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Roland, 11 Mar 2007 15:37 hours
 Netherlands, Haarlem this is the end After almost a year of travelling through the dark continent, I made it back to Europe again. I finally have found some time to let you in on all the exciting experiences of the last few weeks.
It started when I left Stefan and Daniel behind in Cotonou, Benin. They were to fly back to the Netherlands, a few days later. I had to cross my thumbs that the car had been repaired this time. I left Cotonou early in the morning, a bit too early for Daan unfortunately. Steef and me were not able to wake him up, but I’ll see you soon in the lowest lying part of Holland! I fuelled up, and crossed the border with Togo, after enjoying a breakfast on the Atlantic shore. Togo is just a tiny stretch, if you cross it east to west, as I did. Three hours later, I found myself at the Ghanaian border. Looking at the map, I realised I would end up in Accra before night would fall, so I decided to look for a place to spend the night just before the capital. In the town of Tema, I found something, and after having parked the car, I walked to a tiny roadside diner, where I ate some great flavoured rice with a spicy sauce. The flag beer was also very tasty, but the fact that I could order everything in English was even better. The same evening, I spent the night with some local guys, talking football and world politics, ending in a local club, and hitting the pillow only at around 3 o’clock…
The next morning, I left for Accra. Arriving there, I took a right turn, heading north. The Ivory Coast is still not one of my favourite destinations, so I left for Burkina Faso. I made it halfway the second day, ending up in a shanty town hotel, where they luckily had football on the telly. Outside, I could see a kid being hit by bricks in the face by other kids, but apart from that, not much excitement. After another full day of driving, I arrived at the Burkinabe border around dusk. They were about to close up, so I was lucky to be let in, after their usual ceremony of putting away the flag. In Burkina, I had to keep on driving, since there were no small towns at all after the border. I arrived in the capital; Ouagadougou, at 11 o’clock, and was very surprised. The city is very modern, with broad boulevards, huge modern buildings, and great food. I had made my first acquaintance with the Sahel, and I liked it a lot! The next day, I applied for the Mali visa, and was surprised that I could wait for it right there and then. After 10 minutes, the visa were ready! I had expected to spend two days in Ouaga, but I left only 12 hours after having arrived…
My next destination was Bobo Dialasso, the best town in Burkina, according to the Lonely Planet and other overlanders. It was indeed very relaxed, and I had some nice conversations with the locals until well after midnight. The next day, I crossed the border with Mali, arriving in the town of Bougouni. I played football with the local kids, after settling in. My team played well, I scored, but then disaster struck… The ball ended up on one of the bikes, parked beside the pitch, and it deflated right away! The kids had no ball of their own, so it was the end of the match. I arrived in the Mali capital the day after; Bamako. Bamako is very different from Ouaga; with lots of dead ends, oneway streets: very confusing if you do not you’re your way around! I was looking for the Mauritania embassy, and finally stopped to ask for some help. Two girls, Kati and Fifi, were very helpful, and after having parked their own car, showed me around town. We found the embassy soon after, and a nice hotel to stay at. The same night, Fifi took me to a bar close by, where I saw more white people than I had seen in the previous 10 months. Later that night we went downstairs, and it turned out to be a stripclub. In a muslim country??!! Yes, it is possible, but you have to realise that all the girls working there are from the Ivory Coast. I met up with some Americans, working with Peace Corps there, and, as you can imagine, had a great time. Fifi, si tu a trouve cette site, c’était très agréable et j’espère de retourner a Bamako bientôt ! Aussi Kati, merci beaucoup pour aider moi ! Tu as vu beaucoup de la France déjà, mais peut être c’est possible de voire les Pays Bas dans la future pour toi et Fifi, mais pas en hiver ! Je voudrais retourner en Afrique quand il fait froid en Hollande ! Je suis retourné ici cette semaine, et je doit dire ce n’est pas facile d’acclimater. C’éterait mieux d’attendre quelques semaines, parce que le printemps n’est pas arrivé ici déjà !
Anyway, I left Bamako for the town of Kayes, where the Dakar rally also passes through. There was no place to stay, because of a festival in town, but one hotel allowed me to park the car in their garden, to sleep in the tent. The minister of foreign affairs came by the next day, to attend a theatre production the following day, and he looked tentatively at the car and tent, but did not dare to approach. From Kayes, it took me two full days to reach Dakar, cause the roads went bad again; full of potholes! And the temperatures were low as well, I was freezing when watching a football match on the beach! The last day in Senegal I spent in St Louis, where I parked at a camping on the beach. I parked next to a Dutch Unimog; they just came down from Mauritania and Morocco. I saw Liverpool win against Barça in a local snackbar, and drank some beers on the beach of my favourite ocean.
The next day, I left for Mauritania. Before leaving St Louis, I got stopped by a policeman, who wanted to see my papers. I handed over my drivers’ license, and he informed me I did not have Senegalese car insurance. He told me he would keep my drivers’ license, and I could only get it back when I would pay a certain amount at the police station. I told him to keep my (fake) license as a souvenir, and took off. He tried to take a taxi and follow me, but he did not succeed. Nice try, dude… The next police stop the same thing, and I lost another drivers’ license. I decided not to stop anymore, since all these guys seemed to be corrupt. I met 3 other stops, and indeed they wanted me to stop. They did not have guns, like in Central Africa, so no worries there. Every time, I gave them a warning with my brights, gave another signal with my horn, and passed them quickly while accelerating. Then, I came onto the border crossing. Not Rosso, cause that crossing is infamous for it’s corruption, but barrage de Djama, where you pass great areas full of European migrating birds like shovelers, teals, stilts and spoonbills. I spent the night in Nouackchott, the city in the desert. I was surprised to drive on perfect tarmac the day after; the road from Nouackchott to Dhakhla was not a long stretch of sand anymore, unlike what the map was telling me! I met up with a French guy in Nouadibou; Nicolas. It was his last day of his Mauritania visa, and he desperately needed a ride into Morocco. No problem, I told him, since travelling alone. Without seeing the famous monk seal, we left Mauritania, and crossed the mine field.
Arriving in Dhakhla was anything but what I had expected. When we drove onto the campground, 50 Dutch cars and motors welcomed me there with cold Heineken beer… The Amsterdam Dakar Challenge had also arrived there, and I decided to spend a resting day with them in this southern Moroccan town. One of the Dutch guys ended up in jail, cause he did not see one of the police stops in time. He blew two of his tires on the nailbars that had been put onto the road. He resisted arrest, and I hope he made it to Banjul by now! In Laayoun, the Western Sahara capital, I met up with Dutch students, driving cars to Banjul to set up a car mechanic school there. You might have seen them on SBS6; Dutch television. They were experiencing troubles with the Daihatsu Rocky, hope to hear from you if all the cars made it! In the town of Tiznit, I said goodbye to Nicolas. Until we meet again in Bordeaux! In Marrakech, I met up with more Amsterdam Dakar Challenge drivers. Like being back home already! After Marrakech, I drove passed Casablanca and ended up in the student town of Kenitra. I had dinner at a MacDonalds, (oh please forgive me, after almost a year…), and had a few teany tiny beers at a local pub (for the price of a big one…).
A few hours of driving took me to Tanger the next day, and I booked for the fast ferry to Spain. A German refused to let customs search his camper, and almost got himself arrested. He, his wife and the camper had to go for a full search behind the scenes… I was on the boat within a few hours, and in Spain an hour after departure from Tanger. It got dark, but I decided to drive through the night, since that is possible in Europe (=safe enough). I passed Malaga, Torremolinos and the rest of the Costa del Sol, and I drove passed Madrid when first daylight broke. In between, I took some short breaks and some short naps, but I continued driving. I crossed the Pyrenees, and arrived in Biarritz at dusk. I drove on to Bordeaux, and set up my tent on a resting area on the péage (toll road), 400 km south of Paris.
At 10 o’clock, I started the engine again, for the final drive. After reaching Paris, more and more Dutch cars came into view, coming from Euro Disney (lots of Oad touring cars), or with their own cars after a long weekend in Paris. I arrived near Brussels soon after, heading for Charleroi and Antwerpen. When I finally drove passed Breda, at 2 o’clock at night, I was only a few hours away form my final destination. It was a little early to ring the bell, so I drank my last few beers and waited until it was a decent time to announce my arrival.
I will hopefully see you all soon, to show you the pictures and tell the rest of the stories! Thanks for all the nice comments and interest in the project. It is not over yet, so expect more in the future!!!
Roland |
