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The Travel Blues in Mali
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 [...]
The Great Niger River Boat Trip - Part 5
Day 14: 19th Feb 2010
Fast rapids – Boat unload – Stuck! – Decision to quit in Kouroussa
It was a successful start to the day, with calm open water which Joliba II glided over with considerable ease.
Boosted by our progress and steady rhythmic paddling, when we heard the distinctive white water ahead and then saw the [...]
The Great Niger River Boat Trip - Part 4
Day 11: Feb 16th 2010
Warthogs - Broken boat - Hippo encounter - Bush fire – Bat exodus – Uniformed and uninformed – Poacher or American?
A long, hard morning paddle – at least we were paddling and not pushing or dragging, but the wavelets on the river surface were tiresome. With the ripples lapping at [...]
The Great Niger River Boat Trip - Part 3
Day 7: 12th Feb 2010
Ou tu vas comme ca? - Bee island - Frogs and splashes
Nearly a week into the trip, about 100km downstream of Faranah, getting close to the National Park and the number of people we are seeing has diminished – just the occasional onlooker from a riverbank and lone fishing boats. We [...]
The Great Niger River Boat Trip - Part 2
Day 4: 9th Feb 2010
Quiet morning – shallow maze - near-disaster - crocodile island
Following a quiet morning on the river where progress was slow but steady, the afternoon brought with it a maze of rocks and shallow waters that slowed progress drastically. We would stop paddling and stand up to get a better view downstream, [...]
The Great Niger River Boat Trip - Part 1
Day 1: 6th Feb 2010
Departure – 3 beers – Boh’s helping hand – will we make it to Bamako?
It’s Saturday in Faranah; our boat is built and afloat on the river, our belongings have been wrapped and packaged in plastic bags ready for the trip, we have cycled into town for breakfast and bought [...]
Photos of Niger River Boat Trip - Campsites
We spent 15 days on the Niger river - that’s 14 nights camping in the ‘wild’. The last night, having arrived in Kouroussa, we were able to check into a hotel!
The photo slideshow includes a photo of every spot we stayed, except one night when I forgot to get my camera out. That night, we [...]
The Birth of Joliba II
(Joliba Fila - Joliba meaning ‘Great River’ and Fila meaning ‘2′ in Manding)
Travels down the Niger River – 350km, Faranah to Kouroussa (Guinea)
6th - 22nd February 2010
The Idea
The idea of a boat trip came about during discussions with Lars, way back in the early days of cycling through the Western Sahara. Several long days riding [...]
Freetown to Faranah - Bangs, Bees and a Boat
Leaving Freetown
We had arrived in Freetown on the bustling streets of Kissy Road in the East End lined with stalls selling everything from second-hand shoes to fake Sony radios; and had navigated our way through the commercial district centred around the towering cotton tree, down along Congo Road and across the poor shanty district of [...]
Long Road to Freetown (Part 3)
And finally….the final part of the journey, from No Man’s Land to Sierra Leone’s capital, Freetown.
Noises in the Night
Camped in No Man’s Land, I woke numerous times in the night to a rattling sound coming from underneath the tent, which seemed to come from the left of my head one moment and then further to [...]
