Take On Africa

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A small selection of photos of Djenne’s, in Mali, mud mosque and scenes from the Monday market.

The mosque, the largest of it’s kind in Mali, was built in 1907 and the outer walls, which wash away with every rainy season, are re-rendered each year in a huge event in which the whole village takes part.
The [...]

A few photos from the cycle from Kouroussa in Guinea, where we ended the boat trip, heading northeast into Mali for Bamako and then on to Djenne.

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 [...]

List of Books read during ‘Take On Africa’, in order read. (Those with an asterisk * are related to Africa and those in bold I enjoyed most and would highly recommend):

Wide Sargasso Sea – Jean Rhys

Lolita – Nabokov

A Short History of Nearly Everything – Bill Bryson

Our Man in Havana – Graham Greene

The Last Templar – [...]

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 anyway).
Regarding [...]

This is just a short clip of me and Lars paddling through one of the faster sections of water.
Shortly after this clip ends, when we’re just out of camera view, we run into the bushes and I fall out, losing my sunglasses and flip-flop in the process.

This is my first ever video upload and I [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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, [...]