It began in Africa!
“This trip has never been done before by an overland company. You are the first! This trip is about experiencing a part of the world that very few tourists ever get to. It’s not going to be easy, you may at times wonder why you are doing such a trip.”
Welcome to West Africa!
The above quote is taken from something that our tour leaders wrote on our itinerary for this trip. For those of you that don’t know, this tour has never been done commercially and so it’s all very exciting! There are 15 of us on the tour and two crew. I am the youngest and the only person under 30. The youngest lady is 35. I’m young again!
Anyhow, not too much to report as we have been in Dakar for the past few days waiting for visas and documentation for our visit in to Guinea. Tomorrow (Wednesday) is the big day when we jump on the truck and head off, tomorrow night will also be our first night bush camping.
Most of the excitement so far came from the airport. I’m sure our French pilot was drunk on vino because he smashed the plane into the tarmac at Dakar crashing his way to the top of my list of worst ever landings! Now, the airport was always going to be chaotic and it didn’t disappoint. People trying to lead me to my bag which was apparently some other place when I could quite clearly see it coming round on the carousel I was waiting at. I escaped the airport only to get dragged back in by security because I hadn’t put my bags through a scanner. Then I wanted to change money, a guy wanted me to sit in a café and ‘discuss’ changing money, the bank was right next to said café! So I ignored random guy and went to the bank. Then I needed a taxi. I asked a guy about that, he wouldn’t give me a price so I ignored him! I found another random guy who spoke decent enough English and agreed a decent price to get me to my hotel. He wasn’t a taxi driver, probably wasn’t even his car but the old boy got me promptly to the hotel by 10pm by which time I was knackered!
So, the previous few days have been spent getting to know the group and wondering around Dakar. Fantastically I have also been put in a cook group with someone who is supposed to be a fantastic cook and can bake cakes on a camp fire. I love cake! From what we’ve been told there will be a few good stories to tell!
Trig Tales 