tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75725129513014250752024-03-12T22:57:19.588-07:00Duma TravelsThe first real trip with Duma will be from The Netherlands via the west coast of Africa all the way to South Africa and hopefully continue to East Africa.
How long ? 6 months, 12 , 18, who knows ???Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14303187295739504612noreply@blogger.comBlogger26125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7572512951301425075.post-71269854951374918822015-11-08T11:55:00.000-08:002015-11-08T11:55:03.010-08:00Continuing our tripNov 9th 2015 we will depart the US to continue our trip.<br />
To follow us go to <a href="https://www.facebook.com/dumatravels/">https://www.facebook.com/dumatravels/</a><br />
You DO NOT need to have a facebook account to check the new blog.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14303187295739504612noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7572512951301425075.post-70746787711562067502013-12-30T12:25:00.003-08:002013-12-30T12:26:13.183-08:00Summary of our tripWe've created a 25 minute summary slideshow of our trip<br />
Click on this <a href="http://youtu.be/yULlihv5J28" target="_blank">link</a> to see it.<br />
We cannot wait to continue traveling.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14303187295739504612noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7572512951301425075.post-53271813645784759952013-09-01T21:31:00.001-07:002013-09-01T21:31:46.061-07:00Back in the US.....Back in the US…… After driving 29,335 KM <br />
Our plans changed a little bit. When we were driving through the Caprivi we decided to take a break from our trip and return to the US to enjoy Boulder and maybe go back to work.
When we came out of the Khaudom national park we discovered that we may have a problem with one of the axles. We need to get this taken care of before continuing our trip. Initially we had planned to spend a month in western Zambia but with a possible problem with the axle we did not think this was a good idea. We still wanted to see a bit of the Caprivi and drove to Mahongo national park. It is a small and nice park but it was too busy for us. It felt like Disneyland - To get a permit we had to stay in line behind several safari vehicles with guides and lots of tourists.<br />
We were too spoiled after spending two weeks in Khaudom and often having the entire park to ourselves.
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rare Sable Antelope</td></tr>
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The plan was to spend several days in the park but we ended up staying only one day and decided to start heading Windhoek to find a place where we could store Duma and get the necessary repairs done. For those of you that are also looking for a place to store your vehicle, here is the <a href="http://www.transkalahari-inn.com/">link</a> to the place www.transkalahari-inn.com<br />
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In the Caprivi we met up with Rika, a Japanese woman travelling by herself through Africa (all the way from Japan). We had met her in Abuja-Nigeria where she was also trying to get the visa for Angola.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Here is Rika</td></tr>
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It took us about three days to drive to Windhoek (we stopped at nice campgrounds to enjoy a few more campfires and fresh baked bread). Thanks to Rika we found a good place to store the Unimog and someone who would be able to help us with the repairs.
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Who needs a bakery?</td></tr>
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We are back in the US after spending almost 3 moths in the Northern part of Namibia and don’t know when we are going to continue our trip. As soon as we do we will update the blog.
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Good-bye Duma</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">On the way home</td></tr>
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Here some of the friends we almost took back with us....<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14303187295739504612noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7572512951301425075.post-25372669633294829762013-07-22T08:29:00.001-07:002013-07-22T08:30:34.319-07:00Namibia - 2nd month<div class="yiv4460191170MsoNormal" id="yui_3_7_2_1_1374502709418_1671">
After restocking the fridge and enjoying Oppi-Koppi restcamp for a couple of nights it was time to get back to the desert. We wanted to spend some time in southern Damaraland around the Brandberg area. We heard again from Jeroen and Sonja who were on their way back from Botswana and decided to join us for one more week before heading to South Africa.</div>
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We met up in Khorixas on Saturday and planned to leave on Sunday morning. However on Sunday Marc noticed that the exhaust was broken. Apparently the rough roads of the last few months finally took its toll on the unimog, the exhaust was coming lose and needed a good welding job. Sunday in Namibia means that most places are closed but usually when you let word out that you have a problem with your car there is always someone who wants to make some money.</div>
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We ended up in a small open air workshop that had something that could be used to weld. If it had been any other part of the unimog that would have required welding we would have left the place right away but we thought what can be done wrong on welding the exhaust.</div>
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We stayed on top of the guy as he was planning to weld with the complete exhaust still under the car while the battery was still on. We made him take off the whole exhaust and do the welding away from the car. After about an hour he was done and he actually did a good job (we are now 5 weeks further and the exhaust is still hanging strong emitting an overdose of co2 in the air.</div>
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So we left Khorixas late afternoon and we spent a week driving around and wild camping in Damaraland. Below are some of the pictures of this incredible week.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Full Moon camping</td></tr>
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On the last day in Damaraland we noticed that one of the brake fluid reservoirs started to leak. A quick call to our off-shore mechanic Koen got us less worried as we can continue driving with only one brake fluid reservoir, especially if you don’t need to brake a lot.</div>
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And driving in the desert or anywhere in Namibia does not require a lot of braking. But again something that we needed to take care off. We were planning to go to Khaudum national park and before going there we needed to stop in Tsumeb to pick up our new credit cards and books that were sent to us from the States. Now we also had to get the brake reservoirs replaced.</div>
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We ended up at Hohenfells garage in Otjiwarongo where a very nice German guy named Rudi helped us out. Besides replacing the brake fluid reservoirs and doing an oil and diesel filter change he also entertained us with giving us some insight on the “life of a white men in Namibia”. At night his garage turned into a “whites only” bar where every night Rudi and his friends would have a couple of drinks. Difficult to describe this place but let us say it is the “Cheers” version of a bar but then in Namibia. A place of character, full of characters. In the end we had two fun nights in the bar with Rudi and his friends.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rudi's bar</td></tr>
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After the car was repaired we also had the air-conditioning checked again, no leak could be found so they filled up the ac with new gas. It seems that the air-conditioning problems keep following us through the whole of Africa and so far we only had about 4 weeks during this trip when it really would have been nice to have a working AC. </div>
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We stayed near Otjiwarongo for another 5 days before we headed into the Khaudum game reserve. We again met up with Jeroen and Sonja who changed their plans after they heard that we were going into Khaudum. According to the website you can only get in if you are with two cars and if you are carrying at least 100 liters of water per car. Also no trailers are allowed. When we arrived in the park we found out that none of these rules were enforced. Khaudum is a really nice park, the camping facilities are basic but you can get water. The nice thing about the park is that it is so remote and just gets a few visitors each year. In the end we spent almost half a month in the park (had to drive out once to fill up the unimog). We got to know some of the lions at the different waterholes and we saw cheetahs, which was very special. We believe the animals got to know us as well as the first few days they seemed nervous with the unimog sound but in the end they would just look up with that look "Ah, the blue unimog again...."</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Elephants in Khaudum, many elephants!!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"What's on the menu bro?"</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-EBchIeytTlE/Ue1EdkIXGlI/AAAAAAAAGyM/l1EW0V7q-ro/s1600/IMG_0728.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-EBchIeytTlE/Ue1EdkIXGlI/AAAAAAAAGyM/l1EW0V7q-ro/s320/IMG_0728.jpg" height="320" width="213" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">If the rangers don't do their job, we turn on the pump at the waterhole...</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-n6PKxNGBIiE/Ue1EnzZ96iI/AAAAAAAAGy0/HHsaTgrB8yA/s1600/IMG_0762.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-n6PKxNGBIiE/Ue1EnzZ96iI/AAAAAAAAGy0/HHsaTgrB8yA/s320/IMG_0762.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
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Right now we are in Rundu stocking up again and planning to drive further into the Caprivi. This time we plan visiting the Mahango National Park.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14303187295739504612noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7572512951301425075.post-46968175150976688802013-06-13T07:39:00.001-07:002013-06-13T07:39:13.856-07:00Namibia - 1st month<div class="MsoNormal">
As mentioned in the previous blog-entry being in Namibia is
like being back in civilization and vacationing in any other tourist
destination. We can get money again, there are many hotels/lodges/campgrounds,
each town has a decent supermarket and anything you need it can be found in the
bigger towns and they speak English!!!. However keep in mind that Namibia is huge and with only 2 million
people, the towns are spread out, so you can drive for hours or days (depending
what area of the country you are visiting) before you get to a decent size
town.</div>
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Our first stop was Odangwa, together with Oshakati
designated by the current government as the next economical center of Namibia.
These towns are in the north of Namibia and the current president is from the
area. We actually almost got arrested because of the president. On our way from
Oshakati to Odangwa we did not get off the road quick enough when some police
cars came from behind us. We slowed down and gave them plenty of room to pass.
But when we did not get off the road they came driving next to us and indicated
that we had to get off the road. So we did, also because we noticed that all
the locals went off the road. We still did not know why, was there a new oil
crisis and they did not want any cars driving around anymore? When we pulled
over we asked a local and he told us that the president had attended a birthday
party and was on his way back to the airport. And yes a couple of minutes later
some big SUVs came racing by. We waved to the president and we are very proud to
say that he waved back to us. He did not stop nor did he slow down for us, but
we think that it was because he was about to miss his flight, so he was
excused. </div>
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Any way we stayed a couple of days in Odwanga to resupply
Rosana’s food storage compartments, buy little things for the car, look for a
place to refill the gas bottle or LPG tank (was not possible), get the computer
fixed, catch up on e-mails etc.. We stayed at Odwanga rest camp and enjoyed
some nice dinners and biltong there.</div>
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After a few days we drove into Etosha where we spent 12 days
driving from waterhole to waterhole watching animals while having breakfast,
lunch and coffee with freshly baked caked. Yes, all from our mobile home!! Rosana
was wondering if a cake was ever baked while watching some elephants drink and
play at a waterhole…</div>
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Below there are some of the pictures from the animals we saw in Etosha. For more pictures go to the page "Photos/Info - Per Country" from our main page then click on Namibia</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-RvEOO6Svt-o/Ubm0C8Q9qUI/AAAAAAAAGmo/C_-7fJ26vAk/s1600/IMG_9112.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-RvEOO6Svt-o/Ubm0C8Q9qUI/AAAAAAAAGmo/C_-7fJ26vAk/s1600/IMG_9112.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-5fYrTZjRtO8/Ubm0okidP0I/AAAAAAAAGnI/4a_fPW3LpW8/s1600/IMG_9264.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-5fYrTZjRtO8/Ubm0okidP0I/AAAAAAAAGnI/4a_fPW3LpW8/s1600/IMG_9264.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"These trees are bloody far away"</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GqfUmOnBjz0/Ubm1UpeLaGI/AAAAAAAAGno/bwfM_bKd-_U/s1600/IMG_9354.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GqfUmOnBjz0/Ubm1UpeLaGI/AAAAAAAAGno/bwfM_bKd-_U/s1600/IMG_9354.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-KIJo9bYT2ho/Ubm1diPKW4I/AAAAAAAAGnw/5NaKE6WR35k/s1600/IMG_9363.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-KIJo9bYT2ho/Ubm1diPKW4I/AAAAAAAAGnw/5NaKE6WR35k/s1600/IMG_9363.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-MpW8tuEnwHo/Ubm4ipUQFTI/AAAAAAAAGpg/AQG8isV2tzc/s1600/IMG_9627.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-MpW8tuEnwHo/Ubm4ipUQFTI/AAAAAAAAGpg/AQG8isV2tzc/s1600/IMG_9627.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">With Sonja and Jeroen at the Etosha pan</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-z5WHrwvjGVc/Ubm403c9nWI/AAAAAAAAGpw/284vEMBGlc8/s1600/IMG_9759.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-z5WHrwvjGVc/Ubm403c9nWI/AAAAAAAAGpw/284vEMBGlc8/s1600/IMG_9759.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"I own this waterhole"</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Eu9LNhsgLsQ/Ubm6CZDza4I/AAAAAAAAGrQ/SvSdlYWHG68/s1600/IMG_9899.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Eu9LNhsgLsQ/Ubm6CZDza4I/AAAAAAAAGrQ/SvSdlYWHG68/s1600/IMG_9899.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Grumpy black rhino chasing away zebra</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mwPPUpNiRpg/Ubm5OpGdW8I/AAAAAAAAGqI/J_wTNGC-slw/s1600/IMG_9780.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mwPPUpNiRpg/Ubm5OpGdW8I/AAAAAAAAGqI/J_wTNGC-slw/s1600/IMG_9780.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
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It was great as always. Already on our first full day we saw
lions for breakfast, mating leopards for lunch and cheetahs during sundowners.
We also treated ourselves to a stay at Dolomite camp at the western end of
Etosha. You are only allowed to drive in that area if you have a reservation
for the lodge. We wanted to leave Etosha on the western exit because it
was closer to Kamanjab where there is someone who claims that he is an expert
in Unimogs. </div>
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The drive in the western part of Etosha was nice, there was
a waterhole every 10-15km, although some of them were dry, and we saw lots of
animals. Dolomite camp is set on a hill and our chalet had a beautiful view
over the plain and we could see lots of animals.</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--0nETxI3YIg/Ubm5dyHzYHI/AAAAAAAAGqg/RmjPUZv7c0Q/s1600/IMG_9814.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--0nETxI3YIg/Ubm5dyHzYHI/AAAAAAAAGqg/RmjPUZv7c0Q/s1600/IMG_9814.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dolomite Camp</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6qyxohawhbo/Ubm5ih5LZII/AAAAAAAAGqo/Xqf4_ndklRk/s1600/IMG_9829.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6qyxohawhbo/Ubm5ih5LZII/AAAAAAAAGqo/Xqf4_ndklRk/s1600/IMG_9829.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-bVUJ4Un2d64/Ubm5nilIo5I/AAAAAAAAGqw/anlw5-3wljg/s1600/IMG_9844.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-bVUJ4Un2d64/Ubm5nilIo5I/AAAAAAAAGqw/anlw5-3wljg/s1600/IMG_9844.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
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The next day it was an easy drive to Kamanjab, where we
stayed for almost a week. The owners of the Campground/lodge Oppi-Koppi are
from Belgium/Holland and they let overlanders stay for free. We had a nice
campsite all the way at the back of the property with a covered area, braai,
water, light and electricity and a very clean ablution block with hot showers.</div>
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We spent a day at the Unimog garage where we had the car
checked and some minor things fixed (splitter gear, leaking oil pump, leaking
wheel hub, new brakes). The rest of the time we spent reading, being lazy,
cleaning the car, installing 12volt charger in the box, re-sealing the
bathroom, fixing the heater in the box etc. </div>
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After this relaxing week it was back to the bush. We spent 6 days in the Palmwag conservancy area and drove from Palmwag to
Sesfontein. It was very nice, the nature is very rugged desert terrain but with
animals (we saw black rhino, desert elephants, kudu, springbok, steenbok,
gemsbok, giraffe, mountain zebra, baboons and jackals). We heard lions but we
did not see them. It was all wild camping, we stayed in some amazing spots, and
best of all we hardly saw any other people. The first three days we saw two cars,
the last three days we did not see anyone.</div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-NmGh7DjA86U/Ubm6S6f_GZI/AAAAAAAAGro/VCfrpCkSehU/s1600/IMG_9985.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-NmGh7DjA86U/Ubm6S6f_GZI/AAAAAAAAGro/VCfrpCkSehU/s1600/IMG_9985.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Damaraland</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-QOsQBwArkhs/Ubm6kVv_NWI/AAAAAAAAGsA/oj7CLuCjsLY/s1600/IMG_0005.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-QOsQBwArkhs/Ubm6kVv_NWI/AAAAAAAAGsA/oj7CLuCjsLY/s1600/IMG_0005.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-UTFmgGbiW5E/Ubm6YB8LccI/AAAAAAAAGrw/pUkA9UFhmRc/s1600/IMG_9990.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-UTFmgGbiW5E/Ubm6YB8LccI/AAAAAAAAGrw/pUkA9UFhmRc/s1600/IMG_9990.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-eYRyzbCQ17A/Ubm6wjm7OGI/AAAAAAAAGsQ/75OnIdqVlpQ/s1600/IMG_0026.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-eYRyzbCQ17A/Ubm6wjm7OGI/AAAAAAAAGsQ/75OnIdqVlpQ/s1600/IMG_0026.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Viewing deck</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-23ywuqDYCn4/Ubm66f22CuI/AAAAAAAAGsg/mTag-JZp5y0/s1600/IMG_0034.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-23ywuqDYCn4/Ubm66f22CuI/AAAAAAAAGsg/mTag-JZp5y0/s1600/IMG_0034.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">On the last day we found the desert elephants</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Lb2NIr9Qo0E/Ubm7YM5q2-I/AAAAAAAAGs4/9HesMkrsP-M/s1600/IMG_0044.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Lb2NIr9Qo0E/Ubm7YM5q2-I/AAAAAAAAGs4/9HesMkrsP-M/s1600/IMG_0044.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
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After we left Sesfontein we stayed at a campsite in the
Khowarib Canyon. We had a nice spot with a view of the river (although after
the drought in Namibia it looked more like a creek).</div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-oYz5X_XAx5Q/Ubm7l0pIdgI/AAAAAAAAGtA/ZymwWhP0LBI/s1600/IMG_0048.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-oYz5X_XAx5Q/Ubm7l0pIdgI/AAAAAAAAGtA/ZymwWhP0LBI/s1600/IMG_0048.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UFO9iRlesto/Ubm733JQtgI/AAAAAAAAGtI/7nyn_xZemvk/s1600/IMG_0050.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UFO9iRlesto/Ubm733JQtgI/AAAAAAAAGtI/7nyn_xZemvk/s1600/IMG_0050.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
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The next day we wanted to
take a shortcut back to Kamanjab by following the Khowarib river upstream.
Normally we ask locally about the condition of the road, but this time we
forgot (well… Marc actually did not want to ask anything… as always), mainly
because the road was on a map and it was numbered. However, after about 2 km we
had a river crossing with a very steep and bad uphill on the other side. You
can see on one of the pictures below that the Unimog was on three wheels.</div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-NmAwYMFOhEM/Ubm79gjYmXI/AAAAAAAAGtQ/4qvukGMR_b0/s1600/IMG_0061.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-NmAwYMFOhEM/Ubm79gjYmXI/AAAAAAAAGtQ/4qvukGMR_b0/s1600/IMG_0061.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tyUctvtkWM4/Ubm8D-juF7I/AAAAAAAAGtY/2NOl6TIVpHg/s1600/IMG_0065.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tyUctvtkWM4/Ubm8D-juF7I/AAAAAAAAGtY/2NOl6TIVpHg/s1600/IMG_0065.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Put your tyres in the air"</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Pami8hVuh60/Ubm8HjhVlsI/AAAAAAAAGtg/pYQsSIPF1fI/s1600/IMG_0074.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Pami8hVuh60/Ubm8HjhVlsI/AAAAAAAAGtg/pYQsSIPF1fI/s1600/IMG_0074.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Duma goes anywhere</td></tr>
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It was very
slow going the next three kilometers as well and then the riverbed widened and
was one big hardened mud pool with deep tracks and low trees. We had difficulty
finding the right track and after about half an hour Rosana had enough because
at this speed it would take us three days to cover the 70km to the main road to
Kamanjab. So we decided to go back to the lodge and inquire about the road. At
the lodge the owner asked whether we did the river crossing? yes we did, did
you we get past the steep rocky part with deep drop off? yes we did, did we get
to the place where the river bed widens and you have all the deep tracks? yes
we did. OK then you have driven the worst part of the track. So back we went to
find out that we had turned around only 100 meters before the roughest part of
the trail finished. We lost about two hours but at least Marc had a fun time
driving (Rosana, not so much)</div>
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Towards the end of the trail in the middle of nowhere there
was a veterinary gate where they check for meat and dairy products. We knew
about this so we had removed the meat from the freezer. It is just incredible
that they have this checkpoint in a place where there are maybe two or three
cars a day passing by. </div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
Right now we are back in Kamanjab, the splitter gear has
been fixed and we will head back into Damaraland the day after tomorrow.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14303187295739504612noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7572512951301425075.post-74155935029767336112013-06-03T07:29:00.000-07:002013-06-13T07:49:46.488-07:00Angola Part II<span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">Angola continued....</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #454545; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #454545; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">The next day we thought we could take a shortcut back to the main road. We found a track that was following a dry riverbed through a beautiful canyon.</span></span><br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Y0h9c-sPao4/Uaod93XyU7I/AAAAAAAAGPY/i-wvV6-eM5w/s1600/IMG_8428.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Y0h9c-sPao4/Uaod93XyU7I/AAAAAAAAGPY/i-wvV6-eM5w/s1600/IMG_8428.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jaTwYuZdneA/UaoeLxfGHoI/AAAAAAAAGPg/2jqdZC0QL1o/s1600/IMG_8433.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jaTwYuZdneA/UaoeLxfGHoI/AAAAAAAAGPg/2jqdZC0QL1o/s1600/IMG_8433.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">But after a couple of hours of slow driving we had to give up, it was obvious that the track had not been used for years and the bushes became too thick to continue so we had to turn around. Back at the beach, looking for a lunch spot, the unimog got stuck in the mud that was not visible under the dry sand. Fortunately after engaging the diff locks we were able to reverse out of the mud.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">The next two days we drove slowly towards Namib, the biggest challenge being every night to find a nice wild camping spot on a beach. The main road was about 20km inland and there are many small tracks that cut through the hills to the beach. However these tracks are not easy to drive. In the end we did not make it to the beach either night. The first night it became dark about 3km from the beach just before a steep descent down the hill. So we decided to camp on top of the hill with a view of the ocean.</span><br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ZyMdENznNfc/UaoeW31LivI/AAAAAAAAGP4/E8ehWBVRbQk/s1600/IMG_8439.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ZyMdENznNfc/UaoeW31LivI/AAAAAAAAGP4/E8ehWBVRbQk/s1600/IMG_8439.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">The next night was even more challenging when we again tried to follow a riverbed to the beach. The track became rockier and rockier and it was getting late. Again we decided to turn around and camp in the riverbed. However after 20 meters there was this big hiss coming from the back of the unimog and we knew immediately that this meant a flat tyre. The unimog was fortunately on a flat piece of track so it was relatively easy to change the wheel with the help of Patrick and Jeroen. The tyre was ruptured on the side which would mean in Europe and the US that you can throw the tyre away. However later in Lubango at a tyre shop they fixed the tyre and they claim that we can still use it as long as we use an inner tube.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">So at the moment we have one complete spare wheel and one spare tyre with African warranty. We tried to buy a new tyre in Angola but they were more than 1100$ (more than twice the price we would pay in south Africa).</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">The following day we drove all the way to Lubango, taking the spectacular road from Namib that climbs into the Angolan highlands at 1900 meters.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">In Lubango we stayed three days, it is a nice city and at 1700 meters it meant that it was not too hot during the day and nice and cool at night. Close to Lubango we visited Tundavala, an old volcanic plateau at 2400 meters with a spectacular view down a steep cliff to the highlands below.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #454545; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px;">From Lubango we took the main road down to Namibia. On the way there was an immigration police stop. The guy spoke English and was very friendly. He wanted to know who is paying us to be a tourist. It was very hard for him to understand that people want to visit and travel around other countries without getting paid. Tourism is still at its infancy in Angola. We asked the police man whether we could fill up our cars in Cahama, yes he said there are two filling stations there. Of course when we got there, there was only one gas station and that one did not have diesel anymore. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #454545; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #454545; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px;">When will there be diesel again? we asked. Maybe this afternoon, maybe tomorrow, maybe next week they told us. Ironically, across the street 4 truck tankers with diesel from the same oil company were parked. Apparently they were on their way to the next town.</span></span></span><br />
<br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;" />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">At Cahama we took a dirt track that takes you to the border crossing at Ruacana or you can take a piste all the way back to the coast to the mouth of the Kunene river. We read in an African travel magazine that this is a very spectacular route. Marc really wanted to take this route all the way but Rosana was done with bad roads, so we agreed that we would go halfway. Sonja and Jeroen were going to join us, Patrick and Martine unfortunately had to go straight to the border since the tyres on their car were too bad for this track.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">In the end we did not even make it to the halfway point as both Rosana and Sonja were done with the track after two days. It was slow going, in places very bushy (the unimog broke off many low hanging branches) and in some spots the track was rough and we had to take the same way back. Marc and Jeroen would have liked to continue as the scenery was very nice and as we had some very special encounters with the local Himba people who clearly were not used to travelers. It was very special. The Himba women were very shy at first, even hiding behind the trees. They came out finally and we took their pictures, printed and gave it to them. The best part of this encounter was their reaction to the printed photos.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Baboons in the baobab tree</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Decision time: continue or turn around........the guys lost</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Himba excited about the polaroid pictures</td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">The border crossing at Ruacana was pretty easy. We were the only people and when we arrived someone had to call the immigration police and a custom officer. So we waited for half an hour. Jeroen and Sonja did not have an entry stamp in their carnet, so after they received the exit stamp in their passport they crossed the border into Namibia. We still had to get our carnet stamped and they also wanted to check the car on the inside. When they were done with us they wanted to see Sonja's and jeroens car, but they were already on the other side. The customs officer and a military guy were not too happy but they could not do anything.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">On the Namibian side all went pretty quickly, except changing money. We still had quite some Angolan Kwanzas left and asked the custom officer if he could change money. After haggling over the exchange rate and him walking over to the Angolan side of the border to talk and negotiate with people there we finally were able to change the Kwanzas. The customs officer wanted Marc to walk with him to th Angolan side to finalize the deal but the military guy who was still upset that Jeroen and Sonja left the country without their car being inspected did not let Marc in. Marc could have shown his multiple entry visa for Angola but decided against that because they probably needed to call the immigration police again. So we gave our money to the Namibian customs officer and he was able to change the money.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">After that it was one hour on a smooth and deserted tar road to the town of Ruacana were we felt like being back in civilization, a campground with individual campsites with electricity, water, braai and hot showers. In the evening we treated ourselves to a good meal and nice wine to celebrate crossing west Africa.</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14303187295739504612noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7572512951301425075.post-9013108710167799192013-06-01T10:58:00.000-07:002013-06-01T10:58:42.698-07:00Angola part IGetting into Angola (on April 19th 2013) was very easy, the carnet got stamped in 5 minutes. The entry stamp in our passport took a little bit longer. The border official wanted to know all the details about our trip in Angola before letting us go. Rosana told him that we were going to drive to the Mbanza-Congo and from there to the coast.<br />
By the time we finally left the border control office it was time to find a spot to sleep. We drove about 10 km and then took an old road for about 1 km and parked there for the night. <br />
We thought we were far enough from people to not to get disturbed but after about 15 minutes a guy with a rifle came to us to find out who we were and what were doing here. After telling him that we were "turistas" and want to spend the night there it was ok. Apparently he was a guard of a nearby farm. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bush camping with a view</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Glue-sniffing guard</td></tr>
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Rosana politely thanked him and told him goodnight indicating that it was time for him to leave. But we were too interesting to him so he kept staring at everything we were doing all the while sniffing glue, which we did not like in combination with him carrying a gun. Fortunately when the sun went down he went back to his village.<br />
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We had a quick dinner and went to bed early, only to be woken up at 10.30pm by the police. Apparently the border police had called the police of Mbanza-Congo that a blue Mercedes and a white Iveco were on their way. When at 7pm we had not arrived the police got worried and they started looking for us. We were almost 50km away from the town, 1km away from the main road on a dirt road, how they were able to find us we still don't know.<br />
The police was very friendly, he called the chief right away and they were just happy that all was ok with us. This was a typical experience with the police in Angola: very friendly, concerned and helpful. Later we would have a similar experience driving through the Angola highlands.<br />
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The next day we drove through Mbanza Congo which was pretty much an ugly African city as we had seen many before. So we continued and drove to Nzeto on the coast, another ugly town that still showed the scars of the war in Angola.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Happy people all over Angola</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Reminders of the war everywhere</td></tr>
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It probably was a nice old Portuguese fishing town a long time ago. After Nzeto the road turned bad and it was slow going all the way to Embriz, where we arrived the next day around noon. While looking for a bakery we ran into some Portuguese guys who invited us to join them for lunch on a nice beach just south of Embriz. There we stayed the next two days to do laundry and relax from driving within in a week from Gabon to Angola crossing Congo and DRC and conquering the worst road of our trip. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">China at work</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Roadside meat market</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Life does not suck</td></tr>
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From Embriz we drove south towards Luanda. Fortunately we did not have to drive through Luanda which has been described as a city the size of half a million people inhabited by over 4 million people. Instead we drove east to the Pedras Negras and the falls of Kalandula.<br />
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We wild-camped about 30km from the Pedras Negras on a road that was under construction. At the beginning of the road we had asked some locals whether this was the road to the Pedras Negras and also about the status of the road. They told us that this was the road and that it was a very good road. <br />
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The first 30 km were very good after that, the last 25 became a dirt track that in some places was completely overgrown by 3 meter tall grass. It was clear that no one had driven there the last couple of weeks. The route was very scenic and we were getting some nice views of the Pedras Negras in the distance. There were some small river crossings and one swampy area. Here Patrick and Martine got stuck in the mud and we had to come back to pull them out.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The end of the good road to Pedras Negras</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pedras Negras</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dirt track to Pedas Negras</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is why we drive a Unimog: pulling our French friends out of the mud</td></tr>
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The Pedras Negras are some big rock formations in the middle of the hilly Angolan highlands. Really pretty. We spent a couple of hours driving and walking before we drove further to the Kalandula falls.<br />
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The Kalandula falls are not as big as Niagara or Victoria falls but they are very spectacular. When we arrived late in the afternoon there were just some locals there who were washing their motorcycles and themselves at the top of the falls. We decided to camp at the falls and since it was almost full moon we had a beautiful view of the falls at night.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The falls at full moon</td></tr>
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The next day we started our drive to Benguela, a town on the coast, 300 km south of Luanda. Whenever we have a chance we ask the police or a local about the road ahead of us, so we are mentally prepared. Even though most of the time the road is completely the opposite of what they tell you and in most cases worse than we were told. So also this time. There was a roadblock and the police was diverting traffic. One of the possible roads to Dondo was blocked (a 30 ton truck tried to cross a 10 ton bridge, so now there is no bridge anymore) so at least we did not have to ask) so we only asked about the state of the road to Dondo. According to the policeman the road was excellent, new tar all the way to Dondo. Well after 6 months in Africa we were a bit skeptical and indeed after about 100km the tar road stopped in the middle of nowhere with no signs of it being continued anytime soon. It was as if someone suddenly thought after constructing a 100km tar road through the bush for three or four years that maybe it is better to spend the money somewhere else. So we were again on a bone rattling piste full of potholes.<br />
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Again the scenery was beautiful and after Dondo the road started to climb even more. On one of these climbs suddenly smoke started to come out of the dashboard that quickly filled the cabin. We stopped the car, shut down the engine and got the fire extinguisher ready. We thought oh shit, but as quick as the smoke started it disappeared. When we looked at the damage we saw that there was a short circuit in the cigarette lighter and that the cable started to burn. Fortunately it did not burn any of the other many wires that are stuffed into the dashboard, so we could start driving again. That night we stayed at a farm that was being run by Cubans. In Angola you have many big farms (fazendas) like you have in Namibia and South Africa.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Great scenery all over Angola</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Camping at a farm</td></tr>
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The next day we continued our drive through the Angolan highlands. At the end of the day when we looked for a place to sleep we just took a little dirt road off the main road to the coast. Some locals drove by on motorcycles but no one really bothered us until early in the evening when the police came by. Probably some one had told them that we were parked there. The police was very friendly but they found it better if we drove to the police station and camped there for the night.<br />
Of course we did not want to move anymore, we had just repaired a flat tyre on Patrick's car and were just starting to prepare some food. Fortunately we still had the jack and other tools near the car so we explained in our best Portuguese (sometimes it is better not to show that you speak the language, so Rosana did not say anything) that we had an issue with the car and could not move. The police now had to call his boss and told him that the people in the mountain were tourists and that they speak a thing that he could not understand. But in the end we were allowed to stay but only after they explained that we had to be careful of mines. On one side of the road were we had parked there were rocks painted red indicating that the area had not been cleaned of mines yet. Something we did not know, so it was good that the police stopped by, the next day all of us still had our limbs when we left.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Camping on the side of the road that was free of mines</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Another 1 million dollar view...</td></tr>
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The road through the highlands was very nice and we made it to Benguela without any problems. After traveling through western Africa for the last three months it felt like we were back in civilization. Between the town of Lobito and Benguela there was a lot of construction going on, new roads, railroad, shops, stadium, airport, carrefour style hypermarket etc. <br />
Benguela was an ok town but nothing special, we stayed there two nights at a guesthouse that is run by an American woman who also has an English school on the same premise. The second night we spent three hours talking with her students so they could practice their English. It was interesting to talk about all kind off topics from the war to religion, to corruption, our trip and the future of Angola. Most of the students were young and seemed to be very frustrated with the way things are going in Angola. Too much corruption and even though Angola is rich not enough money is going to healthcare and education. Salaries are low and the cost of living very high. Angola was by far the most expensive country we traveled through even though it was the cheapest country on our trip, mainly due to diesel for 40 cents a liter (1.60$ a gallon, that is more than 50% cheaper than in the US) and all the wild camping we did.<br />
In Benguela we also met other overlanders, a Dutch couple, Jeroen and Sonja who are on a 14 month journey through Africa. We had met them already in Yaounde (Cameroon) one evening and it was very nice to see them again in Angola. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A new bridge near Benguela</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">City camping without a view</td></tr>
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They joined us for the last 10 days in Angola. We decided to take the coastal route to Namibe and from there back into the Angola highlands to Lubango.<br />
The first night we ended up at a small fishing village where we camped at the beach. Some of the villagers came out to stare at us but after sunset we had the beach to ourselves and we built a nice fire. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Watching the locals watching us</td></tr>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14303187295739504612noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7572512951301425075.post-73774448266821807202013-05-16T03:37:00.001-07:002013-05-16T04:22:56.127-07:00Congo and DRCIt is now 5/16 and we are already in Namibia. Internet access should be a little better now so we hope to keep the blog updated. Also our computer is working again so we will make sure we update more pictures and videos.<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"><b>4/22 blog update racing through Congo, DRC to get to Angola</b></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">Just finished doing laundry and we are taking a day off from driving at a beach just south of Ambriz, 200 km north of Luanda.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">We made it to Angola from Franceville in 6 days. This must have been a record, as it was about 1200 km, with some of the worst pistes we have driven in Africa. We were very lucky that during the normally wettest month of the year there was not a lot of rain and all the roads were passable without major challenges.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #454545; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px;">When we left Franceville, Gabon we drove to the red canyon in Lekoni, a spectacular canyon that reminded us a little bit of Bryce canyon in the US.</span></span></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hotel in Franceville, Gabon</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lunch at the canyon</td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #454545; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px;">On our way to the canyon we drove through Bongoville, the birthplace of the president of Gabon and that has clearly been benefited from its famous citizen as the town was full of nice houses, roads, schools and government buildings, another example of how the money gets distributed in Africa.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">After the canyon it was a short drive to the border. The police stamped us out, after making copies of every page of our passports. We asked about customs to get our carnet stamped. We were told that the office was just down the street but that the customs officer had taken the day off (it was Sunday) and that we should come back the next day. We did not feel like waiting until Monday so we drove to the office to see if there was anyone. We found the door open but after a calling a couple of times no one came out and we just walked into the office, we found the door to the office of the chef de douane open as well and saw the stamp on his desk. We decided that this was a self service customs office, so we stamped and signed the carnet ourselves and we were in and out of the customs office in 2 minutes, by far the most efficient customs office in Africa, thumbs up for Gabon.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">About two kilometers further the tar road turned into a dirt track with a small sign that said that we were entering the Congo. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">Nothing Looked like what we had expected of the Congo. There was no rainforest, but savannah, there was no rain, but sun, there was no mud but sand and there were barely any people. It was already getting late so after driving for about 20 km we decided to camp near the side of the road in an area that was being cleared in preparation of building a road to the border with Gabon.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Another "Chinese Campground"</td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">The next day we got to the police and immigration offices of Congo. The police was no problem but when we got to the immigration office they wanted to see a reservation for a hotel in Brazzaville. Marc told them that we were going to the hippo camp hotel and that we do not need a reservation since we are staying in the camping car.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">The immigration officer did not like the answer and told us that we had to pay a 20$ fine per person. We told them that a reservation is not required as it was waived by the embassy when we applied for our visa. They did not care, a reservation was required. So it was time to pull out the form for the protection of the tourist, at the same time Patrick asked them whether they had Internet so we could show them the reservation that we had made on the Internet.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">No, of course they did not have Internet. But this gave them the option to back out of their demand for 20$ without losing face as they were clearly concerned about the letter for the protection of the tourists.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">This took about an hour but after that we were officially in Congo. Now we just needed to get our carnet stamped in the next town.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kids around the car while Marc was in the office</td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">On our way to the next town the French almost tipped over their car when they took the wrong road. A new road is being constructed and some parts you can drive on the new road under construction and some parts you have to drive the old road. On a part where it was not clear the French decided to take the old road and we took the new road. The iveco is a lot faster and needs more speed in the sand so the French are usually driving ahead of us when the road is sandy. We did not see them for a while and when Marc just made a remark about how far ahead the French were, we saw them almost on their side on the road next to us. They could not get out of the ditch, so we had to get the unimog to the place where they got stuck to pull them out. Fortunately no damage to the car and passengers so we could continue after about an hour. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">When we reached Okoyo we were stopped by the police and we spent over an hour there while the officer took down our information and told us that he had 10 kids. He asked how many we had. So when we said we did not have any, he asked why. We told him that since he already had 10 kids if we had kids as well there would be too many kids. No, many kids is good, God wants you to have many kids, if you have many kids God loves you. So we got a whole preach about God. Obviously the missionaries are doing their work in Congo. Getting the carnet stamped was a lot easier and did not require us to listen to another preacher.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #454545; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px;">The next town was Oyo, we had another police stop. They wanted to check the inside of our car because the president was going to visit today. Oyo was definitely a nice town, with many new buildings, a nice new airport, two very nice hotels and a new airport building. For whatever reason the government put a lot of money into the town. Another surprise about Congo. It looks a lot richer than we expected. Not sure whether the money is spent on the right things, but in many towns the government buildings looked very nice. Clearly another African country that does not need development money from the west anymore.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">We found a wild camping spot along the road just before it started to rain. We did not know that we we're close to a town until the next morning at 6am when we were woken up by 30 children that had gathered around our cars and started to make noise, touched the car and shouted at us. All friendly but a bit annoying, so we quickly ate our breakfast and left.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">Along the road, all through Africa we have been seeing rats hanging on a stick next to the road. Apparently in many countries they are a delicacy. In Congo we saw our first monkey hanging on a stick. I guess each country has its own specialty.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">We made it to Brazzaville without a problem, spent the night at Hippocampe hotel, changed money, did some car maintenance, filled up on diesel and headed out the next day. During the night in Brazzaville we had our first major rainstorm and we were anxious to get to the road between Boko and Luozi. Boko is the town were the tar road ends. From there it is 30km of bad piste to the border with DRC and then another 25 km (according to our maps) to Luozi where we want to cross the mighty Congo river.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Congo River rapids</td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">The road to Boko was not a problem we had a few nice views of the Congo river just outside Brazzaville. We also had one policeman waving us to stop, but Marc just waved back and drove on. Marc is a little bit fed up with the time consuming police stops, where they either want money, fill out papers, look into the truck out of curiosity or just want to chat about nothing. Experience has taught us that if you do the unexpected it takes them too long to realize what just happened to them to react. So also with this policeman. His mouth opened from astonishment and by the time he blew the whistle the French had also already passed him.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">After Boko the road became very rough and we were happy that it had not rained there for a couple of days. There was not much of a road but just a rough track and some steep inclines and descends, which were no problem but would have been very dangerous when wet.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">In a town after Boko we had to get our carnet stamped. The custom officer was not too pleased that he had to interrupt his lunch break for us and tried to charge us 10$ each. We refused to pay and after some arguing back and forth he gave up and let us go.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">We drove on and passed the sign that we were entering Congo-Belge. So we knew that the road was at least 53 years old (Belgium Congo go their independence in 1960). That was also probably the last time that the road was maintained. It was getting dark and we found a nice wildcamp spot on top of a hill with great views in all directions. We had driven as long as we could, hoping that the worst road would be behind us. According to our calculations based on the map we were only 15km away from Luozi.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Belgium Congo: Indicating the last time the road was maintained</td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">The next day we drove into a town after 3km. We had to stop for a gate and wait for the immigration police to open it and let us in. The border formalities were completed pretty quickly, there was no customs office and according to the police we can do the stamping of the carnet at the border with Angola. We asked about the road to Luozi and they told us it was another 50km, the first 4 km would be bad but after that it would be a good road. We also needed to make sure we make a right at the first t-junction and not a left what apparently a French tourist did a day before and he ended up in the river with his car.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">We followed the advise of the policeman however we found out that the next 46km were very bad and only the last 4km to Luozi were ok. It took us over 5 hours to drive the 50km. Again the scenery was very nice and the views of the Congo river were amazing.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">In Luozi we were stopped by the police and they told us that we needed to report to the head of the police in town. We could not go straight to the ferry which was in the other direction. So we drove 4 km through town to get to the police station. There was a lady who looked at our passports for 10 minutes and then called the chief of the police. So we waited another 10 minutes. The chief wanted to have copies of the passport and a fiche with all our information. He was clearly disappointed that we had the copies ready for him. Then he sent his assistant to make more copies of our passports to town. When we asked what was going on he said that he also needed a copy of the visa. We said we also have copies of the visa with us. So he called his assistant to come back. Next they started to write all our information down on another form. By this time we already thought that this was another scheme to extort some money from tourists. And yes when they were finally done the chief wanted 10$ per person. We asked why we needed to pay and it was for all the administration and time to register us. We said that that was his job and he is not allowed to charge for that. Now we started to get into a discussion about why we think we should not pay and why he thought we should pay. Marc's patience was running thin after 5 months of African police stops and he decided to just grab the passports from the desk of the chief. The chief was taken by surprise and initially he did not know what to say. Then he said that it was not polite to just grab the passports. To which Patrick quickly replied that it was not polite to charge 10$ and we walked out of the office.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">The other reason that Marc grabbed the passports was that the next ferry was leaving in 30 minutes and since we had heard that there is only space for two to three cars we thought we may have to wait a couple of trips before both trucks would be on the other side.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">The timing was perfect. We arrived at the ferry and we could drive straight onto it. The ferry would never have passed any nautical requirements in Europe or the US, other than that it is floating (barely after both our trucks and a local loaded truck were on it).</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">It took about half an hour to cross the Congo river, which we spent pretty much haggling about the price.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">On the other side the road was pretty good and we wild camped right next to the road. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">The next day we drove to the tar road that runs from Kinshasa to Matadi and followed that to the town of Songololo. There is a smaller border crossing into Angola there that was supposed to be a lot easier than the one in Matadi. And indeed we did not have any issues leaving DRC. There was some confusion about the carnet de passage since we did not have an entry stamp. The funniest part however was that the European union subsidized a project to provide some DRC borders with computers and finger printing equipment (yes, European friends you can be assured that your tax dollars are put to good use). Operating the finger printing equipment was not that easy so it took about thirty minutes before all four of us were finished. We were glad that we arrived just before a big bus of Angolans. </span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14303187295739504612noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7572512951301425075.post-26571521693508323092013-04-13T05:06:00.000-07:002013-04-13T05:06:13.942-07:00Ring road continued, Yaounde and beach holiday in KribiThe previous blog entry finished when we were halfway through the ring road, we take any opportunity to upload the blog as Internet access is at best slow if available at all. Besides that our computer is still out of commission and we do not expect to be able to fix it until we are in Namibia.<br />
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Thanks to our French travel friends we can use their computer to upload photos (For those of you that have read the previous blog post you can now go back to see some pictures. We have also updated the page with the info per country with more links to pictures)<br />
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Anyway we finished the ring road and found nice and quiet wild camping spots for the other two nights. The middle part of the ring road was the most beautiful as there were less villages and part of it is even going through a reserve. We managed to stay outside the little kingdoms so we did not have to visit any kings or deal with spoiled princess demanding whiskey.<br />
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After finishing the ring road we decided to stay two more days in Bamenda. The mission of the Presbyterian church is pretty relaxed and the climate in Bamenda very pleasant.<br />
One short story about the manager of the Presbyterian church:<br />
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When we checked out the first time we asked, out of courtesy, the manager whether we could use fill up our water tanks. Between the two cars we needed about 100 liters so we did not think this would be an issue. Mind you that in Cameroon we encountered our first rain in three months and in all the Sahel and Sahara countries it was never a problem to get water (for free, we never had to pay to fill up our tank).<br />
So to our surprise the manager told us that it was not possible to get water because water is very expensive. So we told him that we were prepared to pay for the water even though we did not use the water in the room that they made available for us to shower and use the toilet. From here the conversation went like follows:<br />
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We: How much do you want for the water?<br />
Manager (after thinking for 5 minutes): how much you want to give? ( that is a standard answer in Africa, somehow no one is able to come up with a price for something)<br />
We: 2000cfa ( about 4$)<br />
Manager: impossible water is very expensive in Cameroon<br />
We: OK how much do you want us to pay?<br />
Manager (after 5 minutes of preaching how expensive water is): 10000cfa (20$)<br />
We (already thinking that 4$ for 100liter is already a lot): that is very expensive we can buy bottled drinking water for less than that, How much do you pay for water?<br />
Manager: last month we paid 160 thousand cfa (320$). Water is very expensive in Cameroon.<br />
We: but what is the price per liter or m3?<br />
Manager: I do not know but I have the bill, water is very expensive in Cameroon. I will show you the bill.<br />
We followed the manger into his office and he showed us the bill. The total for the month was about 320$ for 425m3. So we asked him to calculate the price per liter. The poor guy did not have a clue how to do it so we did it for him and told him that the price for 100 liter is only about 0.75$. He just did not believe us, he kept on repeating that water in Cameroon is very expensive. We explained to him that the price per liter is not expensive but that he is just using a lot of water every month and maybe he should have someone check the pipes. He just did not get it and he did not want give us any water. So here we are in Cameroon, the first rain in three month, it rains every day and we will have to either pay for water or find another place for water. (in the end we got water at the gas station without any problems, later in Yaounde we also had to pay for water at the Presbyterian mission, so we are concluding that the Presbyterian churches in Africa think that white people are all like Jesus and that we will turn water into wine and sell it with a huge profit)<br />
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So after two relaxing days in Bamenda we started driving to Yaounde. We were taking it slowly ( a lot of up and down the first 50km, not good for the average speed if you drive a unimog). In the evening we drove to a school and there we camped after getting permission. Since it was not windy we even got to play some badminton.<br />
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We arrived on Sunday evening in Yaounde, so on Monday morning we could apply for a visa of Gabon. We met another Dutch couple and a Canadian journalist who were going to try to get the visa for Gabon at the border since it sounded to them that getting a visa in Yaounde was too much hassle. We did not want to take the risk to arrive at the border and find out that it is not possible (later we heard that they got the visa at the border without a problem and it was even cheaper) so we went to the Gabon embassy the next day. We were in and out in 2 hours, unfortunately the visa would only be ready on Friday, so we had 5 days to kill before we could move on. We used the time well, laundry, oil change, fuel filter change (all outsourced to an "official" Mercedes service station, to indicate the level of expertise in the service station: Marc had to guide them step by step through the process of changing the fuel filter, cleaning the pre-filter and making sure that no air was getting in the fuel system).<br />
Other than relaxing at the Presbyterian mission, walking through Yaounde and some shopping we did not do a lot. <br />
On Thursday morning while wondering why so many people were doing nothing we remembered it was white Thursday and that Friday would be Good Friday. Even though the Gabon embassy had told us to collect the passports on Friday after 2pm we decided to go to the embassy that afternoon. It was good we did it because the embassy would be closed in the afternoon on Friday and our passports were already ready.<br />
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So on Friday we left Yaounde and drove a very good road to the beach town of Kribi where we have been lazing around for the last 6 days. We are staying at a relaxed hotel Tara plage right on the beach, the weather was perfect, the food was perfect and the water temperature was very nice. The area is still not ruined by too much tourism, not sure how much longer it will be like this as the Chinese are building a huge harbor 30km south of Kribi and a 4 lane highway to the new harbor.<br />
Tomorrow the little beach holiday is over and we will continue our tour de afrique. We will probably be in Gabon before the weekend.<br />
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<strong>Blog update 4/12/13. Gabon</strong><br />
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It took a little bit longer to get out of Cameroon than planned. At the last moment we decided to take a different road to Gabon. We met a Dutch person at the hotel who had been in Cameroon for over a year and just came back from visiting a national park south of Kribi. He told us that the road through the park is very nice and that the road is very good as it is being used by logging trucks as well. I guess when you have been living in Africa for over 10 years your definition of a good road changes. We looked at the map and we still thought we could be close to the Gabonese border before the end of the day. The first 70km, south of Kribi to Campo took us already over 3 hours. The road was not difficult just a dirt road full of potholes. At least we were in a truck and not like the German couple we met in Campo who had spend 3 hours on the back of a motorcycle taxi doing the same road. <br />
In Campo we had to buy a ticket to be able to drive through the national park and just like anytime you need to get a stamp or ticket in Africa it takes time. We left Campo, had a quick lunch along the road and had 4 hours left to get to and through the park before 6pm. The road was better than the beach road and it was definitely beautifully driving through dense rainforest. We did not see any animals while driving through the green tunnel. Just outside the park we found a wild camp and just when we had parked the car a big rainstorm started and it pretty much rained the rest of the night. When we woke up we the truck was up to the wheel rims in water. When it rains in the rainforest it really rains.<br />
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this was our camping spot in the moring:<br />
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We did not have any trouble getting out of the mud pool but about a kilometer down the road a fallen tree blocked the road. Fortunately with the winch on Patrick's car we were past that obstacle within half an hour. There were a couple of more places were the road was partially blocked but we did not encounter anything difficult until the road got a lot better.<br />
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The road was very well maintained but suddenly there was a slide uphill of about 500 meters that was a complete mud pool. Three trucks and a car were stuck. We got out of the car and checked out the 200 meter bad stretch and decided to give it a try. Fortunately there was still a small space between the first truck and the side of the road and no one else had tried to pass there. Getting stuck next to the truck would mean that the road is completely blocked. The driver of the truck was nowhere to be found and he was on a part of the road that could easily be driven by any lighter car or truck.<br />
With the unimog in 4 wheel drive and in second gear we pulled through the mud without any problems and Patrick's iveco could follow in our tracks without a problem. After this mud stretch there were a couple of other stretches were the rain from the night before had eroded the road or turned it into a slippery piste. I guess we were lucky to drive this road during the little rain season.<br />
Shortly after we reached the tar road and after a pizza lunch at a decent hotel in a nice little town close to the border it was time to start with a typical African border crossing. In two week there are elections in Cameroon and the ruling politicians decided to give anyone who votes for them a job with the police, douane or gendarmerie. At least that seemed to have been the case as in a stretch of 5km before the border we had to stop and show our paperwork twice to the police, customs and gendarmerie. Everyone was very friendly and no one was asking for money but it was just so inefficient, as everyone needed to write down all the information again and again.<br />
The Gabon side was a bit smoother but also inefficient. At the first stop we needed to fill out a form that we needed to keep with our passport. The police could not stamp our passport as that needed to be done in a town 30km further. The carnet got stamped without a problem and the gendarmerie wrote down all our information. By now it was late afternoon so we decided to find a place to camp and drive to Bitam the next day. <br />
The next day in Bitam the police wanted us to fill out another form and make copies off our passport. When we asked why he did not know why, we told him that we already have a visa and he just needs to stamp the passport. In the end we did not have to get copies off our passport but we still needed to fill out the form. So now they had two different forms with the same information. Africans are the master of administration. I can just see in a million years how historians are wondering about all these forms when they dig up our civilization. What the heck are these forms for, did it give people status, were the people addicted to raffles or were they just practicing their handwriting.<br />
After this we drove in two days to Lambarane, a town in the middle of Gabon at the river were Albert Schweitzer lived, worked and started a hospital. On the way to Lambarene we crossed the Equator line.<br />
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The town itself was a bit disappointing although it is beautifully situated along the banks and on an island of the <span style="background-color: yellow;">Ogooué</span> river. We stayed here one night to give Rosana some time to recover as she was hit by a stomach bug. Fortunately she recovered very fast by just sleeping a lot and some magic pills we got from our French friends.<br />
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Rosana then said: It is not too bad to get sick only once for being away from home for 7 months.<br />
Marc's reply: Well, we are not really doing anything adventurous.<br />
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Really ???<br />
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After visiting Lambarane we had to backtrack about 170km to the turn off to Franceville. The roads in Gabon so far had been very good except for a stretch of 50 km along the river. Now after the turn off the road turned to bone rattling dirt track. Nothing difficult but just a slow going dirt road that had not been graded for a year. However the road was beautiful. All the driving in Gabon has been very scenic and now on our way to Franceville the rain forest was making way to patches of hilly Savannah with gorgeous views. After about three hours of driving 70km we found a very nice spot to camp.<br />
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The next day we drove all the way to Lastourville, passing the town of Lope and driving along Lope national park. Rosana saw a mandrill and we heard many other monkeys but never got a good look of any of them as they were very shy.<br />
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In Lastourville we stayed at the church were were entertained by some African singing and a local soccer match. Even though there were many people, this was the first time that we did not get bothered by anyone or stared at while were sitting in front of our cars. The next day we drove to Franceville on a nice tar road. In France ville we are staying at hotel Masuku were we can use the Internet, do laundry, swim in the pool and enjoy the pleasant climate. It is still humid but it cools down at night and in the hotel bar or on the veranda it is very nice.<br />
Tomorrow we plan on driving towards the Congo border and visit the red canyon near the town of Leconi.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14303187295739504612noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7572512951301425075.post-73627663203412254372013-03-28T07:04:00.000-07:002013-04-13T04:04:46.653-07:00Racing through NigeriaWe are posting the update below from Yaounde, Cameroon.<br />
There are some issues with our computer so no pictures for a while.<br />
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<b>Blog update 3/8/13 racing through Nigeria</b><br />
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After we left parque national
de W in Benin we drove to a hotel in kandi, about 200 km from the border with
Nigeria. Here we did some light car maintenance and fine tuned our route through
Nigeria. Kandi is a town of 100 thousand people with one cyber cafe.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Add caption</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nice roads in the park....</td></tr>
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We tried to
access the Internet there but it was very slow, after 5 minutes we still were
not logged on to yahoo mail and by that time the power went down, a common
occurrence in Benin. Kandi had a small market where we witnessed two fight
between women who were shopping there, not sure what they could fight about as
the only thing they have there was potatoes, onions, carrots and bread and there
seemed to be enough of that to feed the whole country . At least there was some
entertainment in this otherwise boring town.<br />
Since we were the only white
people in town it took only 5 minutes before the gendarmerie had found us. They
ordered us to register at their office in town. We said that we would do that
later but we had no intention to do that and spend an hour waiting for some
bored police officer to write all our details in a big book. Unfortunately on
our way back from shopping to the hotel we passed the gendarmerie office and
there was no escaping, so we spent one hour listening to the police chief on how
important it is to register with the gendarmerie. We think that it is better
that fewer people know about our whereabouts, especially since we are traveling
with two French people.<br />
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While at the hotel we were visited by some local
kids. Rosana printed some pictures and gave to them. They were very happy.
Rosana also bought her first souvenir made by the local artisan
(weaver).<br />
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From kandi we drove to Nikki, about 30 km from the Nigerian border,
here we stayed the night so we could get an early start and drive as far as
possible towards Abuja the next day. <br />
We also wanted to buy diesel since we heard it is in short supply in Nigeria.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Only gas station in town with fuel</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This one also had fuel</td></tr>
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We had an early start, but only to find out
at the border that the customs office was back in Nikki, so we had to drive an
extra 60km to get the carnet stamped. The border crossing was otherwise without
any incidents other than that in Nigeria they have added two more stops to the
border crossing, one for a health check, basically verifying that you have a
yellow fever vaccination and one check for meat and dairy products. The border
police only wanted to give us a 1 week stamp for Nigeria even though our visa is
valid for one month. After some talking he gave us two weeks, but if we wanted
to stay longer we needed to go to a immigration office in Abuja for an
extension. Over the next few days we would find out that you do not want to stay
in Nigeria any longer than necessary.<br />
So far in Africa, if you follow the
main roads we have had decent to very good roads, well this ends as soon as you
get to Nigeria. On the map it looks like there is a decent road from the border
to Abuja however the first 100 km is a dirt road that has not been maintained in
30 years and gets worse during each rain season.<br />
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<br />
<br />
The other (ok I need to
interrupt for a moment as while we are writing this in lobby of the Sheraton
hotel in Abuja, we have the honor to meet the Nigerian guy who writes us all the
Internet scam e-mails, the guy just came to us after acting a fake telephone
conversation with a friend and now he is asking for 20 usd so he can get to his
friend who's wife is delivering a baby, the guy is drunk and stupid as he told
us he came to ask us because we are white. Later more on this Sheraton Brothel)
500 km to Abuja where, except from some sections full of potholes. It took us
almost three days to get to Abuja.<br />
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<br />
The first two days we drove through some
small villages and everyone comes out of their little huts to wave, sing and
shout, really nice.<br />
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<br />
The only scary part are some of the roadblocks by the local
police, heavily armed, no uniform and some of them obvious drunk and or stoned,
not a good combination with the ak47s they are carrying. None of these folks
were giving us trouble though, it was more a hassle to stop, show the inside of
the box, smile and talk to them a bit. <br />
The real pain started when we got to
the potholed tar roads, where you have roadblocks by the police, military,
traffic police and some other vague police departments in
uniform.<br />
<br />
Between the border with Benin and Abuja, about 600km we must
have had over 30 roadblocks. Most of them we needed to stop, talk to the
officials, show passport drivers license and show the inside of the camper and
then we could continue again. We had about 5 or six where the police wanted
something. They always start with the question: what do you have for me? Each
time we get away with the same tactic, we either tell them that they can get a
smile from us or we tell them that if we had known that they would be there we
would have brought something. But the best tactic seems to be to ignore the
question and just start talking about how great Nigeria is how nice the people
are and then ask them directions. Most of the officials seem to have a short
memory and they all let us go after a while.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yozdJDgydJY/UTkHsIN0SoI/AAAAAAAAFQE/2JmkPwF1MMI/s1600/IMG_6648.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yozdJDgydJY/UTkHsIN0SoI/AAAAAAAAFQE/2JmkPwF1MMI/s320/IMG_6648.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">African recycling system - Do you want a hamburger?</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
We have had a few bad
experiences where we had to resort to our emergency get out of trouble plan. The
traffic police seem to be the worst. One of the stops by the traffic police was
really bad. They first wanted to see Marc's drivers license and said that it is
an offense in Nigeria if you do not have a Nigerian drivers license. Next he
wanted to see the fire extinguisher and the emergency triangle and it was clear
that he was disappointed that we had all these things. Our next offense was the
extra headlights on the roof, also not allowed in Nigeria, he even took out the
offense book to show Marc. Marc ignored him and told him that the car was
inspected at the border and that we already had a few police stops and
everything was ok. Did not matter he was going to write us a couple of tickets
and keep our drivers license that we could pick up after paying the fine in
Abuja, clearly expecting us to pay him some money.<br />
Now it was time to pull
out our invitation letter that we had prepared in Burkina. It consisted of two
letters from the secretary of education of Nigeria. One was a confirmation that
the four of us are working on a project to improve education in Nigeria. The
second letter is addressed to the citizens and government officials of Nigeria
where the secretary asks them to support and help us while traveling through
Nigeria.<br />
We handed the letter to the policeman and saw immediately that he
was getting concerned as soon as he saw the colorful letterhead with the logo of
the federal ministry of education. He showed the letter to his colleagues and it
was clear that none of them wanted to get a call from the secretary of
education, so they handed the letter and Marc's drivers license back and we were
good to go.<br />
This was our worst police stop in Nigeria. There were more police
stops where we had to talk ourselves out of getting a fine or being asked for
something but we did not have to pull out the invitation letter anymore.<br />
When
we finally reached Abuja on Sunday afternoon the roads were good and wide and
the traffic light, so we quickly found the Sheraton hotel where they have an
area in the back where over landers can camp.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-RPJW5OVRS9g/UTkH0L7VpwI/AAAAAAAAFQc/km_5i1EMyEU/s1600/IMG_6661.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-RPJW5OVRS9g/UTkH0L7VpwI/AAAAAAAAFQc/km_5i1EMyEU/s320/IMG_6661.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Are we still in Nigeria?</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
The Sheraton hotel was at one
point of time a nice hotel but this one can in no way live up to the
expectations you normally have of a Sheraton in europe or the US. This one has
not been maintained since it was build over 20 years ago and we were glad that
we could stay in our camper and did not have to take a room as they are going
for over 200usd and according to the reviews on tripadvisor cannot even compete
with the cheapest motel rooms in the US.<br />
<br />
Campground visitor:<br />
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<br />
We were hoping to spend only a
couple of days here to try to get the Angolan visa and then drive as fast as
possible to Cameroon. <br />
In the end we almost spend two weeks there. After a
few days we started to feel like Roma gypsies as we were parked next to the
hotel's landfill: discarded hotel beds, furniture, construction material etc.
the only thing lacking was a couple of half dismounted Mercedes cars. The night
guard was living next door with his 3 German shepherds and a Rottweiler which
must have been the four meanest dogs in Africa. They were chained to a fence
close to our cars and every time we moved they would start to bark and trying to
attack us. We were sure that one of these days one of them would break lose. We
had heard about another overlander who got bitten in his calf by the Rottweiler
who was chained to a heavy iron bar that he was able to move to get closer to
his prey.<br />
So now you have an idea about our living quarters and why we wanted
to leave Abuja so quickly.<br />
Now the good news from Abuja. We were able to
secure a tourist visa for Angola and also get a visa for both Congo's. It was
not too difficult just very time consuming and a lot of running around. If you
want to read the details then continue reading (or go to the bottom to read the update from Cameroon).<br />
<br />
For other overlanders this is
what we needed to get multiple entry tourist:<br />
2 passport pictures<br />
Letter
written and signed by ourselves explaining what we want to do in Angola<br />
Bank
statement<br />
Address of a person we know in Angola (we never had to submit an
invitation letter)<br />
Visa form<br />
<br />
When we arrived at the Sheraton there
were three brave Japanese (one girl was travelling by herself in a minivan, see
picture, making us wonder why we bought such a big truck if you can make it with
a minivan) that travelled all the way from Japan through Russia and Europe to
Africa and they had applied for a transit visa for Angola. On our first day at
the Angolan embassy they got their visa back. However the embassy screwed up the
dates and they had only 5 days to drive from Abuja through Angola to Namibia
starting from the day the visa was issued. This was probably our luck because
when we applied they told us that a transit visa would not work so we should
apply for a tourist visa. So that is what we did. Before we got to talk to the
people processing the visa we had to get past a nasty woman who did not want to
let us in because we did not live in Nigeria. We had all our paperwork ready
when we got to this woman, the only thing we did not have is a 6 month Nigerian
visa or resident permit, so we convinced her in the end that the angolan
embassies in our home country told us to go to Abuja and apply there.<br />
The
other advantage we had was that Rosana speaks Portuguese as most people working
on visas in the embassy do not speak English. For more details on the Angolan
visa application please read the saga below.<br />
<br />
<b>Visa Saga</b><br />
<br />
When
reading the adventure below keep in mind that we had to take a taxi every time
we had to go to an embassy or back to the hotel. We ALWAYS have to negotiate the
fare and often we have to tell the taxi driver where to go since they don't seem
to know the concept of addresses. <br />
<br />
Day 1- Monday<br />
at the Angolan
embassy at 9:45 am. We were told by the receptionist that visas are not issued
to non-residents of Nigeria. We insisted to talk to someone.<br />
We were let
inside and waited.<br />
Around 11:45 am we spoke to someone who told us we would
need a letter from our embassy because we are not residents of Nigeria. We had
to wait to confirm a few more requirements since they were not clear.<br />
A
letter from the Brazilian embassy would not work for Rosana since she had her
Nigerian visa in her Italian passport<br />
At 1:45pm we left the Angolan embassy
to try to get the letters.<br />
<br />
Luckily the Dutch and Italian embassy are in
the same building.<br />
Marc waited, waited, waited and finally spoke to the
secretary who said the embassy was NOT going to write the letter without a
formal request from the Angolan embassy.<br />
Rosana waited, waited and waited and
was told to return next morning.<br />
<br />
Day 2- Tuesday <br />
Rosana called the
Angolan embassy and told them the embassies would not create the letter without
a request from them. They then asked us to return to the Angolan embassy at 11
am to speak with the person responsible for visas.<br />
10:45 am we were back and
the guards did not let us in because the embassy is closed on Tuesdays and
Thursdays. After some explaining and waiting we were let in.<br />
After some
waiting we talked to 3 people who refused to put it in writing the need for a
letter from our embassy.<br />
They then suggested us to go to the Brazilian
embassy which is next door so they could write a letter to me and Marc since we
are "residents" of Brazil.<br />
At the Brazilian embassy we waited and spoke to
someone who called e Angolan embassy to explain they don't write these letters.
The people at the Angolan embassy were going to check what could be done and
return his call.<br />
After the Brazilian embassy we returned to the Dutch and the
Italian to try one more time for the letter.<br />
Marc talked to the secretary who
told him she was going to send her assistant with us to the Angolan embassy on
Wednesday morning. We must be at the Dutch consulate at 8:45am.<br />
Rosana went
to Italian embassy and was yelled at by the guard because she was not there at
9am. Then the ambassador's secretary was mad because Rosana was not there before
12pm and also the fact Rosana doesn't speak Italian. She asked Rosana to
wait.<br />
After waiting, waiting and more waiting the secretary brought Rosana to
the ambassadors office.<br />
He was a very friendly guy but gave Rosana a lecture
on how dangerous this trip is. He said he could write the letter but had to wait
for the confirmation from the Italian consulate in Sao Paulo (since the passport
was issued there).<br />
The ambassador asked Rosana to return next morning.<br />
We
went back to the hotel to wait for the call from the Brazilian embassy.<br />
4pm
the Brazilian embassy called us back saying we could return to the Angolan
embassy next day without the letter. They were going to process our
application.<br />
<br />
Day 3 - Wednesday <br />
8:45 am we got to the Dutch
consulate.<br />
Waited, waited and waited. We left the consulate with the
assistant and the driver and got to the Angolan embassy at 9:30 am<br />
Waited,
waited and waited.<br />
Talked to the person that collects the documents for the
visa application. Rosana had to do all the translation since the Dutch assistant
did not speak Portuguese and the Angolan assistant did not speak
English.<br />
After a lot of talking and confusion they agreed on processing the
application without the letter.<br />
At 10:45am we left the Angolan embassy and
went back to the Italian embassy. At 12pm the Italian ambassador wanted to talk
to Rosana again.<br />
He wanted to know all the details (and also practice his
Portuguese, since he lived in Brazil).<br />
After 30 minutes he said he would only
write the letter if it was really necessary so Rosana had to wait for the answer
from the Angolan embassy and then contact him again.<br />
Rosana called the
Angolan embassy around 3pm but they had no answer yet from Luanda.<br />
<br />
Day 4
Thursday<br />
9:30 am called Angolan embassy. No answer from Luanda.<br />
11:30 am
called Angolan embassy. No answer from Luanda.<br />
2:00 pm called Angolan
embassy. No answer from Luanda.<br />
3:30-4:00pm called Angolan embassy several
times but they were not answering the phone OR they were hanging up right away
when they heard our voice.<br />
<br />
Day 5 - Friday<br />
Tried calling the embassy
several times but no answer. We heard it was a holiday and they were
closed.<br />
<br />
Day 6 - Monday<br />
9:30 am at the Angolan embassy.<br />
10 am we
heard our application got approved but they could not print the visa because the
system was down.<br />
3pm (yes, after waiting 5 1/2 hours) we heard they still
could not print it. Asked to leave and return next day at 10 am.<br />
<br />
Day 7 -
Tuesday<br />
10 am at Angolan embassy.<br />
We were asked to wait because the system
was still down.<br />
We waited, waited and waited.<br />
Rosana en asked to speak to
someone and was told the system was still down. Rosana insisted on speaking to
someone.<br />
The assistant came and told Rosana sometimes the system is down for
2 weeks. <br />
We then decided to take the passports back and go apply for the
Congo visa while we wait for the Angolan system to be up and running
again.<br />
The assistant was going to send Rosana an email when the visa is
printed.<br />
<br />
Day 8<br />
no email yet so we went to apply for the Congo
visa.<br />
Arrived at 9am at the Congo embassy and dropped off the
documents.<br />
At 11:30 am we came back to collect the passports and at 12pm we
went back to the Angolan embassy.<br />
Took a taxi and had only 30 minutes to get
to the embassy since they close at 12:30pm.<br />
The taxi driver stops the car
after a few minutes because he has a flat tire.<br />
There we go again, get a new
taxi and negotiate the rate.<br />
We got to the Embassy 17 minutes before they
close.<br />
The good news is the system is up and it looks like they are going to
print the visa.<br />
Visa in our hands we rushed back to the Sheraton to make the
last few copies needed for the DRC visa.<br />
Dropped off the paperwork at the DRC
embassy at 2:30pm and after paying 17,000Nairas for each visa we were told to
return next day at 2:30pm<br />
<br />
day 9<br />
2:30 pm at DRC embassy. Sorry no visa
yet. Come back at 4:30pm<br />
4:30 pm at DRC embassy. Sorry no visa yet. Come back
at 5:30pm. we are waiting for an approval from DRC and will work late to help
you...<br />
5:30 pm at DRC embassy. Employees: Can we see the original of the
drivers license, the original of the car document, the original of this and
that.... It started to get fishy but since we had all the originals they said
OK, everything is fine but since we had to work so late BECAUSE of you, what do
you have for us? Rosana asked how much they wanted for working late specially for
us. Their response was to give something from our hearts.<br />
We offered 4,000
Nairas for e for of us (about 27 US$). They said "it is too small" but accepted
it in the end and by around 6:30pm we left the embassy with our passports and
visas.<br />
<br />
<b>Blog update 3/22 Entering Cameroon</b><br />
With three visas in our
pockets we finally left Abuja on Friday morning at 6am. It was 600km to the
border and the last day that we were allowed to be in Nigeria. Based on the
roads so far in Nigeria we did not think we could make it to the border before
the evening. However the road was a lot better than we hoped for and we did not
get stopped nearly as often by the police and army as on our way to
Abuja.<br />
<br />
The Road to the border:<br />
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The most annoying guys this time were the VIO, vehicle inspection
officers. These are unarmed bunch of young men that throw a piece of wood with
nails in front of your car to force you to stop. Since they were not armed our
tactic with them was to slow down, so they would remove or not put the wood with
nails in front of the car and then as soon as the approached the car we would
speed up and just drive past them. It was fun to see their surprised look in the
eyes. It is just sad that corruption is just part of normal life. A couple of
times we saw locals slowing down for the police handing them some banknotes and
drive on. If corruption is so widespread in these countries will they ever be
able to catch up or get out of the problems they are currently in?<br />
<br />
We got
to the Nigerian border just before dark. It was the usual African inefficiency
so even though we were the only ones at the border it took almost two hours to
get out of Nigeria. The carnet and customs was the easy part, next was the
police, immigration and another government official whose responsibilities was
not clear. These three individuals were in one office, one was taking down our
passport information, the other two gave us each a different form to fill out
the same information. After we completed the forms they took that form and
copied it in the big book. So each desk had a big book with the same
information. Next they took the passport to verify the information they wrote in
the book.<br />
After all three were satisfied we could continue to the Cameroon
side of the bridge or at least so we thought. We started driving towards the one
lane bridge when another official came screaming out of an office, clearly he
was not happy that we did pay him a visit. We were done with Nigeria so we
ignored him for moment and drove the car up to the gate so we were blocking the
whole bridge and preventing local traffic to cross. When the official came to
our car he asked why we did not come to him and show the passports. We said that
we had already shown our passports to 20 officials and did not know we needed it
to show it to him as well, especially as we already had gotten our exit stamp.
While talking other people were getting impatient as we were blocking all
traffic. The official decided not to cause more problems and grudgingly opened
the gate so we could cross the bridge.<br />
On the other side was the Cameroonian
police, very friendly and still speaking English (officially Cameroon is
bilingual but English is only spoken in the west of the country). He just
checked whether we had a visa and then we could continue to the town about 500
meters further to get an entry stamp and our carnet stamped. We decided to park
the cars at the border control office and stay there for the night (it was
already dark) No problems on the cameroonian side of the border. Again they
wrote all our information in a big book.<br />
<br />
Camping at the border:<br />
<br />
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<br />
The next day we drove from the
border town to Bamenda. The first part of the road, about 70km was slow going
but a lot better than expected. Even though the rainy season had started the
road was still good enough for regular cars. After Mamfe the road is very
good.<br />
We made it to Bamenda mid afternoon.<br />
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<br />
Camping at the mission in Bamenda<br />
<br />
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<br />
<br />
Bamenda is at 1200m altitude so
for the first time in a month it is pleasantly warm during the day and nice and
cool during the night. We decided to stay for a week in the are to enjoy the
moderate climate and catch up on sleep before going further south.<br />
After two
days in Bamenda we took 4 days to drive the ring road, a circular road of 360km
through the highlands in western Cameroon. It was a very beautiful and scenic
route through hills, villages and forests. The first day we visited the palace
of the kingdom of bafut. This area of Cameroon is still very much organized
around little kingdoms that have some autonomy. The palace contained the oldest
African building that is used for meetings and sacrifices by many of the secret
societies that are part of the kingdom. The structure is 500 years old and was
by far the most interesting part of the palace. The rest of the palace was just
a couple of buildings that houses the many wives of the kings and heir children
and some administrative offices.<br />
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<br />
<br />
In the evening we found a nice wild camping
spot at lake wum. However when we arrived there we were told that we first
needed to see the king to get his permission to camp and visit the area.
Fortunately one of his sons was around so we could deal with him. It is custom
in the area to give them a gift, usually some cheap local whiskey. We did not
have whiskey and we don't necessarily agree with giving anything but we offered
some money to camp. And as always it was not enough, so we told the prince that
we would go find another place. And as always once you walk away they call you
back and accept the money (2,000 CFA for both cars. About 4US$. Later we found
out other people had to pay 6,000 CFA per vehicle).<br />
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<br />
Is this a good spot ?<br />
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<br />
<br />
The next day we had a
similar experience when visiting lake nyos. There we gave the local king two of
our precious beers to be able to have a look at a lake. The lake is nothing
special other than that 30 years ago it exploded and a deadly gas came down on
the valley, killing 1700 people. This is the official and most likely story.
However the soldier who walked down with us to the lake told us that he and the
people in the area think it was a white country who was testing a bomb in the
lake. The white country had even written a letter to warn the villagers but
somehow the person who received the letter had forgotten to tell the people
about the bomb.<br />
On the ring road there were many villages , with many
missions, churches and schools. And everywhere there are children, many of them.
When we drive by, they come running to the cars. One thing we wonder about is
whether the children ever get any education. We always see children, anytime of
the day either going to school, coming from school or playing around the school,
we never pass a school and see children inside in a classroom.<br />
<br />
Ops.... road block...<br />
<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14303187295739504612noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7572512951301425075.post-87079628985858476082013-03-09T06:06:00.000-08:002013-03-09T12:50:00.332-08:00From Mali through Burkina Faso and Benin<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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Blog update 02/22/13. Parque National de Pendjari, Benin</div>
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Mali/Burkina Faso/Benin</div>
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We left Bamako early in the morning thinking it would be an easy drive. Getting out of the city was a fun experience.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Who is ignoring the police?</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Traffic out of Bamako</td></tr>
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From Bamako we made it to the border with Burkina Faso in
one day. On the way out we stopped at a "Bakery" to buy french baguette.<br />
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We were able to cross the border the same afternoon. Again a boring
(that is a good thing) border crossing. We are getting the hang of it, it
always is the same process. Leaving a country it is first the gendarmerie, then
the Customs and lastly the police. Entering a country it is in the opposite
order. They all enter the same information in a big book: vehicle info,
passport info, visa number etc. They each have their own office with usually a
couple of beds, a TV and numerous people of whom you don't know whether they
are just family, friends or officials. At the police you get your entry/exit
stamp, customs signs the carnet or gives you a passé avant for the car. The
gendarmerie just checks all your paperwork again. You think that it would make
sense to have one office and take down all that information once. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Finding the right office, always a problem</td></tr>
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Anyway no problems leaving Mali or entering Burkina. At
the gendarmerie in Burkina they told Marc that he needed to pay 5 euro, Marc
just said that he does not need to pay that and then it was OK. This was a
little bit disappointing as the name Burkina Faso means something to the extend
of the "incorruptible people". </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Toll roads in Mali and Burkina Faso, fortunately not the same price as the peage in France</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Total Gas stations everywhere</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gas by the liter</td></tr>
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Until our last day in Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina, this was the only time that people were asking for anything. We found
the people in Burkina very much like the people in Mali, very friendly and with
a lot of self respect.</div>
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On the day before we left Ouagadougou we were going to go
to the bank, get diesel and do some groceries. However at the roundabout just
outside the hotel where we stayed we got pulled over by the police municipal
because supposedly we drove through red. The police was not friendly and even
though we did not drive through red as we were one of the first cars to go
through the traffic light, they wrote us a ticket (which looked fake) took
Marc's drivers license and ordered us to go pay the fine to the boss who was on
the other side of the street. We tried to explain them hundred of times that
we did not drive through red, that the light was green, that other cars crossed
after us but they did not want to budge. So Rosana pulled out the form for the
protection of the tourists and asked them to fill it out and then we would go
pay the fine (by the way we never asked how much the fine was). This got them a
bit worried and after they talked amongst themselves they handed us the drivers
license back and we were free to go.</div>
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But 15 minutes later the same thing happened at another
intersection. We were pulling into the parking lot of a supermarket and the
police came to us saying again that we drove through red. Now we were a little
bit fed up, so we decided to ignore Mr policeman, finish parking the car and do
our shopping. So while Rosana went to the shop and Marc locked the car, the
policeman kept on talking to Marc about paying a fine for driving through red
and giving his drivers license. Marc told him that the drivers license was with
Rosana in the shop so he would have to wait. Marc also told him he was getting
tired of getting stopped by police for driving through green. When we came
out of the shop the policeman was still there and he wanted to see the drivers
license. Marc handed him the drivers license and now Marc was ordered to follow
the police man to pay the fine. Marc got really upset and shouted to the guy
that he was done with the corrupt police in Ouagadougou and he grabbed the
drivers license out of the police man's hand. The police man looked a bit
frightened murmured<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>something about last
warning and then walked away. During the heated exchange quite a crowd had
assembled and they had a good laugh. The remainder of the morning we did not
get stopped anymore. Later we heard that the local police is very corrupt in
Ouagadougou. Outside the city when we got stopped by the national police we
never had any problems.</div>
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We spend about 10 days in Burkina Faso. The first night
we camped between the cashew trees away from any villages and we did not see
anyone the whole night.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fresh Cashews</td></tr>
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The second night we ended up in national park de Bale. We had to take a 10km dirt road that obviously had not been used for a
while. When we finally arrived at a small lodge in the park the first animals
we saw were donkeys, goats and cows.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Wildlife? No elephants but donkeys in the National Park</td></tr>
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The lodge was being renovated/reconstructed
after it was completely flooded a couple of months ago. We stayed only one
night and were lucky to see some elephants late in the afternoon. That was very
nice.<br />
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The next day we drove to Ouagadougou to hook up with a
French couple (Patrick and Martine) we met in Mauritania. We will be traveling
together through Nigeria as we have read and heard that it can be challenging. The challenge being the bad roads, bad driving habits and the corrupt police. </div>
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In Ouagadougou we stayed at the hotel OK inn near the Airport.
They let you camp for free, use the pool, showers, bathroom and wifi assuming
you eat and drink so now and then at the restaurant. For a city it was a nice
set up. We were waiting for some spare parts for the truck to be send from Holland. In the mean time we would apply for the Nigerian visa. This was
another story. </div>
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On Thursday morning the four of us went to the Nigerian embassy.
A very arrogant low level clerk was at the door. We said<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>bonjour to him and he shouted back at us that
we are in Nigeria now and they speak English. We immediately knew that this was
going to be a fun experience. We asked him what we needed for the visa and he
told us that we needed to fill out a form and give two passport pictures. It
took him 20 minutes to give us the forms, even though we were the only people
at the embassy. After we filled out the form he asked us whether we had an
invitation letter from someone in Nigeria. We explained him that we are
traveling overland and that we will be driving through Nigeria and that we
don't know anyone in Nigeria. Well in that case you must get a letter from your
embassy in Ouagadougou stating that you are the person who is was mentioned in
your passport and the ambassador has to allow you to travel<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>to Nigeria. We told him that by the fact
that we have passport it means that we are the person in the passport and that
our government allows us to travel. Our little Nigerian nazi did not care. We
needed a letter.</div>
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So first stop was the Italian consulate. (Rosana is using her Italian passport as we thought it would be easier to use 2 EU passports). Here the
assistant of the Italian consul was not prepared to create the letter because
she could not be sure that the Italian passport that Rosana carries was really
for Rosana. She made a phone call to the Nigerian embassy to find out why it
was needed and was told that it was because we did not apply for the visa in our
home country.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So she basically told
Rosana to go back home and apply for the visa there.</div>
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Next stop the French embassy. No luck there either
they also said to go back home and apply there.</div>
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The good old Dutch embassy was the savior. The assistant of
the ambassador was very helpful and she discussed our issue with the ambassador
who told her that this was a ridiculous request. Not the Dutch embassy is
giving out a visa but the Nigerian so they should determine whether we are
allowed to travel to their country. Besides that imagine that anyone who
wants to travel abroad will need a letter from their own government<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>or embassy. So the Dutch ambassador was going
to call his Nigerian colleague and at the same time he was giving Marc a letter
stating that he is the person in the passport and that he wants to travel to
Nigeria. Some nice stamps on the letter and that should do the trick.</div>
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In the afternoon we went to the Brazilian embassy and
when the ambassador heard the story he called the Nigerian ambassador right
away. 5 minutes later he was back and told us that the Nigerian ambassador had
already received a call from the Dutch ambassador and we were told that we
could come back the next morning to get our visa without a letter.</div>
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The next morning we were back. First the guard told us
that visa applications could only be done on Tuesday and Thursday. However our
little Nigerian friend was there and he obviously was told by his boss that the
ambassador was not happy to have received a couple of calls from other
ambassadors. So he took, reluctantly, our visa application. Later,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>his boss came in who was super friendly. This
guy took the paperwork and half an hour later we had our visas.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BtZ3T9ZCBBI/UTj57TeAc9I/AAAAAAAAFBo/jQ8alaT79xA/s1600/IMG_6215.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BtZ3T9ZCBBI/UTj57TeAc9I/AAAAAAAAFBo/jQ8alaT79xA/s1600/IMG_6215.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">YES.........We have our Nigerian visa</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
At the Brazilian Embassy we met Angelica and we were invited to a brazilian get together over the weekend where we met ALL the Brazilian living in Ouaga (well, almost all of them)<br />
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<br />
This meant that we could leave Ouagadougou on Monday as
soon as the spare parts had arrived. However on Sunday morning Marc decided to
tighten the air conditioning in the cab, but when he did that the screw drilled
a hole in the ac unit and all the freon gas escaped. Half an hour later we
turned on the generator to charge the batteries as we were running low due to
the heat and the fridge needing to run continuously. After 10 minutes the
generator died. So much for leaving the next day.......</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
Fortunately with the help of Patrick we were having the
maintenance people of the hotel help us fix the ac. The generator was another
problem, it has been a problem from the moment we picked up the the car at
Twiga. Many people have spend many hours and even more euros to try to fix the
generator and every time a new problem popped up.</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
Marc with the help of Patrick or better Patrick with the
help of Marc took out the whole generator and worked on it for two days, having
the exhaust removed, the air filter and carburator cleaned and the regulator
refurbished (African style) but with no luck. The generator runs but it does
not adjust the power when the batteries are pulling more. So in the end we
decided to retire the generator and sold it to a local mechanic who had been
helping us.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-meHoi7zjgVM/UTudxT63wAI/AAAAAAAAFR0/ATKE0Dw0oUI/s1600/IMG_1226.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-meHoi7zjgVM/UTudxT63wAI/AAAAAAAAFR0/ATKE0Dw0oUI/s1600/IMG_1226.JPG" height="239" width="320" /></a></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
No more generator means we don't have to think about it
anymore and we gained some storage space. That is the good news the bad news is
that we are writing this blog while it is 40 degrees outside (105 F) and it would have
been nice to sit inside for a bit with the air conditioning on..........ah well
this is part of experiencing Africa. It gets really hot during the afternoon,
but fortunately it is a very dry heat.</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xW8vMmsQE2M/UTj6AEegBYI/AAAAAAAAFCA/AbvqIDAJjAE/s1600/IMG_6246.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xW8vMmsQE2M/UTj6AEegBYI/AAAAAAAAFCA/AbvqIDAJjAE/s1600/IMG_6246.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It is a long way to Austria</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-42PGgC1pW1s/UTj58OwhcjI/AAAAAAAAFBw/LBpJnmK4sUI/s1600/IMG_6240.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-42PGgC1pW1s/UTj58OwhcjI/AAAAAAAAFBw/LBpJnmK4sUI/s1600/IMG_6240.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
So Wednesday we finally left Ouagadougou and we went
straight towards national parque Pendjari in Benin.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We wild camped just before the border.<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
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Burkina Faso / Benin </div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
The next day we did the border crossing between Burkina
and Benin within an hour. The most time consuming part was the bloke at customs
in Benin. First we had to watch him finishing his lunch and<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>when we gave him the carnet de passage, even
though it is not valid in Benin, he did not know how to fill it out. We asked
whether we could use it and he said yes. Patrick and Marc had to tell him where
to put his signature and where to put the stamp. In the end he also put his
signature on the exit voucher. </div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
From the border it was a short drive through some villages to the entrance of
the Pendjari parque.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Y0GlZLZfZ0o/UTj_zI4geSI/AAAAAAAAFDI/2Ze973WawmY/s1600/IMG_6261.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Y0GlZLZfZ0o/UTj_zI4geSI/AAAAAAAAFDI/2Ze973WawmY/s1600/IMG_6261.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Anyone hungry?</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CREFTdXSmAs/UTkAgEDMN1I/AAAAAAAAFDg/I9XZdcwgD6w/s1600/IMG_6266.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CREFTdXSmAs/UTkAgEDMN1I/AAAAAAAAFDg/I9XZdcwgD6w/s1600/IMG_6266.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
A couple of guides were waiting for us but we wanted to go in the park by ourselves. The excuse we use is that our cars do not seat three people,
we can even show the car registration paper and tell them it is illegal to have
more than two people in the car.</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
In Pendjari they have three places where you can wild
camp, so we stayed three nights. Pendjari is a nice park, we did not see any
cats (heard lions roaring) but the many birds, hippos, elephants, cobs antelopes, roans, and the fact
that the park still feels wild (mainly bad roads, very few tourists, only one
hotel).</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<div class="MsoPlainText">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tCsNvGlyu7k/UTkAx1uZmsI/AAAAAAAAFEY/xhWLdxRnUSg/s1600/IMG_6305.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tCsNvGlyu7k/UTkAx1uZmsI/AAAAAAAAFEY/xhWLdxRnUSg/s1600/IMG_6305.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A cob, the Benin Impala</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-gk0F3G_sWEA/UTkBjBAE0BI/AAAAAAAAFFQ/XAcTqCVM-bA/s1600/IMG_6340.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-gk0F3G_sWEA/UTkBjBAE0BI/AAAAAAAAFFQ/XAcTqCVM-bA/s1600/IMG_6340.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-z5Dadf3J-4U/UTkB2wuikFI/AAAAAAAAFGQ/G0O2DXzUP1Q/s1600/IMG_6365.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-z5Dadf3J-4U/UTkB2wuikFI/AAAAAAAAFGQ/G0O2DXzUP1Q/s1600/IMG_6365.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Updating the blog</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-fsaxeuZJVNg/UTkCZ0Si5bI/AAAAAAAAFHQ/iBD5KiPOSQ8/s1600/IMG_6403.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-fsaxeuZJVNg/UTkCZ0Si5bI/AAAAAAAAFHQ/iBD5KiPOSQ8/s1600/IMG_6403.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Difficult to see, but bumpy road because of dried up Elephant foot steps</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AEW9mm5owp8/UTkCiq4tFPI/AAAAAAAAFHo/5FAgXMHhgtk/s1600/IMG_6419.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AEW9mm5owp8/UTkCiq4tFPI/AAAAAAAAFHo/5FAgXMHhgtk/s1600/IMG_6419.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
After Pendjari we drove via some challenging pistes to
Parque National W. This park was a bit of a disappointment, badly maintained (except for the main road), a burned down lodge, a deserted hotel and very few
animals.</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
They still allow hunting (only for tourists - really???) in Benin.
Both Pendjari and W park are bordered by hunting reserves. We noticed that all
the animals are very shy, especially compared to the animals in the Southern African Parks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On top of that they still
have the problem of poaching. In park W we were stopped by a car full of
soldiers that were patrolling the park at night to prevent poaching.</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
In Pendjari there were a few other tourists but in W we
did not see anyone. When we entered the park we saw that the last person
visiting was more than 10 days before us.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ImYlHB1cqNA/UTkCuoz7oBI/AAAAAAAAFII/mD60oZy7Riw/s1600/IMG_6442.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ImYlHB1cqNA/UTkCuoz7oBI/AAAAAAAAFII/mD60oZy7Riw/s1600/IMG_6442.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We are lost</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-SuTh_442250/UTkCxwMKUFI/AAAAAAAAFIQ/092bghloipQ/s1600/IMG_6449.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-SuTh_442250/UTkCxwMKUFI/AAAAAAAAFIQ/092bghloipQ/s1600/IMG_6449.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Take close look, yes they are the Benin version of the Guinea Fowl</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-s4rOEvvea60/UTkD6OPeKJI/AAAAAAAAFKI/wTA68kYqeco/s1600/IMG_6504.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-s4rOEvvea60/UTkD6OPeKJI/AAAAAAAAFKI/wTA68kYqeco/s1600/IMG_6504.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Slow going between Pendjari Park and W Park</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5lpylOb0t1Q/UTkEroztmII/AAAAAAAAFMA/yEcWvYPegzQ/s1600/IMG_6526.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5lpylOb0t1Q/UTkEroztmII/AAAAAAAAFMA/yEcWvYPegzQ/s1600/IMG_6526.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lunch break</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
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<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
Driving through the villages in northern Benin has been
very nice, all the people are smiling and waving like crazy. Last night we
wild camped just outside a village and in no time we had about thirty people
around our cars. They just stood there and stared at us while we were setting
up camp. They did not speak any French but they found everything we were doing
very funny. We took some pictures and made a printout for them and that was a
big success. There was a risk that the rest of the village would come now as
well to have their picture taken but fortunately as soon as it became dark they
all left, so we could start our cooking. In the morning when we woke up a small
crowd started to gather again, so we left before the whole village got up.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kJgNDt3xehs/UTkC4pawTYI/AAAAAAAAFIo/I8ua_pTXuJI/s1600/IMG_6461.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kJgNDt3xehs/UTkC4pawTYI/AAAAAAAAFIo/I8ua_pTXuJI/s1600/IMG_6461.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sunday Afternoon entertainment for the village</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
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<br />
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<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-aom3-hVHfec/UTkC-dO6ItI/AAAAAAAAFJA/4HWOBDF3NHI/s1600/IMG_6467.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-aom3-hVHfec/UTkC-dO6ItI/AAAAAAAAFJA/4HWOBDF3NHI/s1600/IMG_6467.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">They liked the picture</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14303187295739504612noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7572512951301425075.post-61244639510924286172013-02-10T11:20:00.000-08:002013-02-10T11:20:36.325-08:00Senegal - Mali<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Update - February 10th 2013 - Bamako, Mali</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We left Dakar on Feb 6th. Getting out of the city was slow, like most big cities in
Africa so far, only one road used by mopeds, donkey-carriages, mini-buses that
stop every 50 meters, market stalls on the side of the road and the usual police
stop.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In two days we made it to Hotel Wassadou on the Gambia
river.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Here was our first lodge.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vD8CbDtBJgY/URepczF-7AI/AAAAAAAAEzc/v5vpaFe8Oho/s1600/IMG_5763.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vD8CbDtBJgY/URepczF-7AI/AAAAAAAAEzc/v5vpaFe8Oho/s320/IMG_5763.JPG" height="212" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Reception of our 5* lodge</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-P_JiK3pHwTw/UReskvu0RoI/AAAAAAAAE0A/thWpE0Xp8PM/s1600/IMG_5787.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-P_JiK3pHwTw/UReskvu0RoI/AAAAAAAAE0A/thWpE0Xp8PM/s320/IMG_5787.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_2s-GtsrBRc/UReoKuoFF2I/AAAAAAAAEzU/kntnYj4_0Zo/s1600/IMG_5762.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_2s-GtsrBRc/UReoKuoFF2I/AAAAAAAAEzU/kntnYj4_0Zo/s320/IMG_5762.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Top heavy, peanuts all over the road</span></td></tr>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-8IR_KJwmWAo/UReukUxQb2I/AAAAAAAAE0M/zH-RSO1Wz_E/s1600/IMG_5794.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-8IR_KJwmWAo/UReukUxQb2I/AAAAAAAAE0M/zH-RSO1Wz_E/s320/IMG_5794.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hotel Wassadou is a nice place but a little crowded as it
was full with Eastern Europeans that participated in the rally Budapest-Bamako
(They actually changed the finish place to Bissau but did not have time
to change the stickers on their cars). We spent the afternoon lazing around and
watch the many birds on the banks of the river.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We could camp at the hotel on the condition of having dinner. Since we heard dinner was very good and the
temperature was getting into the high thirties (nineties for our American friends)
we did not mind. However the hotel was clearly not prepared for such a big
dinner party. Dinner was going to be at 6.30, then 7, 8 and we finally got our
food at 9pm. For some people there was a nice piece of beef, the rest of us had
to be happy with a piece of chicken and rice (it was still good)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The ultimate proof of bad dinner planning was when the
waiters came around to collect left over bread from the bread baskets on our
tables to fill a new breadbasket for some late arrivals. It was all pretty
hilarious.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The next day we started pretty early to see whether we
could make it to the border before dark. The first part of the road through Niokolo
Koba National park was pretty bad at times so we did not go so fast.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Laundry day</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Unfortunately except for some monkeys, warthogs and birds
we did not see any other wildlife on the 100km through the park. Based on what
we saw and on what we have heard from other travelers who visited the park we
are afraid that not much wildlife is left.</span><br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-rpAICOU2Tyo/URe8FXpsTMI/AAAAAAAAE14/FbUUMwSUbzA/s1600/IMG_5860.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-rpAICOU2Tyo/URe8FXpsTMI/AAAAAAAAE14/FbUUMwSUbzA/s320/IMG_5860.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Border crossing </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After we left the park area the road improved
significantly and we made it to the border around 3.30pm. By 4.10pm we had
cleared both the Senegal and the Mali border. So no corrupt official stories.
All the people were super friendly and most of the time was spent writing down
our information in big books by the police, gendarmerie and customs. The custom
papers could not be done at the border and they told us to go to the next town,
Kenieba and visit the custom office there. We really tried, we drove to the
town, asked for the custom office but still could not find it. We decided to
forget about it and take our chances when we get stopped or when we want to
leave Mali. So far the people have been so friendly and easy going that we just
don’t expect any problems. It is also hard to believe this country is fighting
a war, but then we heard that there is really two Mali’s, the south and the
north. Unfortunately most of the sights are in the north and off limits right
now.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After Kenieba we looked for a place to camp. We ended up
taking a small dirt road off the main road and pulled into the local soccer
field with a wonderful view.</span><br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-thg-F1DsS8w/URfed_U0_BI/AAAAAAAAE5Q/vQxapjESh9g/s1600/IMG_5947.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-thg-F1DsS8w/URfed_U0_BI/AAAAAAAAE5Q/vQxapjESh9g/s320/IMG_5947.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hsRiKXURS4I/URfe7ndIutI/AAAAAAAAE6o/y38K3OsfHs8/s1600/IMG_5976.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hsRiKXURS4I/URfe7ndIutI/AAAAAAAAE6o/y38K3OsfHs8/s320/IMG_5976.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Camping in the penalty box off the local soccer team</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Lots of people passed by but only one guy came to talk to us. If we had
been in any of the previous countries we would have had tons of people come by
to ask for a cadeau, money or just come and stare at us. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Later in the afternoon some kids came by and Rosana took
some pictures of them and printed them right away with a small Polaroid printer we have
with us. The kids were very happy with it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The following day we drove all the way to Bamako. The
roads are very good here in Mali. We are staying at a hotel near the Niger
river and are taking a day off driving to do some maintenance on the car (well
all the maintenance Marc is capable of, which is just adding oil in some holes
he finds near the engine and axles), adding mosquito screens to the windows
(Rosana’s task) and getting the car washed (outsourced it)</span><br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MghdM8EhxZE/URffP_iIbmI/AAAAAAAAE7Y/rr70zTY3fAA/s1600/IMG_6027.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MghdM8EhxZE/URffP_iIbmI/AAAAAAAAE7Y/rr70zTY3fAA/s320/IMG_6027.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-0xUnMkC8Qo0/URffwKlboAI/AAAAAAAAE8w/SGOg8pd5_UY/s1600/IMG_6075.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-0xUnMkC8Qo0/URffwKlboAI/AAAAAAAAE8w/SGOg8pd5_UY/s320/IMG_6075.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">And we get stopped and asked whether we carry a fire-extinguisher</td></tr>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-kt0G7wkySSc/URff1UQdlII/AAAAAAAAE9A/1eRWBiPnBYc/s1600/IMG_6082.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-kt0G7wkySSc/URff1UQdlII/AAAAAAAAE9A/1eRWBiPnBYc/s320/IMG_6082.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
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<div class="MsoPlainText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It is good that we took the day off as one of the hub
fill plugs broke. We did not have spare ones with us, so Marc went on the back
of motor cycle with a guy from the hotel to the market to find a fill plug. The
guy must have thought that he was on a race track or so, he drove sooooo fast
and cut between so many cars, buses and other motor cyclists that Marc thought
he was going to lose a leg or arm. In the end they found a small shop that had
a plug that would fit, not an original Mercedes plug but it seems to do the
job. We will order some spare plugs and have it shipped to Burkina Faso so next
time when it happens in the middle of nowhere we can still continue our trip.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Tomorrow we will be heading to the border with Burkina
Faso. </span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14303187295739504612noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7572512951301425075.post-89413477632941186302013-02-05T14:01:00.004-08:002013-02-05T14:04:39.132-08:00Senegal - Part IWe created 2 separated posts today. The Last Days in Mauritania and Senegal - Part I<br />
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<span style="font-family: Consolas;">Border crossing Mauritania/Senegal</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Consolas;">Ok here is another account of a border crossing. This one
was a lot quicker than the one between Morocco and Mauritania. It took only two
and a half hours and most of that time was fighting with the Mauretania customs
Nazi</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Consolas;"><b>1 Mauritanian gendarmerie</b></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Consolas;">The first stop was at the gendarmerie, the guy was
friendly wanted to see the passports, the fiche and the car papers. He wrote
all the information in a big blue book, gave Marc the papers back and asked for
10 euro. Marc asked why and told him that it was not necessary to pay. The
official said ok and wished us pleasant trip ( an easy 1-0 lead over the
corrupt officials)</span><br />
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<div class="MsoPlainText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Consolas;"><b>2 Mauritanian customs</b></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Consolas;">A not so friendly guy asked us to see the inside of the
box. Standard procedure is to have Rosana go with them as they seem to be more
hesitant in asking for something and looking for something. This guy was
closely followed by his son (apparently it was take your child to work day). He
wanted to see in the fridge and that was it. So far so good. Now we had to go
to his office. It looked more like his house. The TV was on and the whole
family and some colleagues were watching some kind of soap (11am in the
morning). In another room a couple of uniformed guys were sleeping. We went
into an empty room that could be an office. The officer wrote down the vehicle
information but before he stamped Marc's passport to release the vehicle he
wanted 10 euro.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Consolas;">Based on information we had from other travelers we knew
we should not have to pay anything on the Mauritanian side. So we told him we
should not have to pay, other travelers did not need to either. But he plainly
refused to stamp the passport without payment. So we sat down at his desk
hoping to out-wait the officer until the next victim would be there. Thinking if
everyone refuses to pay we have power by numbers. But this tactic was pretty
much trashed right away as a guy from Senegal came in and he just paid them 10
euro. Then some polish people came in, coming from Senegal and hey also paid 10
euro. Our situation was getting more difficult now, so we tried something else.
We received a copy of a form made by other travelers that is an official
looking document for the protection of the tourist. We told the officer that
we were willing to pay the 10 euro if he was going to fill out the form (
basically writing down his name and indicating how much he has charged for what
service). But he refused he only was willing to give us a receipt. He showed us
a receipt and it was just some made up receipts but nothing official. We said
that we were only prepared to pay if he signed our paper. He left angry and we
stayed behind in his office without Marc's passport being stamped. This was not
going into the right direction. After a while another officer came into the
room. We tried to plea our case with him, but he would not budge either. On the
contrary he was explaining why we needed to pay. Today was a holiday and no one
in Mauretania had to work, everything is closed but he and his colleagues were
so good to keep the border open, but to do that we should give them 10 euro
(how corrupt can you be) After all this we figured we were not going to win
this battle, so we decided to give in. We tried one more time to ask for his
name, but he would not give it. We paid him the 10 euro and Marc tried in his best
French to tell him what an embarrassment this guy was for his country and that
maybe now he understands why so few tourists are still coming to Mauretania.
The guy was not impressed. This was a beautiful and painful equalizer by the
bad guys, 1-1</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Consolas;"><b>3 Mauritanian police</b></span></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HDbUaWlbPtY/URFofom4poI/AAAAAAAAEto/FO5BiM-v2lE/s1600/IMG_1183.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HDbUaWlbPtY/URFofom4poI/AAAAAAAAEto/FO5BiM-v2lE/s320/IMG_1183.JPG" height="239" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: Consolas;">Next stop was the police. Some polish guys had told us
that they also wanted 10 euro. They told him that they were going to have
dinner tonight with the under secretary of internal affairs in Nouakchott. The
guy gave them their passports back and they did not have to pay. It sounded
like we can take the lead back. We went into the office, the guy scanned the
passports (with scanners donated by the European union, just for all you
Europeans to know where your tax dollars are going), stamped the passports, put
them on the table and he told us that he needed 10 euro, the passports were
free but we needed to pay for the vehicle. Big mistake by this corrupt officer
as Rosana told him that we already paid 10 euro for the vehicle and showed him
the receipt of the customs guy. We grabbed our passports and left his office.
He said something in French as we left but all we said was merci and au revoir.
2-1 for the good guys.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Consolas;"><b>4 Toll bridge</b></span></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-bllvCeR6gjs/URFoeuIGFYI/AAAAAAAAEtg/TuAPZ-j1tnw/s1600/IMG_1184.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-bllvCeR6gjs/URFoeuIGFYI/AAAAAAAAEtg/TuAPZ-j1tnw/s320/IMG_1184.JPG" height="320" width="239" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Consolas;">On the Senegal side of the river when
crossing the river over a wooden bridge of about 20 meters that was probably
donated by the European Union as well we were charged the equivalent of about 8
euros, which was a good deal as we had heard from other travelers that normally
only cars get charged 8 euro, trucks up to 10 ton, 20 euro and above 10 ton even
more. Since our truck is 7.5 ton we quickly paid and moved on. </span></div>
<br />
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<div class="MsoPlainText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Consolas;"><b>5 Senegal police</b></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Consolas;">Here we needed to hand over the passports and the vehicle
papers. One guy was entering the vehicle information in a book, the other guy
was entering the passport information. They stamped the passport and then asked
10 euro for the car. So Rosana pulled out the tourist protection form and said
ok we will pay but you have to fill out the paper. They took the paper, looked
at it, started discussing it and said that they were not prepared to fill out
the paper and gave us back our passports. (3-1 R&M vs corrupt Africa)</span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Consolas;"><b>6 Senegal customs</b></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Consolas;">Here we again encountered a not so friendly guy, but also
a not so smart guy. We needed to get our carnet de passage filled out and
stamped. He was proudly telling us that he knew how to do that and showed us
some other carnets that he had filled out. He wrote down the vehicle information
in another big book and then he started to fill out the carnet. Rosana needed
to help him to make sure he did it right. Once he thought he was done, he asked
for 20 euro. We ignored him and said that he still needed to fill out two lines
on the carnet. He did not listen to us and he did not understand. A colleague
of his came over and they started to talk and he finally understood. He filled
out the two lines, while Rosana already grabbed the car papers and the
passports. As soon as he finished the carnet, Marc grabbed the carnet, merci
au revoir and before the guy knew what happened to him we were gone. Not paying
20 euro. Final score 4-1.</span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Consolas;">The last step is the insurance. We did not have a lot of
information on the pricing but we took out insurance for 3 months that is
supposed to be valid in various western African countries. It was about 60
euros.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Consolas;">It was good that we took out the insurance because after
we drove for about 20km we got stopped by the police. We had heard from other
travelers that they can be pretty nasty. This guy pulled us over and wanted to
see the drivers license and insurance papers. He checked it and it was clear
that he could not give us a fine for that. Now he started to say something about
Rosana's seat belt. We really did not understand him at first, so Rosana took
off her seat belt. Then we got what he was saying. He basically was telling us
that Rosana was not wearing her seat belt. Which was bullshit, but we figured
we keep acting like we did not understand him. So we both started to unbuckle
and then buckle up again while saying “je ne pas compris”. Ultimately he got
tired off us and he saw an easier target so he handed us back the drivers
license and the insurance paper. </span></div>
<span style="font-family: Consolas;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Consolas;">After that we made it, without anymore interruptions to
our next stop - the zebrabar, on the way we saw tons of garbage (a common scene all over Africa so far - very sad - <a href="http://youtu.be/sBd6sVuHw44" target="_blank">see video</a>). Zebrabar is a campground near a national park on the coast south of Saint-Louis. A very nice place to stay for a couple of days.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Consolas;"></span><br />
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-BF9J9eX1FmY/URFoj5QdAxI/AAAAAAAAEt0/DY9KwId3voY/s1600/IMG_1187.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-BF9J9eX1FmY/URFoj5QdAxI/AAAAAAAAEt0/DY9KwId3voY/s320/IMG_1187.JPG" height="239" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: Consolas;"></span></div>
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<div class="MsoPlainText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Consolas;"><b></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Consolas;"><b></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Consolas;"><b></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Consolas;"><b></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Consolas;"><b></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Consolas;"><b></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Consolas;"><b></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Consolas;"><b></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Consolas;"><b></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Consolas;"><b></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Consolas;"><b></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Consolas;"><b></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Consolas;"><b>Update on 2/2 Hunting for visas</b></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Consolas;">After a relaxing 5 days at the Zebrabar and a visit to
the cute town of Saint-Louis (reminded us of New Orleans), we decided to drive
to Dakar to get some visas for the next few countries.</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_f0ivc3-KOw/URFoWkTGtSI/AAAAAAAAEs8/0UO1hZw7NPI/s1600/IMG_1002.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_f0ivc3-KOw/URFoWkTGtSI/AAAAAAAAEs8/0UO1hZw7NPI/s320/IMG_1002.JPG" height="239" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6I3AHSsSaQ0/URFokd92nKI/AAAAAAAAEt4/rTXE0pvRKkg/s1600/IMG_1193.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6I3AHSsSaQ0/URFokd92nKI/AAAAAAAAEt4/rTXE0pvRKkg/s320/IMG_1193.JPG" height="320" width="239" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The good life</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-YUqSEWUu2Wk/URFomjtZwfI/AAAAAAAAEuI/vKpIopZkMm0/s1600/IMG_1200.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-YUqSEWUu2Wk/URFomjtZwfI/AAAAAAAAEuI/vKpIopZkMm0/s320/IMG_1200.JPG" height="239" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-LoqufCJtvVM/URFoviWiysI/AAAAAAAAEuw/5mIIB7SEivI/s1600/IMG_5493.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-LoqufCJtvVM/URFoviWiysI/AAAAAAAAEuw/5mIIB7SEivI/s320/IMG_5493.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-IYyfEesrbz4/URFpHkjEXJI/AAAAAAAAEwg/m-4mOyR_TIQ/s1600/IMG_5684.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-IYyfEesrbz4/URFpHkjEXJI/AAAAAAAAEwg/m-4mOyR_TIQ/s320/IMG_5684.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Consolas;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Consolas;">We have decided on a
route going south. We are planning to go from Senegal to Burkina Faso via Mali.
The route through Mali apparently is safe, the borders are open and the roads
are supposed to be decent to good. After Burkina Faso we will be going through
Benin, Nigeria, Cameroon and Gabon to Congo. From there it is either to the DRC
and then into Angola or, our preferred route, to go from the Congo to Cabinda
(Angolan enclave on the coast between Congo and the DRC). The biggest challenge
is getting a visa for Angola. Many other overlanders have been struggling to
get a visa. It seems that at this time you can only get a visa in the country
where you reside (unless you know someone that can help you… We are looking for
that “someone”)</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Consolas;">We have been in Dakar for 4 days now and are staying in a
nice hotel in the centre of the city near the coast. The truck is parked in the
hotel’s parking lot and it is quite the attraction for the tourist and business
people staying in the hotel. We are thinking of charging a fee each time
someone wants to take a picture.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Consolas;">The first two visas, for Mali and Cameroon went very
easy. For Mali we dropped the passports off on Thursday and we could pick them
up on Friday afternoon. We rushed over to the Cameroon consulate to drop off
our passports there. They were super friendly and accommodating there. We had
been there the previous day to ask what forms they needed, how much it costs
and how long it would take. They said it would take 24 hours, but when we got
there at 4pm on Friday, they rushed our passports through and we had them back
30 minutes later.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Consolas;">Embassies in Africa or better African embassies in Africa
are a little bit different from other embassies. So far we have visited, Mauritania,
Mali, Congo, DRC, Angola, Cameroon and Gabon and the common theme seems to be
that they are in an old house from the colonial times which has not been
maintained since that time, there is a lot of people hanging out and you have
no idea what they are doing, you walk through a kitchen area to get to an
office and there sits a bureaucrat who acts like he is the king himself and
gives you a price for the visa that is higher than what the official fee is
that is posted on any of the forms on their wall.</span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-QitDVPmKwS8/URFpOZLkpeI/AAAAAAAAEw4/OHvk7pu8dmo/s1600/IMG_5698.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-QitDVPmKwS8/URFpOZLkpeI/AAAAAAAAEw4/OHvk7pu8dmo/s320/IMG_5698.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Big tree, small truck</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-srupL3MjQ2Y/URFoaIo8j4I/AAAAAAAAEtI/fjBxFMl696w/s1600/IMG_1004.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-srupL3MjQ2Y/URFoaIo8j4I/AAAAAAAAEtI/fjBxFMl696w/s320/IMG_1004.JPG" height="239" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Consolas;">Only the Angolan embassy was a bit different, it was
actually a honorary consulate in which none of the employees spoke Portuguese
and the consul himself was Lebanese. Oh... and they do not issue visas.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Consolas;">Tomorrow we will try to get the visas for Burkina Faso
and Benin and then it is time to start moving again. We will probably head
straight for Mali. We first intended to visit a national park here in Senegal,
but you are required to take a guide and we heard from other travelers that
they barely saw any animals. So far many of the parks that we visited have been
disappointing. Mainly probably because we are used to the parks in Southern
Africa, where the parks are clean and managed well.</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-YlfTLL7iSaA/URFochPWs7I/AAAAAAAAEtY/UlzihRP4dJs/s1600/IMG_1015.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-YlfTLL7iSaA/URFochPWs7I/AAAAAAAAEtY/UlzihRP4dJs/s320/IMG_1015.JPG" height="239" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-hpBs-dbxIbg/URFpY7fdrbI/AAAAAAAAExk/2Zwi1Xw0jM4/s1600/IMG_5714.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-hpBs-dbxIbg/URFpY7fdrbI/AAAAAAAAExk/2Zwi1Xw0jM4/s320/IMG_5714.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_DcKuLEvjNU/URFpcWridsI/AAAAAAAAExw/grZ0RZ71-90/s1600/IMG_5725.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_DcKuLEvjNU/URFpcWridsI/AAAAAAAAExw/grZ0RZ71-90/s320/IMG_5725.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dakar street life, we really got to like Dakar</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-FHv4gsvpf0k/URFpZFYVoaI/AAAAAAAAExg/m5B5Oi6tnEE/s1600/IMG_5710.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-FHv4gsvpf0k/URFpZFYVoaI/AAAAAAAAExg/m5B5Oi6tnEE/s320/IMG_5710.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Kjv6UlkbgMs/URFpWxof_II/AAAAAAAAExY/a8De4S5VcBI/s1600/IMG_5711.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Kjv6UlkbgMs/URFpWxof_II/AAAAAAAAExY/a8De4S5VcBI/s320/IMG_5711.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-pn4Tq35sEQc/URFpuLr5yqI/AAAAAAAAEyw/XCnrInXhl2A/s1600/IMG_5757.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-pn4Tq35sEQc/URFpuLr5yqI/AAAAAAAAEyw/XCnrInXhl2A/s320/IMG_5757.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uD9g7K2FzMY/URFptqraNwI/AAAAAAAAEyo/_6iVhxPG3Fg/s1600/IMG_5758.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uD9g7K2FzMY/URFptqraNwI/AAAAAAAAEyo/_6iVhxPG3Fg/s320/IMG_5758.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
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<div class="MsoPlainText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Consolas;"><b>Update 2/5</b></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Consolas;">We have 4 of the 9 visas we need to get to Namibia and decided to move on.</span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Consolas;">The embassies of Burkina Faso and Benin were friendly, efficient and non-corrupt. Are we in Africa ???</span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Consolas;">Tomorrow we drive south east in the direction of Mali.</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14303187295739504612noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7572512951301425075.post-39635007983361912152013-02-05T14:01:00.002-08:002013-02-05T14:01:29.003-08:00Last few days in Mauritania<span style="font-family: Consolas;"> Update on 1/24</span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Consolas;">Out of the desert Ouadane via Noukochott to Diawling
National Park</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-1kihExlco7A/URFbBrpnZjI/AAAAAAAAEns/vzjGc7ylo98/s1600/IMG_5321.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-1kihExlco7A/URFbBrpnZjI/AAAAAAAAEns/vzjGc7ylo98/s320/IMG_5321.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: Consolas;">After staying for one night in Ouadane it was time to
move on. The only noteworthy thing that happened in Ouadane was meeting a 14
year old boy who wanted to practice his English with us. He was really the
first kid that did not start to talk to us to ask for money or a cadeau. He was
quite a remarkable child as his English was the best of anyone we met in
Mauretania and he had his career path planned out. he was going to work for
NASA and live in Seattle. To get there he was going to finish his school in
Ouadane and then he would move to Qatar on a scholarship from the Qatar
foundation to study Astronomy. It was real fun to talk to him and see someone
who had confidence and self respect.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cqzSgmGJxuA/URFbJT1ol2I/AAAAAAAAEn8/8dZU0yEGYg8/s1600/IMG_5332.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cqzSgmGJxuA/URFbJT1ol2I/AAAAAAAAEn8/8dZU0yEGYg8/s320/IMG_5332.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Consolas;">The 180 km road from Ouadane to Atar was voted<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>one of the worst road off the whole Saharan
Desert. It was supposed to have the worst corrugation of any road in the
Sahara. Fortunately for us Total will be starting some oil exploration in the
area and they probably funded a project to have the road graded. It was smooth
driving all the way to Atar. We encountered a convoy of many huge trucks
carrying anything from mobile homes to drilling equipment. </span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-q8hAvYlzDl8/URFbOuG5BRI/AAAAAAAAEoU/Bn9waawuahA/s1600/IMG_5346.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-q8hAvYlzDl8/URFbOuG5BRI/AAAAAAAAEoU/Bn9waawuahA/s320/IMG_5346.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-m2GheD8wFF8/URFbSk5YXQI/AAAAAAAAEok/mO-FiO1a6UE/s1600/IMG_5353.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-m2GheD8wFF8/URFbSk5YXQI/AAAAAAAAEok/mO-FiO1a6UE/s320/IMG_5353.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: Consolas;">Since we arrived in Atar early we decided to drive about
50km further to Terjit, a town that has a natural spring. We were thinking to
stay there a couple of days, but like any town in Mauretania that has something
of interest, the town had quite a few auberges that had seen better times,
garbage on the roadside and the local tout telling us that we could not drive
further so we should stay at his place. Marc checked the road further up the
canyon while Rosana was asked for cadeaux by the local youths. Clearly not a
village to just hang out. So the next day we headed straight for Noukachott
after paying the chief of the village for allowing us to stay on his camping with
a toilet that had not been cleaned for 5 years and no water and no electricity
(I guess that is why we have our house on wheels with our own toilet and plenty
of water) Noukachott is the capital of Mauretania, 800,000 people living
between the sea and the desert in just sand and off course garbage. We found a
little paradise (compared to the area outside the auberge) in the middle of the
city. Here we could catch up on e-mail, plan our next few weeks and visit the
port de peche.</span></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-OItUFzW36w8/URFbZA3lp-I/AAAAAAAAEo8/JlEk-9iChq0/s1600/IMG_5361.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-OItUFzW36w8/URFbZA3lp-I/AAAAAAAAEo8/JlEk-9iChq0/s320/IMG_5361.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-jZujbSOvDZU/URFbdyPcKGI/AAAAAAAAEpE/1QAxwSorpTg/s1600/IMG_5363.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-jZujbSOvDZU/URFbdyPcKGI/AAAAAAAAEpE/1QAxwSorpTg/s320/IMG_5363.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KxWHOUtwXWk/URFbuQ7XbnI/AAAAAAAAEp8/cvVyVe4IlNQ/s1600/IMG_5383.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KxWHOUtwXWk/URFbuQ7XbnI/AAAAAAAAEp8/cvVyVe4IlNQ/s320/IMG_5383.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yVj8J9rXQ7M/URFb70qYC2I/AAAAAAAAEqo/xkImwnQz4HY/s1600/IMG_5403.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yVj8J9rXQ7M/URFb70qYC2I/AAAAAAAAEqo/xkImwnQz4HY/s320/IMG_5403.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-5FT4TvdBUCY/URFb7XW9D8I/AAAAAAAAEqk/f6-41Y2gUNc/s1600/IMG_5407.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-5FT4TvdBUCY/URFb7XW9D8I/AAAAAAAAEqk/f6-41Y2gUNc/s320/IMG_5407.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-PfB4zNUD_vA/URFb1lxZnbI/AAAAAAAAEqU/3qMNCgyMFj0/s1600/IMG_5396.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-PfB4zNUD_vA/URFb1lxZnbI/AAAAAAAAEqU/3qMNCgyMFj0/s320/IMG_5396.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Consolas;">After Noukachott we started driving towards Senegal. We
were planning to stay a couple of days in Diawling national park at the border
with Senegal. We did not make it to the park the first day and we wildcamped
about 20 km outside the park close to the wetlands. It was really nice, lots of
flamingos, pelicans, storks, herons, egrets and other waterbirds. </span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-tf3ynY5lVgE/URFcLyv4knI/AAAAAAAAErs/8nm_VN3l_Eo/s1600/IMG_5466.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-tf3ynY5lVgE/URFcLyv4knI/AAAAAAAAErs/8nm_VN3l_Eo/s320/IMG_5466.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-FQfwb6butFc/URFcQ-5WMXI/AAAAAAAAEr8/v0b3I45licQ/s1600/IMG_5469.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-FQfwb6butFc/URFcQ-5WMXI/AAAAAAAAEr8/v0b3I45licQ/s320/IMG_5469.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-sU6Y_SB_6Fo/URFcB7bv-TI/AAAAAAAAErE/oF5TbU4k9Wc/s1600/IMG_5432.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-sU6Y_SB_6Fo/URFcB7bv-TI/AAAAAAAAErE/oF5TbU4k9Wc/s320/IMG_5432.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-uIqV0uEhUv4/URFcQU4SGRI/AAAAAAAAEr0/viD9N-hO44U/s1600/IMG_5476.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-uIqV0uEhUv4/URFcQU4SGRI/AAAAAAAAEr0/viD9N-hO44U/s320/IMG_5476.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yes the pink stuff in the distance are Flamingoes, lots of them</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Consolas;">The next day we drove into the park but the bird watching
was a lot better outside the park. In the park there was a big flock of
flamingoes far out on the water but other than that we saw a lot more outside
the park. In the park there were villages with the accompanying garbage,
camels, cows and donkeys. Fortunately we found another nice bush camping spot
for the night. We decided the next day to go into Senegal.</span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7P4dSUnrqSI/URFcU-Iti4I/AAAAAAAAEsQ/l6gqf1ima6U/s1600/IMG_5478.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7P4dSUnrqSI/URFcU-Iti4I/AAAAAAAAEsQ/l6gqf1ima6U/s320/IMG_5478.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Entering the National Park: Camels, cows and people</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kR07rEc8o_o/URFcUKnDRWI/AAAAAAAAEsM/nKSktB1Rjyc/s1600/IMG_5487.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kR07rEc8o_o/URFcUKnDRWI/AAAAAAAAEsM/nKSktB1Rjyc/s320/IMG_5487.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14303187295739504612noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7572512951301425075.post-73292796864487625192013-01-20T07:37:00.002-08:002013-01-20T07:37:50.667-08:00Mauritania, Africa at last<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">We have updated our blog with links to pictures per country (new page).</span></div>
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</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b>Update Jan 10<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup> 2013</b></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">A quick update about our last few days in Morocco. After
getting the air conditioning fixed in Agadir we drove straight south towards
the Western Sahara. We took it slow and drove partially along the beach<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>on pistes to put the Unimog to the test. We
now know it can drive on three wheels and can pretty much get anywhere. </span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hEw_bWl-VSY/UPujJDsbOFI/AAAAAAAAEdY/aHdkSl73ey8/s320/IMG_5098.JPG" height="213" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yes the road suddenly ends.....</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<br />
<div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-H7Anh65wYJU/UPujO6mg-uI/AAAAAAAAEdw/atoiHZN78jI/s1600/IMG_5101.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-H7Anh65wYJU/UPujO6mg-uI/AAAAAAAAEdw/atoiHZN78jI/s320/IMG_5101.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The Western Sahara was interesting, a very good tar road
for about 800km through the desert with some nice views on one side, of steep
cliffs, the Atlantic Ocean and sand, rocks and dunes on the other side. New was
also the military presence. About every 100km and before every town there was
police that would stop you and ask for a “fiche” (a note that contains the
passport information, vehicle information, job and some other information that
is of no relevance). Fortunately we had made copies in Agadir, so each of the
stops was rather quick. We are just wondering what are they doing with these
“fiches”? Is it a hobby of bored policemen to collect as many tourist fiches as
possible? Do they have gatherings, like stamp collectors, where they meet and
exchange “fiches”? Is a ‘fiche” from a Dutch/Brazilian couple more valuable
than a French couple? We just do not know…..</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-yxsnPDGmkXE/UPujQi4z1dI/AAAAAAAAEd8/VSwaaL_7Ab8/s1600/IMG_5121.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-yxsnPDGmkXE/UPujQi4z1dI/AAAAAAAAEd8/VSwaaL_7Ab8/s320/IMG_5121.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_ocjf4usYLE/UPujTC5IBwI/AAAAAAAAEeI/xuZ2OFR34lE/s1600/IMG_5136.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_ocjf4usYLE/UPujTC5IBwI/AAAAAAAAEeI/xuZ2OFR34lE/s320/IMG_5136.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Near Dakhla</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-IPppm4Dbr4s/UPujW75R_TI/AAAAAAAAEeQ/wQpyu5yc6zc/s1600/IMG_5141.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-IPppm4Dbr4s/UPujW75R_TI/AAAAAAAAEeQ/wQpyu5yc6zc/s320/IMG_5141.JPG" height="320" width="213" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Where is Cape Town?</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0KiuXiOMPRY/UPujZWBG9GI/AAAAAAAAEeY/GdqPnlleJN0/s1600/IMG_5145.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0KiuXiOMPRY/UPujZWBG9GI/AAAAAAAAEeY/GdqPnlleJN0/s320/IMG_5145.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">In Dakhla we filled up on water and diesel (0.60 Euro a
liter, Morocco gives all kind of tax advantages to people living in the Western
Sahara to lure Moroccans to move there, so when it ever comes to a vote about
the independence of the Western Sahara, the Moroccans will outnumber the local
people).</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">From there we drove towards the border with Mauritania,
trying to find a camping spot before hitting the border crossing the next day.
This proved to be a small challenge as either the military did not allow us to park
close to the beach when we found a track and we did not want to drive off road/track
since there are still mines in the area. In the end we decided to just park
next to the road for the night. Within 10 minutes a military guy showed up
telling us that it was not safe there and that we should park 1 km further next
to<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the military check point so they
could guard us. We did not feel like moving again as we had straightened out
the truck and started making dinner, so we told the guy that Rosana was to sick
to drive further. Now it was OK to stay but we should use the horn and
headlights to warn him in case of a problem. Friendly soldier and off course
there was no problem. We always felt super safe wild camping in Morocco.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">On the road from Dakhla we drove a couple of times
through a “swarm” of grasshoppers (<a href="http://youtu.be/XzJ-jB6_IPI" target="_blank">see video</a>). They were everywhere and the
road was covered with them. Easy to believe that these creatures can ruin the
crop of a country. They are big and there must have been hundreds of them per
square meter. </span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-RGlXseOdkNw/UPujhCUXBxI/AAAAAAAAEew/LzcD-0JV-W0/s1600/IMG_5156.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-RGlXseOdkNw/UPujhCUXBxI/AAAAAAAAEew/LzcD-0JV-W0/s320/IMG_5156.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yes, Millions of Grasshoppers</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Border crossing into Mauritania.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">This was another experience. We had heard from people
that it would take about 4-5 hours but could take up to 8 hours. Well we have
set another record, it took us 9 hours to get out of Morocco and into Mauritania.
The worst part was trying to get out of Morocco. Below is the timing of the a
very efficient border crossing:</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">9am: Arrive at Moroccan border</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">There are two lines (well maybe more...), one for
trucks and one for any other car. Not clear in which line we should go so we
decide to go with the regular cars. Rosana gets an exit form that we need to
fill out while Marc waits in the non-moving line.</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-c6AZgghQcEg/UPujlFZAlXI/AAAAAAAAEfA/2_hx6VK24aQ/s1600/IMG_5173.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-c6AZgghQcEg/UPujlFZAlXI/AAAAAAAAEfA/2_hx6VK24aQ/s320/IMG_5173.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-GcV_mNmIbj4/UPujjj51f1I/AAAAAAAAEe4/dLH30Hr8vSU/s1600/IMG_5165.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-GcV_mNmIbj4/UPujjj51f1I/AAAAAAAAEe4/dLH30Hr8vSU/s320/IMG_5165.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Line to get out of Morocco</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mVRYigg4aEs/UPujmi_zIqI/AAAAAAAAEfI/wmikg_OgbS8/s1600/IMG_5170.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mVRYigg4aEs/UPujmi_zIqI/AAAAAAAAEfI/wmikg_OgbS8/s320/IMG_5170.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Is it the same van from the Moroccan border?</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">9.30am: Move to the truck line</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Some
guy from Ivory coast tells us to go to the truck lane. So we do.</span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">10.00am: Car lane starts moving. Marc decides to go back
to the car lane (Stupid move)</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">After moving back to the car
lane the truck lane starts moving fast.</span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">11.30am: First in line to get into the secured area</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">An Moroccan official, who had
seen us in the car lane for the last hour and a half directs us back in the
truck lane.</span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">12.00pm: Entering secured area</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">We are now in the secured area
for trucks and park our car in front of the “scanner” (same big X-ray machine
that we had to go through when we entered Morocco). <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is not clear what we need to do. Finally
found out that we need to get our passport stamped. We put our passport on a
granite countertop together with about 10 other passports.</span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">1.00pm: Passport gets stamped</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">No Idea what the guy in the
office does but it took him an hour to get the 10 passports stamped. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Back to the “scanner”. We are
still in line there. By now the first vehicles from Mauritania have arrived and
since there is only one scanner, the whole process goes even slower.</span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">1.30pm: Cleared the scanner</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">We got through the scanner and
got the import/export document for the car signed off on. Now to the customs
office for the exit stamp. After that we are finally off to Mauritania. No,
wait…. there are still two places where they needed to check the passport again
and a third place where they had to write our passport and car information in a
big book.</span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">2.00pm: Leaving Morocco, entering no-man’s land</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Now we had to drive for 5km
through no-man’s land. As soon as we enter it we get hassled by Mauritanians
that want to guide us to the border crossing, change money. Besides these
people there are just car-wrecks and garbage along this very bad road.</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qidTM_RUIfI/UPukAE8zTLI/AAAAAAAAEfg/JVmMGY6fF0s/s1600/IMG_1140.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qidTM_RUIfI/UPukAE8zTLI/AAAAAAAAEfg/JVmMGY6fF0s/s320/IMG_1140.JPG" height="239" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-48kaf_UP-eo/UPukB_wmp7I/AAAAAAAAEfs/YZ2GjaC3_qc/s1600/IMG_1141.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-48kaf_UP-eo/UPukB_wmp7I/AAAAAAAAEfs/YZ2GjaC3_qc/s320/IMG_1141.JPG" height="239" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">No man's land - garbage and car wrecks</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">2.30pm: Arrive at the secured area for Mauritania</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Also here we get hassled by
people that want to help us through the border. We ignore them. The first stop
is customs a friendly guy asks for a “fiche” (yes apparently the Mauritanians
have the same hobby as the Moroccans) and he wants to see the inside of the
car. As soon as he is inside he asks for a “cadeau” to speed up the process. We
ignore him and act like we do not speak French, he then asks for money but
again we ignore him. We are getting worried that we now have endure a very long
inspection process but fortunately in 5 minutes we were done. (us vs corrupt
official 1-0)</span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-A_b7LbrCLKM/UPukHMcA0LI/AAAAAAAAEgE/Gq6t5L6ai8w/s1600/IMG_1145.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-A_b7LbrCLKM/UPukHMcA0LI/AAAAAAAAEgE/Gq6t5L6ai8w/s320/IMG_1145.JPG" height="239" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Line to get in Mauritania after No man's land</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">2.45pm: Buy an import/export document for the car</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Next stop was the customs office
to get an import export document. This was also done in about 10 minutes and
they did not even ask for a “cadeau”</span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">3.00pm: Pay local community tax</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">A guy who looked like one of the
hustlers comes to our car and wants us to pay a local tax. We ignore him and
start to drive away…..that is until we get stopped by someone who looked like
and official Mauritanian soldier who tells us that we need to pay the local
tax. So we do and off we go to the next stop.</span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">3.15pm: Immigration office</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Now we are in the immigration
office where they actually have a computer and they scan the passport and add
some additional information. The boss walks us back outside with the passports
and asks for a cadeau. Marc acts like he does not understand, grabs the
passports from the guys hand and says “merci”. The official now asks for money
but sees that it is a lost cause as he does not have our passports anymore (Us
vs corrupt official 2-0).</span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">3.30pm: Insurance office</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">We are now done with all
immigration and custom formalities however in Mauritania you need to buy
insurance for your car. This is done in the back of a little shop/currency exchange.
One guy manually filling out three different forms and collecting 60 Euro. It
took one hour and a half until it was our turn. While waiting we were enjoying the nature around us....</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5apSLBp4eWQ/UPukAHRsTwI/AAAAAAAAEfc/Z2uibhoG_1s/s1600/IMG_1133.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5apSLBp4eWQ/UPukAHRsTwI/AAAAAAAAEfc/Z2uibhoG_1s/s320/IMG_1133.JPG" height="239" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-IScOcVTqZZw/UPukF50uLpI/AAAAAAAAEf8/3DgUJDCpahQ/s1600/IMG_1146.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-IScOcVTqZZw/UPukF50uLpI/AAAAAAAAEf8/3DgUJDCpahQ/s320/IMG_1146.JPG" height="239" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">More garbage and car wrecks</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">5.30pm: Finally on the road in Mauritania.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">We decided to stop at the first
“campground”, more a small goat farm where we could park our car before it was
getting to dark. Tomorrow we will be going into the desert again as we will
follow the train track (that supposedly is used by the longest train in the
world (3+km) that carries ore from the north of Mauritania) towards Atar.</span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-uQT-DrvAT7I/UPukUlmiJ5I/AAAAAAAAEhg/XVenkp2jrY0/s1600/IMG_5174.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-uQT-DrvAT7I/UPukUlmiJ5I/AAAAAAAAEhg/XVenkp2jrY0/s320/IMG_5174.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">After negotiating a 25% discount</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-pzHKWPDfjgE/UPukY_6RV4I/AAAAAAAAEh4/x5LpyFEi38w/s1600/IMG_5177.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-pzHKWPDfjgE/UPukY_6RV4I/AAAAAAAAEh4/x5LpyFEi38w/s320/IMG_5177.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b>Update Jan 15<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup> 2013</b></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Sand dunes between Chinguetti and Atar</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">We made it to Atar in three days of driving along the
railtrack. The first 300km the scenery was quite boring: sand, rocks, stone and
flat. The fun part was the driving through the sand dunes. We got stuck twice,
the Unimog is struggling with the sudden steep ascents. One time just reversing
and driving up with the diffs locked solved the problem and the second time we
just drove around the dune.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The last 200 kms the scenery got impressive again with
the dunes (see here <a href="http://youtu.be/1qHUUiu-AV0" target="_blank">video</a> when we were driving over the dunes) and the Adrar plateau in the background. </span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FNyWhY1H2Sw/UPukaiSHpkI/AAAAAAAAEiA/Sbq1AhczjcA/s1600/IMG_5188.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FNyWhY1H2Sw/UPukaiSHpkI/AAAAAAAAEiA/Sbq1AhczjcA/s320/IMG_5188.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6DLT6cqtBOE/UPukgYnPa6I/AAAAAAAAEiU/ToW_IUY4hsw/s1600/IMG_5197.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6DLT6cqtBOE/UPukgYnPa6I/AAAAAAAAEiU/ToW_IUY4hsw/s320/IMG_5197.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-U-cZKcB-z7A/UPukewfx92I/AAAAAAAAEiM/idyzXHVsEpE/s1600/IMG_5200.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-U-cZKcB-z7A/UPukewfx92I/AAAAAAAAEiM/idyzXHVsEpE/s320/IMG_5200.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-O7GPsoX4dp8/UPukuJShS3I/AAAAAAAAEi0/FeT2hql4M6M/s1600/IMG_5214.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-O7GPsoX4dp8/UPukuJShS3I/AAAAAAAAEi0/FeT2hql4M6M/s320/IMG_5214.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Not a bad spot for wild camping !!!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LrwpDsCgAkA/UPukmrpcARI/AAAAAAAAEik/-z19mIwS10s/s1600/IMG_5208.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LrwpDsCgAkA/UPukmrpcARI/AAAAAAAAEik/-z19mIwS10s/s320/IMG_5208.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-T1VWRPolHD0/UPukvywU8QI/AAAAAAAAEjE/Mc738KEpp_c/s1600/IMG_5220.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-T1VWRPolHD0/UPukvywU8QI/AAAAAAAAEjE/Mc738KEpp_c/s320/IMG_5220.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-DKaXIxjLzmg/UPuk9MdOukI/AAAAAAAAEjw/SiKnjqN-U1Q/s1600/IMG_5236.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-DKaXIxjLzmg/UPuk9MdOukI/AAAAAAAAEjw/SiKnjqN-U1Q/s320/IMG_5236.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Arriving at the campground in Atar we got an update on
the war in Mali. The previous week we had heard it was safe to travel through
the southern part of Mali. This should still be safe as the fighting is a lot
further north but we don’t know whether Mali will start closing its borders.
The Mauritanian army has also moved troops to the border with Mali and travel
in the Eastern part of Mauritania is restricted. We are still quite far from
Mali and everyone in Atar is telling us that it is still safe to travel around
the Adrar plateau.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Stayed two days in Atar, just relaxing and strolling
through the village. The area has been devastated by the travel
warnings/restrictions issued by the EU. There used to be direct flights from
Paris to Atar. But they have been suspended for a while and French tourists are
not coming to the area anymore, so all the Auberges/hostels/hotels are closed
or have been deserted. It is a big blow to the local economy.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">We also found out that none of the ATMs in the town are
working and that of the three banks in town only one was willing/able to
exchange dollars/euros. </span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Walking over the market we saw a lot of bags with flour
that came from the US. 45kg bags with in big writing “USAID – Not for resale or
exchange”. I guess it shows again how corrupt Africa is. People are dying of
starvation and around the corner someone else is making money on selling flour
that was intended for refugee camps.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">We almost got arrested when we were buying flour. We had
brought a plastic bag to put the flour in, but did not realize that in Atar
they have outlawed all plastic bags to fight pollution. While we were in the
shop someone saw us using the plastic and went to the police. The policeman
gave us a warning while he was leaning on a “USAID flour bag – NOT FOR RESALE”.
So the positive thing is that they are trying to do something about the garbage
that you find around<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>most towns, the bad
thing is that they apparently do not care that people are smuggling and selling
flour that was intended for humanitarian aid projects.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Before leaving for the desert again we went to the
Gendarmerie to let them know about our routes. That is where we found out that
they have been keeping track of our progress through Mauritania. The head of
police, had the information of where we had passed in his book. Apparently the
information gets called in to the town that you are visiting next. The head of
police called with his colleagues in the two main towns we are going to visit to
let them know that we are coming. So we expect a grand welcome when we get to
these places.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-dSlK8ryFkE8/UPulZcvBU2I/AAAAAAAAElE/mmhTk-qwl5w/s1600/IMG_5252.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-dSlK8ryFkE8/UPulZcvBU2I/AAAAAAAAElE/mmhTk-qwl5w/s1600/IMG_5252.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Adrar Plateau</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">We just arrived at the first town but we were only
welcomed by many children asking for a cadeau and some hustlers trying to get
us to stay at their campground and offering guiding services. It was kind of
annoying so we decided to drive on and started the first part of driving
through a riverbed for about 120km to the next town. It is absolutely beautiful
and very very sandy. Got stuck once pretty good with sand halfway up the tires.
A little bit of digging and releasing more air did the trick.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-YGYnxeQICZQ/UPukJsEzs-I/AAAAAAAAEg0/GfpGma3ceVc/s1600/IMG_1156.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-YGYnxeQICZQ/UPukJsEzs-I/AAAAAAAAEg0/GfpGma3ceVc/s1600/IMG_1156.jpg" height="239" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Digging...</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b>Update Jan 16<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup> 2013 - 20km West of Ouedane</b></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">We almost made it to Ouedane if we had not gotten stuck
again. This time it was more serious as we already had the tires at a very low
pressure and the sand was thick and soft. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">We left our beautiful campsite around 9.30 in the
morning. The wind had picked up a lot during the night and after an hour or so
we were in the middle of a minor sandstorm. The track was very easy to follow
until we came to the village of Toucheret. After a while the tracks all
disappeared and we could not find a place to cross the riverbed as the dunes on
the other side were to steep. We decided to follow the riverbed more west, were
there was supposed to be another track. When we got there after 6km we did not
find any tracks and as we continued in the riverbed we hit a soft spot and got
stuck. The tires were about half covered in sand and after trying to dig them
out and using the diff locks without success we had to try our last resort, the
sandplates. By this time some women and kids from the nearby village (5 huts
and a camel) had gathered and were trying to sell us some local art and the
kids were asking for cadeaus. Obviously we were not interested in any of it as
were trying to get the unimog out. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Instead of offering help to dig us out, they
all kept asking for cadeaus and sat down having fun looking at us digging
around the wheels, getting the sandplates off the car and putting them under
the wheels. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-l9uZVm-P3yU/UPukPMxvZjI/AAAAAAAAEhM/8pHVCUbrpXg/s1600/IMG_1165.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-l9uZVm-P3yU/UPukPMxvZjI/AAAAAAAAEhM/8pHVCUbrpXg/s1600/IMG_1165.jpg" height="239" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">More digging</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"> Fortunately we were successful and after about an hour and a half
or so we got the Unimog out (<a href="http://youtu.be/f3KkpPVwVYg" target="_blank">See video</a>). The women helped carrying the sandplates to the
car, which was nice but they immediately started to try sell us some of their
stuff (no idea what it was what they were trying to sell, it looked like a
little drum and a carpet).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4V0T1Y4pZAA/UPukWmrmt3I/AAAAAAAAEhw/DDvTCIIyZ9g/s1600/IMG_1170.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4V0T1Y4pZAA/UPukWmrmt3I/AAAAAAAAEhw/DDvTCIIyZ9g/s1600/IMG_1170.jpg" height="239" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mauritanian AAA (ANWB)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Again we
first wanted to get the sandplates back on the car, which was not easy as one
of them was bended by the force of the car. After that we thought we could
thank the women and give them some money for helping us. But as suddenly as
they had appeared, so quickly they were gone. So we drove a little further and
decided to try to cross the dunes in the general direction of where we needed
to go. We are about 20km further now, still have not found any tracks but
according to the route we have on the GPS we are on a track. So tomorrow we
will continue driving through the dunes and sand. We really have the feeling
that we are in the desert now, only sand, dunes and a sandstorm. We are full of
sand (hair, ears, etc… looking forward to a nice shower before dinner/bed), the
box is full of sand, sand is just everywhere. It is great (Marc) not so (Rosana).</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-TupHq-kLbv4/UPulbat9gVI/AAAAAAAAElM/1apEYy-SQlY/s1600/IMG_5264.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-TupHq-kLbv4/UPulbat9gVI/AAAAAAAAElM/1apEYy-SQlY/s1600/IMG_5264.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Wild Camping in a postcard setting</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-a5LCTRYKs3E/UPuliRrv7VI/AAAAAAAAElk/qOTXDy3Cy5w/s1600/IMG_5265.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-a5LCTRYKs3E/UPuliRrv7VI/AAAAAAAAElk/qOTXDy3Cy5w/s1600/IMG_5265.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hfGEUlYhbOU/UPulgjdDevI/AAAAAAAAElc/rpE7BqitWek/s1600/IMG_5270.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hfGEUlYhbOU/UPulgjdDevI/AAAAAAAAElc/rpE7BqitWek/s1600/IMG_5270.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mVl8ScNFZ3M/UPulo_arJ9I/AAAAAAAAEl0/xR7lCu19NoU/s1600/IMG_5280.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mVl8ScNFZ3M/UPulo_arJ9I/AAAAAAAAEl0/xR7lCu19NoU/s1600/IMG_5280.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yI42IJsWq94/UPulp8hQQBI/AAAAAAAAEl8/B2tSI0fFWRY/s1600/IMG_5288.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yI42IJsWq94/UPulp8hQQBI/AAAAAAAAEl8/B2tSI0fFWRY/s1600/IMG_5288.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-1r6S212CEFs/UPul1M33TtI/AAAAAAAAEmU/r6oeOOTFW6U/s1600/IMG_5297.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-1r6S212CEFs/UPul1M33TtI/AAAAAAAAEmU/r6oeOOTFW6U/s1600/IMG_5297.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Old City of Ouadane (13th century)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0Xf8TPmncUg/UPul_O7uNKI/AAAAAAAAEmk/QhQJb3avVw8/s1600/IMG_5307.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0Xf8TPmncUg/UPul_O7uNKI/AAAAAAAAEmk/QhQJb3avVw8/s1600/IMG_5307.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Fmmaymeo50I/UPumBnsGRUI/AAAAAAAAEms/Han59o8nVsI/s1600/IMG_5310.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Fmmaymeo50I/UPumBnsGRUI/AAAAAAAAEms/Han59o8nVsI/s1600/IMG_5310.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">View from the top of the old city</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-YywEqixyLos/UPumCFo3qWI/AAAAAAAAEm0/kqRAs--yftk/s1600/IMG_5314.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-YywEqixyLos/UPumCFo3qWI/AAAAAAAAEm0/kqRAs--yftk/s1600/IMG_5314.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14303187295739504612noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7572512951301425075.post-57807169931343058502013-01-01T15:46:00.003-08:002013-01-01T15:46:30.158-08:00Christmas & New Year's eve<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Sorry we have not updated our blog in a while</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">We have had internet access a few times but not good
& long enough to upload the pictures.</span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Update: 12-23-2012<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Erg Chebbi, Morocco</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Not a lot of newsworthy stuff since the last update. We
stayed at a very nice, quiet campground for a week nearby Essaouira, where we
waited for the Carnet de Passage to be delivered and also took the opportunity
to fix some little things on the car (broken lock, leaking rooftop-window). We
also visited a camel market (where they also sell sheep, goats, cows, etc...). Marc has not exchanged Rosana for some camels yet
as he did not find any camels that could cook a decent dinner.</span><br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-gQRBfbv1dB8/UOBpN2_tCAI/AAAAAAAAELM/uMuKSOxPISU/s1600/IMG_4455.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-gQRBfbv1dB8/UOBpN2_tCAI/AAAAAAAAELM/uMuKSOxPISU/s1600/IMG_4455.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-h8cgYL4ym_s/UOBrPVhQ7cI/AAAAAAAAELk/kuR95atEoOM/s1600/IMG_4463.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-h8cgYL4ym_s/UOBrPVhQ7cI/AAAAAAAAELk/kuR95atEoOM/s1600/IMG_4463.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
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If you are wondering about the sound of a camel: <span class="watch-page-link"><a href="http://youtu.be/a-uR6XEWLI8">http://youtu.be/a-uR6XEWLI8</a></span> </div>
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<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">We haven't bought any meat in the local markets... Are you wondering why ???</span></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hK-DEjUztik/UOMKAFnJiPI/AAAAAAAAEOk/8XdgzQoMctw/s1600/IMG_4508.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hK-DEjUztik/UOMKAFnJiPI/AAAAAAAAEOk/8XdgzQoMctw/s1600/IMG_4508.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The Carnet de Passage arrived a lot quicker than expected
(thanks Patrick) and we picked it up in Marrakech. </span><br />
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<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Marrakech was a little bit of a disappointment. It is very
touristy and the Medina does not feel as original as the ones we visited in Fes
and Tetouan. To prove our disappointment, we only took a picture of the famous
Mosque with its 75 meter tall tower.</span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-v3dtMZyESjU/UOMJ_wGPR9I/AAAAAAAAEOg/Hq9Hh8ZepVk/s1600/IMG_4527.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-v3dtMZyESjU/UOMJ_wGPR9I/AAAAAAAAEOg/Hq9Hh8ZepVk/s1600/IMG_4527.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">We spent the night practically right under the Mosque, so
we got a nice wake-up call at 5.30am (Ian, if you are reading this, going to a
Baptizing is not that bad and no wonder the state of Michigan did not allow a
Mosque to have speakers installed on the Minaret).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">After Marrakech we started to drive in the direction of
the Sahara desert. We ended up “bushcamping” at some beautiful spots along the
way. We drove through canyons and valleys. Absolutely stunning !</span></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-eG1l4H3TK04/UOMKGVAKeFI/AAAAAAAAEO8/8I_Ob_2S85c/s1600/IMG_4545.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-eG1l4H3TK04/UOMKGVAKeFI/AAAAAAAAEO8/8I_Ob_2S85c/s1600/IMG_4545.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TVfPq06PaJY/UOMK195utsI/AAAAAAAAEQU/Oszr-fnBiHM/s1600/IMG_4595.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TVfPq06PaJY/UOMK195utsI/AAAAAAAAEQU/Oszr-fnBiHM/s1600/IMG_4595.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cZKbfcTRKys/UOMLAEcMfLI/AAAAAAAAEQo/ICyz1G2LJ9g/s1600/IMG_4599.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cZKbfcTRKys/UOMLAEcMfLI/AAAAAAAAEQo/ICyz1G2LJ9g/s1600/IMG_4599.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-amaS2Pldwv8/UOMLOiW8m7I/AAAAAAAAERA/CbQ747PufQg/s1600/IMG_4608.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-amaS2Pldwv8/UOMLOiW8m7I/AAAAAAAAERA/CbQ747PufQg/s1600/IMG_4608.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-kN_nf1qa3WA/UOMLk-3N24I/AAAAAAAAER0/SY1E3WLTzuE/s1600/IMG_4637.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-kN_nf1qa3WA/UOMLk-3N24I/AAAAAAAAER0/SY1E3WLTzuE/s1600/IMG_4637.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-uNXLxkZlMeg/UOMLvY4V22I/AAAAAAAAESI/XqQxAATE2h4/s1600/IMG_4639.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-uNXLxkZlMeg/UOMLvY4V22I/AAAAAAAAESI/XqQxAATE2h4/s1600/IMG_4639.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3k_YZpEysGI/UOMLzF5SRTI/AAAAAAAAESY/ikhay1SFsKQ/s1600/IMG_4642.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3k_YZpEysGI/UOMLzF5SRTI/AAAAAAAAESY/ikhay1SFsKQ/s1600/IMG_4642.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--qgVGriZuk0/UOMMJU5rh4I/AAAAAAAAETA/heyn9D1aXRA/s1600/IMG_4668.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--qgVGriZuk0/UOMMJU5rh4I/AAAAAAAAETA/heyn9D1aXRA/s1600/IMG_4668.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ps5NZTX4HY4/UOMMO2hOxVI/AAAAAAAAETI/zauP5-p8xdA/s1600/IMG_4670.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ps5NZTX4HY4/UOMMO2hOxVI/AAAAAAAAETI/zauP5-p8xdA/s1600/IMG_4670.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rwaNIKsxnTA/UOMMXNWfG2I/AAAAAAAAETo/h60KnrL5ZYY/s1600/IMG_4703.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rwaNIKsxnTA/UOMMXNWfG2I/AAAAAAAAETo/h60KnrL5ZYY/s1600/IMG_4703.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hgGrlXS4P5w/UOMMcMlc5RI/AAAAAAAAET4/8VCYIKLGsfM/s1600/IMG_4721.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hgGrlXS4P5w/UOMMcMlc5RI/AAAAAAAAET4/8VCYIKLGsfM/s1600/IMG_4721.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mountain pass: two dutch cyclists, a German on his motorbike, and a Berber on his Donkey</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Right now we are at Erg Chebbi, basically the entrance to
the Sahara desert. It looks like we will be spending X-mass here in the desert.</span></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vgvcZ6eexT8/UOMMo412DoI/AAAAAAAAEUo/UmgKZ-dfjMw/s1600/IMG_4804.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vgvcZ6eexT8/UOMMo412DoI/AAAAAAAAEUo/UmgKZ-dfjMw/s1600/IMG_4804.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VFEuJaDTgQA/UOMMnOU6gqI/AAAAAAAAEUg/UmfoUO4dAaU/s1600/IMG_4797.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VFEuJaDTgQA/UOMMnOU6gqI/AAAAAAAAEUg/UmfoUO4dAaU/s1600/IMG_4797.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-KxcQd-kkmsw/UOMMqBnaN9I/AAAAAAAAEUs/hIMg_y51eYI/s1600/IMG_4809.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-KxcQd-kkmsw/UOMMqBnaN9I/AAAAAAAAEUs/hIMg_y51eYI/s1600/IMG_4809.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-nI6wca7eDr4/UOMMtYefbUI/AAAAAAAAEU4/0PtxFrcSr_k/s1600/IMG_4816.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-nI6wca7eDr4/UOMMtYefbUI/AAAAAAAAEU4/0PtxFrcSr_k/s1600/IMG_4816.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
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<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Update: 12-25-2012 Middle of nowhere (see movie), Morocco</span></b></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">We spent Christmas eve by the dunes of Erg Chebbi. Marc
decorated our Christmas tree</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and Rosana cooked
a nice meal of beef, carrots, green beans and roasted potatoes with mushroom
sauce. For dessert we had a vanilla cake with pineapple and cream.</span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-yRDGUyR2zmA/UOMM88ytQ0I/AAAAAAAAEWI/IWUv8EP3sL8/s1600/IMG_4833.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-yRDGUyR2zmA/UOMM88ytQ0I/AAAAAAAAEWI/IWUv8EP3sL8/s1600/IMG_4833.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Desert X-mass tree</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-U20-k74zSC0/UOMNA12XJbI/AAAAAAAAEWQ/iRMvQElfOj0/s1600/IMG_4850.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-U20-k74zSC0/UOMNA12XJbI/AAAAAAAAEWQ/iRMvQElfOj0/s1600/IMG_4850.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-UlbFcuBnspk/UOMNCPEczkI/AAAAAAAAEWY/kSUCwdAwGk4/s1600/IMG_4859.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-UlbFcuBnspk/UOMNCPEczkI/AAAAAAAAEWY/kSUCwdAwGk4/s1600/IMG_4859.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-nfKMmpwVR8U/UOMNCbQtpOI/AAAAAAAAEWc/VKaxkY9B_hY/s1600/IMG_4860.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-nfKMmpwVR8U/UOMNCbQtpOI/AAAAAAAAEWc/VKaxkY9B_hY/s1600/IMG_4860.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
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<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Today we drove about 140km through the desert. Beautiful
landscape. We even saw a baby camel with his mom. So cute !!! (this is Rosana's comments... of course Marc would not post anything like it)</span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-HsWrnfXNdrM/UOMNORit3pI/AAAAAAAAEXQ/vyUWsQfGtng/s1600/IMG_4893.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-HsWrnfXNdrM/UOMNORit3pI/AAAAAAAAEXQ/vyUWsQfGtng/s1600/IMG_4893.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
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<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Although we always think we have chosen a camping spot far
away from any living creature there are always Moroccans on their “mobilet”
trying to sell us fossils. Marc was already thinking about buying their entire
bag and as soon as the next one stopped by we would offer him our fossils…. </span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">(We are driving from Merzouga to Zagora through the desert. Most of the piste is good but still slow going. We did the whole route of 240km in almost two days.) It looks like we are lucky tonight. It is already 7pm and
nobody stopped by. Well, according to the route we are at least 25 km away from
a water source (meaning “people”) so we might be OK.</span></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-YMZ-azhdFwI/UOMNT8GYRmI/AAAAAAAAEXw/N98Z25mcug8/s1600/IMG_4927.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-YMZ-azhdFwI/UOMNT8GYRmI/AAAAAAAAEXw/N98Z25mcug8/s1600/IMG_4927.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RFKbB55Xid8/UOMNU-57B5I/AAAAAAAAEX4/6uYAe94mMcQ/s1600/IMG_4936.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RFKbB55Xid8/UOMNU-57B5I/AAAAAAAAEX4/6uYAe94mMcQ/s1600/IMG_4936.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-V9fBxiLC63k/UOMNYEGDXjI/AAAAAAAAEYA/apglE7NERi4/s1600/IMG_4947.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-V9fBxiLC63k/UOMNYEGDXjI/AAAAAAAAEYA/apglE7NERi4/s1600/IMG_4947.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-54YQwNcAHWU/UOMNf8RCYQI/AAAAAAAAEYk/zsukgaLRWtA/s1600/IMG_4983.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-54YQwNcAHWU/UOMNf8RCYQI/AAAAAAAAEYk/zsukgaLRWtA/s1600/IMG_4983.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
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To get an idea of the vastness of the Sahara, here some videos:<br />
<span class="watch-page-link"> <a href="http://youtu.be/sUu3Kg8Ez7I">http://youtu.be/sUu3Kg8Ez7I</a></span><br />
<span class="watch-page-link"> <a href="http://youtu.be/vGq0wQKSSFU">http://youtu.be/vGq0wQKSSFU</a></span><span class="watch-page-link"> </span><br />
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<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Calibri;">General update:</span></b></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Rosana is cooking every day and has been creating some
delicious meals mixing canned veggies with fresh veggies (carrots, green beans,
zucchini, onions and potatoes), also using some of the frozen meat (we have not
bought ANY “fresh” meat at the markets) and dried sausages. We always have
fresh bread with cheese, some deli meat and pate. Our coffee/tea is accompanied
by cookies or homemade cake.</span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Fruits are also good. We have had mandarins, bananas,
grapes, strawberries and kiwi.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">So life isn’t that bad, is it?</span><br />
<b><br /></b>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Update 12-31-2012</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The last few days we stayed at a campground near Agadir where we met 2 other overland couples that are planning to drive all the way to South Africa. One couple from The Netherlands and another from Austria. Very nice to finally meet people that are doing the same as us. We hope to meet them again in the new future. We also had to stop in Agadir to fix the air conditioning in the box. The ventilator motor was broken and we needed to order a new one.</span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-964z092kSx4/UOMNi0UPqII/AAAAAAAAEYw/AaXcb9VeNY4/s1600/IMG_4992.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-964z092kSx4/UOMNi0UPqII/AAAAAAAAEYw/AaXcb9VeNY4/s1600/IMG_4992.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Have ever wondered where dates come from ?</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Spending New Year’s eve along the coast wild camping. The
sounds of the waves is A M A Z I N G. There is nothing around here. Just
shepherds, lots of sheep, goats and camels. We had our champagne for sunset
with camels in the background. Thanks Erik & Simone.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Ehjx3AQ55XE/UOMN2RzSHjI/AAAAAAAAEZs/063OIvstU4s/s1600/IMG_5018.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Ehjx3AQ55XE/UOMN2RzSHjI/AAAAAAAAEZs/063OIvstU4s/s1600/IMG_5018.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Can you see the camels ?</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<br />
<b>Update 01/01/2013: Happy New Year</b><br />
<br />
We have only been driving for 15 minutes in the new year and we are stuck for the first time. It was the price we paid for not lowering the tire pressure for just 50 meters of very soft sand.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-AxkSVu5GgKbgtqQHsPSmU1Q8XSIcOfi1WXk-zeWloE8M40YBo6tqd6_TbU_7lqIAqa0mZu69Ua5uLdPi6wC2glEhyp-1EVDxgI3FYN4MAGI8Mbb8S_DxkyTiw3OMIMIC0Bge9ipMG-sh/s1600/IMG_1107.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-AxkSVu5GgKbgtqQHsPSmU1Q8XSIcOfi1WXk-zeWloE8M40YBo6tqd6_TbU_7lqIAqa0mZu69Ua5uLdPi6wC2glEhyp-1EVDxgI3FYN4MAGI8Mbb8S_DxkyTiw3OMIMIC0Bge9ipMG-sh/s1600/IMG_1107.JPG" height="239" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Stuck for the first time</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Digging, hopefully for the last time</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Below is a video on how we finally got out, without lowering the tire pressure but with diff locks engaged.<br />
<span class="watch-page-link"><a href="http://youtu.be/a-uR6XEWLI8">http://youtu.be/a-uR6XEWLI8</a></span> <br />
<br />
Right now we are in Tafraout, in the Anti Atlas, a nice mountain town after taking a very scenic route from the coast.<br />
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Tomorrow we will slowly drive back to Agadir to collect the new motor for the ventilator of the air conditioning and then we will be off to Mauritania (still 1500km South of Agadir). <br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14303187295739504612noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7572512951301425075.post-80192131809227312242012-12-11T00:42:00.001-08:002012-12-11T00:42:35.488-08:00Coastal route, Rif Mountains (Do you have a smoke or do you want to smoke) and Fes<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Update: 12-4-2012</span><br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-judIlIkbuhM/UMYlXUWIAyI/AAAAAAAAD_4/mahc2AFpBoc/s1600/IMG_4086.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-judIlIkbuhM/UMYlXUWIAyI/AAAAAAAAD_4/mahc2AFpBoc/s1600/IMG_4086.JPG" height="212" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Rif Mountains</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">We left the
campground in Martil on Sunday and we drove the incredibly beautiful road along
the coast in easterly direction. </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">According to tracks4africa it was supposed to
be a gravel road but they apparently<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>have not updated their software in the last four years because it is an easy
driving tar road that brought us to a stunning “bushcamp” overlooking the
Mediterranean. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span><br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="height: 239px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center; width: 325px;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6cuGilMxr9k/UMY3aFjKgeI/AAAAAAAAEBA/HuCpI_6W_9s/s1600/IMG_4141.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6cuGilMxr9k/UMY3aFjKgeI/AAAAAAAAEBA/HuCpI_6W_9s/s1600/IMG_4141.JPG" height="425" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Room with a view</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">We were visited by the local youth who had lots of questions but
since they only spoke Arabic, they did not get a lot of answers. We also
witnessed the traditional Moroccan<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>division of work: Women do the work, men watch the work.</span><br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-F0nTkqw2QjA/UMZkQI_iLvI/AAAAAAAAED0/VvgB5kj56Pw/s1600/IMG_4162.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-F0nTkqw2QjA/UMZkQI_iLvI/AAAAAAAAED0/VvgB5kj56Pw/s1600/IMG_4162.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Twee emmertjes........</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-jwZoiD57SZA/UMZmUBShF4I/AAAAAAAAEEI/uxhmRqsid6U/s1600/IMG_4179.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-jwZoiD57SZA/UMZmUBShF4I/AAAAAAAAEEI/uxhmRqsid6U/s1600/IMG_4179.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">.........water halen</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">But everyone is super friendly and helpful, Rosana was not
even allowed to pay for the baguettes. The friendly woman at the bakery just
smiled and did not want the 2.5 Dirham (about $0.30) for two baguettes. Rosana paid
anyway.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The next day we were planning to continue driving along the
coast and then turn south towards Fes and find a place to camp along the road.
The drive with views of the sea and Rif mountains was stunning. However when we
turned south, the road became a stretch of potholes with some asphalt in
between. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-CQIICNckDdU/UMZomC2gXrI/AAAAAAAAEEk/ezVLjXTC2CQ/s1600/IMG_4203.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-CQIICNckDdU/UMZomC2gXrI/AAAAAAAAEEk/ezVLjXTC2CQ/s1600/IMG_4203.JPG" height="212" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">still the good road</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PARdKGS9YK0/UMZohfPfLpI/AAAAAAAAEEc/GDg_GDOuDgU/s1600/IMG_4224.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PARdKGS9YK0/UMZohfPfLpI/AAAAAAAAEEc/GDg_GDOuDgU/s1600/IMG_4224.JPG" height="209" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">We also ended up in the middle of the Rif mountains, driving between
1200 and 1600 meters. It got to zero degrees Celsius and we were driving on
snow covered roads. According to the manual of our heater in the camper box,
the heater may not work at altitudes above 1500. So we pushed on thinking that
at some point of time the road has to go down. The scenery was still beautiful
but the road did not go down before it became dark.</span><br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-IoPANz1iIkU/UMZp60cqZUI/AAAAAAAAEE8/T5NjpbvtcOA/s1600/IMG_4262.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-IoPANz1iIkU/UMZp60cqZUI/AAAAAAAAEE8/T5NjpbvtcOA/s1600/IMG_4262.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RJR1ApEK0CQ/UMZrc0YXSII/AAAAAAAAEFE/C6Vy26ROFt8/s1600/IMG_4286.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RJR1ApEK0CQ/UMZrc0YXSII/AAAAAAAAEFE/C6Vy26ROFt8/s1600/IMG_4286.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yes, a lot of snow</td></tr>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Tgw5ZMhCejI/UMZru_eVRSI/AAAAAAAAEFQ/jY9pgYnOuhc/s1600/IMG_4303.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Tgw5ZMhCejI/UMZru_eVRSI/AAAAAAAAEFQ/jY9pgYnOuhc/s1600/IMG_4303.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"> In the mean time we also started noticing that more and more
people were asking us for a smoke, at least that is what we thought, since they
made the international sign for smoking.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>However we suddenly remembered a story in the lonely planet about “Kif
in the Rif”. It basically said that you should avoid some towns in the Rif
mountains because the locals think that the only reason you are there is to buy
some happy smokes. The further we got into the Rif mountains the more annoying
and desperate the locals became in trying to sell us their local pot (I must
say that the men were really working hard at this).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They would jump in the middle of the road
trying to stop Duma, they would drive in front and force us to stop or drive
next to us and open the window to conduct their business.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">When it became dark and it still did not look that we were
going to get to a lower altitude soon we decided to park the car just outside a
little town for the night. But as soon as we stopped the car we had visitors
every 5 minutes trying to sell their local produce (Can’t they see that our car
has a Dutch license plate, do they really think that we are driving 3000km for
something we can get in any city in the Netherlands or in Boulder for that
matter (during the last presidential election there was also a proposal on the
ballot to legalize the recreational use of Marijuana, and it got passed).</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">So we decided to drive on again until we found a spot along
the road farther out of town. We got bothered twice; when we arrived,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and in the middle of the night an idiot was
blowing his horn a couple of times to get our attention, but he fortunately left
after a few tries.</span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The next day we got
up early and drove straight to Fes.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Update 12-6-2012:</span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Yesterday we spend most of the day in the city of Fes,
strolling through the two Medina’s. Initially we had the campground sell us a
guide to take us for a couple of hours, but we fired him after 5 minutes as he
started to fight with us. We had agreed the day before that we would get a
guide and take a taxi to the Medina. Now the guide wanted us to go with his car
but he wanted us to pay three times as much than what a taxi would charge. We
did not want to pay that and although the guidebook about Morocco told us that
negotiating and haggling over everything is a fun game….the guide must not have
read the same guidebook as he got upset with us.</span></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-i8Uf007OSDc/UMZuJSm5vPI/AAAAAAAAEFo/26qtPIbRmho/s1600/IMG_4318.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-i8Uf007OSDc/UMZuJSm5vPI/AAAAAAAAEFo/26qtPIbRmho/s1600/IMG_4318.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hxxSkGv8xkE/UMZuIB5MBuI/AAAAAAAAEFk/xZd_mwJSl1Q/s1600/IMG_4328.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hxxSkGv8xkE/UMZuIB5MBuI/AAAAAAAAEFk/xZd_mwJSl1Q/s1600/IMG_4328.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">So we went to the Medina by ourselves and it was pretty easy
to find your way around and when we got lost there were enough people we could
ask for directions. The Medina was very nice but also very touristy so you got
bothered quite a bit by people that wanted to act as a guide, show you
something nice but you would end up in a shop where they would get a
commission. In that sense the Medina in Tetouan was nicer as there were hardly
any tourists. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-AAefw1xKwsE/UMZYCPQRDgI/AAAAAAAAECo/ljW1n9u8cyA/s1600/IMG_4334.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-AAefw1xKwsE/UMZYCPQRDgI/AAAAAAAAECo/ljW1n9u8cyA/s1600/IMG_4334.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tanning and dyeing leather (Tanneries)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-l21oJTKdRVM/UMZRE2SbfGI/AAAAAAAAECU/dc5vsXM2ya8/s1600/IMG_4368.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-l21oJTKdRVM/UMZRE2SbfGI/AAAAAAAAECU/dc5vsXM2ya8/s1600/IMG_4368.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-a89lfi8i5-w/UMZv4FhG0aI/AAAAAAAAEGA/YP-sMtoGfSQ/s1600/IMG_4350.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-a89lfi8i5-w/UMZv4FhG0aI/AAAAAAAAEGA/YP-sMtoGfSQ/s1600/IMG_4350.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">In the evening<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Marc
went to a soccer match in the Stadium next to the campground. Fez was playing
Rabat.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To get in the stadium he was
searched 3 times, not as many times as the Moroccans. They got searched and
pushed around by the military police like animals. Not that it helped as the
fans were still able to get fireworks in the Stadium. The Stadium probably fits
about 40000 people but there were only about 1000 or so. They were pretty loud
as you can see /hear in this video <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdZUjVYACPo&feature=g-crec-u" target="_blank">Soccer Video</a></span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9HQNlvrcOj8/UMTf4EQc5aI/AAAAAAAAD-E/tn7YQuB_3Ro/s1600/IMG_0957.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9HQNlvrcOj8/UMTf4EQc5aI/AAAAAAAAD-E/tn7YQuB_3Ro/s1600/IMG_0957.JPG" height="239" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The match was pretty bad, Fes took a
1-0 lead after 20 minutes and defended the lead by delaying the game in all
possible ways. The highlight was probably that the referee gave a red card to
the ball boys. Halfway the second half they got removed from their job, as they
took too much pride in getting the ball back into play as slow as possible.
When they came off the field they received a hero’s welcome from the local
fans.</span><br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-YqUnwjxNchI/UMYjPqBouEI/AAAAAAAAD_w/LWaKeQld1R4/s1600/IMG_1028.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-YqUnwjxNchI/UMYjPqBouEI/AAAAAAAAD_w/LWaKeQld1R4/s1600/IMG_1028.JPG" height="239" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Real Bread</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">While Marc went to the soccer match, Rosana baked another bread. And this time it not only tasted like a bread but it also looked like a real bread.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Update 12-09-2012</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">On Friday we left Fes and we drove to Rabat. We ended up about
60 km north of Rabat on the only campground between Rabat and Casablanca. Tomorrow
off to Rabat for the visa for Mauritania.</span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-iOe55u-Akr0/UMTgrI4yJaI/AAAAAAAAD-c/tYJp7Ose1bo/s1600/IMG_0967.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-iOe55u-Akr0/UMTgrI4yJaI/AAAAAAAAD-c/tYJp7Ose1bo/s1600/IMG_0967.JPG" height="239" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"The Orange Man"</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Update 12-10-2012 Visa application Mauritania</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Today we had the first experience of unorganized chaos at the Mauritanian Embassy. Some other overlanders we met had told us that they were going to be in line at 6am at the Embassy in order to get their visa application in. The Embassy only opens at 8.30 am but they had heard that if you are not there early you may not get your application in before 11am. Well, we did not feel like being there that early, so we showed up at 8.30am and about 80 other people were in front of us. A mix of overlanders and people from Senegal returning home by cars/vans/trucks full of stuff from Europe.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">When you arrive at the Embassy you put your name down on a list with a man hanging around the entrance of the embassy. After that you are supposed to line up in order, but that concept was a little bit difficult to grasp for the non-overlanders as the people started to push for the entrance of the embassy. Inevitably a fight broke out between the Senegalese men who were all trying to sneak into the entrance, even though only one person at the time was allowed in. The guard, who was supposed to manage the mess did not do anything and only when his boss came out of the embassy and started to shout, something that looked like a line was forming. However the line did not form in the order of the list with names. So people were getting upset again. Also no women were allowed in the queue, there was a separate line for women. This was excellent news because there were not that many women, Rosana was second in line and since the guard was letting in one woman for each two guys, we got our paperwork in by 9.30. Rosana does not speak any French but she was able to make clear that we are planning to get into Mauritania on January 14th (we had heard that if you do not give a date that the start date of the visa will be today's date and you will have to be out of Mauritania within 30 days).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">At 3pm we could pick up the visa, but that was African time, so at 3.15 the Embassy opened and two lines formed (everyone had learned from the morning). Rosana was second in line again and we had our passports back in 2 minutes. The start date of our visa in January 5th and we have to be out of Mauritania by February 2nd. Apparently they just randomly give you a date when you can enter the country, maybe they are afraid that Mauritania gets overcrowded since there are about two inhabitants per square km (compared to Holland with only 400 people per square km).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">All in all the whole visa process was a lot easier than the visa application for China a couple of months ago.</span><br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FZwNqsKSLI4/UMTgAifxO2I/AAAAAAAAD-U/NWewVZuIO04/s1600/IMG_0972.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FZwNqsKSLI4/UMTgAifxO2I/AAAAAAAAD-U/NWewVZuIO04/s1600/IMG_0972.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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<!-- Blogger automated replacement: "https://images-blogger-opensocial.googleusercontent.com/gadgets/proxy?url=http%3A%2F%2F2.bp.blogspot.com%2F-CQIICNckDdU%2FUMZomC2gXrI%2FAAAAAAAAEEk%2FezVLjXTC2CQ%2Fs1600%2FIMG_4203.JPG&container=blogger&gadget=a&rewriteMime=image%2F*" with "https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-CQIICNckDdU/UMZomC2gXrI/AAAAAAAAEEk/ezVLjXTC2CQ/s1600/IMG_4203.JPG" -->Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14303187295739504612noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7572512951301425075.post-39502426283256430902012-12-02T01:32:00.000-08:002012-12-02T01:32:04.717-08:00In Africa ………..finally<span style="font-family: Calibri;">OK this is our first story in the category challenging border
crossings. We have the feeling that many will follow.</span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">On Wednesday morning we left the Campground in Marbella at a
leisurely pace, so we pretty much knew that we were not going to cross into
Morocco that same day. We still had to do some grocery shopping and by the time
we got to the harbor in Algeciras, it was late in the afternoon and we did not
want to arrive in Morocco in the evening. We decided to buy tickets for the
next morning. We could choose between taking the ferry to Ceuta (a small
Spanish enclave in Morocco) or to Tangier-Med (a brand new harbor between Tangier
and Ceuta). We decided to go to Tangier-Med because we had heard that the
immigration and customs is a lot better organized than in Ceuta or in Tangier.
(For the followers of our blog who are planning to go to Morocco: Even though
on the websites of the different ferries they talk about height restrictions,
when you buy the ticket at the ferry terminal in Algeciras they do not care
about the dimensions of your vehicle. Even though Duma is 3.5m high on the
ticket we were only 2m high. Also the prices were lower than what was quoted
on-line, we paid 124 Euro).</span></div>
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNmykNQWVfzTmgGkEBImDA58roqt1jz_qXT91jlc1aAGB2-nV-wHkgfJXLM_VwnAVujDU0zuaSORIZ7ALo0RaiouYkwX-K9f6CATvod5YQH8p7vDLqWEqbVzW2h4YTMdk0KfUd7WNxMim2/s1600/IMG_4005.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNmykNQWVfzTmgGkEBImDA58roqt1jz_qXT91jlc1aAGB2-nV-wHkgfJXLM_VwnAVujDU0zuaSORIZ7ALo0RaiouYkwX-K9f6CATvod5YQH8p7vDLqWEqbVzW2h4YTMdk0KfUd7WNxMim2/s320/IMG_4005.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Why put it in the van when it can fit on top</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">We bought the ticket and spent the night on a big parking lot
between the harbor and the city of Algeciras. We were planning to take the 8am
ferry the next day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The next morning we
got in line for the ferry at 7.15am. About 6 campers, 6 vans (loaded with so
much stuff on top of the roof that they were taller than that they were long)
and a couple of cars in front of us. No problem we thought………..until it was our
turn to go through the gate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
Algeciras Javier (the little A….hole seemed to have followed us from the Mercedes
dealer in Malaga) ordered us to move to<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>the side and after that he only let small cars go through. Apparently
they did not feel like taking anymore campers on the 8am ferry. But no problem
said Javier we were first in line for the 11am ferry.</span></div>
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivNX37X15HxMmFag0ZUshWndiM0vGbaCC7jRQjzqcS6SNwDL-J5UKJDqIj_o2IgrclxpyNS9bpN-WTa45nKHL7oV6i9Mp4-y3WkXSYEuTjrf34eKFmMcBzxm2CM9kIHeBhFCSg2zIi6iAW/s1600/IMG_4006.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivNX37X15HxMmFag0ZUshWndiM0vGbaCC7jRQjzqcS6SNwDL-J5UKJDqIj_o2IgrclxpyNS9bpN-WTa45nKHL7oV6i9Mp4-y3WkXSYEuTjrf34eKFmMcBzxm2CM9kIHeBhFCSg2zIi6iAW/s320/IMG_4006.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">First in line</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">And so we waited, enjoying breakfast while watching
emigrated Moroccans returning for a holiday, getting in line behind us (yes
they still bring the washers, dryers, bicycles and mother in law with them
(here is how they pack their car before their trip to Morocco: </span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVL0sqUgA-E"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Calibri;">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVL0sqUgA-E</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;">).</span></div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-0VEof-0rA0wIE9vq289HuNFRnSzkd_ql0d1awYqFpNEznjFExjeXaPD_TVRYbTEhtfUETl8fOQDEB1qOkSvKuyKT0Eyq-Z4sYmamdifSZtaLrz7Zg2OW51TACZCc-JBqXSPcGdi8B6zm/s1600/IMG_4015.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-0VEof-0rA0wIE9vq289HuNFRnSzkd_ql0d1awYqFpNEznjFExjeXaPD_TVRYbTEhtfUETl8fOQDEB1qOkSvKuyKT0Eyq-Z4sYmamdifSZtaLrz7Zg2OW51TACZCc-JBqXSPcGdi8B6zm/s320/IMG_4015.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Morocco</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">At 10:30 we were the first one to get on the ferry (which is
not good in this case because you will be the last one to get off). We also
found out why only a few campers got on the 8am ferry. From another area big
trucks were loaded onto the ferry, quickly taking up all the space. Obviously
the ferry did not leave on time, but at 11.30 we left Algeciras and after about
2hours (we were told it would take 1.30 hour) we arrived at Tangier-Med.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
</div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC_5_MzMkHWp68HudNiVGM9oIlJTUycEGC47sUGD-YKapez-LxtXKPczMkTZHbHjjzEqISnXhl525XSNRs2qipX6DYeDpVftxoLP8pWgGRksRf8TJLnqInIJ21rqIAPOnPQb3J04g2DWbs/s320/IMG_4019.JPG" height="213" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">On the ferry</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"> On the
boat they already checked our passports, so the only thing needed now was to
pass through customs. Since we were the last ones off the boat Marc just
followed the other people and got in line. After 10 minutes we all found out
this was the wrong line, you first needed to pick up a form at a booth 50
meters further. This form is for the temporary importation of the vehicle. Marc
went back in line number one, showed the car papers, passport and the import
form. He immediately noticed that the man with the moustache was getting
confused because the name on the form and passport did not match the name on
the car papers. Marc told him in his best French that his brother owned the car
(Marc is not allowed to have a car registered in his name in Holland because he
is not a resident). Now the moustache did not know what to do, so he turned to
his boss, moustache nr. 2 (we found out the bigger the moustache the higher you
are in the hierarchy at Moroccon customs). First the good thing. Moustache nr. 2
spoke English. Now the bad thing, in his best English he asked for an
authorization letter from Marc’s brother. Don’t have it. OK then you have to go
back to Spain. My brother does not live in Spain. You have big problem. Yes I
understand how do we solve it? Can my brother <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>fax an authorization letter. After looking
difficult and talking to some other moustaches he finally said yes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What is the fax number? Now moustache nr. 2
got a little bit annoyed because he could not find a fax-number nor could any
of the little moustaches. So he told Marc to go to the scanner. Scanner??? Marc
thought we needed a fax machine. The scanner is this huge x-ray machine on a
big truck that goes around your car/truck .</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">So we drove to another area and line up with 3 other cars
for the scanner. We are waiting and waiting and waiting then little moustache
nr.3<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>comes out of the scanner truck and
says that the scanner is broken, now we all have to drive off the scanner and
line up so they can do a manual check of the cars and truck. Clearly, moustache
3 is not happy that he has to search three cars and our camper. So he gets on
the phone. Five minutes later a huge moustache appears on the scene, he goes in
the scanner truck, comes out, makes some calls and the scanner is fixed. We
drive around on the scanner again. Rosana is getting nervous that they will
discover all the wine that we are bringing in. But three minutes later we are
good to go back to moustache nr. 2. He apparently is still not happy and now he
wants Marc to go to the police to have them check Marc’s passport. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So Marc goes to the police, who checks the
passport and sends him back to m2. M2 now wanted to see the truck and inspect
it himself. By this time everyone is through customs and we seem the last ones
there, which apparently made m2 happy. He asked were Marc was from and when
Marc told him that Rosana was from Brazil, he even started to smile as he did
not believe it as she was too white. Anyway we opened the back of the truck but
M2 had seen/heard enough, he gave us the paperwork back and we were free to go.
Finally in Morocco.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">We drove straight to Martil on the coast about 40km under
Ceuta as we were planning to visit Tetouan the next day. However, yesterday it
rained the whole day and it was pretty cold so we did not leave the truck.
Today, the weather was better and we took a shared taxi to Tetouan (6 passengers +
driver in a small car… yes it is possible), where we visited out first Medina.
Here are some more <a href="https://plus.google.com/photos/104161604657466586223/albums/5817046445044047601?authkey=CO_RyaCgu9n5Bw" target="_blank">pictures</a>. </span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14303187295739504612noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7572512951301425075.post-13461555279871566022012-11-26T13:09:00.001-08:002012-11-26T13:09:35.159-08:00Africa here we come... not yet<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0ioi2Xqe0pL66_Y76orMMz0Zcne385F2jyibraVAAZqRrX7w30mCNF_mrcUKR4uD-aq91TxTwO2A3m1oexZ24nnieKkgZ76yteYQKGhyphenhyphenP1mY5zM7C4J7fKTsmIz7mxDDjDE0UX_rT9K9k/s1600/IMG_0998.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0ioi2Xqe0pL66_Y76orMMz0Zcne385F2jyibraVAAZqRrX7w30mCNF_mrcUKR4uD-aq91TxTwO2A3m1oexZ24nnieKkgZ76yteYQKGhyphenhyphenP1mY5zM7C4J7fKTsmIz7mxDDjDE0UX_rT9K9k/s400/IMG_0998.JPG" title="" width="295" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lots of "help" from the neighbors</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">November 23<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">rd</span></sup>, 10 am, everything packed,
Rosana already sitting in the cab. Marc turns the key
and..... nothing. Duma doesn't collaborate.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Do we have an issue with the starter motor or with the
batteries ? Can we jump start it ? </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Duma’s battery is 24Volts and all other
regular cars are 12V. We finally had some jump start cables and another car
standing right next to the batteries. We’ve tried to jump started it without
any luck.</span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">How about “AAA” ??? The only thing they could do was to send a tow truck.
What kind of tow truck would we need?</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">In the end we got a mechanic to come to the
campground. He took the
batteries to be charged overnight. The next day at 10:30 am, as promised he was back with the batteries. Wow, the Spaniards were finally surprising us.
Later we found out he is from Venezuela. The batteries were put back and Duma was happy again.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Good news !!! It looks like the issue is not with the
starter motor !!! </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Now we just need to get new batteries and off to Africa
we go. </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">No, wait a minute. The issue could be with
the alternator and/or the regulator and not with the batteries. We need to get it checked.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Found a place to get it checked. It looks like they have the right equipment. The apparatus used actually said “alternador defectuoso” </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">What to do ??? Wait until Monday to go to Mercedes to
double check (oh no, not that dealership again… ), then order the alternator, wait
a few days, have it fixed and then off to Africa.</span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Nothing could be done on Sunday so Rosana decided to try
her 3<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">rd</span></sup> recipe for baking bread.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">It actually worked this time.</span><br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFDb3wOLfdMF2zgy0akQAM7PefAPzI5hHQRDDHj200raV5PQ40N3jE6_HhyphenhyphenYf6NeDvW1YEfgK2GEr6k6CyIVsJpakBnZkR4gLK4J0kASBgatZIbuGH3ETbahYG_Zc3edb8olXeKRwG-UF1/s1600/IMG_1005.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFDb3wOLfdMF2zgy0akQAM7PefAPzI5hHQRDDHj200raV5PQ40N3jE6_HhyphenhyphenYf6NeDvW1YEfgK2GEr6k6CyIVsJpakBnZkR4gLK4J0kASBgatZIbuGH3ETbahYG_Zc3edb8olXeKRwG-UF1/s320/IMG_1005.JPG" width="239" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fresh bread every morning</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBayxNq6vCC74Tv6YZGlAboli-yidcgDzy-Pdu27aOJ8-WCXBY6-cruaCBK8RZ1eKnOjax5huIUHdgiukO44zRvMSp7VT2jcpMfs5kmSQLh-u9uPODRkpiNggBYPenP6hh557-XDBU8qOt/s1600/IMG_1015.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBayxNq6vCC74Tv6YZGlAboli-yidcgDzy-Pdu27aOJ8-WCXBY6-cruaCBK8RZ1eKnOjax5huIUHdgiukO44zRvMSp7VT2jcpMfs5kmSQLh-u9uPODRkpiNggBYPenP6hh557-XDBU8qOt/s320/IMG_1015.JPG" width="239" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Reconfiguration of the passenger's seat <br />
to fit the new batteries</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Monday 10am at the Mercedes dealer. </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Explained our issue (in Spanish or sort of) and we were
told by Javier (remember him from the previous post???) they were super busy
and he had to ask the "Jefe" (yes the same supervisor that wanders around) if they
could diagnose the issue. He came back saying today was going to be impossible they were too busy. </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">After reminding them that last Monday they had us wait the whole day and Rosana's best arguing in Spanish we convinced the "Jefe" and
they were going to do it sometime in the morning. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><strong>11:30am</strong> - Surprise, Surprise, they were going to start.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><strong>12:30pm</strong> Diagnosis done ! Alternator and Regulator good. 1
battery good and 1 battery bad. Ordered 2 new batteries from a shop just around
the corner. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><strong>1:30pm</strong> Siesta time and no batteries yet.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><strong>3pm</strong> With batteries handy it should be done in 15 minutes.
Wait a minute, the batteries don’t fit… The iron box need to be cutout and
re-welded to give another 15 millimeters of space</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><strong>4:30pm</strong> !!!!! Batteries in, Duma happy!!!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><strong>5:30pm</strong> After some more trees were killed by our amigo Javier, the paperwork signed and
the bill paid we head back to the campground. Tentavive plan is to leave for Morocco on Wednesday/Thursday so we have two more days in Spain to make sure the problem really was the batteries</span><br />
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14303187295739504612noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7572512951301425075.post-10543558740774372612012-11-20T14:01:00.000-08:002012-11-20T14:01:21.679-08:0025% of people unemployed in Spain, it could be worse....<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Yesterday we had an early start as we had gotten an
e-mail on Friday from the Mercedes Truck Service station in Malaga that the new
ventilator had arrived.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They asked us to
be there first thing on Monday morning. This was our second trip to the
Mercedes dealer, the first time we learned the lesson that if you do not
upgrade your three year old Garmin (GPS) you are going to drive around for two
hours before you find the Mercedes dealer.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Specially in Spain where the EU tax money was very well spent
on building new roads (corruption and bureaucracy at work: there is a 20 km new
highway between Coin and Malaga that has been finished for over a year except
for the “stripemarks”, the project ran out of money so this new road is still
not in use).</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Anyway we arrived at the Mercedes dealer at 9am after a nice sunrise morning drive.</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8IbORP_xAl9w5NhC8bW_TRXHhbK1OQPWg5qmUuRRBcaKX3U_ue3fdSOJyv5ffYvo_yQQ0Lh8uJylmp3xmCQuLDCmQsAiKFgV4lmQjKKxGbLnKDV9EJ5wLHi-QvHDAIHvJF6dcF-WJiTio/s1600/IMG_0967.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8IbORP_xAl9w5NhC8bW_TRXHhbK1OQPWg5qmUuRRBcaKX3U_ue3fdSOJyv5ffYvo_yQQ0Lh8uJylmp3xmCQuLDCmQsAiKFgV4lmQjKKxGbLnKDV9EJ5wLHi-QvHDAIHvJF6dcF-WJiTio/s320/IMG_0967.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUvYEhwGObbcKt4Kbm4Me-p6MQXVuRFNv24F2EUYPxkrbjojf0NtFka1eciaNVkdKYZKMm2Lm21JahxYIn7Y6O9nUPJMvVa7jgubySgcH8uadJ6FCxE8H2Sgq4M8d9gGCUWrq7oP21JFla/s1600/IMG_0981.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUvYEhwGObbcKt4Kbm4Me-p6MQXVuRFNv24F2EUYPxkrbjojf0NtFka1eciaNVkdKYZKMm2Lm21JahxYIn7Y6O9nUPJMvVa7jgubySgcH8uadJ6FCxE8H2Sgq4M8d9gGCUWrq7oP21JFla/s200/IMG_0981.JPG" width="149" /></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Javier,
the guy at the reception who helped us the first time to get the new ventilator
ordered, registered our car and the three things that we requested them to do:
change the oil of the gearbox, replace the ventilator and check the electronics
of the dashboard.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>First three printouts
were made of the planned services that we needed to sign. Once signed, new
forms were printed and copied and printed again for the mechanic, the supervisor
(who had been standing around all the time doing nothing (as we found out the
rest of the day that was his job))and for us. So 45 minutes and one tree later
we thought they were finally ready to work on our car. Wrong….. We were asked
to sit in the waiting area. So we did as we thought it is not 10 yet and based
on their estimate it should all take about two hours so we will be out of here
around noon. In the mean time we evaluated the registration process and came to
the conclusion that fortunately the Spanish are so inefficient, imagine if they
introduced efficiency in their workplace, the unemployment rate would jump to
50%.</span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxmzz1wKu_oPm7nZ3Mjyxp56wLlSfENSa98yaInE_PeBARkeL36djGrV_u2MDof2nwzSeRY3A8Do_8gRyYiJRaE13-oB9fDwbuskUF10xCITl3W5g8tChjH1cSsrRUOtUzQT6d4MqZwUGZ/s1600/IMG_0984.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxmzz1wKu_oPm7nZ3Mjyxp56wLlSfENSa98yaInE_PeBARkeL36djGrV_u2MDof2nwzSeRY3A8Do_8gRyYiJRaE13-oB9fDwbuskUF10xCITl3W5g8tChjH1cSsrRUOtUzQT6d4MqZwUGZ/s320/IMG_0984.JPG" width="239" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Supervising...</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">At 10.30 Rosana went to ask when they would start working on
our car. The answer from Javier was as soon as the mechanic was done with the
truck he was working on. Obviously we wanted to know when he was going to be
finished with it, so Javier went to ask the mechanic. The mechanic said that he
needed another 30 minutes. So at 1pm he finally started to work on our car (yes
right that is 2.5 hours later). Very nice guy and he seemed to be very good,
not in English though. Since Marc does not speak Spanish nor is his English (or
Dutch for that matter) truck mechanics vocabulary very big he had to ask Rosana
to translate. So now Rosana was trying to tell in her best Spanish the things
Marc could not even explain or ask in English. We felt very sorry for “Manuel
from Barcelona” For those of us who do not remember Manuel: </span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6EaoPMANQM"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Calibri;">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6EaoPMANQM</span></a><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Anyway, so <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>we thought
we will be out of here by 3pm. Wrong…….At 1.25 Javier came out of his office to
let us know that at 1.30 everyone will go for lunch/siesta until 3pm. By that
time we already expected anything, so we decided not to grab Javier by the ears
and not to<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>stuff his head in an oil
drum. </span></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">In the end we left the Mercedes dealership at 5.30pm,
wondering if<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Spain is really in Europe
or is it part of North Africa.</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14303187295739504612noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7572512951301425075.post-37402651971142987582012-11-16T12:48:00.001-08:002012-11-16T12:48:39.903-08:00In SpainWe have made it to South of Spain. Duma did well ... ~2,300 KM (1,400 miles) in 6 days. <br />
<br />
We left the Netherlands on November 4th from Marc's brother's house. Patrick, Hidde, Frederieke and Florine were there to send us on our way.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VPkfWls4poM/UKaRImo9hMI/AAAAAAAAD0E/yETo94I3klM/s1600/IMG_0875.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="214" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VPkfWls4poM/UKaRImo9hMI/AAAAAAAAD0E/yETo94I3klM/s320/IMG_0875.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
It was a slow but at times beautiful trip through France and Spain. We said we would only stop for nice and warm weather, well we are still looking for it. We are now in Marbella and it has been reasonable. Some sunny and warm days but also quite some rain. On some of the pictures you can see that there was some major flooding in the south of Spain.<br />
<br />
On our way down to Spain we ran into a couple more issues with Duma. I guess she did not appreciate being in a barn for three years. The biggest issue was that the household batteries were not being charged while we were driving. Besides that Rosana's feet were getting wet when driving in the rain, the ventilator gave out when we passed Madrid and then there were a couple of minor things. So we spent a few days with Koen of Twiga Travelcars in Spain. Most of the problems are fixed now and as a bonus Marc got a crash course in Unimog maintenance. Thanks Koen.<br />
Koen also shared some of his travel adventures when he took his Unimog to Mongolia. We only hope that Marc will not spend as much time under the Unimog as Koen did on his trip (Well that will not happen as Marc will quickly determine that he will not be able to fix it anyway).<br />
<br />
On the way back from Koen another problem surfaced, the dashboard lights all start to blink when we drive, like it is already X-mass. Hopefully we will be able to take care of that problem next week so we can finally take the boat to Morocco. In the mean time we spend our time on a camping with retired "Netherland" (today is Saturday so Marc will join the rest of the camping and give Duma a good scrub.....not)<br />
<br />
<a href="https://plus.google.com/photos/104161604657466586223/albums/5811491683723375297?authkey=CIH8krPt26Lxdw" target="_blank">Pictures</a><br />
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14303187295739504612noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7572512951301425075.post-89311112420429531412012-11-04T23:43:00.000-08:002012-11-04T23:43:08.738-08:00We have Started !!!!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiy0JlUvZAZcXZ0qVG0QeKx0iaQJOCiwNRaq1EykVjiUNMPZVotNX94TKIcyaczZvpukidszLn3IeshZYn8Ssm_DmSxPuOCdR13_i9FlvcvLLj3Fbt1dBjK6Iqr6cH9xcN_GCYFGbXyFAaz/s1600/brazil.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><br /></div>
<div style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiy0JlUvZAZcXZ0qVG0QeKx0iaQJOCiwNRaq1EykVjiUNMPZVotNX94TKIcyaczZvpukidszLn3IeshZYn8Ssm_DmSxPuOCdR13_i9FlvcvLLj3Fbt1dBjK6Iqr6cH9xcN_GCYFGbXyFAaz/s1600/brazil.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiy0JlUvZAZcXZ0qVG0QeKx0iaQJOCiwNRaq1EykVjiUNMPZVotNX94TKIcyaczZvpukidszLn3IeshZYn8Ssm_DmSxPuOCdR13_i9FlvcvLLj3Fbt1dBjK6Iqr6cH9xcN_GCYFGbXyFAaz/s1600/brazil.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiy0JlUvZAZcXZ0qVG0QeKx0iaQJOCiwNRaq1EykVjiUNMPZVotNX94TKIcyaczZvpukidszLn3IeshZYn8Ssm_DmSxPuOCdR13_i9FlvcvLLj3Fbt1dBjK6Iqr6cH9xcN_GCYFGbXyFAaz/s1600/brazil.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a>After traveling to 16 different cities, towns and villages in 3 continents visiting friends and family having fun, sun, wind, rain and even snow we have started our overland adventure.<br />
Duma (our Unimog) did not like we had left her standing still for 3 years and gave us some trouble. After picking her up and trying to start the trip we had to bring her back to <a href="http://twigatravelcars.nl/" target="_blank">Twiga Travel Cars</a> and they quickly took care of all the issues and now we are driving.<br />
The trip started on Nov 4th 2012 from Tilburg, The Netherlands.<br />
First day we drove about 500 km.<br />
Here is a <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/104161604657466586223/Europe?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCPmKhqLf_fbp8wE&feat=directlink" target="_blank">link to our pictures</a> from the last few weeks.</div>
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheVEDZqRMJo6qqh9R0ABLFiJLNHXiAYxwjsFlxTs4RxoxybLfWvlyzOgC5IDSpxkII6jmgk69DCRBtgmXuWcBx95uLJKZZBlYuPBvU4DlL9-AE3swg8hWTPwhhOaiPZ1TChYxHQMMOAyOy/s1600/th_brazil_flag_small.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheVEDZqRMJo6qqh9R0ABLFiJLNHXiAYxwjsFlxTs4RxoxybLfWvlyzOgC5IDSpxkII6jmgk69DCRBtgmXuWcBx95uLJKZZBlYuPBvU4DlL9-AE3swg8hWTPwhhOaiPZ1TChYxHQMMOAyOy/s1600/th_brazil_flag_small.png" /></a>Depois de viajarmos por 16 cidades diferentes em 3 continentes visitando parentes e amigos com diversao, sol, chuva, vento e ate neve comecamos nossa aventura sobre 4 rodas.<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
Duma (nosso caminhao) nao gostou muito que a deixamos parada por 3 anos e nos deu um pouco de trabalho. Tentamos comecar a viagem mas tivemos que leva-la de volta ao pessoal pessoal da "<a href="http://twigatravelcars.nl/" target="_blank">Twiga Travel Cars</a>" (uma oficina especializada neste tipo de caminhoes de viagem) que cuidaram de tudo.<br />
Nossa viagem comecou em 4 de Nov de 2012 em Tilburg, Holanda.<br />
Dirigimos cerca de 500 km no primeiro dia.<br />
Aqui vai um <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/104161604657466586223/Europe?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCPmKhqLf_fbp8wE&feat=directlink" target="_blank">link com algumas fotos</a> das ultimas semanas.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14303187295739504612noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7572512951301425075.post-36630116342523740912012-10-04T07:08:00.001-07:002012-10-04T07:09:14.992-07:00Taste of ChinaVisiting friends in China.<br />
<br />
Our <a href="https://plus.google.com/photos/104161604657466586223/albums/5795332508087800369?authkey=CPG-mbXnsY_rmQE" target="_blank">Pictures</a>.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14303187295739504612noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7572512951301425075.post-89839340476470647632012-10-04T07:08:00.000-07:002012-10-04T07:09:14.994-07:006 legsOur ticket for the "pre-trip" has 15 legs. So far we have flown 6 of the 15 legs to visit friends and family in Chicago, Brazil and The Netherlands.<br />
<br />
While having lunch with some friends and talking about our itinerary Rosana's 5 y.o. Godchild in Chicago commented on the trip "That's a LOT of vacation<strong><span style="color: red;">s</span></strong>"<br />
<br />
Flying with miles means a lot of sacrifices, ie not able to fly the dates you want and not able to get direct flights. At least we were able to fly business class (we calculated it and for every 10 miles we flew in coach for our jobs we are able to fly one in business class). While on the way from Miami to Lima a passenger passed by our seats and commented "This is bigger than my apartment". He must have an apartment in Tokyo or NY but at least it made us feel good. To those wondering why we were flying to Lima... No we do not have friends in Lima, but again flying using miles meant that this was the only way to get to Sao Paulo, with a 20 hour layover in Lima. <br />
<br />
We only had 6 days in Brazil and 3 of those were spent standing in several different lines to obtain our visa to visit our friends in China. After soccer, standing in line is the second favorite pass time for Brazilians. We even noticed that if there are two entrances to the subway, the Brazilians will take the one that has a line, assuming that that is the only way in.<br />
<br />
While using the subway in Sao Paulo we saw a special seat (see picture below. translation "Seat reserved for obese people"). We thought this may be an interesting idea for the Chicago Elevated train stations, we just don't think there is enough space on the platforms to accommodate all the people in Chicago that could use it.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiF6kSxkPAhffin2isUSL94yjfxfobKRkr38SdF2Z1QGXN1JS-1vv8PII5Mxw21flRbTu35Q58rlulxRh2-xfO9VrdEFOS_xh0RUu_xoXDBHDScMJ4GnfLFZuBSCFQ6YraXQvOEg0BTOC3m/s1600/IMG_0533%5B1%5D.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiF6kSxkPAhffin2isUSL94yjfxfobKRkr38SdF2Z1QGXN1JS-1vv8PII5Mxw21flRbTu35Q58rlulxRh2-xfO9VrdEFOS_xh0RUu_xoXDBHDScMJ4GnfLFZuBSCFQ6YraXQvOEg0BTOC3m/s320/IMG_0533%5B1%5D.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14303187295739504612noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7572512951301425075.post-35612454034150097722012-09-01T11:05:00.000-07:002012-09-03T13:27:27.689-07:006 days...6 days before we leave home.<br />
There will be a few stops before we take Duma on the road to Africa.<br />
We plan to visit friends and family in Chicago, Brazil, The Netherlands, China, Ireland, UK, Denmark and Liechtenstein.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14303187295739504612noreply@blogger.com2