Africa

Finally I have reached Africa!

Meet Nala, our 17.5 ton home for the next 10 months shared amongst 23 other like minded travellers, Ishi our tour leader and Steve our driver. I almost didn't get the opportunity to meet her when I slept in and missed my train to Luton airport but the Gods were smiling on me and allowed me to make it in time. At Luton I was able to meet for the first time those that I will be spending every minute of every day with and luckily they seem to be a good bunch. We are also a special bunch in a way as we have heard that all other companies have cancelled their tours down West Africa this year due to lack of numbers so we are the only truck doing it.

 

Nala at a lunch stop

 

Meeting the group at the airport

 

 

Our flight from Luton took us to Gibraltar where we got to spend a couple of days looking around and making last minute preparations for our time in Africa. Stocked up and eager to go we caught the ferry across the Straight of Gibraltar and landed in Ceuta, a Spanish territory on the tip of Africa and from there we drove across the border into Morocco, our first African nation of about 29. The minute we crossed the border Africa sprung to life right in front of our eyes. Hundreds of people attempting to cross the border, taxis everywhere, horns honking, rubbish strewn across the hill and the hustle and bustle of the morning market. Of course our inconspicuous yellow truck drove through without anyone noticing at all and our warnings of taking photos at borders was followed to the letter.

The Rock of Gibraltar

First sighting of Africa

 

Our first stop in Morocco was Chefchaouen where we camped at the top of the hill overlooking the town. Here I was lucky enough to get some Wi-Fi to discover that my 2nd passport that had been sent to Australia to apply for my Ghana visa was in the hands of the Australian embassy in London as it had been sent to the wrong address. Luckily for me the honest English citizen was kind enough to forward it on to the embassy where they have now posted it to my tours HQ and we are arranging for me to pick it up somewhere in Senegal further down the road. Chefchaouen was also the scene of our first (but definitely not last) truck party which now seems to be on a day on/day off system ever since then. A large proportion of our supplies was drunk that night and we are now realising how difficult it is to replace in a Muslim country.

The streets of Chefchaouen

Chefchaouen

 

From Chefchaouen we hit Fez where we got 3 nights to explore the cultural capital of Morocco. Here we were able to check out the Kings Palace, a Jewish cemetery, a pottery factory, the tannery, a rug store, a fabric store and time to explore the medina (market). After Fez our fun week in Rabat has begun. Rabat being the capital is the one stop shop for embassies so first thing Monday morning we found ourselves outside the Mauritanian embassy eager to start the process. The traffic on the way however was suspiciously quiet and much to our disappointment we discovered that it was a public holiday in Morocco and everything was closed. Tuesday we started the process again and it has been 4 days of driving between embassies negotiating with officials how and when we can get our visas as quickly as possible. The end is in light however as we now hold our Mauritanian and Guinea visas and are parked outside the Ivory Coast embassy getting fingerprint scans which are taking about 30 minutes each. In retaliation we are all stealing their Wi-Fi from outside. We should have our passports back Friday afternoon or Saturday morning so we are lucky compared to last years Trans Africa which took 8 days.

Jewish cemetery in Fez

Fez

Pottery Factory

Volubilis Roman ruins

 

 

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