From Zurich to Accra

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2010-04-28T14:24:00.001-07:00

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Bye Bye

2008-03-25T12:20:00.000-07:00

Good bye

2008-03-25T11:22:00.001-07:00

After 5 hours the car was finally loaded into the container, fixed, doors closed and sealed. By that time we were already sweating in the heat like a swiss mountain river. We will now drive to the airport and fly back to Europe. Well, there will be a lot of stories to tell, we had a great time, and I know one thing for sure: a part of myself still belongs to Africa. But right now we are tired, dirty, smelly, unshaved and looking forward to meet our family tomorrow in Zurich. Good bye.

Tema harbour

2008-03-25T11:12:00.001-07:00

Today we drove to the final stage of our trip: Tema harbour. To ship the car back to Switzerland we had a prearranged deal, including all preparations Of course, nothing was prepared. Hey, it's Africa. After some waiting, some talking and some laughing we were allowed to drive to the container section of the harbour. It was a whole new navigation challenge to find the way between valleys of containers and lorries.

Cape Coast Beach

2008-03-23T13:14:00.002-07:00

Today we drove westwards. Thomas wanted to visit the place he used to go to the beach as kid. Well the place was no longer worth seeing... But further west we found a nice little lodge under palm trees...

Cabin

2008-03-23T13:14:00.001-07:00

When you spend so may hours in the car, you start to arrange it like a little home. We mounted the computer on a white kitchen plate, so that it held to the dashboard of the passenger seat. We used the computer for navigation and to keep detailed account of spending and gasoil consumption (remember, Thomas was a consultant. Keeping track of expenses lays in his nature). On top of the computer we fixed the ipod (surrounding it with duct tape and attaching it with removable velcro bands). On the back of the computer we fixed some reflective foil, so that it doesn't overheat. The maps and guides lay on the dashboard behind the computer. The devices are loaded by two 12V plugs in the front dashboard. That the plugs don't fall away with vibration we fixed them with an ELVIA business cards (yep, it's multifunctional).
In the middle you see the two water bottles to keep us alive (the soft drinks, the wine and the whiskey are in the fridge behind).
The red fabric in the middle is a Mondial Assistance neckscarf. I did wear it for some time, but later used it to wrap it around my cellphone.... and indeed, the cell phone is still working, while most other electronic devices hat failures at one time or another (overheating for the computer, shut down of the ipod for hours and the autofocus of the camera stopped working a week ago).

Cape Coast

2008-03-23T13:13:00.002-07:00

Cape Coast was the capital city of the british colonies in West Africa, and it was the main passing point for the slave trade. About 10 million africans were deported to Europe and the Americas, most of them from West Africa. Many of them where held prisoners in the dungeons of this castle, until the ships took them away. A very sad place.

Heavy duty cars

2008-03-23T13:13:00.001-07:00

Two heavy duty cars next to each other. For those fluent with car mechanics, you may recognize the reinforced suspension. By the way, the car doesn't stand straigth any more. There will be some work to do in Switzerland....

Local food

2008-03-23T13:12:00.000-07:00

Thomas is always kind of courageous regarding local food. Yesterday he ate Frufru (a meal with peanuts, chicken, yams, plantains to be eaten with the fingers). Today it was another local dish with palm oil sauce and at least one entire chicken in the sauce (well, we hope it was chicken.... on the street to the west people held up dead rats for sale....)

Trip into the past

2008-03-22T14:44:00.000-07:00

Thomas's trip into the past goes on. Unfortunately this friend close to Accra was not at home, so Thomas left him a note....

Nice city

2008-03-22T14:43:00.002-07:00

Accra has some nice restaurants....

Blast from the past

2008-03-22T14:43:00.001-07:00

Today we visited some old friends of Thomas. The guy on the right is a swiss guy, who travelled in 1956 to Ghana, married and still lives here. His son (to the right) used to play with Thomas when they were kids.

Landscape

2008-03-22T14:42:00.000-07:00

Objective reached

2008-03-22T14:41:00.002-07:00

We have reached our objective. We are on the beach in Accra. So far we used 1500 liters of gasoil, for 9000km.

Accra

2008-03-22T14:41:00.001-07:00

By african standards Accra is a big and rich city. The roads are large, but still to small for the numerous cars (pro memoriam: Ouaga and Bamako were the cities of bicycles and bikes...not enough money for cars). The basic layout of the city hasn't changed in 30 years, so Thomas can still orient himself fairly well.

Accra

2008-03-22T14:40:00.000-07:00

Catholic Mission Akwatia

2008-03-22T14:15:00.000-07:00

We spend the night at the catholic mission in Akwatia. Thomas visited the Mission and its german nuns several times as kid.

Landscape

2008-03-22T14:13:00.004-07:00

Landscape

2008-03-22T14:13:00.003-07:00

2nd shock absorber

2008-03-22T14:13:00.001-07:00

We destroyed our second shock absorber. It happened on the very bad road to Akwatia. Fortunately we bought two pieces in Bamako. A mechanic at the hotel in Accra replaced it within 20 minutes.

Landscape

2008-03-22T14:12:00.002-07:00

There are some nice hills when approaching the coast.

Nun

2008-03-22T14:12:00.001-07:00

Thomsd with a german nun. They met the last time 31 years ago.

Another african dish

2008-03-20T15:23:00.001-07:00

Fried bananas, fried maniok and boiled maniok....

On the road to Kumasi

2008-03-20T09:35:00.000-07:00

Banana Trees

2008-03-20T09:34:00.000-07:00

Kumasi city

2008-03-20T09:32:00.000-07:00

Kumasi

2008-03-20T09:31:00.000-07:00

Approaching the tropical forests

2008-03-20T09:30:00.000-07:00

30 years ago there were tropical rainnforests along this road... Now the forest is still green, but no longer so dense.

First clouds since Morocco

2008-03-20T09:29:00.000-07:00

It´s so good to be out of the heat. Today we saw the first clouds since Morocco. By the way, Thomas´s health is fine again.

Village

2008-03-20T09:28:00.000-07:00

The villages changes shape. Instead of round houses, they are now long and rectangular.

Landscape

2008-03-20T09:26:00.000-07:00

The vegetation becomes greener and the temperature is bearable again.

Taxi driver from New York

2008-03-19T15:18:00.002-07:00

We spent the night in Tongo in the courtyard of the local school administrator. He spoke perfect english... Indeed, he worked 7 years as cab driver in New York. So we were in the middle of Africa, sipping a Tenessee Whisky (we bought in a Lebanese shop in Bamakko) and talking to a New York cab driver.... We ended the day with some fried bananas...
The next morning we tried to find the steward from Thomas childhood. We talked to elderly in villages, to police man, to people on the markets, but to no avail. We left the region of Bolgatanga and drove to Tamale. Thomas got some stomach ache, so we decided to stay in an air conditionned hotel.

Tamale

2008-03-19T15:18:00.001-07:00

Driving

2008-03-19T15:17:00.000-07:00

We already drove more than 9000km and made over 2000 photos....

Thomas talking to village elders

2008-03-19T15:16:00.002-07:00

Traditional housing

2008-03-19T15:16:00.001-07:00

Village

2008-03-19T15:15:00.002-07:00

Landscape Tongo Region

2008-03-19T15:15:00.001-07:00

Kombissiri

2008-03-18T12:44:00.002-07:00

On the way to Po we visited a center, where girls forced into marriage find refuge. It has been built by my father in the late 90ies.

Ghana

2008-03-18T12:44:00.001-07:00

Today we crossed into Ghana. We will spend the night in Tongo, a village close to Bolgatanga. Thomas will try to find there a familly who used to work in his house in Accra 30 years ago... The main problem: we dont know the name of the father, as Thomas used to call him "Frafra", which is the name of the tribe. Well, I´ll keep you posted on the success of this operation.

Landscape

2008-03-18T12:43:00.000-07:00

Thomas tasting some horse powers on sand

2008-03-18T12:35:00.000-07:00

Buying food

2008-03-18T04:36:00.003-07:00

It´s so much fun here in Ouagadougou, that we decided to stay one more night. On the pic we are in front of the oldest SuperMarket in Ouaga, owned by a Lebanese family.

Moto Cross

2008-03-18T04:36:00.001-07:00

An old passion of mine.... Fortunately an old friend of mine still does moto cross competitions. So we could taste the fun again...

Chinese motorbike

2008-03-18T04:35:00.003-07:00

The chinese are winning very fast the african markets. Here Thomas sits on a `J-C` bike.

Street vendors

2008-03-18T04:35:00.002-07:00

Taxi Brousse

2008-03-18T04:35:00.001-07:00

Inedependance Avenue

2008-03-17T05:58:00.002-07:00

Ouagadougou

2008-03-17T05:58:00.001-07:00

From the Dogon Land we drove to the border of Burkina Faso. Passed through Ouahigouya (3rd biggest city of Burkina, but merely a big village) and arrived safely in Ouagadougou before night fall.
We are staying at the Hotel Independance, right in the city center. It's a hotel I used to hang around the swimming pool when I was kid. The next day we visited the school I attended (picture above) and then we went and visited some old friends.... Well, it's time for nostalgia.... Smile. The first night we went to bed at 2am. The second night at 6am.... and we decided to stay for a third night. Ouaga is just a great city to hang around, talk, have good diner at the Coq Bleu (run by an austrian guy), laughing, meeting people etc.

Barrage

2008-03-17T05:47:00.003-07:00

The water reservoir, from where the city used to get the water.

Ouagadougou

2008-03-17T05:47:00.001-07:00

Ouagadougou, Thanghin

2008-03-17T05:46:00.000-07:00

Dogon Land

2008-03-17T05:39:00.006-07:00

The Dogons

2008-03-17T05:39:00.005-07:00

The Dogons fled from islamisation some centuries ago.They used to live in the south-western part of Mali, then moved north to hide in the rocky formations east of Mopti. There they build hide-outs, tombs and food resrves right into the rocks. On the pic you see the village of Thei at the bootom of the rock. About at half height you see the upper village, where the inhabitants used to hide, and where the local shaman lived until his dead four years ago (they are looking for a new one since).

Dogon Refuge

2008-03-17T05:39:00.003-07:00

This is the village built into the rock. The are some houses, a place for the shaman to live, some tombs and food storages (on the pic).

Dogon

2008-03-17T05:39:00.001-07:00

Dogon village

2008-03-17T05:38:00.002-07:00

Vue of the lower village from the mountain hide-out.

Dogon land

2008-03-17T05:38:00.001-07:00

Landscape

2008-03-17T05:36:00.000-07:00

Ferry too Djenne

2008-03-16T22:01:00.003-07:00

On Friday we drove to the North of Mali. Everyrhing is now red from dust and sand. When we have the opportunity to shower, then the water is red. And even after the second shower, the towels become red when rubbing against the skin.
We spend the night at the catholic mission in Segou. Simple rooms (10 Euro the night per person), very clean, very hot and no mosquito net on the windows. So, for the first time since many years I slept under a mosquito net hung above the bed.... Actually fairly romantic...

Landscape

2008-03-16T22:01:00.001-07:00

Mopti

2008-03-16T22:00:00.001-07:00

We briefly visited Mopti, on the Bandi river, then drove to Bandiagara, capital of the Dogon tribes. We spent the night on the parking of a small hotel. While sitting after dinner, a hug grasshopper flew on the table...and bite in my thumb! First time this happened to me... Well, only minor lesion, and to my knowledge they don´t transmit rabis (though Kathrin you may want to check this, big grins...)

Peul shepherd

2008-03-16T22:00:00.000-07:00

We met quite some Peuls. They are nomadic shepherds in the northern Sahel zone.

Peul shepherd

2008-03-16T14:23:00.003-07:00

We met quite some Peuls. They are nomadic shepherds in the northern Sahel zone.

Landscape

2008-03-16T14:23:00.001-07:00

Mosque in Djenne

2008-03-16T14:22:00.000-07:00

Fishing boys on the way to Djenne

2008-03-16T04:25:00.001-07:00

Bamako

2008-03-16T04:00:00.003-07:00

Yesterday evening (wedenesday) we arrived safely in Bamako, captial of Mali I am not sure, when I will be able to send the postprobably not before entering Burkina Faso.
Now I am sitting in the air conditionned garage (Toyota and Peugeot), while Thomas tries to get some new shock absorbers. On the last kilometers, the car sounded very african.... kind of like having some empty tins jumping around in the enginge compartiment. The left shockabsorber is definitely out of service.

African Art

2008-03-16T04:00:00.001-07:00

I couldn´t resist and bought some african art (a door and a statue). Thomas showed incrdible patience while I was negotiating. It actually took the whole afternoon. (Andy, our shopping on the souk in Marrakech was a lot easier). And then we ha to buy two matreses, so that we could load the stuff on the roof (hey, it´s quite large). I hope well get it safely through the customs and the 3000km ahead.
Ohce the shopping was done we headed north towards Mopti, 600km away. We plan to arrive tomorrow, camping somewhere for the night.

Bamako

2008-03-16T03:59:00.004-07:00

Bamako is a nice city full of life and colors. The inhabitants are friendly and helpful. We replenished our car with gasoil, water, food and cleaning towels (originally too clean babies when changing diapers, but great for washing hands during the day).

New Shock Absorber

2008-03-16T03:59:00.003-07:00

The new absorber is being mounted.

Thomas walking ahead to check the road

2008-03-16T03:59:00.001-07:00

No traffic jam here....

2008-03-16T03:58:00.000-07:00

Flowers in the middle of nowhere

2008-03-16T03:45:00.004-07:00

Mountain track

2008-03-16T03:45:00.003-07:00

Mountains

2008-03-16T03:45:00.001-07:00

More villages...

2008-03-16T03:44:00.000-07:00

Red sand and dirt

2008-03-15T11:54:00.001-07:00

The car is very dirty, though it doesn't show well on the pics.... When we arrived in Bamako, it took us two showers to wash off the red sand.... and even then the white hotel towel was dirty after rubbing myself dry.....

Dirty car....

2008-03-15T11:53:00.004-07:00

Landscape

2008-03-15T11:53:00.003-07:00

Rocky mountains....

2008-03-15T11:53:00.001-07:00

Landscape

2008-03-15T11:52:00.004-07:00

On the ferry

2008-03-15T11:52:00.003-07:00

River Senegal

2008-03-15T11:52:00.001-07:00

In Bafoulabe the White River and the Black River merge to form the Senegal River. We had to cross it to get to the road to Bamako.

Town Bafoulabe

2008-03-15T11:51:00.004-07:00

Self portrait in the african sun

2008-03-15T11:51:00.003-07:00

THe schock absorber is worrying us...

2008-03-15T11:51:00.001-07:00

Resting and talking...

2008-03-15T11:31:00.003-07:00

Village

2008-03-15T11:31:00.001-07:00

In Mali

2008-03-15T11:30:00.006-07:00

We found the border village at 9pm and spent the night at the police station. In the next morning we left for Bamako. The first 170 kilometers on very bad roads took us 6 hours... But we were able to visit some remote villages... And the landscape was incredibly nice. Once we arrived in Bafoule (and after a small detour to bring a women into her village) we were able to speed up, and covered the 360km to Bamako in 4 hours and a half.

Night driving

2008-03-15T11:30:00.005-07:00

It took us longer than expected to find the border village of Mali, so we had to drive in the night. No danger, as the road didn't allow to drive fast Usually we didn't exceed 20 km/h.

Resting....

2008-03-15T11:30:00.003-07:00

Crossing without problems...

2008-03-15T11:30:00.001-07:00

Crossing a river

2008-03-15T11:29:00.006-07:00

Termites

2008-03-15T11:29:00.005-07:00

These sand mushrooms are build by termites. We are now roughly 300m above see level, fairly high for this region. The roads are very rocky and bumpy.

Approaching Mali

2008-03-15T11:29:00.003-07:00

We used a very remote area to cross into Mali. We already made all the custom formalities at Kedougou. The last european to cross into Mali here was an Italian, roughly three months ago.

Good roads

2008-03-15T11:29:00.001-07:00

From Kedougou towards Mali we had some very good roads at the beginning. It seems they are building a road here to connect the two countries. After a couple of kilometers the good road stopped, but we still saw the trees they cut. After another couple of kilometers even this sign of civilisation vanished... There was only a dirt track left, and we had to navigate with the GPS system.

Chicken with green beans

2008-03-11T07:55:00.000-07:00

Kedougou

2008-03-11T07:51:00.000-07:00

We are now in a restaurant in Kedougou. Probably the last possibility to send emails for the next couple of days. This afternoon we will cross into Mali.

Crocos and hippos

2008-03-11T07:50:00.001-07:00

Today we drove through the national park. There are no big animals left, except for lions (we saw no one) and big antilopes (we saw one). But there are many monkeys, some crocodiles and hippopothamuses.