Mar 26, 2013 - Bintang Bolong Lodge Gambia to Ziguinchor Senegal

Tuesday 26th March 2013 Bintang Bolong Lodge, The Gambia to Ziguinchor, Senegal (southern part of Senegal) Today we left our lodge at Bintang Bolong River at 8am after having breakfast out on the jetty. This was an absolutely beautiful place, totally peaceful. Today we drove across the Gambian border back into Senegal to Ziguinchor, the largest city in Southern Senegal. Senegal totally surrounds Gambia and in the south, the people have always wanted to be a separate country, so there is quite a deal more security, soldiers etc. there. When...

Mar 25, 2013 - First part of trip in West Africa

Wednesday 20th March 2013 Dakar to Toubakouta Up really early today at 5.30am for a 6am breakfast as today the trip started from Dakar. Met everyone downstairs, packed up the back locker with our bags and set off at around 7am before the city was very busy. We then headed off out of Dakar to the south and then west heading for Touba, a town in which the largest and most historic mosque in Senegal is situated. The day was fine, and got very hot as the day progressed. By about 11.45am we had arrived in Touba and were taken on a tour of this...

Mar 19, 2013 - Dakar City

Monday 18th March 2013 Dakar N’gor Beach to Dakar City Up late today and down to breakfast on our last morning in the La Madrague Hotel at the beach. After breakfast, we packed our bags and checked out of the hotel at 12noon and waited for our taxi which we had asked to come at 1.00pm and took us to the city hotel where we are staying for two nights until we leave on the trip from Dakar on Tuesday morning. We arrived and while we were checking in, our leader and co-driver were at reception and we met them. After checking in, we went out and...

Mar 18, 2013 - Southern Senegal

Arrived in Ziguinchor in Southern Senegal after a pretty quick trip down here. Got out of bed at 7, and had arrived at my dodgy little bed for the night by 12. Furthermore, as soon as I got out of the taxi I made my way to the Guinea-Bissau consulate, and had the visa in my passport around 10 minutes after arriving. All this was completed before I had even started looking for somewhere to spend the night...easiest visa I have ever got. As Guinea-Bissau has no ATM'S ( or so I am led to believe), I have just taken 200 pounds from the ATM,...

Mar 17, 2013 - Five days at N'gor Beach, Dakar, Senegal

Wednesday 13th March 2013 Dakar, Senegal Woke up this morning in our hotel room at La Madrague overlooking the sea and Ile de N’gor across the bay. The day was perfectly clear and the view is delightful. We went down to the restaurant and had breakfast (coffee, juice, bread, cake, croissants and pancakes). It sounds better than it actually was – the pancakes are stone cold – but David showed how much he likes cake for breakfast! After breakfast we had to visit the Cote d’Ivoire Consulate in the suburbs and a taxi driver (Pape) took us there...

Mar 13, 2013 - Dakar, Senegal

So I have just been to collect my visa, and hey presto it was ready. However, the useless son of a bitch dated it from yesterday for a month, and not from the date I put on the form which was the 24th of March. I pointed out their error, and was told that the guy who does the visas was out the office, and to come back tomorrow! I am pretty certain he was sitting but 5 metres away; however, after a quick calculation, I worked out that a month from now should be fine for getting in and spending a week there before leaving. In fact, I would...

Mar 12, 2013 - Douala to Dakar, Senegal

Tuesday 12th March 2013 Douala to Dakar (via brief stopovers in Cotonou, Benin and Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire) We were able to wake up late in our hotel (Foyer du Marin) in Douala this morning as we didn’t have to be ready to leave until 2pm, had a leisurely breakfast and then sat out in the hotel garden reading for about 2 hours after consuming the balance of our rum. We then packed our bags and had to check out of the hotel at 12 noon so we then went down and sat and waited for Evaristus to come. The day was very warm and oppressively humid...

Mar 12, 2013 - Dakar,Senegal

Okay, so I arrived in Saint Louis two days ago. I was expecting lots of hassle crossing the border from Mauritania, as it is renowned as one of the most difficult border crossings in Africa, mainly due to the corruption involved, together with loads of pick-pockets. Upon arriving at the border, after a five hour trip, I was met by a gang of guys running towards me telling me this and that. As I made my way to the gates, I was told by one of the guards that this gate was only for cars, and the various touts were telling me to follow them to...

Oct 14, 2012 - Bugger paradise we're in heaven

We left our little campement and had to back through M'lump where the whole village appeared to be involved in cleaning up the area around the Kapok trees - rakes and brooms were the order of the day. We were heading to a place called Cap Skirring on the coast and a bit further up to Djembir where we had heard there is a fantastic camping site on the beach. Unfortunately the road was still too wet to attempt the drive - so. Went back to Cap Skirring so cook groups could shop and had a bit of a look around - considering that this is...

Oct 12, 2012 - Sweat heat, thunder, no rain!

Goodbye to The Gambia after too short a visit - the people were exceptionally friendly and the food when we could find it pretty good. Another morning of being g stopped by one of the many security people on the roads but again all in good spirit. We're getting used to being the odd ones out and being stared at. So few tourists come through this way. Another border which was only interesting for the fact that they still record everything by hand and still the young men want names and email or phone contacts. Headed to the northern Casamance...