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Hello All
It seems a long time since the last entry so we hope you're all well and looking forward to Christmas and New Year.

Kumasi, Ghana 18 Dec 2000

Pam.tom
2005-10-15 19:34:02

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Hello All
It seems a long time since the last entry so we hope you're all well and looking forward to Christmas and New Year.

We ended up staying for a week in Bamako getting our visas for Nigeria and Burkina Faso. For everyone who was there with us Tom's tummy is fine now and we will be holding George to his promise of knocking down the toilets at the Mission Lebanse!
If you ever end up in Bamako would recommend a night out at Le Carrefour des Jeunes - beer under the stars chilling out to Malian drums....Also on more mundane matters if your vehicle needs spares try out the stalls in the streets around the Mission Lebanse.

We decided to give Dogon country a miss and head straight to Timbuktu and mechanics all over West Africa are celebrating that decision. We broke the suspension no less than 4 times and Tom turned into a true bush mechanic using bits of truck tyres we found on the side of the road to patch things up.

Still the journey along the Niger river was unmissable - we drove past glorious lily festooned lagoons, rich paddy fields streching a far as you could see and in one fantastic photogenic moment saw the big four - nomads on camels under a palm tree next to an oasis - it can't get much better than that!

After wasting away the hours with 'why did the camel/goat/donkey cross the road' jokes we finally limped into Timbuktu - having drive nearly 700 km's on almost non-existent tracks we actually managed to get lost getting into the bloody city.

Anyway arriving in the dark was probably for the best - we may have turned around if we arrive in the daylight - it's certainly no longer a city of gold and learning - more a tourist trap of fake Tuaregs and tacky souviners. Still we made it there.

If you do harbour a desire to go and you need a good garage try the Africare charity garage in Goundam and check the ferry in Niafounke en-route that there is a road to Mopti (it was flooded when we were there).

So after 6 long hard days in the desert we finally made it back onto tarmac and headed in Burkina Faso.

What a fantastic country - the police and customs the nicest we've come across so far and that's saying something.
We stayed at Casiafrica in Bobo and feasted on meltingly tender steak and enjoyed our first beer since Timbuktu.

After a day of sightseeing and not finding bits for Russell we headed to Ouagadougou where we resumed the search for spare parts!
(try Est Johnsonson Av Loudun, in the Quartier Peuloghin - one street over from the Land Rover main dealer. Mr Johnson speaks english and can find almost any bit you want for a Land Rover)

We wished we had planned for a bit more time there but alas with Christmas approaching it was au revoir Burkina and a big english hello to Ghana.

Spent two nights on safari in the Mole National Game Park and had a fantastic time.
We camped above a watering hole filled with crocs and saw elephant, warthog, chimps, baboons, antelope and monkeys - all for the bargin price of 3 pounds entry.
We went on the guided walking safari and almost literally ran into an elephant walking along the path. It was our first taste of African wildlife (bar the mosquitos) and truely memorable.

Ghana is just sooooo cheap - it costs 20 pounds to fill Russell up with 110 litres of petrol and we've hopefully finally had the suspension repaired for 12 quid - half a days welding and the bit for the chassis included!
(Another boring bit of info - try the magazine district in Kumasi for every bit for every car that was ever made - a thousand breakers yards in one suburb!)

Heading down to Busua on the coast now for Christmas - rum and coconut cocktails here we come!