Having a Nati time!

The weekend has been very busy. While shopping in the well stocked supermarket in town, we met an Austrian lady, Roswitha, and her young friend Dorothy who invited us for a meal on Sunday evening at her place to meet her New Zealand husband. I have now completely changed my opinion of the Beninois - lots of friendly help, especially from Amil who has spent a great deal of time with us trying to assist with our plans to fly. His uncle is a Manager at Cotonou Airport and we have sent him a photo of the balloon to explain what type of aircraft we wish to launch from the small airport here near Nati. We are awaiting his reply, but if the answer is not what we wish to hear we have another alternative.

We have also spent several occasions chatting with Lucy, a young Coastal Engineer from Perth, Australia who is travelling on her own. Hi again Lucy. We hope your offer of a shared trip to the Pendjari National Park has been successful and we will be in touch by email later.

Our second night here we remained at the Bourgogne as Madame agreed to allow us to park free of charge and sleep in the Enterprise. The third night, after a busy Saturday surveying the area for possible places to fly, avoiding the hills and trees, we tried another hotel at the top of the hill - the Bellevue - where we were again allowed to park in the garden and took the opportunity to fill our fresh water tank from their watering hose! We had a chance encounter with a policeman who wanted to see our motor documents and obligingly gave Chris his very nice leather cap! No exchange necessary. His colleague later turned up at the hotel looking for us with a hand-written letter requesting our name, address and nationality, with his name and tel. no. in case we need his help. Police hat count now 3 to 1.

We had a quiet Sunday to rest, recuperate and shower before finding our way out of town following Roswitha's directions, through a teak forest, past the sign of the 'Madonna with the big boobies' (a Catholic charity for orphans), up and down 2 very steep hills and under low power lines which we had to hold up with long sticks to get under. When we arrived shortly after 5pm we found they were in the middle of an Evangelical prayer meeting which they hold every 4th Sunday of the month. I was able to join in with the French hymns from the printed sheet and join in the clapping to the local language part of the service. While the 'congregation' gathered for prayers afterwards Chris and I went for a walk down the hill to the river to see local children watering their vegetable gardens of beans, carrots and greens.

Gordon is an ex-sheep farmer from Dunedin who was called to the evangelical faith when Billy Graham visited New Zealand. He met Roswitha here in Benin when he was lured by her cherry pie! They are both evangelical ministers, and a charming couple of about our age, who have been in Benin since 1977 and had planned to retire in 2003 before being asked to start the Leweitari Centre in Nati (apparently it's on Google Earth). Their son and his family will be taking over from them later this year and are having a beautiful house built for their arrival out of local materials, with a stunning view over the valley. We were shown around by Elizabeth, wife to Heinrich, who are a German speaking Swiss couple, also living at the Centre for the past 4 year. Heini is an architect and mechanical engineer who designed the buildings including the new house, and has all sorts of projects on the go: solar boxes for cooking, bio-fuel from locally grown nuts and he is training young men in various engineering specialities. They are also assisting in setting up a new school for girls in need.

We had a very nice meal cooked by Roswitha followed by tea and some hot flavoured biscuits. Gordon was very enthusiastic about suggesting the best places to fly and with his local knowledge and contacts we are very hopeful that we will get at least one flight in Benin avoiding the need to use the airport. When we told him we wanted to cross into Togo via the Somba country of Benin which has a dirt road from Nati to Boukoumbe, he said that it would be a wonderful place to fly over with the Tata Somba turreted mud palaces and he has local connections and would come with us to fly and follow by road. We are very excited with the prospect. Roswitha believed it best to have someone along to explain to the people that we were not dangerous as she said they still shoot with arrows here!

We parked the Enterprise for the night on the level at the top of their hill and Rositha insisted on lending us a torch to walk back the short distance in the dark as she said there are spitting snakes, spiders and scorpions!!

We hope to update when we are successful before leaving Nati as we will refuel with gas here. Togo is an unknown. We hope to be able to fly there before the Harmattan wind begins to blow. I would have liked to visit the far south of Benin with its voodoo and slavery heritage, but time will probably prevent this. It will give us a reason to return on another occasion in the future.

From Bobo to Benin

Crocs Away!

Bobo Mosque

Cotton Balls

A 'bloody' carpet: meat market in Natitingou

Our own little elephant

What strange creature is that?

Warthogs Dancing

Evangelical Retreat

God has found us. We are at an evangelical retreat for the night near Natitingou.

WILD ANIMALS AND DUST

WILD ANIMALS AND DUST

Well the Enterprise is relatively clean again after several hour’s work. We made the mistake yesterday afternoon of opening the rear window while driving on the tarred road to try and blow what dust there was right through the vehicle and away. Instead, the inch of dust on the top of the box which had accumulated in the last 3 days, whisked straight inside and made things 10 times worse. We were too tired to do anything about it when we arrived here so we chose a recommended hotel run by the French honorary Vice-Consul and booked an air conditioned room for clean bed, showers and hand washing clothes. The food is very good too.

Before we left Burkina Faso we filled up with diesel, gas and fresh water and Chris used the filling station pit to check everything underneath and tighten up a few ‘bits’ (shock absorbers I think).  It was a good journey leaving my favourite country so far, and BK had one more surprise in store: alongside the road we came across a large pond and standing up to her knees in the water was a very cute full grown elephant. She was drinking and bathing and every so often chasing a heron. We got out and stood by the pool watching her for some time at fairly close quarters. The area was the Reserve de Pama, not far from the border.

We arrived in Tanguieta (GMT +1 hour) just in time to find the Baobab Hotel for overnight parking. Benin hotel staff do not appear as friendly as everyone in BK, a little surly and sometimes slightly aggressive. As we were in the town of the Pendjari National Park HQ we visited the next morning and met the Tourism Chief who spoke English and explained the best route to and in the Park for the Enterprise ground clearance. It was a slow drive for the approx 50 km on a bumpy dirt road to the Park entrance, at least for us. Most other vehicles didn’t appear to worry about their suspension. We bought our tickets and paid for 1 night camping in the Park early afternoon and were pleasantly surprised by the good condition of the laterite piste. Apart from a broken down vehicle and a motorbike we saw no other people until we reached the camping site at Mare Yangouali (lake).  The camp was tucked away down a winding piste and we were surprised to be greeted by and English voice – Ant, one of the leader/drivers of a Dragoman truck tour. They were part way through a 10-week overland tour from Cameroun to Senegal, had left Nigeria earlier than planned and were passing a few days in the north of Benin. The truck was out on a game drive with most of the people and their tents were circled around their camp fire in the centre of the space, but they made room for us to drive to the end of the lake where hippos were grunting and snorting. It was pleasant to have English speaking company and their fire smoke lent an added atmosphere.

We were awake at dawn as the camp began to stir. One of the campers came to tell us that there were baboons in the trees right next to the camp, so we went out and met both the people and the furry friends. Chris took a short 360 degree video of the camp and the Enterprise’s position by the lake and was surprised by a baboon climbing down the tree right behind him! I gave a tour of the Enterprise to Barbara from North Wales and another lady from Hong Kong. We stayed on for the rest of the morning after Ant, Mike and the rest of the Drago team left, watching hippos and a very long crocodile gliding across the lake. Ant had been very helpful about travel in Nigeria. This was the only 4WD truck Drago have, set up for the desert.

We drove slowly to the north of the park seeing many antelope, lots more baboons, a big herd of buffalo and hundreds of interesting birds. We stopped a while beside a loop in the Penjari River with big hippos and a pied kingfisher, and again by Mare Sacree. We saw no elephant or lions and no tourists until we were close to the Pendjari Hotel. All were out looking for elephant – 1 French couple say they saw a family group of 13 close to where they passed us. There were lots of large vultures in the trees at the hotel, where we decided to stop and camp for the night. We freshened up with a shower and took our gin & tonic over to the hotel lounge area and ordered a 3-course dinner. The Manager told us we could not camp at the hotel as the Tourism Officer had told us, but driving in the park is prohibited after 7pm, so we had no option. They charged us an extortionate rate for parking. After we had eaten a very nice meal, we met a young couple from Posnan in Poland, who were also wanting to camp. Anna and Maciej had got married in Chad and had hoped to travel back to Poland through the Sahara. When their plans became impossible, they bought a small motorbike in Chad and are driving home through most of West Africa. 

We left the hotel parking at 7.30 the next morning. Chris had bought us a lovely locally painted colourful picture on canvas which I am very pleased with. We spent the whole day touring the park back the way we came the day before as we thought it was the best chance of seeing elephants or perhaps one of the lions which were known to be close to the Yangouali campsite. We stopped for breakfast and a snooze by the river and saw 2 Vervet monkeys as well as a lot of baboon flooding down from the trees. We were not desperate to see elephant as our lovely ‘private’ elephant viewing near Pama had been very special.  By late afternoon (4pm) we were back at Mare Bali closer to the Park entrance. There was a rickety wooden viewing platform, so we took a glass of beer to drink while watching the many antelope, a buffalo and lots of birds come to drink. It was the best time of day. I had not at first noticed the crocodiles just peeking out of the weed on the water’s edge just beneath us, and then I spotted 25 large crocs basking in the sun on the sand opposite. There were also a family of Patas monkeys playing on the beach and some lizards fighting on the platform.  Just before we had finished our beer, a very close guttural growling and roaring came from just alongside us – definitely a lion (confirmed by a guide next morning). My legs were like jelly by the time we reached the Enterprise. As it was too late by then to reach the park exit by 7pm we decided to spend the night (against orders!) on the brink of the lake. Apart from a lot of different birds, including fish eagle, saddle-billed storks, hadada ibis, hammerkop, cougals, waidas and more, not many animals came late to drink. We sat watching until it became too dark. Unfortunately there was only a thin crescent moon in the starlit sky.

We had a brief meal to avoid heating the Enterprise up by cooking (it had been 40C in the shade) and an early night.  Just as well as it was a very noisy night. We were woken several times by the lion roaring, once it sounded as if one was walking close to us, making a deep rumbling growling and grunting. I felt terrified even though I knew we would be quite safe, but it is that primitive fear of a fierce wild animal. We also heard elephants trumpeting not far off, a barking sound – probably antelope or baboon and the bellowing of bison. Not to mention the cicadas, frogs and night birds and the occasional splash of a croc. It was a pity it was too dark to see anything. We were sleeping with all our screened windows opened to keep cool, but it became so noisy we had to close them. It all went very quiet, even the crickets, when the lion had been vocal.

We again arose at dawn, but apart from 3 buffalo we saw no more mammals at the lake, so we had bit of a drive round in 2 directions and returned to the lake for breakfast. By then the first of several tourist vehicles started arriving, so we set off to leave for the 6 hour drive back to the paved road in Tanguieta and a further hour through the Atakora to Nati. We saw a large lorry on the first hill down an embankment. It had been loaded with baskets of tomatoes which were being unloaded on to the road. On our drive to the border on Sunday, the only oncoming traffic were a cavalcade of fuel tankers, trundling up from the ports in Benin to Burkina Faso. There were still a few yesterday.

We had to check out of our room by mid-day but I have continued with cleaning since then and I am typing this up in the shade of the rubber trees in the carpark with a very noisy African Grey parrot in a cage alongside. Chris has taken 2 bags of laundry to a Lavage/Pressing place in town and we will probably stay parked here tonight. Hotel laundry prices would have cost us a fortune. We have seen the airport on the way in – still incomplete but they do have a runway. Maybe we can fly close to Nati. There has been very little wind in the mornings since we have been here. We then hope to make a northern crossing into Togo through the Somba country of the Betamaribe people. Hope to update when we can.

Hotel Bourgogne. Natitingou

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We are still alive after spending a third night in the Pendjari National Park with a lion growling and roaring only several metres from the Enterprise! More later. Spending night in hotel as the Enterprise is so full of dust. Will clean out tomorrow.

Crocodile Lake

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Parked at edge of crocodile infested lake, lion roaring near by.

Hippo Pool

Camping on edge of hippo pool, lots of wild animals. Lions, baboon, antelope...

Close Encounters...

We are over the border in Benin, a close encounter with an elephant.

Fada N'Gourma

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Quick post before battery dies, Arrived at La Panache Hotel at 6pm and are parking outside for night. Fada famous for its locally produced honey, Strange hotel - looks very plush inside, run by the 2 Ugly (Syrian) sisters and a French "Buttons". Bizarre watching Syrian news in Arabic in the lobby on a huge wide screen TV followed by African Cup football in French (Guinea v Libya), Sat and had beers in garden before it got dark with large fruit? bats swooping into the swimming pool beside us.

Very nice European music coming from place across road while we ate home-made spaghetti bolognese made with Spanish mince from our freezer. Plenty for a second meal!

Last of Ouaga

Yesterday was very good in lots of ways. We have had 2 very good night's sleep parked outside Les Palmiers, so we have been able to use all the facilities here without the cost. We started the day by going to watch the Moro-Naba ceremony which was much more elaborate and interesting than the Lonely Planet led us to believe. Through a case of mistaken identity we got a front 'seat' for the spectacle.

While waiting to collect our Ghana visas, Chris had both pairs of his brown leather shoes cleaned and polished at a corner stall. We then drove out of the town to the north past parks, experimental garden centres and big open reservoirs which serve the city, to try and find propane. We ended up at a large industrial area where a man who spoke good English asked to buy the Enterprise. He was the Director of a nearby plastics injection moulding company and next door there were 2 gas manufacturing places. He went with Chris to find out about propane. They were very helpful but confirmed there is no propane in the whole of Burkina. We have a contact in Bamako should we ever wish to return to fly in Mali.

We had a siesta parked in a quiet street near the Visa d'Entente offices and then were successful in receiving these and ready to set off for the next set of countries. Niger is included and I got quite excited about driving to Niamey, the capital and then south into Benin from there, but our family will be relieved to hear that we have decided to follow all the safety advice and give Niger a miss. We will be setting off soon for the Benin border via Fada N'Gourma.

Ouagadougou has grown on us - the pollution, heat and traffic we encountered at the start when we were a little exhausted has abated. It has been so interesting having a view from the high windows of the Enterprise of the passing people and traffic in the street. Some cyclists should be in the circus with the amount of piled high boxes and bundles they carry on their shoulders while negotiating the steep speed bumps and driving one-handed. "Carrot head" has taken on an entirely new meaning: some ladies blatantly display their carrots while peeling them as they walk, while others hide their wares under mounds of carrot fronds so that they look as if they have a vegetable plot on their heads!

We wanted to spend our last evening here with a night on the town, so chose the Baratapas as a likely place. Unfortunately after driving across town in a taxi we found it had closed down so returned to the next street along to look for a restaurant run by nuns, who sing Ave Maria at 9.30pm! This time we found they had closed early (tired nuns?). Chris had been directing the taxi driver with the satnav, which showed the next nearest restaurant close by was Zaka which the driver knew. It was a stroke of luck: we were the only customers there until much later, and they not only had food but live music as well! the rice and spicy sauce (with meat) - a Burkina speciality - was delicious and went well with the local beer. The band consisted of 2 wooden xylophone like instruments (bigger versions of the one on the boy's head in the photo below), 2 drums and a stringed gourd like 'guitar'. At first they sounded very plinky-plonky but as the evening went on it became better and better. one of the drummer's fingers moved so fast on the skin of his hourglass shaped drum they were a blur. He came and gave us a special rendition. Another group of tourists arrived and 2 young men on the stage gave a dance performance to the music which was spectacular, including somersaults. We kept thinking how much brother Tim would have enjoyed joining in with the band.

We have taken quite a while this morning to plan the next part of our journey. Up until now we have had recommendations from other travellers where to aim for so this next bit is of our own making. Coincidentally there are a younger Swiss couple here in a Land Rover, also aiming for South Africa, who are leaving today for Benin and may decide to do the same as us and maybe do a complete tour of West Africa this time and leave the difficult bits out. We will have a look at shipping possibilities from Ghana to Namibia later.

Sindou + Banfora

Les Palmiers, Ouagadougou

The sat phone is not getting much use lately, except to check for messages to us. Thank you to those who are keeping in touch both by email and texts.

Th OK Inn was a good place to stay for 1 night as it was free parking, but it was very noisy: outside music playing continuously (not our choice of easy listening), trucks coming and going constantly, planes taking off and landing close by and finally the chorus of muezzin which started around 4am and grew to a crescendo by 5.30. The place would have been almost impossible to find without the lat/long co-ordinates as trucks were parked 2 deep blocking the entrance and we were pleased it was still daylight. It did mean that this morning we were up early and ready to leave to search out the Ghana Embassy and a bank with an ATM around 7. The roads were already swarming with 2-wheel traffic including several driving towards us at speed down the wrong side of the dual carriageway. The cars were fortunately all going the same way as they had no hesitation double overtaking into oncoming traffic.

We arrived at the embassy 30mins before opening time at 8am so had time to find our way around the main part of town and get some more cash (CFAs). We were the first into the embassy to fill out our visa application forms in quadruple plus 4 photos and a hand written explanation why we had not applied in the UK. We were then interviewed by the First Secretary who was very polite but a little stern. He told us that if he agreed to grant us a visa it would not be ready until Monday which was what we expected. However, the receptionist received a phone call to affirm that we can collect them tomorrow at 11.30am. Hurray!! We had planned to then go to the Benin Embassy. There is a Visa d'Entente which covers 5 counties: BK, Benin, Togo, Niger and Ivory Coast but most people had led us to believe we stood little chance of getting this. We decided to give it a go as we had the address of the Police office and just as we were stopping to park we saw the Italian lady with the Austrian husband (from Zebra & Camel). She had just applied and was told to come back Monday. We had a lovely smiling officer who was very happy to practice his English and filled in the forms for us. He is doing his best,  to have our 5 visa pass ready by tomorrow afternoon, so by 11.30am we had applied to visit 6 countries!

We remained in the quiet back street and had our cereal, orange juice and coffee and studied the Lonely Planet for another place to stay. This place close to the centre of town sounded good. It is set in a very attractive courtyard under thatched shelters and bougainvillea. They are fully booked for parking space - we found our friends were already here - but we have parked outside the gates and had lunch here (very tender lamb chops with mixed salad) and used the free (open) wifi in the shade with cooling fans. It is up to 35C in the Enterprise but we can bear that overnight with our side windows open, shields up and Artois purring to us.

On Friday mornings there is a 7am ceremony at the Moro Naba's palace (the traitional Mossi tribal chief) so we hope to be able to go and watch this. No cameras allowed as it is a solemn government occasion. If we get all our visas tomorrow we intend to depart for Benin. If not, we will go somewhere else until Monday as it is too hot and noisy in the city and there are a lot of mosquitos here.

LIVE LONG AND PROSPER IF YOU CAN

Live Long and Prosper

Or as the retired Polish fighter pilot in Banfora translated “Have a long life and make a lot of money”!  The adventurous grandparents are having a lot of fun. We are sitting in the carpark of the OK Inn in Ouagadougou drinking Shwepps tonic and Gordons gin with ice while we consider the future. The sad death of hot-air and gas balloonist friend, Dr Janet Foulkes, from cancer yesterday has reminded us that you must live every day as if it were your last.

Carpe diem doesn’t quite get to grips with the way we think (Chris talking). Don’t just seize the day, grab it by the throat and shake it until the pips squeak!!

Today has been interesting on the journey to Ouagadougou. To start with we have a clean windscreen for the first time in a month. We had a tour round Bobo in the Enterprise, stopping for a quick walk around the mosque. Pics to follow. Had a second breakfast with pain au raisin from the Boulangerie Patisserie plus coffee at a café where all the young men were gathered (very pretty waitresses) before setting off for the 360km drive to the capital.  Saw cotton loading lorries, pickers on cycles with conical baskets on their backs, men fishing in lakes from reed rafts, vultures, parakeets, villages with spiky roofed granaries, a man on a bicycle with 30, repeat 30, 5-gallon drums.

The road to begin with was the best road in Africa, but deteriorated later until after the 3^rd diversion on bumpy, dusty red laterite roads. Our newly cleaned Enterprise is again somewhat dusty.  We are following the route via small scale paper map, Tracks4Africa, and better still another mapping system we got from Chas, a motorcyclist in Bamako. Chas was one of 3 motorcyclists, the other 2, both called Tony, one from Sheffield who had our balloon on his Facebook page.

We have had some very good news that our friend Chris Wood has checked out as a gas balloon pilot over the weekend. Chris is another of those naturally talented people who seems to be able to master whatever he sets his mind to. Congratulations, Chris!

A special thank you to Ellen and Peter for being such good friends and watching over things at home. Enjoy your holiday in Sri Lanka.

We will be here 2 or 3 days, or maybe longer, to get our Ghana visas. We have free parking and wifi and use of swimming pool showers at the rear of the OK Inn provided we have at least one meal here. Believe it’s quite expensive. We are eating in tonight.

Live long and prosper!

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Casa Africa, Bobo Dioulasso

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We are both feeling very sleepy, having had a meal of Chicken yassa (very tough stringy chicken but the sauce was very good) at Le Bois d'Ebene not far from the rest camp, where we are the only 'guests'. We spent last night at the end of the disused airstrip near Banfora and were up at 5am to prepare the balloon before sunrise. No wind and a perfect 15 minute flight together, landing in a clear sandy field 5kms on the opposite side of the main road. Chris went back to collect the Enterprise while I packed the balloon away with some friendly villagers and entertained the children. We then drove straight here with a stop for breakast on the way and have spent the afternoon sleeping and cleaning the red dust from the Enterprise inside and out and then ourselves. Tomorrow we will have a look at the Grand Mosque and the big market and do a bit of shopping before setting off for Ouagadougou for the next visas.

Back in Banfora 2

It’s early Monday morning and I am writing this in bed under the ‘bridal veil’ while waiting for the kettle to boil for our first cup of tea of the day. I  was woken at 5am (in a nice sort of way) by the sweeping crones – 2 ladies employed to sweep the large courtyard free of fallen leaves with small besoms. It sounded as if they were sweeping the Enterprise wheels as well!

We both slept very well last night after a long day yesterday, feeling clean from our hot showers and a good meal in the quirky McDonald restaurant. Chris ate a whole chicken and I had the most enormous burger bun (like a small crusty loaf) with tender meat, salad and chips. It feels perfectly safe here walking the darkened streets and it was like coming home to the Enterprise at the Canne a Sucre.

As I said, Sindou was a lovely place. It took us 4 hours to drive the 50kms along a rather bumpy dirt road, with a long stop part way for a rest and lunch. We drove through water meadows to begin with and could see a small part of the 100 hectare Tengrela Lake. The road then wound slightly uphill through avenues of trees to the first large village. The only traffic apart from pushbikes and motorcycles were the large cotton collection lorries, which raced past us empty and trundled slowly towards us once loaded. The last part of the journey was through wooded areas, palm trees and thorny scrub. The Peaks suddenly appeared before us as we approached the old village of Sindou. We had met a large orange truck on the way, owned by a South African we had met at the Sleeping Camel, and he said we would not be able to get into the Campement because of a deep ditch. The Enterprise managed it without too much trouble due to Chris’s good driving and we parked in the shade of the mango trees. The Swedes, in their Land Rover Defender, had arrived just before us. It’s a small world overlanding and we keep meeting up with the same people. We wandered in to the village to see if there was any bread to buy but it didn’t look as if they had a local bakery. Chris did eventually find some small hard baguettes yesterday.

We had an evening walk up the road to have a brief reconnoitre of the rocks, which had steps cut into them in a rudimentary way. Amongst the rocks it was like another world with paths leading in different directions through the tall dried grass and lots of very spiky plants and trees. We decided to wait til the following day to explore as a brief view of the surrounding countryside looked unsuitable for flying, and it was quite windy even at dusk.  On Saturday morning we again walked into the village and found a shop selling new Chinese motor bikes. I enquired about hiring one for the day, and a young man visiting the shop on his small Yamaha agreed to rent us his own. Chris had waved enough cash at him to make it an attractive deal. We explored the backstreets of the village between the houses and were back at the campsite an hour later for the delivery of the bike. After a quick lunch we set off to take a look at the area by motorbike, having had a trial run up and down the main road. Even going slowly in the Enterprise we miss out on the sights and smells you get from open-air travel.

We spent a good part of the afternoon trundling along tracks which wove amongst the cultivated areas, past cows grazing in meadows and reedbanks alive with small birds. The most common butterflies were large iridescent green and black swallowtails. There were a lot of crops I didn’t recognise apart from tomatoes growing in ‘paddy’ fields with drainage ditches and sluice gates between them. A great white pile of cotton awaiting collection which looked inviting to jump into (but I didn’t!) and huge heaps of corn husks as evidence to what had been already harvested. Several tracks petered out into rough footpaths but it was fun exploring and Chris became quite adept at negotiating the sandy tracks and rocky areas on the motorbike. I did have to dismount a few times.

After returning for a cup of tea and cool down in the shade of the trees we rode back up to the Peaks and had a long walk in a different direction through the scrub, deciding to save the real exploration until the following morning and get there close to sunrise. It was an interesting walk along the bottom of a small escarpment littered with round stones like dinosaur eggs. I wanted to climb up to the hill to see what was on the other side, which we did but it was hard going. We were rewarded with a good view of the village and smoke rising beneath the peaks where they were burning off the grass. The flames looked very fierce and we were amazed that the whole area didn’t burn. The road and the rocks appeared to act as firebreaks. Egrets were landing quite close to the flames, probably hunting insects disturbed by the fire.

That night we had an owl hooting in the tree above us with a very distinctive call. We have not seen a great deal of wildlife apart from birds since we have been travelling, but it is not a disappointment as we saw so much in East Africa a couple of years ago. We did see monkeys near St Louis, a beautiful brindled fox (or jackal) in Senegal which ran across the road in front of us, a basking crocodile at the croc pond in Diema, hundreds of lizards of varying sizes, lots of ground squirrels and something which could have been a monkey while we were on the motorbike, but it was too quick to distinguish. There are mosquitos around at night in some places, but so far the only time I was bitten was the first night in St Louis when we failed to deploy our net over the bed.

Sunday morning we rose just as it got light in order to be up at the peaks at sunrise. Unfortunatly the bike failed to start from cold, so we walked up the road (15 mins) and missed the first rays.  However, it was still spectacular and we were the only people around. We spent a couple of hours wandering amongst the rocks and climbing the peaks where we could to see the views. No chance of flying in that area as the terrain was unsuitable and there was a strong breeze so we just decided to enjoy the area and look elsewhere in BK to get the balloon flight in. There is an airstrip to the east we will investigate today.  It was so peaceful amongst the peaks with the sound of the hornbills rising from the valley below and watching black? Kites soaring just above us.

We prepared for departure at the camp and then sat outside to have a traditional English breakfast – bacon, frankfurters, fried egg and baked beans. There was a German lone cyclist in the camp who had been interesting to talk to, and a group of 8 other cyclists of a more mature appearance who were probably escorted with their luggage. We have met quite a few cyclists travelling around Africa all the way from Europe, mostly on their own. The group had a copy of the Bradt travel guide to BK which they lent to the Swedes and we photocopied relevant pages on our ‘in house’ printer. It gave a lot of information on this region around Banfora. We could stay here a week just visiting the sights. We did try to get to the waterfalls and the Domes de Fabidougou on our way back yesterday. We drove 5kms out on a lovely narrow dirt road following the Tracks4Africa map on the SatNav. The Enterprise was fine along the ridge between the sugarcane fields, lined with papaya and bananas, but we eventually came to a T junction where the track was only wide enough for single-wheeled traffic so we had to turn around a carefully negotiate the track back where ground clearance was a problem by following our wheel marks.

Besides missing out on the possibility of seeing hippos at Tengrela Lake, visiting the cave dwellers at villages similar to Dogon country in Mali, seeing a Baobab tree which can fit 50 people inside, and other marvels, we were not unhappy to miss the falls (which may have been pretty dry) and the large domed rock formations of Fabidougou. It’s off to look at launch sites today. All still very exciting. It’s good to be sitting in the coolest part of the day (14C at present). At night the temperature inside the Enterprise is usually around 30C and feels pleasant when it cools down to 26C. We do have a small fan fitted to blow on us when we are in bed which purrs gently. I have named it Artois after a nice cat we met in St Louis.

Back in Banfora

We have had a great time in Sindou staying at Soutrala very close to the Peaks, strange rock formations which reminded us both of the fairy castles of Cappadokia, turkey and the Acacus mountains in Libya. Who should arrive at the same time as us but the Swedish couple Mia and Crister. I am off to have a shower before we go out to eat at McDonald restaurant, not to be confused with the golden arches! Will update later.

Peaks of Sindou

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We are at the peaks of Sindou as a possible interesting place to fly.

Africa Sunset

One leg in the air

Bamako Pictures

Can I have gas please?

 Home in the Bush

Ladies with Logs

Sunset over Niger river, Bamako

Still in Banfora

Still in Banfora

It is very pleasant sitting in our courtyard, under the trees at the rear of the hotel. We decided to have a bit of a 'breather' today and remain here a little longer.

After breakfast we walked out to explore the town. They must be used to white faces here as apart from a greeting no-one takes any notice of us. There's a lovely atmosphere to the place and feels much more relaxed. There are shops in abundance and I don't think there's anything we want that we can't buy here, including dried animal parts and other strange objects used in alternative medicines should we wish. There is a strong animist religion in this region, but there is at least one mosque and the call to prayer was quite soothing early this morning. Our first objective was to find gas. There was a small shop with a couple of larger cylinders of butane nearby but they said we could not recharge our tank there. We tried a couple of filling stations but all the tanks were empty so Chris was worried we would not be able to get enough gas for our next flight. He had filled one whole tank and a part tank, very slowly, before leaving Bamako, but we were wanting a reserve and a bit more in our cooking gas tank. We purchased 2 items from one store: a 'draining' spoon for me and a panga or machete for Chris. The shops of course are all open-air and most goods are out on the street. We found a very good vegetable market and stocked up on nice carrots (hard to find since Morocco), aubergine, red onions and a cabbage! The main fruit here are oranges, tiny blackened bananas and pineapple. There are lots of papaya and mango trees, but I think mangoes are out of season. I have had a very ripe papaya from a roadside stall near Bamako.

The people are the main attraction for me, both in dress and looks. Yesterday we saw a very striking man wearing colourful pyjamas, a stripy trilby hat and wellington boots and today, a schoolgirl riding a motor cycle had bright pink high heels with her smart school uniform. Mostly though the women are in traditional dress, either with head scarves tied in a topknot if they have not got a basket or bowl full of something or other on their heads, or they have elaborately braided hair, sometimes with beads woven through. Three young girls trying to sell woven baskets and fans, roasted peanuts in their shells and bags of sweet cakes braved the gardener here and came to see us. They are very cheeky and are giggling behind the entrance gate. We invited them to look inside the Enterprise and I took a photo of them.

We returned from our first shopping excursion to have coffee and mango juice in the hotel garden and to cool off under the trees. There is a beautiful jasmine like tree beside where we are parked that smells delicious. They speak very little English here but my French has improved considerably, either that or the Burkinabe version of the language is easier to understand. I found in Mali that I could understand very little and they appeared not to understand me very well.  I did learn the Mali greeting from Pam which was "Anche". The owner of this hotel is French and comes from Brittany, hence the Crepes Bretonnes on the menu. We haven't met him but the receptionist telephoned him on our arrival to ask his permission for us to park here.

After a rest in the shade we took our almost empty gas tank back to the small shop, where it turned out they had no gas, but the young shopkeeper walked us across town to somewhere that had, so we are now full to the brim in all our tanks, one still full of good British propane and a small one with the dregs from our last flight.

This afternoon I have been catching up with writing and bird identification. While sitting at dusk where we had our barbecue, a fantastic bird flew over, trailing long feathers which I at first took to be  two smaller birds chasing it. I have discovered it was a standard-winged Nightjar.  In the meantime, Chris has been very busy: cleaned the air filter, checked and adjusted the tyre pressures (Ron, your concern over the rear tyres chafing together at lower pressures has been thoroughly tested and all OK), oil and water levels checked and a full investigation of the steelwork supporting the rear box. A bit more welding may be required at a later stage to add more steel, but hopefully that can wait til Ghana where the language will not be a problem.

I missed a wonderful photo opportunity while sitting out eating a late lunch: 2 donkey carts towed by 3 donkeys apiece loaded with ‘hay’ came trundling past the gate.

This evening we will eat in as we have so much food in our store cupboard and fridge. The meal last night was very good, but expensive compared to our stay at the Sleeping Camel, where we had a meal on two occasions (Chicken Yassa, a typical Mali recipe, and a spicy beef dish which I forget the name of), had two loads of laundry done in the washing machine, several bottles of beer, electricity, use of hot showers and three nights parking all for less than the cost of our meal last night.

Tomorrow we will go in search of possible exciting balloon launch sites.

Sugar Cane Hotel, Banfora

We have had a lovely meal: I had capitaine (Nile perch) in a tomato, onion and pepper sauce and Chris had beef in a tasty curry. We are awaiting crepes Bretonne for desert. The restaurant is very busy. We will be sleeping in the Enterprise at the rear of the hotel where they have parking.

this region is much greener. After driving past villages with great mounds of cotton freshly picked from the fields we came out into open countryside with big industrial irrigation sprayers watering the crop, Very open fields so looks good for a possible flight here. We are intending to explore the lake area, waterfalls and nearby Sendou Peaks tomorrow, it's all very exciting.

By the way, we are very pleased to see who have joined as followers. A belated 'hello' to Pat (and James) and welcome to Tim and Kaspars.

Banfora, Burkina Faso

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First short message in case wifi crashes. Sitting in open air restaurant of the Canne du Sucre hotel which is the best place in town to eat. We got very dusty on the way here as we took the dirt road direct rather than going via Bobo Dioulasso. The people are friendly and charming and greet us with Bonne Arrivee (welcome). More to follow.

Bafaga Village

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• Bush barby bird near Bafaga Village with laughing ladies with logs.

Leaving Bamako

A quick update as we have another busy day ahead of us and intend to leave the Sleeping Camel sometime today and get on the road for Burkina Faso, so unlikely to have wifi for quite a few days.

Yesterday morning we drove into town across the Martyrs Bridge over the Niger and located the BK embassy, applied for our visas and were told they would be ready by 3pm, all very easy but at a cost of CFA47,000 each (about £60). We then trundled back across the bridge through the chaotic traffic. There are hundreds of motor cycles and they swarm in all directions around us so you have to be alert for the unexpected. On this side of the river they have special cycle lanes and it's like a race track.  On the first day here we saw a man on horseback galloping along with the motorbikes.

It took us a while to find the Nigerian Embassy following the SatNav as it took us down little dirt roads towards the river between 'fields' of lettuces where the gardeners were busy watering the crops with buckets hauled up from wells. All very picturesque with the colour of their dress and surrounding banks of bougainvillea. The Embassy was closed for lunch when we arrived so we visited the nearby big supermarket which has a huge variety of European, Asian and African foods, and bought some ham and pate for our sandwiches, drove down to the riverbank and had something to eat. Back to the Nigerian Embassy for 2pm to collect the visa application form and met the Oasis Overlanders who were told for the umpteenth time to return tomorrow. They are assured they will get their visas today. We have decided not to hang around here and to wait and think about applying for Nigeria when we get to Ghana.

Back across the bridge to collect our BK visas and to go on a search for gas. Chris was excited when he thought he had found a tank of propane, but it turned out not to be! He spent some time trying to fill from a 26 litre cylinder of butane in the roadside shack where they sold gas, much to the amusement of passers by, but our tanks was too warm after being in the rear box in hot sun all day so we had to give up due to the pressure difference in the tanks. It remains a project for this morning or maybe further en route. I was quite happy sitting in the Enterprise at a crossroads watching life go on around me.

By the time we had revisited the supermarket and stocked up on supplies, including a chicken to barbecue today and some beef to go in the freezer, the day had gone. Most people were surprised to see us return here as they thought we had left. Everyone else has been taking taxis to get around and leaving their vehicles here. We decided to spend our last night by going out to a restaurant for a nice meal. Chris chose Le Campagnard from the Lonely Planet and we got a taxi into town. The driver was not sure where to go and got completely lost in spite of asking directions several times.  It took us an hour to get there - 11 mins back, including a fuel stop. The restaurant and bar in particular had been mentioned in Newsweek as the best place to go in Africa. Unfortunately there was no live music as noted, but the food was good.

We have plenty to do to prepare for departure. Will post via sat phone when we are on our way. Intend not to rush to Ouagadougou but maybe find somewhere good to fly.

Mali, EPISODE THREE

Another 5am rise and ready to inflate the balloon when Pam, Salihou and Emilie arrived at 6. This time conditions were better and we bundled Pam into the basket. Off they went at 20 knts. I took the trouble to pack things away before setting off in pursuit driving Pam’s car. The hope had been that they would fly over the town, but the direction took them down the road towards Kayes and we were alongside them as they slowed nicely for a landing on the tarmac. Salihou and Emilie were offered a flight, but as both declined, I replaced Pam and we had a lovely gentle low level flight over flocks of sheep and yet more thorn trees to land after a total of 35 mins since take-off in a clearing, relatively clear of thorny scrub. We had lots of help packing away and Pam went off to hire a donkey cart to transport the balloon back to her place. Chris travelled with it, the basket fitting perfectly into the cart. Pam returned me to the Enterprise and I drove slowly back to town to await arrival of the donkey cart. The remainder of the day was spent resting at Pam’s place, and it was very hot with little breeze to cool the interior of the Enterprise. We packed the balloon back in the box in the evening and had showers for the first time since arrival to wash off all the red dust and sand. Pam’s place itself was very basic with no mains drainage, water or power. The water came from a well, the power was solar and the toilets were of the ‘long drop’ type. We were living in comparative luxury. We were able to fill our water tank at the mains hose by the town water tower (partially treated).

It was a 6-hour drive Diema – Bamako with a lunch stop in the shade of some tall mango trees, surrounded by a small flock of sheep and a calf. There were lots of little birds and bright butterflies. This camp is close to the Martyr’s Bridge over the River Niger on the opposite bank to the town. Tomorrow we intend to visit the Burkina Faso Embassy for our visas, and try to apply for Nigerian ones (90 days) now in case we decide to continue in that direction.  It may take a few days to find out if we are likely to be successful. Will let you know when we are setting off for the border.

We have just come back from a walk to find the nearest supermarket for shopping tomorrow and strolled along the river’s edge passed a small fishing community and lots of little gardens growing lettuces, tomatoes, spring onions and cabbages. There are also some big fancy houses with beautiful gardens.

Mali, EPISODE TWO

On Tuesday morning Pam took us on a tour of the local area, partly to look at possibilities for balloon launch sites and also to visit one of ‘her’ villages (Fangouni?) where money has been spent for various projects. We were able to take lots of photos of the villagers going about their normal lives. Diema is twinned with the French town of Chilly-Mazarin who have channelled EU money into various schemes. Pam has been in Diema for 11 or 12 years with her Village Ventures project, working with local people. The main man, Salihou, an ex-English teacher, had a great deal of influence in the town. When Pam learned about our plan to fly the balloon, she hoped it would put Diema on the map as the international crossroads of Mali in many ways. To this end, she introduced us to Major Moulay Mohamed Touhamy of the Brigade Gendarmerie and he readily agreed to get permission for us to fly in his area. He also provided a fine Malian police hat, complete with badge, in exchange for a British Bobby’s helmet.  That afternoon, we all drove 20kms or so north to the village of Mabruke where they were putting on a concert of music and dance for Mike to record. It was very colourful and the people were wonderful. Some very striking faces and beautiful women. There are 7 different tribes and some are quite distinct. The Berbers are very regal and a lot of them ride horses which surprised me. We then drove back to another nearby village to see them drumming, and joined in with the ladies dancing (sorry no dancing or drumming by Chris). They were preparing food for us, but Chris and I excused ourselves and spent the time walking around the village to see all their livestock and the women pounding millet, to which Chris lent a hand.

Wednesday morning we spent preparing the balloon equipment and in the afternoon, while the rest visited yet another village to hear the really big carved drums, Chris and I drove out to beyond the little airstrip to spend the night in the bush and get the rest of the balloon ready for a morning flight. We were up at 5am the next morning. Pam, Salihou and Emilie arrived at 6am but it was too windy to fly, 15 kts gusting 20. We entertained them with coffee and then had a lazy day on our own to await the evening. We had noted that the wind tended to drop about 6.15pm, with sunset at 6.35 and dark by 6.45. This time we had the balloon laid out ready to go when Pam, Emilie, Julia and Major Touhamy returned. We inflated and it was still ‘bouncy’ but Chris took the opportunity and launched solo at 6.30pm. I bundled the balloon bag into Pam’s car, left everything else and we were off in pursuit, Pam driving as fast as she could over the rough terrain while talking on her mobile to Salihou. If you can view the video taken by the Major with his mobile you can get an idea of the excitement. I was very worried Chris would not be able to see in the poor light where the thorn trees were not, but he came down after a 10 min flight in a large clearing. It would have been a drag landing had we all not been there to catch him. We were quickly surrounded by shepherds and children from a nearby unseen village. Chris was exhilarated but exhausted. He went back with Pam to collect the Enterprise and we stopped the night where the balloon had landed, ready for Thursday morning.

Mali, Pictures 2

Donkey cart retrieve

Pounding millet

Is this how it's done?

Taking a rest

This is Ron in Morris Minor in Senegal

Mali, Pictures

Mali, EPISODE ONE

Now that we are settled at the Auberge Sleeping Camel for a couple of days at least, I can concentrate on catching up with our news. When we arrived yesterday late afternoon, the place was completely full and they were turning travellers away. We were happy to park out outside the gates, with the gardner as night watchman, and today they have made space for us to park inside alongside our Austro-Italian and Swedish friends. The temperature is rising: 32C+ and also hot at night, combined with a bad night woken by roosters in Diema, I was not at my best after the day’s drive and have given incorrect information to some of you in individual emails.

After our last online news in Tamba on New Year’s Eve, we did not travel much further that day as the Enterprise decided it had had enough struggling with the old dirty fuel pump. We found a quiet track off the main road, where Chris spent a few hours replacing and cleaning fuel filters and fitting the new pump (at last, David!).  Since then the engine has started like a dream and no more worries about air in the fuel system. We are getting about 1,000 km to a tank full.  We had hot showers, a nice meal and a quiet evening on our own under the stars, intending to wake at midnight and see in the new year with Christmas cake and a glass of brandy, but slept right through til morning.

The border crossing Kenieba-Diboli went very smoothly but took some time as we had to negotiate queues of lorries to visit the police and customs in town and then back to cross the bridge. As it was a holiday, we were charged 3x the normal cost for our 30 day tourist transit for the vehicle, but it was worth it in the end as we do not have to visit the Douane office here in Bamako. We drove as far as Kayes (pronounced Kai) and spent the rest of the afternoon driving around looking for the road to the airport, which we could see in the distance. They had a flight due in that evening and then no air traffic for the next few days, so we drove out into the bush north of the airport for the night, parked amongst the baobab trees.  These are very strange trees, some look as if they have been uprooted and turned on their heads. Their furry fruit hang from strings like baubles.

The following morning we visited the airport tower and talked to the Director, a very nice man who was excited about the prospect of us making a balloon flight, but was unable to give us permission himself and asked us to write a letter to the Civil Aviation Authority in Bamako! There were a lot of thorn trees within the airport perimeter, better in the surrounding area, but without permission we decided to set off on the next stage of the journey. Through the toll onto the autoroute, the road quickly deteriorated into broken tar, and we took 5 hours trecking through the 2-dimensional asteroid belt and swerving to avoid the deep potholes.  The roadsides were strewn with smashed lorries, some had been sitting there for several days and made camp. We stopped for lunch in the hills in a picturesque spot, watching weaver birds building nests. The hornbills which I was so taken with at the start in Senegal are now an annoyance with their stupid call, and they are everywhere. The Abyssinian Rollers are much more attractive and a variety of brightly plumaged birds which I am identifying with the aid of my ‘Birds of West Africa’ book. On leaving our lunch spot, we picked up a big stone between 2 of the rear tyres and Chris judged the best way to remove it was to take off the outer wheel. A loaded car transporter stopped to help and the driver and his mate did all the heavy dirty work. We have found everyone in Mali friendly and helpful.

Our aim that day had been to stop in daylight and find somewhere quiet for the night, but there was no-where convenient before Diema and we reached the truck stopping place just after dark. There was a roundabout and barrier at the crossroads and lots of little food stalls, so we had a walk around and asked if that was the centre of town. A gendarme directed us 2 km to the south, but the tarmac came to an abrupt halt and in the dark we could not see if there were low wires across the dirt streets so we turned around intending to park the night on the filling station forecourt. We were accosted by a white woman in a British reg Toyota, who asked us in a Derbyshire accent if we were OK. She had been on the way to buy bread and seen us passing ‘her place’, so we were invited back to stay.  Pam’s place looked very romantic in the dark, with its fairy lights strung about and solar lanterns on the round thatched buildings. The other ‘guests’ were Emilie from Hungary (who’s son had taken part in last year’s Budapest to Bamako Rally) and Mike from Santa Monica, who had a radio station in LA.  Mike was just about to interview and record 2 local musicians – a traditionally dressed flute player and female singer to play on his station and Pam was helping him in Diema. It was a bit surreal, sitting in the dark, drinking wine and listening to the music, which was interrupted by the singer’s mobile phone ringing! We provided a big tin of tuna fish to accompany the bread, tomato salad, crackers and Manchego cheese meal. Pam also lives in Fuenguerola, Spain so stocks up on supplies when she is back there.  Erika from Hungary was a lovely person. She is staying with Pam for 3 weeks to help with a project amongst other things and we were lucky to have her company. We were joined the following day by Julia, a PhD anthropology student from Harvard, doing research on the Malian people for her thesis.

Mali following first flight

Arrival in Bamako

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Just a short message to say we have arrived safely in Bamako after a good drive from Diema. Now at the Sleeping Camel (http://www.sleepingcamel.com) and will take time tomorrow to post an update of what we have been up to since leaving Tambacoumba.  The successful 2 balloon flights can be 'sampled' in the meantime from Pam Young's blog at http://diemavillage.wordpress.com/ See most recent posts. What a coincindence - Pam found us while we were driving around in the dark and took us back to her place. Within minutes we learned that she originally came from near Chesterfield and went to Lady Manners School where our children did. She still had her Derbyshire accent so we felt at home at the international crossroads of Mali!