Mar 1, 2013 - africa to Brazil

as you may have gravered i and traveling on a big oblong building block 212 metres long,35 metres wide with 15 decks for cars and heavy mancies in the traded known as a RORO 15000 car capacity carrier, It is fitted with self stabilizers so was a very stable boat to travel on it was crewed with Itainin deck oferies and cook [ boiler of pasta ] and the rest of the crew was Indian my suit and 3 rooms ,the bath room had a full bath and a whores bath as well but like the rest of the boat the mantrainese was poor,Grimaldi believe don't fix it if...

Feb 23, 2013 - africa

hi this will have to be very quick as i an using some one elses internet.we left hamburg on the 2-1-13 got as far as Apwhere and the boat broke down for 8 days they had to do a marjor engin repair this was after it being late as it was in dry dock for 14 days after a fire in one of the flue tanks. i an totaly sick of pasta but will be in hamburg in 4 days time for another 7 days then i will send a prober up date.

Nov 2, 2012 - not a pretty city

Conakry the capital of Guinea - what can I say. Heading into the city the countryside was as usual very pretty but the nearer we got and the urban sprawl started so did the rubbish heaps and the shanty towns and the centre of the city wasn't much better. We were supposed to camp on the lawns of a hotel overlooking the ocean but the storm we had encountered the night before had also dumped on the city and the swimming pool and half the lawn had been inundated and wasn't safe for camping. For such a dismal city the price of accommodation was...

Oct 29, 2012 - Still in the Highlands

The countryside in the highlands is just beautiful. We saw a few fire trees and I hope my pictures do them justice. As we passed through the villages everyone was dressed in their best with hair braided it was the Muslim festival of Tabaski. Cook group shopping is often a highlight but this time we couldn't find much in the big market we stopped at in Mamou - then a few kms later came across some roadside stalls with great fresh veges and fruit. Our camp at a place called Voile de la Marie (Bridal Veil Falls) was one of the best just a...

Oct 28, 2012 - The Guinea highlands

Headed out of the city and back into the countryside - really so much more interesting. We stopped a couple of times to shop firstly in a huge market on the outskirts of the city where we had trouble finding anything much but eventually went far enough into the mass of people and stalls and managed to get enough veges to feed the hungry crowd. didn't find meat tho' but ant had seen some so I followed him - that means I ran he is unable to walk at my slow pace- to a 'butcher' negotiated a price for 4 kgs of beef looked pretty good and while...

Feb 16, 2008 - Kankan

I got up at first light in the morning, packed and left the hotel, I walked the half hour to the taxi stand and only had a brief wait before the first taxi left to Mamou, the junction town for the main Conakry Bamako road. The taxi thought I was going to Konakry and took me past the bus station that I wanted for Kankan but fortunately it was still quite cool and the walk back not too far. At the right bus station I found a taxi going to kankan, waited a couple of hours for it to fill up and off we went. There was a big mama in the front...

Feb 13, 2008 - Labe

Another taxi epic, at least this one didn't involve any changes and started with only a 90 minute wait. I was by the window in the back row of seats and on such a potholed road which wasn't paved until a few kilometers from Labe my head got a serious bashing against the window for the entire journey. I got to Labe feeling like I done 30 rounds with a one-handed Frank Bruno. Food was also a problem in Labe, the restaurants were all closed for whatever reason and the street food was awful. I hd a bowl of boiled maize with a broth of offal,...

Feb 12, 2008 - Koundara

I almost lost the Hong Koreans at the border between G-B and Guinea. When the bush taxi from Gabu to the border emptied all of the locals went straight through while we foreigners had to go through the formalities. When we were done everyone else had already left and the taxi waiting in no-mans-land was empty. We waited for a while but there looked like no chance of it filling up, I suggested that we walk over the border and there might be taxis waiting at the other side. We had no idea how far it was but it took less than half an hour down...

Nov 14, 2007 - Kankan

Nov 14...We had arranged nite before with Abrahim for taxi to pick us up at 7 am...right on time..he was such a great help the whole time we were here!! Taxi took us to taxi stand in town where we transferred to another(after a bit of negotiation on luggage as always), the total was just as Abrahim had said, 11,000 GF, we paid in advance this time just so there would be no qs! Taxi left at 730 to Mamou one hour we negotiated another taxi to Kan Kan trying to get a 9 person but the 6 person only lacked 1 more so rather than wait ?? to fill...

Nov 8, 2007 - Labe

Up at crack of dawn - Jake & I had slept well, Mari & Bon not so good...mosquitoes were buzzing or bugging them even outside net. I had earplugs in and couldn't hear a thing. You know you are adapting when...as we headed to the taxi stand we (Jake & I) said, "Well, at least we had a bed last night!" Ha! Headed for taxi stand and off to Labe by 8:30, 10 inside and 4 passengers on roof...roads all gravel or dried red clay. Jan was w/ us, said they had had severe flooding here just a month ago which explains deep ruts in many places as well as...

Nov 7, 2007 - Koundara, Guinea

All day travel...crossed the border aok at about 1 pm...ckg passports numerous times plus they had us open all our bags to go thru them(started this am at 630 to taxi but waited til 830 for a full car then decided it would not happen so paid for the two spaces missing just to get on the road!)From border to Saureboido on half gravel mostly potholed road, there we waited an hour and a half til a taxi came and we could continue to Koundara where we sat from 315 til 5 when the fellow who had said a taxi was coming now said no more taxi to...