Diary

November

Georgetown, The Gambia 2003-11-28 10:55

- Hello sister! Hello brother! What’s your name? Where you from?

This is generally how everybody that we meet here in Gambia approaches us. And when we tell the Gambians that we are from Sweden one of five actually starts to speak Swedish. Yes, it’s true (at least in the tourist areas). But even if the people here in Gambia are extremely friendly, they truly are, it can sometimes get a little bit annoying. There is ALWAYS somebody who’s talking to us (mostly children and teenagers). We thought that it was a lot in Morocco and Senegal but it’s even worse here. It doesn’t matter where we decide to stop for a break. Even if we stop in the middle of nowhere, with absolutely nobody in sight, it doesn’t take more than a minute before we are surrounded by twenty children. Where do they come from? We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again, you are NEVER alone in Africa. But whatever, as long as everybody is nice it’s no problem.

After have spending one night in the capital Banjul we went to the touristy city Serekunda on Gambia’s west coast. In Serekunda we spent the nights on a campground a little bit outside of the city and the days on different five star beach resorts. These hotels and their facilities are probably meant for guests only but since we, for a change, could melt in pretty good among all tourists we didn’t have any problems sneaking in. The nightlife in Serekunda was however a disaster. The discos that we went to were generally filled up by fat western men and young Gambian prostitutes. Not a very pleasant sight.
After a couple of days in Serekunda we went south to see the rest of the coastline and then east (direction Senegal and Mali). After have spending one night on a scout lodge in a small village we arrived in Gambia’s third biggest city, Georgetown, where we are now. The third biggest city in Gambia basically contain a main street with a small market, a post office, three-four tiny shops, a really sad hospital, a few restaurants and some camping grounds with bungalows. We thought that Georgetown was going to be a little bit bigger than this…

The roads in Gambia are definitely the worst that we have experienced so far (there were no roads in the desert). We have never seen so many potholes. It’s amazing how bad the roads are. Sometimes it’s actually easier to drive next to the road than on the actual road and that says a lot. But I don’t think that we should talk that much about the roads in Gambia because we’ve heard that they are going to get even worse in Mali…
There are also extremely many police controls in Gambia. We have to stop every 20 kilometres to show our passports and papers for the bike. Police controls combined with bad roads and slalom between cows and goats doesn’t make the travel in this country very quick.

Important to mention is that we really like it here in Gambia. Compared to, for example, Senegal this tiny country is very laid back and safe. It’s also very beautiful here, amazingly green scenery and an impressive wildlife. A long the way we have seen lots of monkeys, birds (there are actually 400 different spices of birds in Gambia) and reptiles. Today we went on a nice boat trip on the Gambia River. We were supposed to see hippos and crocodiles but no luck. I’m sure we’ll get more opportunities.

Today is a very important day, the last day of Ramadan. This means that we are going to put on our nicest clothes, drink palm vine and shake our hips to the beats of a local Reggae band. The Muslims have been talking about this day since the first day of Ramadan and we are very excited. It’s also very nice to see how important this day is to the locals. Everywhere you see people cutting their hair, washing their selves and making them selves really beautiful.

Cheers!

Helena & Daniel

One of many sunsets here in Africa...	Frogs in the toilet - a normal sight in Gambia	Beautiful scenary along the Gambian River

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Banjul, Gambia 2003-11-22 19:15

Dear people,

To begin with, we can announce that there are some changes in our travel plans. We aren't going to fly from Senegal or Gambia to Namibia as we first planned. Basically we feel like we haven't seen enough of West Africa and we have therefore decided to also travel through Mali, Burkina Faso and Ghana. When we are in Ghana we are going to look up the possibility to ship the bike to either Namibia or South Africa. This will happen around Christmas.

We spent seven nights at the campsite La Robinson in St: Louis. It felt good to rest a bit after the desert, the stomach problems and the fall. Daniel also took the opportunity to look over the bike. Luckily he noticed that the clutch wire was about to break. It would have been less funny to notice that in the middle of the traffic...
The fishing city St: Louis was neither good nor bad. The city does have some nice beaches and some nice French inspired architecture but it's also VERY dirty and some areas truly smell like rotten fish.

In St: Louis we met up with another Swedish guy, Niklas (also sponsored by Touringbutiken) and last Saturday we all steered to the capital of Senegal, Dakar. In Dakar we also, by accident, run into the Dutch jeep that was a part of our desert convoy. The world amongst the travellers is pretty small, you meet the same people over and over again.
In Dakar we fixed our visas to Mali. This process is a good example of the corruption here in Africa. When we handed in our application we were informed that it would take 48 hours before the visas were ready. Since Dakar is a very expensive and uninteresting place we though those two days were a waste of time and therefore we nicely asked if it was possible to get the visas a little bit earlier. No, not a chance the lady at the desk said determently. But when we started to look in our wallets the lady suddenly became very helpful and with a couple of Euros under the table we got our visas within a couple of hours. In Africa EVERYTHING can be arranged as long as you are willing to pay some extra money.

And now we really feel that we are in the real Africa. Our everyday use now contain potholed asphalt roads, perfect gravel roads, outmoded big cities and small villages that contain cement houses and reed huts. And you definitely have to be alert when you're driving because there are a lot of animals along the roads. It's probably just a matter of time before we will run over one, for example we were one centimetre from seriously hurting a big lizard yesterday.
Of course it's also getting quite poor. Wherever you turn you'll see a small hand screaming for money. And if the locals are not begging for money they are desperately trying to sell you something or convince you that you definitely need a guide. You're never alone in Africa. There's always somebody trying to get in contact with you and sometimes this can be a little bit annoying.

Yesterday we had a really good day. We went to Lac Rosa, the pink lake, just outside of Dakar. This lake consist 30% of salt so damn we were floating around. Good fun! After a couple of hours in Lac Rosa we headed off to Gambia. Before the sun set we steered into the bush and put up our tents. After a nice dinner of tomato sauce, corns, pees and rice (you take what you have) we fell asleep to the sound of, well, to be honest we didn't here any exotic animal sounds but mostly the snoring of Daniel.

A couple of hours ago we arrived in Banjul, Gambia. The border from Senegal to Gambia was surprisingly calm and smooth. The people of Gambia have truly made a good first impression and it's very nice to finally be in an English speaking country.
Well, this has been a long and warm day and we are now looking forward to go back to our hostel and get a shower. If there is any water in the shower that is to say, because that's not a always so sertain here in Africa.

See you guys,

Helena and Daniel

Check out our picture galleri with photos from the desert!!!

St: Louis, a paradise or a garbage bin?	We are defietely popular among the kids	A nice afternoon in Lac rosa

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St: Louis, Senegal 2003-11-11 14:55

Hello!

This has defiantly been a week that we'll remember. Defiantly one of the best weeks in our lives, but at the same time a pretty tough one with a couple of setbacks.

Our desert convoy ended up a little bit different than we thought from the beginning. The French guys in the jeeps turned out to be a little bit to arrogant and were therefore replaced by a Dutch jeep. Accordingly our convoy contained the two Spanish guys Richard and Kim (Peugeot 205), the Dutch guys Max and Jap (Mitsubishi Pajero) and us. The strongest convoy there is.

The real adventure started where the asphalt ended, at the Moroccan border. After five minutes we reached the first sand dune and it was time for our first fall. (A nice and soft one though). It got a little bit too heavy with two on the bike and the entire luggage. And we were not the only once with problems. A couple of minutes later the chassis of the Peugeot were stuck in the sand. What had we gotten ourselves into?

The no-mans-land between the Moroccan and the Mauritanian border was a little bit scary. The road in between is not really visible and there are heaps of landmines in the area. The old skeleton of a French jeep that went a couple of metres in the wrong direction was a good reminder...

Downloaded with lots of water, food, petrol, a big part of our luggage and a desert guide there where not much room left for Helena in the jeep nor in the Peugeot. Because of this we decided (well, we didn't have much choice) to give it a try sitting to on the bike through the desert. The first 100 kilometres were really hard with loose, tracked sand and uneven stones. Because of the bad surface it was impossible to get a good rhythm in the driving and we (especially Daniel) had to work very hard in the heat (around 45 degrees Celsius). The following 100 kilometres, that contained flat untracked sand, were a piece of cake. As long as we kept accelerating our bike sailed through the desert like a boat on the sea. This was a really good feeling! After eight sweaty and dusty hours in the middle of nowhere we finally got our reward, a nice beach by the ocean. The swim that we took in this ocean is by all means the best swim that we have ever taken. God, it was goooood! A little bit later, when the Dutch guys gave us some beers, it really felt like we were in heaven

We ended up staying two nights at this beach. We just relaxed, ate a lot of good food, did some fishing, hanged out and enjoyed the desert. Rested and energetic we continued our trip to the civilisation last Wednesday. This was another fantastic day with some great scenery like oasis, beautiful sand dunes and big flocks of camels. The desert is truly an amazingly beautiful landscape. With less water, food and petrol in the jeep there were now room for Helena. This gave Daniel the chance to play around for real in the dunes. And believe me, he did:-)

After four days in the sandbox we arrived in the dirty capital of Mauritania, Nouakchott. In Nouakchott Helena got a bad attack of diarrea with abdominal cramps, fever and everything that comes along with that. Three days and six toilet roles later she was back on track and we could continue to Senegal.

The border between Mauritania and Senegal is probably one of the most hysterical borders in the world. Definitely not a place for people that are short tempered. As soon as we got there we where surrounded by heaps of civilians that where asking for money, money and money. When we turned them down they got aggressive. The atmosphere by the border was truly uncomfortable and it's been a long time since we felt as angry, irritated and dejected as we did in that stage. Well, well after a couple of hours of constantly arguing we finally came across the border and on our way to St: Louis in northern Senegal. But the adventure of this week doesn't stop here. Oh no. When we arrived in St:Louis we started to look for the camping La Robinson. This camping is situated on a reef and the road to it is neither good nor signed. In the middle of our searching the darkness, the tide and heaps of crabs came. Of course we got lost and before we knew it the road contained a lot of sand and we fell. This fall was pretty bad since Helena got her leg pinched and twisted under one of the aluminium cases. For a second she thought that she was going to break it. In the middle of all the misery a big bloody animal passed us. We actually thought that it was a crocodile but now we know that there aren't any crocs here but a lot of BIG lizards.
In the end we found the camping and we are now staying in a bungalow right beside the sea. Helena's leg is still hurting a bit but she will definitely be alright in a couple of days. However we taught ourselves a lesson, never drive when it's dark

So long,

A tired driver and a shaky passanger

Saharas strongest convoy ever	A sand dune by an oasis	Daniel is playing around

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Dakhla, Morocco 2003-11-02 1:39

Hello!

Now things are finally starting to happen. At the date of today we are in Dakhla, Western Sahara Desert, pretty close to the Mauritanian border. The 1500 kilometres from Agadir to here have mostly been an unlimited asphalted straight road. It may sound a little bit boring, but to see how the desert is getting closer and changing has been incredible cool and exciting.
Worth mentioning are definitely the small, sandy, dirty and primitive cities that we have passed a long the way. Small cities in the middle of nowhere. Except from Laayone, where some annoying kids where following us on their mopeds shooting slingshots at us, we have always been received with hospitality and joy. We are feeling like a couple of movie stars. Everybody is clapping their hands, smiling at us and giving us thumps up when we pass by.

And we can definitely not deny that it’s getting harder. Ramadan began 27th October. From this date and for one month ahead the Muslims will fast, which means that they won’t eat, drink or smoke during daylight. For us the Ramadan means that, when it comes to food, it’s impossible to buy anything else but bread and cream cheese from five o’clock in the morning until 7 pm. It also means that we, because of respect of their culture, can’t eat when the poor hungry Muslims are watching. Because of this we have been eating our dry pieces of bread with cream cheese along the road for the last couple of days. Since we have been eating this Moroccan bread for breakfast, lunch and dinner since day one in Morocco, we are getting a little bit tired of it. Not very good since the Ramadan only has began…
The police controls are also getting tighter and tougher. We have been stopped by the police plenty of times in Morocco. In the northern part of the country it was a piece of cake. All we had to do was to smile and tell the police that we are Swedish and then they always smiled back, said “Welcome to Morocco” and told us to keep going. Down in the Sahara region it’s a little bit different. The police have a lot more French questions (we don’t speak French) and always check our passports. Each control can take up to ten minutes. The good thing is that they are still very nice, thank God.

Helena och en del packning har fått lift med två trevliga spanjorer som vi också har träffat här på campingen. Dessa killar äger en riktig ökenracare. Håll i Er, Helena kommer att passera öknen i en Pergaue 205 (ungefär lika stor som en Ford Fiesta) från -84. Vi kommer att åka i sällskap med två franska jeepar. Spänningen är olidlig...

Tomorrow we are heading off to Mauritania. If we have understood everything correctly the road to the border will be OK. The following 200 kilometres that contains nothing but loose sand will be harder. According to experts it will be impossible for the two of us to sit on one bike. Helena and some luggage need to get a lift. After the loose sand there will be 100 kilometres on the beach, which we should be able to manage, and from there on the roads will be fine. Lucky for us we are now staying on a campground where almost everybody who is going to Mauritania is staying. In other words, a good place to pick up a lift for Helena and some luggage. And we are definitely not the only once who are travelling south. There are jeeps, motorbikes and cars that are coming and leaving all the time. Just to mention a few of them, there are two German guys who have been hitch-hiking all the way to Dakhla, seven jeeps from France who are a part of some kind of charity organisation giving away school material and medication and two idiots from Germany that somehow got here without a passport. Now they are trying to sell their car that’s probably stolen (they don’t have any papers). When they have succeeded to sell the car they are going to catch a flight to Congo(?)
Helena and some luggage will get a lift through the loose sand with a couple of nice Spanish guys that we also met on the campground. These guys are driving a real desert racer. Hold on tight now, Helena is going to pass the desert in a Peugeot 205 from 1984. Luckely we will also be accompanied by two jeeps from France. Stay tuned…

Check out our gallery where you'll find the pictures from Morocco!!!

Se ya,

Danne & Helena

Sand, don't you just love it?	Jihaaa!!!	There are a lot of camels along the way

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