Category: West Africa

  • Life in Abidjan

    Life in Abidjan

    We arrived in Abidjan on 3rd January 2022 and as of writing, on 20th January, we´re still here – 18 days and counting, the longest we have stayed anywhere since we sold the cottage nearly six months ago. Does it feel like home? Well….maybe not quite yet! But it is very westernised, clean, seems relatively…

  • A New Year and New Perspective in Cote D´Ivoire

    A New Year and New Perspective in Cote D´Ivoire

    As I sit here writing this blog, the events I´m about to write about were two weeks ago. It seems like two months or maybe even two years! So much has happened since then and our lives are so different. Liberia was the low point of the trip so far, yes the conditions in Monrovia…

  • Liberia – A Literal Melting Pot

    Liberia – A Literal Melting Pot

    We were up very early on Boxing Day at Tiwai Island ready to head for the Liberian border. The road was expected to be difficult and bumpy, Steve said it could take up to 9 hours to reach the campsite on the other side at Robertsport. Something had changed, imperceptible but fundamental. We were no…

  • Christmas in Sierra Leone

    Christmas in Sierra Leone

    We had rejoined our group at a beach campsite 50km south of Freetown where they had stayed the previous night after leaving the YMCA. After leaving a few messages for various shipping contacts over the last few days there was nothing more we could do on that front until replies came through and efforts to…

  • Freeetown Sierra Leone – Our Whole World Changes

    Freeetown Sierra Leone – Our Whole World Changes

    A belated Merry Christmas and very Happy New Year to everyone! Who can believe we have reached the end of 2021 and the start of 2022 already, and what a roller coaster ride it has been! Sadly we had some of the worst internet connection of our trip over the festive season so family calls…

  • Guinea – Waterfalls and Magic

    If you consult the FCO on Guinea it will tell you that there is rampant corruption, police exploitation, high risk of car jacking and criminals dressed as military with guns ready to take everything you have on every corner. The FCO clearly has never been to Guinea! We were concerned about entering this country, after…

  • Guinea-Bissau – Bumpy Roads and Corruption

    After leaving The Gambia with a heavy heart we made it into Guinea-Bissau with ease at the border. Things had started well, we had a bush lunch on the side of the road and camped overnight in a quarry with a few locals working around us breaking rocks and eyeing us with a mix of…

  • The Gambia – A New Love Affair

    There are some places on this earth that resonate with the soul – for me the tiny country of The Gambia has turned out to be one of those places. Along with the big hitters of Namibia, Botswana and Portugal it has catapulted itself into my top 5 favourite places! Who can say why some…

  • Senegal

    We left Nouakchott with optimism, I had been looking forward to Senegal since we started the trip – safe and friendly according to the FCO and the capital Dakar held obvious interest for James. The border crossing was expected to be difficult – we had been told at the embassy that the Diama border crossing…

  • Mauritania – Warmth in the Desert

    We´re not in Kansas anymore Toto! From the moment we crossed the border from Morocco everything felt different and really was different. From the bizarre – someone turned the furnace up and emptied a swarm of mosquitos into the sky at the border; to the more expected – faces were suddenly much darker and the…