The road to Timbuktu

Well we made it, to the town renowned for isolation and inaccessibility, Timbuktu! (Also apparently the home of the Mr Men if I remember correctly.)

Time for a brief history lesson - In the early 19th century rumours were rife across Europe about a town of countless wealth on the southern fringes of the Sahara. Roofs tiled with gold and all that stuff. Men had dedicated their lives to finding the mysterious town of Timbuktu and the wealth contained within it. It wasn't until 1829 that Frenchman Rene Caine became the first European to find the town and return alive. What he discovered was a fading town of mud houses which he declared as a disappointment. I don't think it quite lived up to the hype. Unfortunately he was 300-400 years late for Timbuktu's hay day of trading in salt and gold.

Much has changed in the 170 years since then, Timbuktu is, however, still a town struggling for survival on the southern fringes of the Sahara. The difference now being that it's able to survive on the tourism created by the legend that it once was. There is still the occasional Tureg camel caravan coming and going, but it's not a thriving market town anymore.

We left our campement having failed to see any hippos and set a course for Bamako. We were told if we left at 9am we could easily be there by 1pm. I'm guessing the guy that told us that had never driven to Bamako, so with fading light we pulled up on the side of the road and set up camp an hour or so from the city itself. The journey started in an interesting fashion, we got to Mahina and had to cross the river using a shared bridge for trains and cars, the only problem is it's a single track bridge with no road. So with our first experience of driving along a train track we crossed the river. With only 3 trains a week there wasn't too much risk of an oncoming train, our only problem was a stuborn mule refusing to move.

We timed our Bamako visit well with overcast skies and a occasional spot of rain. This kept the temperature in the mid 20's rather than the mid 30's and made it quite comfortable. Our main aim was to sort out a 'Visa Touristique Entente', which is a shared visa for a number of west African countries and also get a visa for Ghana. Having realised the Ghana visa would take several days and we could now get it on the border, and being told the Visa Touristique Entente didn't exist, we realised the visit might not be so worth while.

We moved on to Djenne, home to the largest mud building in the world - a large mosque. A very attractive town. Supposedly, to become a mason in Djenne you have to take an 11 year apprenticeship starting at the age of 7! The visit was enjoyable and we'd timed it well with market day so we stocked up on food while we were there. The children were worse than flies, grabbing us and our clothes, demanding things and just hanging round whole time.

We left Djenne for Timbuktu yesterday, a couple of days drive, camping just after Mopti. The Savannah slowly turned back into desert, camels started to reappear, eventually arriving in the town itself this evening.

Back towards the desert

We slowly crawled through Tambacounda's hustle and bustle in search of several things before heading to Parc Niokolo-Koba; fuel, cash, food and an internet cafe. After a bit of searching and a phenomenal number of children asking for 'cadeaux' we had eventually found all four. We ended up spending about an hour in the Total petrol station - friendly staff, and for some reason most of them spoke English which was useful. Once word had spread that we'd just taken on 200 litres of fuel there was much interest shown in the car. We eventually left fuelled, watered, washed and greased - ready for the open road again! There was one especially helpful guy that we tried to give a tip to, and he refused saying it was his job, not something that happens in this part of the world often! He'd said he liked to read, and conveniently Hannah had just finished her book, so we persuaded him to take that instead.

While tracking down food we suddenly heard an English accent saying, "That's a very interesting number plate to turn up in Tambacounda!". A fellow 'Toubab' (white man), Colvin (spelling??) chatted to us for a while, telling us how he'd been working in the area for 5 years on a mission to restore Parc Niokolo-Koba and sort out various other problems. We concluded the conversation on the fact that the park was very run down and not worth us spending the money there when we could save it for better places. It's a shame as this is billed as West Africa's best national park and we were really looking forward to it, unfortunately they forgot to maintain it.

A sudden change of plan and we were now on the road to Mali; one more night of bush camping and we'd cross early the next day. The crossing was extremely straightforward (two easy borders in a row – we could get used to this!), the biggest problem was making sure we’d been to see all the right people and got the right bits of paper stamped as everything was so spread out. We were sent from the Senegalese border to the other side of town to the police station to get our passports stamped. Similar issues on the Malian side. One half-hearted request for a pen, and that was it!

We headed on towards the reported 92km of potholed road to Kayes, so were most surprised to stumble across a Peage for a toll road. I think the guy manning the Peage was a little surprised too as we had to wake him up from his afternoon nap. A bit different to the French autoroutes! Mostly smooth road all the way, the odd section that seemed to have erupted into a craters and mounds. Quite dangerous at high speed, but I'm guessing there is no word for maintenance in the local dialects.

There has been a train line from Dakar to Bamako passing through Kayes for decades, this was seen as the transport infrastructure for the region so good roads weren't required. The new road to Bamako has only seen the light of day in the last few years, road travel to Bamako until that point was considered an expedition and only suitable for 4x4 vehicles - there are however waterfalls and hippos on that route so rather than a one day drive we opted for the 3 day expedition.

First stop was just beyond Medine, the guide book warned of hyena that have been reported to attack humans in this area. Anyone who knows about Hannah's dislike of harmless animals will realise that something like this didn't go down too well. We were safely locked away in the tent just after 7pm, the second the sun went down.

We survived the night without getting eaten and set off on what was certainly an expedition, heading off the 'main' road to the waterfalls, Chutes de Gouina. Over an hour of the toughest driving we've done yet, but well worth it. These are Mali's biggest waterfalls and we had them all to ourselves. We set up camp overlooking the falls and spent the afternoon washing clothes in the river and fishing without success. Fortunately as the sun was sinking over the horizon a fisherman appeared out of nowhere and offered to sell us some fish. We had no change, so with payment of green tea and cigarettes (bought for exactly this purpose!) we had ourselves some food.

Leaving the falls this morning we couldn't find the continuation of the road to rejoin our main route, so we had to backtrack. Unfortunately our 'wardrobe' (i.e. the shelves constructed behind our back seats) didn't agree with one of today’s potholes decided to break loose of its fittings, so that's tomorrow mornings job. We arrived at Bafoulabe having had to pay for the ferry twice due to some confusion and the fact that it operates in a triangle. The other problem with ferries in this part of the world is they know we're not going to spend a day driving back to take a different route, so they're not cheap!

We caused much confusion at the campement by turning up, they seemed quite annoyed to actually have guests, meaning that they might have to do some work. It seemed the trickiest request was asking to see the room. It must have been about 40 minutes before someone was able to show us a room with no light, it had a fan but no electricity and an out of order bathroom. As we have more facilities in our tent we opted for that instead. Unfortunately by the time everything was sorted out the sun had set and we'd missed out hippo viewing window.

Floating along the river

It's Friday 13th, and we're sitting somewhere in the bush in eastern Senegal having left The Gambia today. We had a good few days relaxing in Tendaba camp. Went to the national park on the first day. Tried driving around for a bit, but all the road tracks were so badly maintained it was impossible. We eventually recruited Omar in the afternoon, we saw a bit with him. We had however timed it badly and after a short walk we were both well roasted and had to retreat back to the shade. So after meeting Omar's family and a glass of Gambian tea we went back to the camp.

The following day we went for an early morning boat trip, saw some beautiful birds including malachite kingfishers, ospreys, various eagles and plenty more. The original plan was to leave that afternoon, but thoughts of the horrendous road back out changed our mind and we put it off until the following morning.

We set off bright and early to make it to Georgetown (aka Janjangbureh) and beyond. We had heard from Farafenni the road on the North side was much better than the so called road on the south so we opted for the ferry north, as it had been so hassle-free on our journey in. There was a bit of a queue, but it wasn't too long so we decided to wait. It was a baking hot day again, so thought that a nice cold bottle of water from the fridge (yes, we have the luxury of a fridge in the boot!) would go down a treat. Unfortunately the boot had other ideas. Dust from the previous road had caused the release mechanism to seize up on the rear wheel carrier, meaning we couldn't get into the boot. Not only did this prevent us from getting to the fridge, but it also prevented us from getting to the tools to fix the problem! The best bet was to find a mechanic once we'd crossed the river. Just as we were nearing the front of the queue a lorry, loaded with groundnuts, decided that half on, half off the ferry, it was going no further. Crowds gathered, and lots of head scratching followed, including a lot of official (and unofficial) looking people instructing drivers to move their cars in seemingly random places. The incoming tide didn't help matters, and the lorry was soon also sitting in water. After about 3 hours, a German eventually started shouting at people and things started happening. A huge industrial vehicle finally turned up and dragged the lorry back off the ferry.

Once across the river we found a mechanic who had our boot working again in about 15 minutes so we were off. The road was divine! One of the best since Europe. Smooth tarmac, almost no traffic. Just the occasional herd of cows or goats was the only inconvenience. With the sun setting we still hadn't made it to Georgetown, so we pulled off the road and camped.

We had one night in Georgetown, a very friendly place where everyone wanted to talk to us. Half of whom wanted us to buy them a football or sponsor their football team. Had a very relaxing afternoon fishing in the River Gambia from the bank of Solwin camp where we were staying. The manager and friends seemed very interested in getting involved. We went to the rice field behind the camp to dig for worms. Fished together and caught a few catfish and a sardine. We were also fed the most amazing meal that night by the camp. If you're in the area then pay it a visit. It does look like it's only half built. But such friendly staff and amazing food it's worth popping by.

So that brings us back to Senegal, we left Georgetown this morning and had a very smooth trip over the border. We were through in less than 30 minutes without a single request for money! Been a scorching afternoon with the thermometer reading 39 celcius in the shade. A couple of warthogs have just wandered by as we're sitting here in a very peaceful spot just off the road before heading for Tambacounda tomorrow.

Happy Gambia

We had a little more coast time in Senegal, and our first dip in what felt like real warm water! We then set course for The Gambia, having heard so many bad things about Gambian borders and police we headed for Farafeni rather than Banjul. Being off the beaten track we figured it'd be less hassle. The usual illegitimate requests for money at the manic Senegalese border. The first place we've had people actually trying to open our car doors to sell us stuff. We then prepared ourselves for a showdown with the Gambians!

Surprisingly, it was totally problem free, the only issue caused by a misunderstanding. No requests for money, no one hassling us or trying to sell anything. We then popped into the market to try to pick up some more sturdy flip flops for Hannah. Again, totally hassle free, not being dragged into shops, people giving realistic prices - were we dreaming??

Next was the ferry, and our first dreaded police stop. Still no problems, he just directed us to where we needed to buy our ferry ticket. The Gambia continued like this, nice people, police who only wanted to ask us how we were and give us directions, and no problems at all! Very pleasantly surprised. The only thing that let the country down was the road, it was absolutely terrible. Considering this was the main and only road through the country we didn't have any options other than to crawl along apologising to the car. The entire surface was cratered with potholes, barely a flat section in sight.

We eventually got to Tendaba Camp, both us and the car breathing a sigh on relief. We enjoyed a couple of beers overlooking the river, watching the sun go down and partaking in a buffet put on by the camp which included 'bush pig' on the menu (aka warthog). And very tasty it was too! A lovely evening.

Birds and salt pans

We headed back north again to Park National de Djoudj, a large and spectacular park. Got a guide, who wasn't much use. We did get invited back to his house afterwards though for a bit of food and tea. Was fascinating seeing his mud brick house, only about twice the size of our 2 man tent for a family of 5. No running water or electricity (yet they all seem to have mobile phones - no idea where they charge them!), and the only furniture was a mattress and prayer mat. So, back to the park - We spent the next day without a guide, saw huge flocks of birds. One we couldn't identify that we christened 'Bouncy Birds', as these flocks numbering thousands of individuals seemed to bounce over the terrain. Also took a pirogue (boat) trip. Vast numbers of pelicans all round us, stunning. We also got to see our first dangerous predators, a crocodile and python. Plenty of warthogs around, they were always entertaining to watch.

Headed south again just beyond Dakar ending up in a fishing village called Nianing. We had several attempts at getting assistance finding a camp site, one guy took us to a half built hotel and said we could stay in the grounds for £30! We ended up at Le Girafon (14.34827,-16.93065), not camping, had a little hut instead. Really nice staff and had a fantastic meal, best of the trip so far! Well worth a visit if you're in the area.

Went out for breakfast one morning and asked a guy on the beach if he knew of somewhere. He had a friend with a restaurant (No surprise there!). So we ended up outside someone’s house, there was only one small table so we sat round with the locals. They were very proud of their Cafe Toubab and were quite excited for us to try it. Basically a white coffee with Nescafe and powdered milk - we were very polite. They were also very determined to braid Hannah's hair, said I'd be very proud of my Senegalese wife. Hannah managed to somehow escape with her hair still intact.

We drove further down the coast to some salt pans. In the dry season the locals don't use the roads, they drive over the pans instead as they're far smoother getting an annual resurfacing when the rains fall. We followed suit heading off across the pans. They are really beautiful - a harsh looking landscape with the occasional lagoon or raised section speckled with baobabs and palms. We decided to try to find a nice spot near the coast to camp so followed a little used track eventually hitting a lagoon. For those who don't know, salt pans are a bit like ice, there's a nice hard sun baked surface, under which is a thick sticky mud. Unfortunately the track we were following had clearly been driven by a car weighing less than 3.5 tonnes. We went through the surface and the car rapidly ground to a halt - we were going nowhere with the rear wheel up to the axel in mud. We have had zero experience in vehicle recovery, watched a few videos though! After half an hour or so in the baking afternoon heat we'd used the high lift jack and sand ladders to get ourselves back on the hard surface. Had a peaceful afternoon failing to catch any fish and drinking beer at the edge of the lagoon.