West Africa Explorer

On a cold late January morning, we squeezed the last set of bags into the back of the truck and set off along the M4, bound for West Africa.  What lay ahead for the next 5 months was uncertain… but what was certain was that it was going to be an adventure. After a lot of slipping and sliding along French and Spanish autoroutes, we arrived at a sunny Gibraltar and there was our first sight of Africa with the mountains of Morocco in the distance.

A few days later, arriving at the Mauritanian border, we were immediately struck by how wild and desolate it looked. The scenery was spectacular - huge outcrops of rock protruding out of the sand, sand dunes that stretched for miles and miles, dotted with the occasional cluster of nomadic tents. A truly harsh environment in which to survive – with less than 100mm of rain a year, there were few signs of vegetation.

One of highlights of Mauritania has to be the classic beach drive.  Following the tracks of the recent Paris Dakar rally, we left the fish markets of Nouakchott behind and headed north along the Atlantic coast.  Whilst the fishermen battled with the waves in their small canoes  and scores of cormorants, terns and gulls hovered above looking for their next catch, the water lapped at edges of our tyres and we admired the dunes that in places, fell like cliffs straight into the sea.  Our aim was to get through before the water rose too high up the dunes – we made it….but there are a few who didn’t , check the pictures on the web site !

The next stage of the trip took us deep into Sub Saharan Africa and our quest to reach the fabled Timbuktu. The journey saw us admiring classic French architecture on the Ile de Goree off the coast of Dakar and feasting on delicious French cuisine in St Louis, the old colonial capital of Senegal, not to mention driving ‘national roads’ in Mali that had seen little more than a donkey cart in the last decade and having to share the railway bridge across the Senegal River…after the train had crossed ! 

The mosque at Djenne was a spectacular sight – the largest mud building in the world which, every year after the rains, needs re-rendering. So on the day before the Solar Eclipse, we arrived in Timbuktu, to find the Malian and Nigerian Presidents and Colonel Gadaffi there to greet us. Well, actually to mark the 10th anniversary of the end of the Toureg rebellion, but it was a great excuse for a party, followed by a camel trek into the desert to experience the solar eclipse the next day, surrounded by the dunes of the Sahara.

On our return we spent time tracking and watching the elusive desert elephants of Douzenta before trekking along the Bandiagara escarpment, home to the Dogon people and their fantastic wood carvings. Next stop was Niger and the heat of the Sahara – 45 deg in the shade and 54 deg in the car. We journeyed north to the caravan town of Agadez before saying goodbye to Matt and Red, the guests with us for this leg of the Explorer. Now home began to occupy our thoughts but not before going via Chad to Cameroon, to spend time with the staff and pupils of the school where Anne taught in 2003. The rest of the return was taken at speed with Nigeria not being a place to loiter (we did however get through without paying any bribes at any of the 35 armed police barriers we were stopped at). While in Mali the rains started, turning roads to red porridge, it was however the first real rain we had seen since Spain in January and the flush of emerald green vegetation that burst alive was welcome.

And although West Africa is not noted for an abundance of wildlife, we spotted giraffe, elephant, hippos, ostrich, roan, waterbuck and other antelope, not to mention fish eagles and vultures.  The people were, without exception, extremely warm and friendly and we look forward to going back to this fascinating corner of Africa.