Main Diary Page.  France Days 3 - 6.  Spain Days 7 - 17.
Morocco Days 18 - 45.  Senegal Days 56 - 60.
Gambia Days 61- 79.  Mali Days 80 - 89
Burkina Faso Days 90 - 93  Ghana Days 94 - 138
South Africa Page 1 Days 139 - 168  South Africa Page 2 Days 169 -190  Namibia Days 191 - 214  Botswana Days 215 - 242
Zambia Days 243 - 259   Malawi Days 260 - 266   Tanzania Days 267 - 281   Kenya Day 282 - 292   Uganda Days 293 - 313   Tanzania Days 314 - 326   most recent entry

Day 46 26.02.05

Drove to the Mauritanian border. The Moroccan side was slow but very amiable with the customs man complaining how lonely he was in such an isolated place with only the stars for company at night!

Once through that it was a confusing drive over some tarmac and sand tracks through no mans land to the Mauritanian huts

Road to the border

Again ponderous form filling and a lot of standing about. As it was lunchtime we were invited in to the border officials hut to sit on the floor and have some food with them. Camel and rice in a big dish. They showed us how to take a small greasy handful and squeeze it into a small ball to eat it. Typical African meal they said and then laughingly said the rice was from Thailand!

Once across the border we headed south and then off the road across the scrubland to a huge crescent sand dune where we set up camp.

Dune camp.

Trying again with the washing.

Had another go at drying the wet washing!

Evening by the dune.

Day 47 27.02.05

When we woke up it was quite misty. A herd of camels wandered close by appearing out of the mist and then disappearing as if they had never been.

Camels in the mist.

Our route was across the desert using the GPS coordinates given to Luca and Semina by a French couple.

All day in heavy sand. Land Rover in low range diff lock.
Learnt how to drive in sand dunes, how to drive up and how to descend the steep side!!
Camped again in dunes.

Dune driving.

Luca and Semina are documentary film makers. They are travelling for 2 years for the enjoyment of travelling and in the expectation of finding a subject for a new documentary. Both are experienced travellers and we are learning a lot from travelling with them.

 
Luca  Semina

2nd camp

Camped in dunes. Amazing sunset.

 
Sunset

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Day 48 28.02.05

The first part of the day was interesting driving across stony/sandy plains and desert.

Desert driving

We are getting used to seeing huge herds of camels with the camel herders in attendance. Mostly they wave and otherwise ignore us, apart from a couple who approached us very thirsty. They gulped down the water we gave them.

The last bit was through sand dunes and sticky sand. The easiest surface was the dunes so we slogged through the sticky sand from one dune to another.
Martin was a bit enthusiastic with the dune driving at one point!

Martin goes ploughing

Owing to a mistranslation of the map and a wrong plotting of waypoints we hit the coast way further north than planned. It was an incredibly remote place with sticky sand to the sea so nowhere to camp.

Where are we?

 
  Shoreline  Other direction

Nothing for it but to retrace our tracks.

Road to nowhere

We eventually found a piste (some tyre tracks) which we followed, ending up on an idyllic coast, where we set up camp with nothing but birds and jackals for company. We could see the fish clearly in the shallows and jumping further out but not having much in the way of fishing equipment we had to be content with Lucas incredibly yummy Italian spaghetti.

Shore camp

Day 49 01.03.05

We missed the jackals in the night. Martin woke up and he and Debbie watched them explore our camp.

Jackal footprints

Trying to get back on track today looking for pistes heading in the right direction.

Martin contemplates       
his feet.              
 
            Desert motorway

When time to set up camp there was no available shelter apart from a couple of sandy hillocks.
Lots of camel herds nearby.

Camel herd

We were approached by a camel herdsman who spoke little that we could understand apart from the word 'sardines.' We produced a tin of sardines and his face lit up and off he went to enjoy his fish supper while we enjoyed the sunset.

Another desert sunset

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Day 50 02.03.05

Now back on track we travelled 95 k. We discovered a well-travelled piste and made good progress.
Stopping at a fishing village

Fishing boats

we found that the fishermen were from all over Africa.

Fishermen

They had no fish to sell as their main catch was small sharks

Shark catch

which they salted to preserve and send back to their own countries.
We managed to find some shelter from the ever-present wind behind some dunes to camp for the night. Now running out of bread as no shops for days so Luca is making bread for breakfast, cooking it in the hot ashes of the campfire.

Day 51 03.03.05

Delicious fresh bread for breakfast.

Bread for breakfast

Driving across sandy plains.

Bull dust

Always a new type of terrain and amazing views.

We are all rather grubby and windswept now. Trying to preserve water and discovering how little you need to wash with! My hair feels as if it has most of the Sahara in it!

A day for meeting camel herdsmen.

Camel herder

Camels and tyre tracks

Camped a little way off the piste.
Visited by a herdsman who stayed for a mug of tea and biscuits. We communicated with the aid of the Arabic phrase book and drawing in the sand. He invited us back to his tent which we declined as we had got ourselves set up for the night.
Later as we were eating another one visited us. He refused a baked potato and veg but enjoyed munching his way through a packet of nougat which he eventually took with him into the night

Day 52 04.03.05

To our surprise 5 k after leaving camp we came across the new tarmac road to Nouakchott.

New tarmac road

Some way to go

we zoomed along but not for long as the road isn't finished yet and soon turned into track with bone shaking corrugations.

What happened to the tarmac?

Having no desire to have the vehicles shaken to bits we turned off and headed for the coast. At the village of Tioulit we haggled for a very large fish (the smallest they had!)

Our fish

We then drove down the beach to set up camp in the dunes.

Camping in the dunes

Martin announced that he and Debbie have decided to change their route to go to Mali without visiting Senegal or Gambia which is a bit of a surprise! He wants to press on to Ghana to make sure he can get down the West Coast before the rains. We particularly want to visit Gambia as Michele lived there for a short while as a child. So it looks as if we will be parting.

In the evening we got a good fire going and cooked the fish over it. Delicious!

Day 53 05.03.05

We are camped in a quiet but windy spot in the dunes right next to the beach.

View from the tent

All tired from the continuous travelling we have decided to have a day resting and crab spotting!

Starters orders

They're off

Enjoyed a swim in the sea and a laze in the sun despite the ever-present wind.

Atlantic roller

Luca made one of his famous spaghetti dishes using the leftover fish. The wind picked up even more and we went to bed without much expectation of being able to sleep!

Day 54 06.03.05

Woke up in time for the fly past of the pelicans and flamingos over the sea.
Drove 60 k down the beach to Nouakshott.

Cheesy grins

      
Watch out for      Beach tracks
the mooring lines

Follow that truck

Initial impression is of a fly ridden town surrounded by rubbish and shanty dwellings. The campsite on the beach was out of the question due to the millions of flies.

Fortunately we had the GPS coordinates of Camping Nomad.

Camping Nomad

An oasis in the middle of a chaotic swarming city, it is a small courtyard where we can park the 2 land rovers and the truck. There is also an interesting mix of travellers staying in rooms.

The first chance for days to wash clothes and ourselves.
It is so good to have washed all the sand and salt water off!!

Reflecting on our days in the desert it was an amazing time. It is a hard and beautiful place. With surfaces ranging from gravel to stones to sand to soft sand to sticky sand and everything in between it certainly offers a range of driving experiences. Anywhere there is any vegetation there are usually herds of camels. The dunes are fascinating, changing appearance with the direction of the sun. Then there is the ever-present wind. It never stops, just varies in strength. We are now used to having sand in everything and everywhere.

Day 55 07.03.05

A sorting out day.

Steve was keen to "lavage and greasage" the Wanderer after the beach run. We may have a galvanised chassis but no sense in not being kind to the other parts! He negotiated a very reasonable price for the pressure wash and the loan of a garage and inspection pit to do an oil change and grease the land rover just across the road from the campsite. A general inspection underneath and a check of all oil levels.

Lavage and grease

As the others are going in a different direction it will be new for us to be travelling on our own. We will miss them. The security of travelling in a group perhaps has made us a little complacent and we are keen to ensure the vehicle is as maintained as we can make it. Given the very hard off road driving it has coped admirably in the last week.

Martin has been to the internet café this morning and the connection is very slow with no possibility of sending pictures so they will have to wait until we find a better connection.
I did try later but was unable to either connect my computer or to use a CD.

We all went out in the evening to eat and sitting at a table on the pavement were in the middle of the street life.

We are the street entertainment

Constantly approached by men selling stuff. By the end of the evening between us all we were the proud owners of a device for smoking tobacco, some sunglasses and a lucky bracelet. As it was a Lebanese run restaurant some men were enjoying a hubble bubble pipe (sorry cant remember correct name). seeing our interest they offered us a go. It tasted of strawberries!!

Strawberry flavour

Most of our left overs went to the street children who seized on it and ate every edible scrap.

Mike and Jackie join us in the shade

to Senegal