Log in
Join travelers community
Your Profile
Logout
On 8th April we set off from Cotonou in Benin to Lagos, the capital of Nigeria. We had arranged to rejoin the overland tour in Kano in northern Nigeria. After considering our schedule carefully we decided that we would fly from Lagos up to Kano since the journey sounded boring and time consuming. On arrival at the domestic airport in Lagos we found that there was a flight to Kano leaving in twenty minutes. We frantically rushed around to change money on the black market and buy the tickets. A few minutes before the scheduled departure time Paula and I were running across the tarmac to get to the waiting jet before they pulled away the boarding stairs. Exhausted we rushed up the stairs, the crew closed the main door behind us and before we could find our seats the plane was taxiing to the runway - only in Africa!
1992 Diary - Africa (Part 2)
Gjcmcclurg2005-12-23 14:25:40
Displayed times (last time: )
traveled down through Cameroon towards the border with the Central African republic (CAR) and visited the Chutes de Telo and the Benoue National Park. We entered CAR through the border town of Garoua Boulai and headed quickly down to the capital, Bangui. Bangui was not really that spectacular, but we took advantage of the good patisseries and spent the night in a luxury hotel to give us a break from the group and camping.
On 25th April we loaded the truck onto a small ferry to take us across the Ubangui River to Zongo in Zaire. On the Zairian side of the river there was no jetty so we beach landed and drove the truck onto the sand. Within a few feet the truck sank into the sand and we were stuck - we had only been in Zaire a few minutes and we were already bogged! After an exhausting hour an half of sand matting we managed to get the truck up on to the main road, which was a dirt track! Next we had to negotiate for over an hour with corrupt officials who wanted a bribe to allow us to continue. The badly pot holed and narrow track took us into some pretty dense forest as we slowly made our way towards the Congo river. Just as the sun was beginning to set we were attacked by a swarm of nasty biting flies which had invaded the truck - the next few weeks crossing Zaire were going to be tough!
We spend another three days driving through the forest down to the port of Lisala on the mighty Congo river. On the way we passed many little villages with friendly people and very excited children. When we reached Lisala there was a large river steamer moored, so Paula and I went down to the dock to check it out. The river steamer had several barges lashed to it's side forming a kind a floating village. The whole thing was packed with passengers, sellers and animals, and seemed filthy. Oblivious to all of the commotion on the steamer local fisherman were casting their nets from their pirogue.
From Lisala we traveled
...
See photographs from:
Zambia Gallery
,
Tanzania Gallery
,
Malawi Gallery
,
Kenya Gallery
,
Zimbabwe Gallery
,
Cameroon Gallery
,
Burundi Gallery
,
Botswana Gallery
,
Nigeria Gallery
