Take On Africa

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It’s 10 month’s since I left the UK. I’ve made it to Ghana. And it’s time for a summary of the trip so far, by numbers. I’ve posted some statistics on my main sponsor’s, Webtogs, blog: Togblog
I’m currently back in the UK getting a new passport, which I’m eager to fill up with lots more [...]

Entry into Ghana was overshadowed by leaving Burkina Faso, which I was a little sad to be leaving.
But the immigration officials were friendly enough. While one slowly and meticulously filled out my immigration form (I could have completed it in a fraction of the time, but time is no matter here), I watched cartoons on [...]

Ouagadougou – Bobo – Banfora – Bobo
Any Which Way
Leaving is always hard. It’s not that I fear the open road. I don’t fear the unknown. On the contrary. That’s why I travel. That’s why I travel by bike. But no matter how much I know I will love the freedom and the new experiences, leaving [...]

I spent two weeks in Ouaga. Camping in the car-park of the OK Inn Hotel. Sandwiched between  a truck park and the hotel reception. Doesn’t sound so OK. But what more do you need when camping than a flat piece of ground in the shade? Not much. Included in the free camping was use of [...]

Leaving Mali
Leaving Mali was tougher than I thought. Not due to any particular attachment, although I did enjoy my time there. It was the wind and the rough, corrugated, roads. Mostly the wind though. It tried it’s hardest to blow me right back into Mali, even after I’d got the Burkina Faso entry stamped permanently [...]

Earlier in the year when I was in Sierra Leone’s capital, Freetown, I visited the Ola During Children’s Hospital. This is the only paediatric hospital in Sierra Leone. It is the paediatric hospital that the Welbodi Partnership is working with. The Welbodi Partnership is the charity I am raising money for [...]

Last week I was asked by explorer Mikael Strandberg if I would write an article for his website. How could I refuse?!
The tricky part was he said I could write about anything. That immediately meant I couldn’t think of anything to write about. Nothing. Nada. In the end I had a beer and just started [...]

I had heard that leaving Timbuktu can be a time-consuming challenge. So when I was in Kourioume, still 10km prior to arriving, I was searching out ways to leave. The day was Wednesday. We could leave on Friday. By public pinasse. A pinasse is like a large, motorized pirogue. A pirogue is a small wooden [...]

Djenne
Djenne is a sleepy place. Except for Mondays. Monday is market day. Market day means hundreds of people arrive in town, congregate, congest the streets. They usher in goats and sheep, set up shop on the street floor to sell anything (everything afterall has a price and if it has a price it can be [...]

One familiar sight in Senegal was that of young boys, in tattered rags, walking the streets clutching large, empty metal tins (think Heinz baked beans tins, super-sized) looking for handouts from tourists, leftovers from locals. The boys rarely begged though. They just seemed to wander, hopeful that their tins and therefore their stomachs would be [...]