the best sea food we had yet tasted on our African trip. The owner is German and is a lot of fun. After sinking a few more beers we agreed it was time to call it quits and head back to the hotel. We had a brilliant day with Angelo and I thank him very much for his kindness and help......now all he has to do is go and find a good gold project that we can partner up in !!

The following morning was a Monday and we opted to leave Accra and head northwards to the Volta Region. We didn’t get our air con fixed either, banking on the fact that for much of the rest of our journey to South Africa we will be in the rainy or cool season. We may regret that decision, but we will certainly get it fixed in Cape Town.

Our first stop in the Volta region was Akosombo, which is where the huge wall for the Lake Volta hydro dam was built. Today Lake Volta is most expansive artificial lake in the world. The drive from Accra took three hours and the scenery got better and better the further north we drove. We stayed at the Aylos Bay lodge which is situated on the Volta river bank about 500m from the Volta Bridge. The lodge is set in an attractive shady garden and is really picturesque. We immediately liked the place and were able to chill out for a couple of days. The Volta river is large and with no crocodiles around it is safe to swim in. The lodge has a pontoon at the end of a wooden walkway that provided a great spot to catch up with my Blog. After a couple of hours of writing a quick swim in the surprisingly warm river was called for. We didn’t visit the dam wall itself, but instead opted to drive past the dam and head around a part of the lakeshore. The narrow road led us through some lush landscapes and past a number of small homesteads. We noticed a couple of these had big dead rats for sale and stopped to ask them how they caught them. Apparently the meat is good, but it didn’t tempt us to buy one to try. After a couple of days we decided it was time to move northwards again.

Our next destination was the Wli waterfall that is 25km to the east of Hohoe. On the way we passed through a village called Fume and noticed there were a lot of mangos for sale. We had not seen too many of our favourite fruit recently so we took the opportunity to stock up. A few kilometres on we were stopped at a police check point and after some banter about the Ghana football team and some advice on the best route to Wli, we continued northwards. The next police stop was at a village called Golakuati, but they gave us completely different advice on the best route. Anyway, we decided to listen to them and went to Wli via Hohoe. Actually, it was not a bad route but the one via Golakuati and Gbledi was much more interesting and scenic. We found this out later as we took that route on the way out of Wli towards Mount Afadjato.

We stayed at the Waterfall Lodge on the fringe of the village of Wli. The lodge has a nice view of the waterfall and surrounding hills, and is well run by Sabina from Germany. The following day we arranged a guide to take us to the upper falls which took about 4 hours in total. Take your swimming costume with you as the walk up the mountain through the thick humid forest to the upper falls is hard going and you sweat profusely. Once we arrived at the falls we jumped straight into the cool water. The walk back down the mountain was also difficult as the forest path is slippery and one wrong step could result in a nasty fall into dense bush. It surprised me how very quiet it is in the forest. One would expect it to be teeming with birds and small mammals. However, if you looked carefully there was a serious amount of insect life. Watch out for the ants as they have a hell of a bite. The evenings were spent in the village at local spot bars (cheap Star Beer) and in the Waterfall Heights Lodge where we ate tasty Ghanaian food and watched the World Cup.

The following day we headed southwards along a narrow dirt road towards the village of Laite Wote which is very close to the Togo border. It is also near to Mount Afadjato which is the tallest mountain in Ghana. Part of the road had been cut up by the rain but it was mainly in good condition and was surprisingly better than many of the so called tarred roads we had been on. We decided to climb the 885m mountain with a guide from the Ghana Wildlife Society in the nearby village of Gbledi. The reason being the money would go to a good cause and also because the reserve had some uncommon species of birds so hopefully the guide would be able to find some of these. The Afadjato Guesthouse in Laite Wote is simple and well run by a Ghanaian lady called Pat. The food she serves is excellent and there is a couple of small bars up the road where you can get a cold bottle of beer. That afternoon we hiked along a bush path through a dense valley to the Tsagbo falls. The falls took 45 minutes to get to walking at a brisk pace. We arrived hot and in need of cooling down so once again jumped in - even though there was a sign saying no swimming. I later enquired about this and was told it was to discourage Ghanaian children as they tend not to be particularly good swimmers. During the night it rained quite a bit and only eased off at 6.30am. We had arranged to meet our guide at 7am to climb Mount Afadjato. The walk through the thick forest was interesting but you can never truly appreciate the surroundings as most of the time you are watching the pathway. Occasionally we heard a bird call and even saw the rare Green Crested or Guinea Turacao. However the guide, who was supposedly the bird specialist, did not know that much about his topic so we gave up on trying to find any more.

The next morning we again headed southwards towards the beautiful Avatime Hills, which are between Lake Volta and the Togo border. The dirt track from Laite Wote to the main road (the one we should have taken coming up) was a very enjoyable drive that passed through some very lush green bush which, in parts, was teeming with bird life. We again stocked up with mangoes when we reached the village of Fume, which is where the turnoff is for Biakpa (a scenic village perched on a hillside high up in the Avatime Hills). The unsurfaced road from Fume to Biakpa is quite steep and is rough in parts, but was no trouble for Proper Job in low range. We stayed at the Mountain Paradise Lodge which is nicely situated overlooking the dense forest and facing towards Mount Gemi. In the evenings there is a lot of bird noise coming from the forest below and Tony, the manager of the lodge, has done much to help restore the bird life in the area. A few years ago Tony assures me there was not much wild life around. The area does not have a reserve status but relies on the goodwill of the local villagers and farmers for its protection. Tony works with them to ensure some of the benefits of tourism filters down to maintain their support. We went on a number of walks into the forest and valleys and observed an impressive number of bird species. The first evening at the lodge we watched Ghana beat the USA to go through to the quarter finals. That night, after a great victory, the drums in the nearby Biakpa village were beating vigorously into the early hours. Unfortunately, the following day, England were put out by Germany....the ref should be shot for not allowing Lampard’s goal. That changed the course of the match without a doubt. Oh well, we still have Ghana to support.

In the morning we were still unsure of whether to try the Xofa Eco Village on the shore of the Volta Lake. The guide books say it is (was) a great place but has been recently neglected. We tried to contact the manager but to no avail. In the end we decided to take a risk and check it out, estimating that the diversion would be about 80km. The alternative was to go to Kilakpa Reserve and camp at the entrance, but as we had seen a lot of the bush recently we opted for Xofa and the lake shore. The dirt road from Biakpa was not too bad and after 20km we hit a new surfaced road which led to Ho. The guide book gave a good description of how to get to the lodge and after reaching the village of Bodo, we headed down a narrow track. The track got narrower and narrower and soon we were driving through 4 foot grass with just the faintest of tyre tracks visible on either side. We started to seriously wonder what had happened to Xofa as it was obvious that not many people had been there recently. What was noticeable were the prolific bird life, mainly due to the cassava farms and the hundreds of fruit trees that the owners of Xofa have planted. We eventually found the lodge and our concerns were justified....it is pretty much defunct. There was a care taker present that pleaded with us to stay and we would have if we could have parked on the shore and pitched our tent. Unfortunately, there was no way to get there and I was surprised when the care taker offered to cut some trees down so we could. I know he meant well but I told him he shouldn’t do this in an eco site. We decided to leave and crawled back to the main road. By now we were pretty tired and decided to drive 50km southwards and check into Aylos Bay lodge near Akosombo for the night. We had stayed here a week ago and were looking forward to chilling out on the river bank.

The next day it was time to leave the inland Eastern Region and head to the coast. I was really impressed with the east of Ghana and would have to say it is my favourite part of the country. The people are very welcoming and it is very scenic.....and enjoys a cooler climate because of all the high hills and large expanses of water. On the way to the coast we stocked up with pineapples and mangoes. Alas it appears that the mango season is all but over. The sellers tell me that and so do the prices, then again it is still cheap compared to what you would pay in Europe and the quality is vastly superior.

Our destination was the Volta coastal delta region and the village of Ada Foah that was recommended to me by a friend Jed Richardson from Toronto, Canada. Ada Foah is located on a peninsula which has the ocean on one side and a large fresh water lagoon on the other. It is quite stunning and has an ambience that you rarely find in today’s world. When we got to the village we asked directions for Maranatha Beach Camp which lies a few kilometres along the beach near to Kewunor village. There is no connecting road so we drove along the back beach. There is a sign saying Driving on Beach Disallowed, but the locals will show you the part that you can drive on. Maranatha consists of 20 beach huts with flags of the world painted on the doors. I was immediately impressed with the area and Maranatha so thanks Jed for pointing me in this direction. The camp was set up by a Ghanaian man called Winfred and any extra income goes into the local community where he has built a school. Winfred also has a number of worthy projects ahead, including installing eco lavatories for the local villages and ridding the beach of the dreaded plastic bags. His sustainable camp-support-community theme has certainly worked and he has now started another in the town of Keta further along the coast. The location is something special and with the cool sea breezes blowing through this will become a major stop over for overlanders. It is as good, if not better than, the well known Green Turtle Lodge. Maranatha is a gem of a place that unfortunately is not even in the Lonely Planet !! One could easily stay here for a week or two. To contact the camp call Winfred Dzinado (Director) on 0243528248 or email win.fred@yahoo.com or administrator Gershon Awusa on 0241477260 email senyagershon@yahoo.com. You will not be disappointed.

The following day we arranged to go on a fishing trip into the tidal lagoon with a local called Prosper who has a small speed boat. He has all the fishing rods and gear and his charge for a 6 hour trip are excellent. We went out at 8am to fish the falling tide and within an hour had hooked into a nice fish. After a 20 minute fight we reeled in a Yellow Tail and the local villagers watching all cheered when we boated it. When we got to shore we weighed it in the village and it set the scales at 36 pounds. Not bad for a start and we had great expectations for our evening session. You may have guessed what happened next......not one bite in the evening. Anyway, we were well pleased with our one fish and we shared it with the camp staff and anyone else that wanted some. That evening we had Yellow Tail with groundnut stew and it tasted divine.

The next day was National Day (July 1st) and this meant a big beach party and much jubilating (as the Ghanaians call it). The Ada delta area has lots of visitors from Accra and Tema and by midday the party, Ghana style, was in full swing. The music was mainly hip hop and I wondered what had happened to the country’s well known Highlife music. The day was a lot of fun and we even had the leader of the NDP party here boogying away. By 9 pm the party on the beach was over......but not the party itself. We had struck up good relations with the staff and we accompanied them on the company pirogue into Ada to a club called Rubstone. We had a lot of fun and the DJ taunted the mainly Ghanaian crowd that the only two people supporting the Ghana Black Stars were two brunies (white man), Sam and I (as we had worn our Ghana football shirts). Eventually we called it an evening and, after the pirogue boat captain failed to pick us up, we jumped on some tro-tro motor cycles and got a lift most of the way back to Maranatha Beach Camp. The last 20 minutes of the journey entailed walking through very dark quiet villages....I hope we didn’t wake anyone as it was 2 am.

The following morning we had originally planned to move on and go to Keta, which is also on the coast and about 50 km by road from Ada. However, with our late night antics we decided to stay for an extra day, which is not too hard a decision to make as Maranatha is such a great place, and certainly our favourite place to date. It is a pity Jane could not have stayed for another week as she would have loved this part of Ghana. Actually, it is a good job she didn’t as she may not have left at all. After a relaxing day we watched the Ghana v Uruguay quarter final, which unfortunately Ghana lost. They need to change the rules in football, as it doesn’t seem fair that Ghana were denied that match winning goal through blatant cheating, which meant that they then had to take the risk of scoring a penalty....which they didn’t.

It was time to move on to Keta Lagoon and then the Togo border. We reluctantly said goodbye to this wonderful place and the people associated with it. We wish them the best with the camp and their future projects.

Our plan to go to Keta however did not materialise as on the way out of Ada, whilst driving slowly past a group of boys playing football, someone threw a stone which smashed our back door window. I was not very impressed, but I guess every town or village has its hooligan element. We decided it would be better to get the window fixed in Accra where we were sure our friend Angelo from Camborne would be able to point us in the right direction. A telephone call later and we were on the way back to Accra. Upon arrival Angelo had his guys ready to assist and two hours later the window had been replaced. That evening we stayed at Angelo’s big house and enjoyed fine pasta and red wine. A big thanks to Angelo for all his help. The following morning we said farewell and headed to the Togo border.