Take On Africa

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I’ve just put together some short videos I took while on the Niger River… unseen footage until now… You can check it out here on my new website: Helen’s Take On…

Sometimes when you cross a border, you instantly know you’re in a different country. Perhaps a new language, a new uniform, now driving on the other side of the road. Sometimes, you would never know. Same scenery, same rough roads, same smiles, same stern officers. Crossing into Zambia, I instantly knew I was in a […]

Chapter 1 – Entering the Congo One way to enter the Democratic Republic of Congo is at Kinshasa, by taking a boat from Brazzaville in the Republic of Congo. The boat crossing takes only 20 minutes. It will only be 20 minutes late leaving. Sometimes it is good to wait. You will spend five minutes […]

Here are some photos from the latest part of the journey. I travelled south from Yaounde in Cameroon through Gabon to a small town called Booue. Having drunk some dodgy water and thrown up in the middle of the town crossroads, I thought it best to leave as soon as possible. This I did by […]

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 […]

A month’s break from the bike seems to have been the perfect medicine for re-igniting my interest in my travels in West Africa and Mali specifically. It’s been a fascinating month and I’ve seen so much. I hope to get chance to write an update about the last few weeks (it’s been a while), but […]

Below are three photographs showing all the gear and equipment I arrived in Africa with on my bike. I have since got rid of the MSR stove and fuel bottle as I had problems with this and I forgot the bike helmet in Bissau (although I never actually strapped it on my head before then […]

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 […]

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 […]