Series 2: A Thread Of Silk

Follow the continuing voyages of the Landship Enterprise at their new blog... A Thread Of Silk.

Sahara to Morocco

Windswept camels in Mauritania

Mr Fish Head on the beach near Nouakchott

Something smells of fish!

Port de Peche, Nouakchott

Bakers boy: bread delivery in Boutilimit, Mauritania

Windsurfing, Atlantic Coast, Dakhla

Clearing sand from road, Western Sahara

The road between TanTan & Agadir, Morocco

Returning to the UK

I was not intending to write any more for this blog but I thought it would be a good idea to let everyone know of our plans.  We are remaining in Roquetas until early next week and then driving to Barcelona where we hope to find somewhere to leave the Enterprise safely parked while we fly home on Sunday, 25th March to get some things sorted at home before the end of the month. We will then fly back to Barcelona to collect the Enterprise and then drive to France where we will spend Easter with our friends Paul and Elaine in the Dordogne, before the final stage homewards, no doubt stocking up on wine on the way!

I hope to add some final pictures to complete the West African part.

Thank you to everyone who has told us they enjoyed reading about our travels. It has really encouraged me to  keep in touch. There will definitely be more adventures in the future - not only have we all the countries to visit which we missed out on this time in Africa but there are other continents to explore. We really did have a great time and were much more successful with the flying aspect than we ever imagined. 

Return to Europe

This is the last post for our West African travels as we have arrived back in Europe for a short stay in Roquetas de Mar with Charles, Montse and Rebeca.

Our journey north from Mauritania was not uneventful. We delayed our departure from Nouakchott on Sunday, 4th to go to the Port de Peche. It was still very windy so not many boats were in from fishing – lots at anchor and even more on the beach but it was still a colourful scene. Much activity unloading baskets of fish from the tide line, groups of ladies sorting and selling fish, and on the quayside were the preparation areas. We toyed with buying either a lobster or fish for the freezer but decided against it as we would be travelling from then on.

We had intended driving straight for the border as with strong winds, visibility would not be good to visit the Parc National du Banc d’Arguin. However, when we reached Chami we noted a piste towards the coast, one of the entry routes to the Park, 40 kms to the beach, and decided to try it. With a lot of wind blown sand the going was hard and having become stuck once and reducing the tyre pressures we thought better of it, mainly because we had only enough diesel to reach the Moroccan border. As it was, the 6kms in then back again were greedy on fuel. With sunset approaching we thought it wise to stop at the Chami service station for the night. It turned out to be very entertaining – buses coming in, disgorging their passengers for prayers at the mosque, tea, toilets and the shop, which Chris discovered sold mainly biscuits and cake. Every so often the shop closed up for the shopkeeper to go off to the mosque. The women travellers were mostly swathed in scarves and ‘sheets’ and tended to waddle. However, 2 stood out from the rest: a tall, attractive Korean looking woman chicly dressed in black jacket and jeans, and a young companion to one of the muslim ladies. She fascinated me most as she was wearing a sleeveless top (which the wind whipped aside to expose a bare midriff), skirt and matching turban in red and orange fabric and she swayed provocatively as she walked about the forecourt. After the mid-evening rush the traffic was very light and we would have had a peaceful night had we not parked next to a water tap. It was amazing how busy it was – people coming to wash, drink, hawk and spit ad several cars pulling in to fill multiple water containers, one of them at 4am!

We did not buy diesel before leaving as it would be cheaper in Western Sahara so unsurprisingly we had to use both cans and were close to empty and worried about not making it through the rough 3.6 kms of ‘no man’s land’. The Moroccan entry was very slow mainly due to a big queue for the X-ray scanner and the usual to-ing and fro-ing for passport/paperwork stamping and searches. As we have proved in the past, it’s best to arrive at the border within an hour of it closing rather than in the middle of the day.

A Frenchman in the queue recommended a campsite at Dakhla but that was too far for us to drive and we found the first easy looking track close to the sea to pull off at. All was well until the last bit which took us by surprise and we were stuck again. Out with the spade, move a little and stop …  We were soon joined by an army guard from his post who came armed with a spade and fetched old fishing nets to lay on the sand along with our waffle boards. Once onto firm ground he was happy for us to stop for the night and took our details. We went for a breezy walk along the beach which was littered with cuttlefish shells. At 8pm we saw headlights approaching along the track, which we were almost blocking. A 4x4 vehicle came roaring past us but the following two both stuck in the sand and the first, when returning to help, ended up stuck as well. It took a while in the dark, using us as a winch point, to free them. The next morning with lowered tyre pressures we had no difficulty driving out again.

We have driven past the turn off to the Dakhla peninsular 3 times already so on Tuesday we had time to drive the 40km south again to have a look. The more sheltered beaches of the bay side are ideal for the less experienced kite surfers and is a mecca for surf camps and schools. The multicoloured kites littered the beaches and the waves were alive with surfers. This area also attracts the ‘snow birds’ – retired Europeans (mainly French) with camper vans. We drove on in to Dakhla to find an ATM and buy bread. Most of the Moroccan army are stationed in Western Sahara and there are large army camps from Dakhla to Laayoune together with UN personnel. It is a strange place – a seaside resort with big hotels, restaurants and promenade combined with a strict muslim small town. Chris bought small fried fish straight from the market for our lunch. Returning to drive back the peninsula we thought we would take a quick look at the Ocean coast about a kilometre across, and found a lovely bay with easily accessible beach and rocks overlooking the sea where we could park. There were the more experienced wind and kite surfers out on the waves to watch and so we stayed. It made for a very relaxing interlude – lazing, reading and I had the time to paint a seascape for Chris’s birthday gift. We ‘popped’ into town to buy vegetables, a fresh chicken and charcoal from the covered market and had a real feast for the birthday meal, plus strawberries and cream. We had to light the Cobb barbecue inside as the wind was so strong. We were afraid it would blow away but it cooked the chicken well, giving it a smoky flavour.

The drive to Laayoune was windy, the air full of sand and visibility very poor so we couldn’t see the coast. We stopped at a windswept campsite with 2 other ‘travellers’ vehicles because we needed to fill our water tank. It was a desolate place in the murk but a pretty fishing village we imagine in the summer sunshine. Fortunately the following day was clear after early morning sea fog and we reached the first autoroute services near Agadir that evening for the next overnight stop. From then on it was easy driving all the way to the northern coast. We had fortunately been persuaded to buy return ferry tickets when we did the outward journey and we reached Tangier Med port in good time for the midnight ferry crossing.

The weather here in Spain is clear and sunny as expected but we woke up on Sunday morning on the outskirts of Algeciras to a cool temperature of 5.5C. What a contrast to the heat of Ghana!

Marrakesh Motorway

On the motorway between Marrakesh and Casablanca. Overnight stops at Laayoune campsite and Agadir services. Hope to make late ferry to Spain today or early Sunday.

Birthday Strawberries

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Having a short seaside holiday at Dakhla for Chris's Birthday today. View of Atlantic waves crashing on the beach in front of us. Fresh strawberries for tea!

Sandy time

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5 Hours to cross border. Army dug us out of sand on piste to beach later followed by 3 german 4x4 also stuck!

Nouakchott

We arrived here yesterday around 1pm and returned to the Auberge Menata. Unfortunately there was no wifi until this morning so were unable to read emails until now. Thank you Ian and Ellen for your replies. We intend to leave today for the border but hope to get time to visit the fishing port before we leave.

The morning we left  Bamako we walked up to the local bank for some cash and spotted a European hairdressers on the way back, so Chris now has a very smart haircut by Joseph, the Lebanese. We had been given a time to collect our extended Mali visas from the Police Station and that was not until 3pm. However we were already to leave at 11.30 so Chris thought we would call in before they closed for lunch at 12.00 and they had them ready. This meant we were able to make good progress and were at Diema at 6pm, deciding to drive straight through and not stop to revisit Pam. We found an ideal track off into the bush at 6.30 and Chris immediately set to gathering wood and stones to make a fire. He soon had it hot enough to cook a delicious meal. We had a lovely quiet cool night, no bats, roosters, call to prayer or even traffic noise as there was little about.

We filled up on cheap Mali diesel at Nioro de Sahel, a real bustling frontier town and found the roads very good, as reported, on the Mauritanian side for some considerable distance and were able to make good speed. We knew there was to be a bad patch and eventually hit this - broken tar, pot holes and dirt track so back to crawling speed and dust. We had intended to find another bush camping place, but just before 6pm we came to what was labelled on Trax4Africa as a bus station. This turned out to be a police post and they demanded our passports to prevent us driving further 'for our security'. All other traffic was allowed to pass through although this was mostly trucks and buses. The buses disgorged their passengers for toilet and prayer stops. At 7pm we noticed a line of 20 men lined up for prayer, facing Mecca which also happened to be in the direction of the Enterprise, parked on a rubbish tip!

The journey on Friday continued at a slow pace. There was a brand new road being constructed alongside us which stretched for miles and miles but traffic was prevented from driving along it by big mounds of earth every 100 yards or so. The diversion alongside this was rough and in some places very soft and sandy and big trucks had become bogged down, up to their axles. The Enterprise did well to get round some of these. Once back on tarmac we were able to pick up speed again and were in the next big town of Aleg by late Friday afternoon. As it was a Friday, the roads had been quiet, the Muslim holy day, and in Aleg the streets were lined with tents and lounging mattresses with carcases of sheep hanging up, ready for cooking. As we could see no hotel in town and our preference was to desert camp we continued for another 45 mins until we again found a track leading off into hard desert away from habitation. Apart from donkeys in the distance, it was quite 'desert'ed although very windy. Chris saw a camel the next morning, which wasn't surprising as there were many many camels along the roadsides or crossing in front of us as we drove. We believe we were really into Harmattan territory as it was much cooler and we had to sleep with duvets on at 20C.

Yesterday's drive to Nouakchott was very very windy with sand dunes blowing across the road and poor visibility. The roadside villages looked very desolate and the people battling against the wind and blown sand to go about their daily lives. As we passed through  Boutilimit I was surprised how busy the little town was and how cheerful the people looked. In Mauritania bread is sold by boys carrying loaves on a board on their heads. We had bought some very good crusty French sticks and sweet buns the day before when passing through a town.

The Menata is very quiet compared to last time, mainly French motorists, an older couple from Spain and 2 young Belgians with a small boy who are driving up to Atar in their sturdy truck, and then across the desert. Chris would like to do this with them, but timing is difficult. We are sending a bottle of Pastis to Just at the Bab el Sahara where we stayed last year.

We are going to take the driving easy on our journey north and stop near the beach if the wind drops. On the way down it was windy so not worth beach camping in Western Sahara.

Whistling Windy

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Over nighted in whistling windy desert. Camel and donkeys in distance. Had some bad roads but ok from now on.

Police Post

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Stopped at police post for night for our security.

Bush Camp Spagbog

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Bush camp cooking spagbog over open fire. All ok as we head to Mauri.

Kumasi market area - Kokrobite - Bamako

Driving through Kumasi Market

Buying papaya and oranges, roadside stall

Fishing boats on Kokrobite beach

Pulling in the nets

Another Ghanaan fishing port

Heavy rain on way to Kumasi

Palm fruit in back of truck

One of the mud & stick mosques on road to BK border

Sheep washing in Bamako

The Driving (by Chris)

The driving has been harder work than we had imagined. The large cities are like being injected into a very large 2 dimensional swarm. There appear to be no rules at all. We have seen many vehicles driving the ‘wrong way’ down dual carriageways, coming to red traffic lights and jumping them. There are multiple police at most city junctions who ignore local traffic violations but if we foreigners stop 2 inches over a white line they blow their whistles and wave their arms for us to stop. This is only to get hold of our driving licence to extort money from us. This fails because I refuse to speak or comprehend French and the licence we give them is a copy we made, one of a few, so if the worst comes to the worst we would drive off.

There are very few road signs and we only find our way by running 2 separate GPS systems with 2 different maps on them. About 90% of the distance and 70% of the driving time has been on tarmac roads which vary between very good and easy to cruise at 50mph to so bad that it is very, very hard work to average 10mph. It’s hard work because to achieve an average of 10mph you may drive 30 yards as slowly as possible in low range first gear over large craters and then have 80 yards when you get up to low 3^rd and 20mph, then back down 3 gears to crawl for another short distance, while weaving off the road altogether on one side, then to the other.  The dirt roads and pistes (tracks) are worse as there are corrugations or ‘wash boards’. The African drivers accelerate up to 40 or 50mph on the corrugations for two reasons: at that speed their vehicle wheels just skim the tops of the bumps so the ride is smoother for them, but means they have very little grip for braking or cornering. They also tend to be driving someone else’s vehicle so if they destroy the suspension they do not have to pay. All the roads are either built on mounds or have large ditches so there is very little room.

We have passed hundreds of large trucks that have driven off the road and several hundred that have broken down. It has not been unusual to see a lorry crankshaft lying in the middle of the carriageway with all the rest of the engine components strewn around like confetti.

In Ghana the ‘good’ roads had a lot of ‘sleeping policeman’ (donkey backs as they are called here) and rumble strips that would rip your wheels off at 10mph and low first at tick-over was too fast, which meant riding the clutch to creep over.

The other thing has been the dust. At 15mph we didn’t create or suck in much dust. At 25mph you could write your name on the inside in 5 minutes. In a day the inside of the vehicle at the back is more like the beach without the sea and takes another day to clean it, so we spend a lot of time driving slowly.  We have scraped the rear on the ground several times and had to use 4-wheel drive and diff locks about 10 times so far, mainly getting on and off the main carriageway and on the dirt pistes. We have more of that to come on the Mali – Mauretania route.

Heading home from Mali

We arrived back in Bamako Monday afternoon and returned to the Sleeping Camel. We had thought to try one of the other places as recommended to us by fellow travellers but Chris was feeling very unwell and we wanted somewhere easy to find. Last time we were here it was very crowded and noisy but we are the only overlanders here and the place is almost empty. The only noisy things are the bats but we are so used to living with their loud squeaks and shrill shrieks that it no longer bothers us. Bats seemed to get bigger the further we travelled: in Tamale, Ghana they looked like flying foxes and were out swooping around even during the day when they were not hanging upside down in the trees above us,

Since my last long post in Kumasi our first task was to escape the city without going directly through the centre and the chaos of the market. We managed to set off in the right direction to get on to the bypass only to find it was one big roadworks so it took just as long. After that, progress was good but on the main national road south - north every small settlement has multi big rumble strips and at least 2 huge roadhumps so we have to virtually stop to go over them. We had thought we would stop overnight in Techiman (the home of Ghana Nuts!) but with more than an hour of daylight left, we set off on the road to Wa. We were pleasantly surprised with the road quality and the picturesque scenery, and no more speed humps. Before dark we came to a larger town called Wenchi where they had 2 hotels advertised off the main road. They took a bit of finding down rough back streets, the worst tracks we have seen as in places the road was washed away. The first one we came to was very smart, with a beautiful garden to sit out in, air conditioned reception advertising free internet and expensive rooms. We asked if we could park in their carpark overnight and offered a good payment for doing so but were firmly refused. They had no other guests so we couldn't understand the logic. Anyway we eventually found our way to the older big hotel down an even worse track and it was hideous. By then it was dark so we had to retrace our tracks rather than trying an alternative as we could not see low hanging wires. There were frogs hopping about in the road in our headlights. Back on the main road we decided to use the new filling station forecourt as our night's stop and that worked out fine, if a little noisy with Friday night traffic and goats.

On Saturday I was not feeling particularly well (a virus I think) so was not up to doing any driving on the really good road. We had a short stop in a village called Banda Nkwanta where they had an old mud and stick mosque and we were offered a tour by the future tribal 'king' nick-named Japan Boy. To raise funds for the upkeep the village had opened the mosque to tourists, including women. It was all very low key and I really enjoyed seeing the inside, hearing a brief history and climbing on to the roof through a very small hole while balancing on steep steps. We passed the turnings to Bui National Park, the Wechiau Hippo Sanctuary and a sacred crocodile lake but we did not feel like leaving the lovely paved road to trundle down dirt tracks. The hardsurface eventually gave out 80 kms before the border so we were back to slow going. Chris had driven over 400 kms in the heat (42C) by the time dusk was approachig. We only had another 16 kms to Hamile, or Hamale, on the border with Burkina Faso, so we stopped for the night at another filling station but this time it was still being built and there were workmen on site all night for security. We were woken next morning when they were trying to bump start their tractor. The only charge - Chris bought the men a beer as one of them had gone off on his bicycle to get some for us when we arrived.

It took an hour to drive the last stretch to the border on rough dirt road but after an early morning rush of heavy traffic it was very quiet. We were through both border formalities by 9am. We had successfully used our Visa de l'Entente to re-enter Burkina. There was a good new road all the way from the border direct to Bobo Dialassou, then back on to the Trans Sahelian Highway. By then Chis was really suffering from heat exhaustion and I was better so I did a lot of the driving. We were at the Mali border at Koloko at 3.40pm and no question about our expired visas from before. We decided to find a hotel in Sikasso so Chris could get a proper rest in cooler conditions as the vehicle heats up so much during the day when driving continously. There were a lot of mosquitos in the room and the net provided had holes so we were pleased to be able to use our own. I left Chris to sleep while I made myself something to eat.

We arrived at Hotel Tata, Sikasso almost at the same time as Maurizio, the Swiss cyclist we had met at the Zebra Bar at Christmas. I met up with him later to hear of his travels. He had continued south in Senegal, then to Gambia, the Cassamance, Guinea Bissau and Guinea, then on his way from Bamako to Ouaga via Sindou and Banfora to be in Cotonou, Benin by the end of March, then onwards to Nigeria.

Chris was still feeling pretty rough in the morning so once out of town I did all the driving to Bamako. There is always so much interest on the roads: people walking and cycling, often with strange loads, small buses packed to the roof, schoolchildren in their smart uniforms, villages with thatched houses and compounds, women pounding millet or mashing yams, roadside stalls with wood fires for cooking, pots being stirred or meat barbecued, pumping water and washing at wells, markets and people travelling to them (for family - yesterday I saw women with large loads on their heads walking along the main road to market, the distance from Castleton to Hathersage or Chagford to Moreton). I have seen a motorbike with a bundle of goats in a net, bicycles festooned with live hens and guineafowl, a cow sitting tied to the top of a full-sized bus and sheep stuffed in the back of cars. Then there are people holding up their hunting catch for sale: partridge, rabbits, lizards or more frequently ground sqirrels or rats spreadeagled on wooden 'skewers'. When driving, you always have to be alert for broken down lorries and buses, with leaves and branches placed in the road as a warning.

I am relieved to say that Chris is much better (still shaggy haired - I did exagerrate a bit about the ponytail, Paul!) This morning we left early to find the Mauretanian Embassy through the busy traffic of Bamako. I had fogotten how many mopeds there are. With our visa applications in for collection tomorrow, we then went to the Police Immigration Office to extend our Mali visas from our first visit at very little cost, so we were pleased we hadn't wasted time in Accra getting new ones. Our application had to be accompanied by a letter and fortunately there was another European who gave us his letter to copy the wording. We bought some provisions at the nearby supermarket and had cheese and pickle sandwiches for lunch. All being well we should leave here tomorrow afternoon ater collecting our passports and visas.

En Route...

En route from Sikasso to Bamako. Roads were very good to Wa. Left Ghana at Hamile, Sunday AM. Burkina Faso to Mail border Sunday PM. All well for two nights stay in Bamako for the Mauri visa.

On the road again

We are back in Kumasi for a brief stop, heading north again. We had an idyllic few days at Kokrobite(y). Big Milly's was a lovely place to park with a gate leading directly on to the beach. Chris needed the rest after long drives in high temperatures and humidity - the road to Accra rom Kumasi had very long stretches of roadwors, potholes, speed humps etc. When the new motorway is finished it will be wonderful. We decided to give it a miss on the way back and drove along the coastal road almost to Cape Coast, with its ancient castles and sandy beaches. We stopped for lunch and the last sight of the sea in a small fishing cove, then headed north from there through tropical rain forest and very good road conditions in spite of the thunderstorms and torrential rain. with light failing fast and another heavy downpour we stopped for the night on a filling station forecourt on the Fomena Mountain road. I made mushroom omelettes with some recently bought mushrooms along the road, while stopped at a roadworks section. They were very strange with long rubbery stalks but quite delicious. We set off at 7am this morning to dry conditions but a little foggy til the sun heated up.

It was very relaxing at Kokrobite during the week. It all happens at Big Milly's at weekends with day trippers, as we experienced on arrival last Sunday. There were fishing boats on the beach and out at anchor. At 9am on Monday, Chris helped 11 local fishermen and women haul in their nets from way out at sea. It was hard work on the rope and the resulting catch seemed small for the effort. There was a real mix of fish, big and small. We had locally caught lobsters (quite small but very tasty) with chips and salad on our first night at the restaurant. Another day, chris befriended the same fishing crew who had a boat called 'Travel and See'. Few of them spoke much English - they all use their own tribal dialect (Ewe I think on the coast). Their wooden boat had a big hole so Chris used his electric drill/screwdriver to put a patch on it for them as they had no tools. They promised us fish in exchange, but we didn't take them up on the offer.

While in Kokrobite we investigated our options - decided definitely not to travel via Cote d'Ivoire as the further possibilities through Sierra Leone and especially Guinea where roads are reported to be very very bad was not sensible. We met a German man who was returning to Hamburg by container/RoRo boat from Tema with Grimaldi Shipping. he didn't have a vehicle but we tried to get more info on availability and charges - we are still waiting for a reply from London via Grimaldi Ghana. Another option was to ship home from Takoradi, but again no information readily available. It's a possible plan for the future. We drove into Accra to visit the Mali Embassy, but a new visa would have taken until Monday to acquire so we are risking extending our existing dual entry visas at the border. We are planning to drive up the western side of Ghana to Wa and cross into Burkina Faso (which we can do on our Visa d'Etente) and avoid going back to Ouga. Don't know what to expect from the road conditions yet. If all dirt roads we may change our minds. Timing is now becoming critical as we would like to stop in Spain again before getting home. Senegal is still not 'in the bag' balloonwise but that may have to wait for another trip.

Accra had a large air-conditioned shopping mall with European standard shops an supermarkets, quite a culture shock for us. We stocked up on a few things but it was expensive compared to roadside stalls and small town shops. Pineapples, mangos, papaya and coconuts are good here. They also grow oranges but we find them tough and not very juicy. We found we craved Granny Smiths apples when we found them in the supermarket and satisfied our lust!

I drafted this blog on our rush hour entry into Kumasi, much easier to navigate this time round and we are back at the air-conditioned internet cafe. This may be the last chance for a while to communicate electronically. It was very good to talk to most of our family via Skype last Saturday. We don't intend to stay here very long.

We took advantage on our last visit here to go to Kejetia Market - what an experience! We saw no other white faces, but it was chaotic, vibrant and exciting. You enter the corrugated iron roofed market down steps (and in one place across a used railway line!) to the wider lanes but we had to watch our for people trundling wooden barrows through at speed and jump out of the way. There was fresh, salted, smoked and dried fish, fruit and veg, huge snails the size of a fist and great wooden butchers blocks piled high with fresh meat (which had to be moved from the aisles every time a barrow came through). All this was mixed up with stalls selling cheap Chinese goods and beautiful bright batik fabrics. Kumasi is the capital of the Ashanti people who are famous for their brilliant patterned fabric, and everyone wears it, including smart young women with stylish dresses. I didn't buy any as it is quite expensive and I don't think I would have the opportunity at home to wear anything quite so dramatic, but we did buy a length of the white fabric with black geometrical designs, also traditional, and sewn together in narrow strips. We saw a wedding celebration where young and old, men and women were all wearing the black and white dresses and robes. Back to the market: I preferred exploring down the maze of narrow dark alleyways, barely wide enough to pass, selling spices, dried goods, bowls (vats) of spicy peanut sauce and other foods. There were also 'beauty salons', wig sellers, make-up, jewellery and hairdressers where ladies were having their hair braided and woven into fantastic styles. Everyone was so friendly, especially as Chris kept up a running conversation and joking with people as we passed through - he is the ideal companion on these sort of adventures as he converses with everyone, teases the children and young women and befriends policeman and officials in no matter what language.

After an hour at the market we had had enough so we took a taxi to the Suame Magazine district (the old artillery area) which is now a huge mechanics workshop with rusting engine and lorry parts piled high and everything covered in thick red dust. Chris eventually found a place where we could take the Enterprise to be checked over and greased, but it would not be until Monday, so that job is still to be done somewhere along the road. Also a haircut for chirs. Accra would have been a good place but we ran out of time before dark and our return to Big Milly's Backyard through the teeming, crazy traffic of buses, trucks, tro-tros and taxis, with no lane discipline, no understanding of how roundabouts work, stopping and starting at random and most without lights.

Everywhere else we have been, and especially in the French speaking countries, every other stall appears to be a hairdressers or barbers, displaying hand painted images of 'haircuts'. Chris has been reluctant to test their barbering abilities, so he is planning to start wearing his hair in a ponytail! Talking of painted images, I at last had the time and opportunity to get my water paints out and have completed a copy of a colourful African woman, bowl on her head, which was one of the many images painted on the walls of the little houses at Big Milly's.

A wet night

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On way north at Dompoase petrol station for the night.

Big Milly's Backyard

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We're staying at Big Milly's Backyard (http://www.bigmilly.com/) on the coast, 30k west of Accra. It's a very nice place, helped fish + long walks.

FLYING IN WEST AFRICA

The factors that have controlled our flying on this tour have been:

1. finding suitable locations
2. getting local permission where possible
3. surveying for possible landing places
4. getting gas.

The prevailing upper wind has been a north easterly and most of the flights we have made have been parallel to a “major” road. Some of these “major” roads have been dirt tracks that have occasionally stopped us if we have not locked up all the differentials as well as 4WD, not so bad yet to require the winch but close on a couple of occasions. We are now surprised if there are any tracks leading off the “main” roads that a vehicle can use, so normally we plan to land close to a road but not close to villages or any habitation. The reason is if you have to carry water half a mile to your home then the toilets tend to be a field 20 – 200 metres from where you live.

In the UK, if you see a house there is normally a way of getting a vehicle to it. It’s probably the reverse in Africa as some large villages only have footpaths or motorbike tracks to them. We have mainly used dirt airstrips as launch points as it’s easier to get ad hoc permission and if we were met by police on landing it would be easier to explain. We see a lot of police and gendarme check-points on the roads and occasionally are stopped at them but fortunately they appear not to have any transport so we, as yet, have not had any problems on landing.

For every flight we have spent at least several hours looking at and GPS waypointing suitable landing areas and if all else fails we now fly with a machete, or cutlass as they are called in Ghana, to make a clearing in the bush. We have not so far encountered dense vegetation or jungle.

Up to now we have purchased butane in 13kg cylinders with a variety of connectors. A few cylinders have built in hose failure valves which slows the rate of transfer. The butane at typical morning take-off temperatures gives 35PSI or just over 2Kg/cm2 which is low with a single burner even in a lightweight small balloon. I managed to keep one cylinder of propane up until the last flight where 2 kettles of boiling water poured over one cylinder just before take-off gave 50 PSI or 3 bar. I tend to fly on the low pressure tank as much as possible and use it as the “master” to save the high pressure until the end of flight. We are going to a lot of trouble to keep all the gas connectors clean by wrapping in plastic bags and sealing them with insulation tape. We are using Chinese paper balloons to check wind direction before flying.

The new “Klein” inflation fan works well but I am very glad that Sue suggested we bring a spare propeller as the original sucked in the cord on our keyring and wrecked it in Togo. The Ultramagic collapsible basket is excellent and we are getting quicker at assembling it from its flat pack.

Mole adventures continued

One thing I got wrong in my last blog was that Chris's first landing at Mole was not in a clearing, but between trees in the bush and there was nowhere to deflate without much hacking of vegetation with his cutlass. He had been the air for 35 mins. Chris is composing some details on technical matters to do with flying and gas for those who would be interested and this will follow later sometime.

Our second flight was from the National Park staff's 'sports ground' as it was perfectly places for a flight out over the Park. We were watched by many people and a lot of the Rangers came out to help. It was a lovely calm flight over the Motel and swimming pool and fairly close to the watering hole but too early for the elephants to be out to cool themselves. After a high, low, high the track was again perfect for Larabanga and over the ancient 14th Century stick and mud mosque which Chris had flown over the morning before. There was a big area for landing on however the very tall mast with satellite dishes was in the way, so we had to rise again to make sure we cleared this and came down gently in the middle of the road next to a small school. We could see the masses of children from Larabanga running towards us down the road. The same farmer from the day before appeared, shook Chris's hand warmly and took charge of the crowds and organising the balloon deflation and packing into the bag. We relaxed for the rest of the day at the campsite and beside the pool where I had a swim to cool off. Chris was able to copy the flight photos onto CDs for Ali and Osman.

Osman shared his meal with me while Chris was otherwise engaged. It was fufu (a large white dumpling made from cassava flour) and grasscutter soup which we ate with our fingers. The soup was hot and spicy and the meat tender and delicious. I had an inkling of what grasscutter was as Osman had told me the leopard he had seen 9 days previously was hunting grasscutters - large bush rats. On our night stop on Tuesday, we met 2 huntsman returning with their catch, carrying a cutlass and knobbed stick, which is all they use, together with their 4 dogs. Chris called me to inspect their catch at close quarters: a huge lizard wound round the younger man's arm, a ground squirrel and 3 huge fat grasscutters.

When I said we had the campsite to ourselves for most of the time, that is not entirely true. We had a family of Patas monkeys on the viewing platform, baboons wandering through - one very naughty one jumped up on the balloon box on the back of the vehicle and had to be chased away, and we frequently had the company of 2 female warthogs (or hogwarts as Chris likes to call them) and their hoglets. One was very interested in my breakfast and snorted at me. On the last evening we had a meal by the pool at the Motel, watching the dramatic red glow of fierce bush fires burning in the parkland. Chris returned to the Enterprise to get some red wine to find 3 warthogs asleep underneath! Only 2 visible in the picture.

On Tuesday, we had intended leaving fairly early (7 am) to take advantage of the slightly cooler air for travelling as we knew it would be hot and tiring for the 4-5 hours at the speed of a bicycle until we were back on tarmac. I had had a bad night (not caused by the grasscutter stew!) and the Enterprise had flat batteries, so it took Chris some time to charge them up from our 'hotel' batteries. It gave us a good chance to talk to Mike and Ant (whose 33rd birthday was on 14th) and they recommended an overnight stop at some waterfalls near Kintampo and also this Presbyterian Mission here. We never made it to the waterfalls as we had a dirty fuel filter and once on the tarmac we lost power, hence the overnight bush stop. We did get to see the Kintampo Waterfalls next day en route to here.