Take On Africa

You are browsing the archives of blog.

Love lost in Kpalime
Over the border into Togo I flew down the hill into Kpalime. Another town in Africa. My introduction to Togo. Friendly people. French-speaking. I checked-in, showered and sat down in the hotel courtyard with a beer to celebrate a new country. Soon enough I had company. Yana spoke to me as if [...]

Sequels are often a let-down. The original is rarely surpassed. Ghana, the second time around however, was the exception. Not unexpectedly though. After some R&R, my energy levels and enthusiasm restored, I knew I would see the country in a different, brighter light.
This time, I wasn’t going to let things get the better of me. [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

It’s been so long since the last proper update I hardly know what to write about. I guess the simplest thing is to start from where I left off…. and that was in Bamako having recovered from the previous weeks’ exertions paddling down the Niger river. That was over six weeks ago.
Bike Ride from Bamako [...]

Mali is famous for it’s music but I haven’t heard much and haven’t tried to find it.  I’ve been singing my own song and I’d have to say it’not very soulful.
Having had a bout of literary diarrhoea after two weeks of paddling a pirogue down rapids and through shallow waters, I am now suffering, in [...]