Take On Africa

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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 […]

Since my last update in Nouakchott, where I signed off at the point of disembarkation of the iron-ore train with decision to take a bush-taxi to Atar in the depths of the Mauritanian desert rather than cycle the 120km piste, so much has happened I don’t quite know where to begin or what to write […]

This is Africa After spending the best part of a week travelling through the desolate desert, arriving in Nouadhibou was an assault on the senses…. it felt like we had finally arrived in Africa: battered cars weaving down the dusty roads, swerving now and then to avoid an overloaded, donkey-pulled, rickety, wooden cart; the drivers […]

Photos from the last few days. Cycling from Guelmim, the gateway to the Sahara; to Laayoune, the first major town in the disputed Western Sahara which has been well and truly claimed by Morocco. Having a second rest day before cycling again tomorrow. There’ll be no more breaks for the next 800km to Nouadhibou in Mauritania. […]

Climbing the argan tree The landscape from Essaouira to Agadir was dominated by the Argan tree, which is indigenous to this region and similar to the olive tree. I passed the occasional shepherd by his flock of goats, who seem to find the fruit a plentiful delicacy. The goats could be seen not only reaching […]

Yes, you’ve guessed correctly, it’s another anecdote involving food. I’m gathering quite a collection of these, but for now, I’ll just share the latest fruit fiasco. I spent a couple of days cycling from Tiznit to Guelmim recently – Two small towns in southern Morocco, which have little to entice tourists who aren’t on a […]