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Diary This is Jan's diary. If you want to receive this diary by mail, write your mail on the contact form.
‹ Previous (28/03/2007) MONTH Next (2007-05-27)› ‹ Previous (2007-04-04 - Mauritania) COUNTRY Next (2007-05-03 - Niger)› Mali Sanga ? País Dogon (see on map) 28/04/2007:
- Po. - O, un sevo. - Sevo. - U manda sevo. - Sevo. - U gini sevo. - Sevo. - O. - U sevo. - Sevo. - U manda sevo. - Sevo. - U gini sevo. - Sevo. - O. (Good day, how you are? And your parents? and The family?) This large and repetitive greeting-conversation that our guide, Aldiouma, recited every time that we met with somebody proves the calmness with which the Dogon live, a tribe famous for living along the falaise , 250 kilometres long and up to 400 meters high. Anyway, Aldiouma has explained to us that the Dogon had not always lived in these lands. About a thousand years ago, another tribe called Telem occupied hundreds of natural caves hidden in the precipices. The reason of living in the caves is that in those times there were lions and other wild animals that could not raise at the heights. But how did the Telem climb the caves and build their homes and also cementeries ? According to Aldiouma, the Telem knew a magical word that allowed them to climb with great agility. When the Dogon arrived, they took in possesion the plains although with the help of the Telem and their magical word they started to bury the dead men in the caves, because like this the wild animals could not access. But the Dogon were a tribe that lived from the crop and the pastures, so that cutting the forest ment destroying the means of subsistence of the Telem, so that after about three centuries they were seen obliged to emigrating towards the south, towards the current Burkina Faso. We had arrived yesterday at midday in Sanga, after circulating for two hours and a half through a terrible track of 45 kilometres that started in Bandiagara. In Sanga we have been negotiating a good while with a guide recommended by Willem, but we finally came to an agreement and left immediately after towards the outskirts of the village where gunpowder and spectacular masks were celebrating a funeral, with small drums, , dances, warlike representations. Next we started to walk towards the falaise that started in a small village named Gogoli. In front we had a fantastic sight, some homes with walls of mud and thatched roof that challenged the giddiness, different tombs and going down there were other homes, ancient ones (homes of the cavemans-telem)located in the middle of the falaise and continuing down, between the rocks and the few trees, other village(Banani) of fragile constructions followed of an infinite steppe, crossed by a big dune. We have started to go down through the precipice, slowly, through a crack that we would not have found for ourselves. Down, we have crossed the calm village passing for the side of a thick piece of cutlery of straw where the elders meet, until we arrived in a simple hotel where we spent the nigh. While we waited for the dinner we have started to converse with the guide about different subjects, but this has seemed to put him on fire when I have asked if the people in Africa or for example in Dogon country are happy. - how can they be happy if many times they do not have what to eat? Whether there is no health or potable water to drink? - he started to answer -, you say that to live with family is a fountain of happiness, but it’s not when it is a duty and we have to share only one room in a small home. You, and many other Europeans, can travel for all the world and know new cultures, but we are obliged to stay here and still have to consider ourselves fortunate if we can work as guides. And you, the tourists, despite knowing all these difficulties still discuss our prices... We have slept in the terrace of the hotel under the light of the moon and the stars and woken up this morning with the first ray of the sun. soon after having breakfast we have started through the steppe that extended infront of the firm falaise, full of the cavemen houses and tombs. After a few kilometres we have arrived to another village (Ireli) were we went up to the foot of the cliff that concealed new tombs . We have rested behind the town hall, a piece of cutlery with a big thatched roof and some showy paints of animals. The sun approached the centre of the sky and the leader has encouraged us to continue, going up among the rocks of the village and afterwards through a hidden fissure. The big rocks seemed to conceal the crossing, but the leader knew where to cross them and we followed him frightful of not falling to the emptiness. Finally we have arrived to the stony plateau, without any tree, almost without water and a suffocating vertical sun which with quite a lot of difficulties let us advance. We have arrived to the hotel where we had put the selfcaravan dragging the boots through the sand, but it has been worthed Douenza (see on map) 29/04/2007: We thought that the parking place in the hotel was included with the hike, besides, after this we had consumed some expensive drinks in the hotel while we recovered. That's why I have become angry when this morning when waking up early the guardian has informed us that we had to pay about 5 €. I have said no and, the guard has then closed the metallic door of the parking place. Even then I have started the selfcaravan and have planted myself in front of the door requiring that he opened it, but the man also screamed that we have to pay him. Finally i saw that the door was not well jammed in the ground and I have started to push it softly with the vehicle until has opened and we have been able to escape. In Douenza we had another contact from Rafa of CCONG and here yes they knew him, because the contact drove a 4/4 given by the ONG. Amidou had a tyre service in the main road, so it was easy to find. After greeting ourselves and present we asked him if we could park the autocaravan under a shadow and very nicely drove us up to the courtyard of his home where there were two big trees. There he introduced us to his family that he accommodated us in chairs of plaited plastic and invited us to some drinks of a next shop. A little later arrived Amadou, the head of the local ONG that managed the donations of CCONG. Amadou seemed an intelligent, responsible and honest person. he started to explain all the actions that CCONG carried out : the construction of a school in Garmi, near Hombori; the construction of a factory-centre of education for youngsters in Hombori; the donation of an ambulance and medicines to the hospital of Hombori; ... Next we comment on the possibilities of development of Mali and comment that this could come of the hand of the tourism although it misses a lot of inversion , because for example it was inconceivable that it takes ten hours -to cover en route 200 kilometres up to Timbuktu. Apart from the heat, this was one of the main motifs that had made us discard the destination. --- I took the pulse of the world with Amadou. He thought that the main problem of the world and also of Mali is the lack of alimentary security. There are too many people who depend on rains that do not arrive. Everybody should make a small effort to solve the problem. His ONG helps teaching how to improve the capacity of the resources. Amadou is happy because he has family and because he can work to sustain them. He would be happier working more to have more resources. Therefore, the secret of the happiness is the work: if you work you can achieve the things that you wish. Hombori (see on map) 01/05/2007:
- When Rafa reaches Hombori is the same holiday as if the president of Mali arrived. - Tonton, the husband of Fanta the professor of the school that CCONG was building in Garmi commented. In the morning we had visited the school of Garmi accompanied by Amadou that directed the construction. The school, erected with taste, was almost completed but in that moment they were deferring, because the water pomp was damaged and they had to bring drums of water from another fountain that was found 5 kilometres away. Next we visited the small village of Garmi, with homes of mud and stone and a few families living in misery. In Hombori, Tonton and Fanta received us with the open arms. "The friends of Rafa are always welcome". Tonton also presented to his other woman, who had married with two years ago, because the first woman, Fanta, had only given birth to girls and he wanted a boy - at the moment the second woman had provided another girl. On the other hand, since Fanta had started to work as a professor, they needed somebody who took care of the girls at noon and the second woman could do this work. It seemed strange, but even if they shared the husband a night each, both women seemed to maintain a good relation: laughing, explaining histories, taking care of the daughters of the other one as their owns... They offered us, simple but good African rice, and we next initiate a very interesting conversation. Tonton works as commune adviser in Hombori and as he knows in a retail way the problems that affect the area. He commented that at present in Hombori and in the villages of the interior there is hunger that provokes malnutrition, tiredness, illnesses and great infant mortality. It seems that one of the problems of the hunger is the little yield of the earth: if in Segou they produce 3,5 tons of millet per hectare, in Hombori they only produce 0,5. According to Tonton, it seems that one of the causes is the lack of water, but the other one is the little rotation of the crops and the few used compounds. Anyway, the earth is worked in the period of rain and at present when the sun is burning the people stay without work. That is why they emigrate during the dry period to the capital or in cote d’ Ivoire but the long-term solution would be to deliver micro loans among the population to initiate businesses of craftsmanship, stockbreeders or trades (this is one of the requests that have done to CCONG). Another problem added to the hunger is the lack of water, and not only to cultivate but also for the human consumption. While we conversed, Tonton commented that it was more than four hours that he had sent his daughter to look for water in the village and she had not returned yet. The well almost does not have water and this if there is it’s getting filled very slowly, so, the women are waiting or they go by night because it’s the time when there is a little more water. After his explanations I have remained without questions and saddened. It has been centuries since the Sahel keeps drieying , formerly it was a prosperous area for the trade and the agriculture but now it can be seen only misery. In the 2004 the area suffered a lethal plague of locusts and Tonton thought that the end of the world had arrived, but I think that the end of the Sahel will be a little longer and more dramatic with the climatic change that starts to act. When the sun gave up to its dominant position and the air was more breathable we went out to walk for Hombori to visit the "home of the youngsters" that CCONG was building and to know the personalities of the village. While we recovered with a cold drink a couple of retired Frenchmen came, Michele and Michelle. they were going over Africa by bicycle (http://tandemichels.spaces.live.com). They thought to rest a while in Gao where had some friends for afterwards follow towards the south, without any plan drawn at the moment. - And how do you make it with the water - I asked them after making three or four gulps of my drink. - We can not buy it, because we would go too full. Therefore we ask the people for it and we filter it afterwards and we purify it. - But in western Sahara how did you made it? They smiled. - Every 130 kilometres there is a telephonic antenna and under it the house of the guardian. It was very nice after every stage to share water, tea and food with them. Today in the afternoon we have continued the conversation with the Michels, after a hot day spent sweting like dogs. Gao (see on map) 02/05/2007:
When this morning we have met the Michels on the road, they already pedalled about 40 kilometres . Even like that, they would not reach Gao in three days. They have given us the contact of Famou and Mahamane, a family of Gao that they were going to visit (pedalling from France!), and we have said goodbye. In Gao we have directed ourselves to the Naval commandament where Mahamane worked and after a while, Famou (his woman), who had already been informed by the Michels that we would arrive, has presented herself . We have camped in the parking place of the Commandament and we have remained to meet eachother again in the afternoon. So we have made use to rest in the autocaravan, to walk through the market and to have a cold drink in a Bar again. Later, as we have discussed, Famou has come to search for us and we have followed her up to her home, a simple construction of mud of two floors. We have rested in two chairs plaited with plastic and we have started to converse openly. We have started to talk about the Michels, that according to her they were crazy about wanting to cross the African continent by bicycle. Afterwards she has commented to us that she is born in Niger, and that at present there are no problems, although maybe yes we will find them in Nigeria, since it is the period of ellctions. It has kept becoming dark and she has informed us that they did not have electricity, because they had different pending receipts and the energy was cut off. Next, she has invited us to dine Yucca (I do not remember whether it is called like this), a legume tasting like the potato, but more fibrous and finally, as we said goodbye, have exclaimed thankful: - After this fantastic evening, I do not find it strange that the Michels come from France by bicycle only to see you. Niger Niamey (see on map) 03/05/2007:
Today it has been the warmest day, and the border officers confirmed it to us, but as we have been all day driving with the air conditioner we have suffocated with the 45º only during the few time that we have had to go out of the car to fill in the papers with the border officers, that by the way, have been very efficient, fast and without asking for gifts. The only negative experience has been in the morning, when after visiting the beautiful mud grave of Askia, we have crossed a police control at the exit of Gao slowly but without-stopping, as we did the same in all Mali, but this time a policeman has made us vigorous signals of stopping. I have entered into the office with all our documents and after analysing them for a while the officer has announced me that i should pay the control 2 euro for not stopping. I have started to laught, but afterwards, looking at the face of sour apples of the policeman i have realised that he was not joking. I have attempted to argue with him but he seemed even more annoyed, authoritarian and despotic. When I started to stare into his eyes he was with the finger threatening me at less than one centimetre of my face and i thought that he was going to hit me.Finnaly i got mad and i screamed that would not give him any gift and that he should return me the passports when i wanted. He screamed behind me to stop, but naturally he was not going to shoot a tourist . He also came behind me to the selfcaravan but when he has seen how i was spitting water while i was drinking and i loomed at the same time he has decided to give back the passports. Another thing is that the road has also been a negative experience, but slowly and with patience we have kept on circulating for the 150 quilometres of bad dirt road without anything passing in the same direction as us or on the oposite direction, only losing 5 hours. Luckily at the border they have been extraordinarily fast and nice and we have been able to arrive in Niamey the same night, having to drive only some 40 kilometres in the absolute darkness. 07/05/2007:
A very good way to fight against the heat and to retrieve energies is to stay a few days in a refreshing de luxe hotel-using its swimming pool. We spent the first night in a camping, an expensive but safe option, since we had arrived by night. But the following day we moved the autocaravan to the shadow in the parking of a luxurious hotel. Every day we paid for using the swimming pool, fact that indirectly gave us the right to park freely in the hotel. During the stay at the swimming pool we met diverse interesting people that were lodged in the Hotel: a Canadian girl who was working as journalist in Ghana and was now in Niger visiting her mother, a Spanish man that was pioneering the formalities for the opening of the new spanish embassy in Niamey and some girls from Madrid who were working for an ONG analysing if the local and international ONGs were working correctly. the girls from Madrid explained to us that even though Niger is the country with the lowest index of human development in all the world, the government does not recognise this fact and this produces loss of resources destinated to the ONGs that work here. In Niamey we met a boy from hospitalityclub, Roland, that invited us to an expats party , where there was music, abundant alcohol and youth with desires to escape. Roland explained us that he was working for a year now with the organisation ONU in Niger but he did not choose to be here, since he prefers another destination, like Asia for example. he explained that the government of the country is very corrupt, although they are making steps to change it, for example imprisoning two ministers, one was the education minister (he pocketed good parts of the money that arrived to the country to build schools.) After three days toasting at the swimming pool, I have today gone out to know Niamey a little. I have taken a shared taxi towards the small market and afterwards towards the big market. The basic difference of both is the size, naturally, but also the location, since in the small market the different open air shopes sell meat, cloths, cleaning produtcs, food, fruits, vegetables... they are mixed, in the big market they however seem grouped by type. The environment in both markets was relaxed and without agglomerations, possibly because it was Monday in the morning. I had read about possible petty thieves, but the only precaution that I took was to avoid that the children surround me. From time to time some salesman picked up my attention calling me"patron" and if in any case i asked them for permission to photograph they let me make it without too many arguments. To the outskirts of the market, Niamey seemed a more developed city in comparation with Bamako, more clean (but not much more), with more paved streets and higher and modern buildings. coming back from the walk and after swimming a while, Alexandra told me : - Hey look at the colour of the sky. I have looked at the reddish colour of the horizon and I have commented: - It seems that the rain is coming. But immediatly after ending the sentence, a strong wind dragging leaves and dust has started to blow. The visibility has been reduced to less than a hundred metres and the sky transformed in an appalling red. We have gone towards the autocaravan , with the eyes half closed by the dust, and after a little it has started to rain. It was good because for a night we have been able to sleep in cool air. 08/05/2007:
Today we were suposed to leave Niamey. The onlt thing that prevented us from leaving was the fact that we needed to obtain the visa to enter Nigeria. When we will have it we will continue towards the south east of Niger ,till the last city from where it is possible to jump in Nigeria. Then we will cross the 500 kilometres that will separate us from Cameroon because we doent want to have problems with the corrupt authorities and dangerous Nigerian inhabitants. We have arrived at the embassy at 10, on a Tuesday, on the date and at the hour that visas are officially given, but the security man briefed us that the ambassador was out and that perhaps he would arrive at 12. We took advantage to go to the centre and then come back later. On the way we have stopped to throw two garbage bags in a dump located between embassys residences. After throwing the bags a boy with a ripped off T-shirt has taken away the bags in a corner, where he has opened them to see if there was something of use. In the centre I have parked beside the Central Bank West Africa , where there is a colony of big bats hanged on the trees. While i made some photos, a guardiaan came informing-me that it was prohibited to make photos without permission. I had already taken the photos that i wanted and have left pretending that i stopped taking photos, and so he has not earned the commun bribe. Towards 12 we came back to the embassy. We were attended by a woman who gave us to complete some forms, but at the end she informed us that the ambassador did not arrive and that we should come back the following day in the morning to search for the visas. Confrunted with the impossibility to abandon Niamey at least until tomorrow, we have gone to visit the Nacional Museum , which really was worthwhile. With one small zoologic garden with incited and sad animals and some pavilions that portray the culture in Niger and the paleontological discoveries that have been made, several bones of dinosaurs and the skull of an extinguished crocodile having a length of 15 metres! Alexandra has been impressed more with the hippopotam that rested beside a swimming pool sweating blood (it was normal according to the guardian). she has started whistle to them and dance, but he continued with his long nap without being affected by the noise that alexandra was creating. Koure (see on map) 09/05/2007:
In the end we have been able to leave Niamey, even though when arriving to the embassy of Nigeria the woman who attended us the previous day has made us wait for an hour and a half until another woman with an authoritarian look and voice has received us. Along the conversation the woman has kept on being softened and even in the end she became nice, explaining that she was the only Christian in the embassy and that it was complicated to make herself respected. Finally, the woman has achieved the authorisation of the consul for our visa and it has only been necessary to wait another hour and half to have it all in order. The afternoon has been much more interesting. We have arrived to Kouré, at few kilometres away from Niamey, where there is a reservation of giraffes, the last ones existing in the western Africa. We have paid the costs for person, vehicle and compulsory guide and have started to penetrate into an arid plain without paths. We have kept on advancing among sand, rocks and some sporadic grass without finding any giraffe. The guide has climbed a watchtower and neither saw anything. We have continued driving while the guide received some calls about knowning or not knowing where the giraffes were - as he has commented us, we were the first tourists of the year in the park. But finally, a lot before we could visualise them, the guide has announced us that he had seen them. They were four, but we have found a group of some ten or fifteen further on. In the park there are not other wild animals, therefore it has been a delight to be able to go down of the car and to stroll among these very high mammals, while they rested, ate, observed us or went away with their calm and elegant walk. Maradi (see on map) 11/05/2007:
Yesterday, the day was grey, and also i would say ugly because the mist switched off the light of the sun and its unbearable heat. We started to circulate towards Maradi for an excellent road that justified the small paid toll, but as we kept on leaving behind arid earth and small villages of mud and granaries of straw, holes started to turn up and we kept on avoiding them like in a slalom. We stopped beside a lake (or sea, as they call it) to have lunch. The place was solitary, but immediately a youngster came without saying anything and leaned on an tree observing us. When leaving , the youngster picked up the reward waiting, some empty bottles and some half rotten vegetables that we had thrown in the sand. As the holes on the road became more frequent, and i even stumbled in one of them, I started to sense that the engine of the car was losing power. I thought that the problem could be caused by the bad quality of the gas oil that i had loaded in the morning, especially because it seemed that it was losing power at intervals. for another hand, I also observed that the pipe issued rather black smoke, fact that indicated a bad combustion, possibly because the air that was arriving to the engine was insufficient. We stopped two times and we opened the engine without observing anything unormal, but when going up on a small hill the car seemed that was going to stop and all of a sudden the button of the temperature of the engine turned into red. I stopped the car immediately and when opening for the third time alexandra observed that the deposit of the refrigerating liquid was completely empty. The engine dripped, but I did not discover from where, even so I loaded water in the tank and, just in case, changed the air filter and followed the road. We stopped another time to load more water, but apart from this it seemed that the power of the engine was like before . We did not want to spend the night in some small village full of anoying children and we decided to camp in the middle of the savannah, behind some trees. I studied different ways of exit in case they wanted to robb us during the night, but nothing happened , with the exception of the fright that we had at dawn when two camels with two men have crossed the savanah behind our car. In the morning I have opened the bonnet with the intention of solving the problem of the water that dripped. There were rests of blue water dried on all the engine, I have thought that the problem could be found and to check it out I have disassembled the fuse box to get access to it. But there has not been luck. I have ended up discovering that the water escaped under the radiator and I have ended up deciding to find a workshop where they can fixed it. Alexandra got angry , saying that everything was my fault, because i wanted to see the giraffes by car and that i go too fast on the bad roads, and that if we brought the car in a workshop they would charge us much more than in Europe in exchange of destroying it even more . We have arrived at Maradi stopping from time to time to fill in the deposit with the refrigerating liquid. In the city we have asked for a workshop and a boy has immediately offered himself to guide us to the open air workshop with his motorbike . I have placed the autocaravan on a hole where a boy and I have gone down to observe the problem better. It has been difficult for me to accept it, but finally I have become convinced that they should take out the radiator and they would have to give it to another man to fix it. I have asked them how much they would charge me for everything, and during the negotiation with the chief I have proposed to pay some 50€. But the chief did not understand what i was offering him until I have understood that it was too much. In any case the price had already been fixed and they have immediately put themselves to work. I kept on controlling cause i did not want them to brake or to take away something and next have accompanied them to the other radiator repair shop . The chief of the radiators has been studying my radiator until he has deduced where was the escapement. With some pliers, he has broken on both ends the small pierced pipe and he has next heated it with a small hammer . The chief has seen my confused face and so he asked me: - Do you like how we work in Africa? - Yes, it is very interesting, in Europe they would probably have changed all the radiator. With the fixed radiator we came back to the autocaravan and the same equipe of four people have put all the car together again. only four hours passed since we had arrived to the workshop (including the half an hour of negotiation and the twenty minutes of the prayers) and they have asked me to turn on the engine. I did it incredulous and have let it turned on expecting the temperature to increase, but no, the radiator has kept steady and not even one drop of water fell down. Zinder (see on map) 12/05/2007:
Yesterday in the evening we met three French cooperants who invited us to have dinner at their house. Then I noticed that in Niger we had not known any local and it is a pity, because they seem very kind and amicable. This morning, on the way out of Maradí we have been talking about how here ,all over the country to be more specific, they say welcome, they greet us with good day and how are you , and if you tell the children that there is no "cadeaux" (gifts) they accept it with a smile. Zinder is a big and very calm city . we went out to stroll in the afternoon in a neighbourhood that was recommended in our guide but we returned to the caravan a little disappointed , even though there were some nice houses painted in lively colours and some nice children that accompanied us all the time. 13/05/2007: The stories of terror that we had listened about Nigeria had made us decide days ago to take the road towards Diffa (in Niger) and from there to enter into Nigeria, in this way we would reduce considerably the kilometres through this uncertain country. We knew that the road to Diffa was in bad shape, but it was worthwhile trying in exchange of avoiding some 600 quilometres in Nigeria. We have awakened early and we have started to circulate for a paved road full of holes. "Patience" - we have thought -, but after some quilometres we have found a police control that has explained us that the road from there was bad, but in 200 kilometres we would find that the road was impassable and that with our car would probably we will touch the ground. We have thought that we would not lose anything in finding it out, but after stumbling in a few holes Alexandra has told me that it would be better to turn and to cross the following day in Nigeria from Zinder. I have paid her attention, after all Alexandra was more worried than i was of Nigeria. We came back to Zinder and took advantage of the day and have decided that we could fix the tap that empties the deposit of dirty water that i had broken some days ago. In a gas station I have asked for a workshop and a boy has told me that he would fix immediately all that we need. I have explained him the problem and he has started to work but without having previously negotiated the price. Another has told me that the problem can be fixed with adesiv but I have told him that we searched a firmer solution . The first boy has disappeared with the drainpipe and after a good while turned up with the pipe and a new assembled tap . They have installed it and i would say that it has come off better than before. But then we have entered into the phase of discussion of the three parts involved (or four, because there was also Alexandra) me, the assembler and the salesman of the tap . It has been a hard negotiation and more than once they have proposed to dismount the price , but in the end we have found a price that made everybody happy, except Alexandra who believed that they had deceived me. Nigeria Frontera de Banki (see on map) 15/05/2007: The stories of terror that we had listened about Nigeria had made us decide days ago to take the road towards Diffa (in Niger) and from there to enter into Nigeria, in this way we would reduce considerably the kilometres through this uncertain country. We knew that the road to Diffa was in bad shape, but it was worthwhile trying in exchange of avoiding some 600 quilometres in Nigeria. We have awakened early and we have started to circulate for a paved road full of holes. "Patience" - we have thought -, but after some quilometres we have found a police control that has explained us that the road from there was bad, but in 200 kilometres we would find that the road was impassable and that with our car would probably we will touch the ground. We have thought that we would not lose anything in finding it out, but after stumbling in a few holes Alexandra has told me that it would be better to turn and to cross the following day in Nigeria from Zinder. I have paid her attention, after all Alexandra was more worried than i was of Nigeria. We came back to Zinder and took advantage of the day and have decided that we could fix the tap that empties the deposit of dirty water that i had broken some days ago. In a gas station I have asked for a workshop and a boy has told me that he would fix immediately all that we need. I have explained him the problem and he has started to work but without having previously negotiated the price. Another has told me that the problem can be fixed with adesiv but I have told him that we searched a firmer solution . The first boy has disappeared with the drainpipe and after a good while turned up with the pipe and a new assembled tap . They have installed it and i would say that it has come off better than before. But then we have entered into the phase of discussion of the three parts involved (or four, because there was also Alexandra) me, the assembler and the salesman of the tap . It has been a hard negotiation and more than once they have proposed to dismount the price , but in the end we have found a price that made everybody happy, except Alexandra who believed that they had deceived me. Cameroon Maroua (see on map) 16/05/2007: We have stopped in each of the 10 road blocks that we have found in the last 15 kilometres and in the end we have reached Banki, the town where the border between Nigeria and Cameroon lies. In Banki we have continued through the main asphalted road but they have immediately informed us on how to arrive to the border so we had to divert on the direction of the customs through small streets full of sand. In front of the building there was a barrier (a bar of iron between two pillars) with a poster that announced in English "Welcome to Nigeria" , and on the other side of the street another barrier with a poster announcing in French "Welcome to Cameroon" . The people of the city crossed over from one country to the other without showing any type of identification. In the customs of Nigeria they have attended us very well. They have made all the exit papers and when they have realised that we did not have a Cameroon visa they went to ask whether we could carry it out in the customs of Cameroon, because if we could not carry it out we could be between two borders without possibility to enter Nigeria again. Anyway we have explained them that we had the option of asking for a transit visa to arrive to Chad and to carry out the visa of Cameroon from N'djamena. After a while they have informed us that in the customs of Cameroon we will be able to buy the visa and an officer has accompanied us crossing the barrier and a superette. In the camerunian office they have informed us about being able to obtain the touristic visa for one month, but not there. We should direct ourselves to Maroua, a city that we wanted to visit at about 80 kilometres of Banki, anyway, not to have problems, a policeman escorted us. We found Maroua very developed in comparison with the previous countries that we had visited: wide avenues, clean and full of trees; buildings well painted of more than two plants; quite a lot of restaurants and late-night sites; relatively new cars and many motorcycles, quite a lot of which they worked as taxi. Anyway there was also poverty, as we saw it after paying 160 € for both visas and when going to "celebrate it" in a restaurant. While we ate a chicken with fried potatoes we have observed without giving importance some children dressed with dirty and worn out clothes that also looked at us from a certain distance. When I have just cleaned the bones it was too full to eat up the potatoes that Alexandra had left and the children have seen it. They have approached with discretion and they have asked us whether they could take the potatoes. Alexandra has filled a bag for them, but what has hit us more has been when they have asked us for the bones of the chicken and they have fought among them to see who compiled more bones. 17/05/2007:
Today i got robbed. I have not realised that until I was about to pay the gas oil that I have put in the autocaravan. In the morning we have gone to walk through the market, very big and full of shutdowns of cutbacks of clothes and dressmakers. After replacing and drinking a very good juice "d'oceille" we have continued through the vegetable market, where I have bought some plants. When we already went out full, I have noticed that some children roamed arround me. Normally i let them to overtake me or i do not let them approach me, but I have been probably distracted today and been caught between two adults. Then I have noticed some hands pressing my thighs or pockets. Instinctively I have tightened my hands against the pockets, screamed and slipped out among the bodies. I have touched the pockets and I have noticed the keys, the mobile, the knife and some coins: everything in order. We have gone out of the market much more attentive and not leting any child to approache me. But later, after eating and cleaning in depth the autocaravan to the outskirts of the town, I have gone to pay the gas oil that i had loaded and have realised (the coins yes i had them) but the notes no. I could only have lost them during the walk in the morning through the market. Alexandra has quarreled me and I have proposed to keep watching much more from now, anyway, the stolen amount did not surpass five or ten euro. Mandara Mountains, R (see on map) 19/05/2007:
Don Quijote is a very interesting character, and its not strange that in the village they name him like this, because apart from doing theatre he also has strangeideas and visions, for example forsaking openly the predominant religions of the country: the animistic, the Christian and the Muslim; or opining that Africa should not try to copy Europe so much and that they should develop from their own culture; or explaining that to have children in Africa is a way of ensuring the future, at individual and collective level. For sure we would have maintained many more interesting conversations, but these days, don Quijote has had quite a lot of work in the Kirdi Bar of Rhumsiki, in the Mandara mountains, where we have camped. We arrived yesterday, after going over a plain, advancing many bicycles, with the mountains in the background. From time to time we crossed villages, with homes of mud and roofs of straw, and among these, some other homes built with bricks and roofs of iron. It was A visual contrast probably positive, due to the evolution and to the development, but it diluted the charm that the lost villages between the desert and the savannah (and probably without not even eaten water) had. The mountains approached and the road started to curve. The green and stony landscape was interesting and from time to time stopped to do some photo, and even if the place seemed depopulated, always it ended up appearing some children, girls or womann asking for gifts (a "cadó"). Afterwards, when entering in the track of earth and circulating more slowly,we did not stop so that they asked us for cados by running in front of the caravan. Reaching Rhumsiki some magical mountains appeared: big towers of rocks standing out from the waves, as if they were gigantic termite mounds cutting back the horizon. Later, don Quijote explained us than the Capsiki, the inhabitants of area, think that the mountains grow and go out of the earth in the same way that the plants do, and really seeing this view one has the sensation that this is the procedure that has formed them. In the afternoon, don Quijote suggested to take a guide and make a turn through the village and afterwards he will also accompany us to some initiation dances that curiously were celebrated every two years. Rhumsiki was similar to the previous villages, maybe with more modern homes thanks to the tourism, the familiar houses fenced in with rows of cactus, and surprising: we observe the first pigs in all west Africa. The guide, a young boy of about 16 years, explained to us with the same emotion as his grandfather would have done it, the history of how Rhumsiki was formed and of how they defended against the first Islamic invasions. Next he explained us that every two years, the boys between 18 and 19 years passed some proofs of introduction that converted them into adults, giving them the right to get married and leave home. That day some dances were celebrated where the naked boys, and also the girls , were exhibited in order to fall in love. Anyway, the times had changed and at present only the older womens showed their bust, the girls went dressed , the boys had the body covered with some black oil and took lances and a tube to whistle. All, of, them, danced in circle, running, to the rhythm of the drums in the contrary direction of the clock needles, singing and doing sound with the tubes like flute, building a disharmónical but attractive melody. There was the head of the village and a small group of children that observed the show laughing followed by womens with small babies, a man a little drunk holding up an umbrella, boys jumping and simulating confrontations among them, girls that ran in group a little intimidated by the boys. Today we have gotten up early and done a fantastic excursion guided by don Quijote, going down the valley among the stony mountains, to a small village named Ndri, where about four or five families tried to subsist. During the excursion, don Quijote has explained many interesting things to us. he told us that they bury the dead men according to the religion that they belonged to, if they are Christians under a tomb of cement, if they are Muslim orientating the body to the Meca, and the animists under a heap of stones with a special arrangement indicating the sex of the deceased man and the number of children and daughters that he had . As i passed on the side of a small baobab he has explained to us that if the mother of a small baby dies, they feed him with a flour extracted from the fruit of the tree making him a very strong child. ... --- I interviewed don Quijote, who opined that the greatest problem of the world is the war caused by the religions. The solution would be found in listening to all the world and to give opportunities to all, at the same time we should be patient. The main problem in Cameroon is the president, who with his 25 years of government is as a dinosaur. Cameroon is vaccinated to keep under the same ideology and are happy of being in the shit. The solution would be in the education, when providing more means to the school: good professors, tables, books... and perhaps payong for the school, the people will value it more. He is happy because he has a good life. To be happier he would need health and to maintain the family united. The secret of happiness is to know and to accept that the life is done of good and bad things and to value the nature and the fresh air that we breathe. Garoua (see on map) 20/05/2007:
don Quijote has told us that the continuation of the path, across the mountains towards Garoua, was with the same "good" state as for where we had arrived and that after a few kilometres the path turned into a very good track. So we have continued in the same direction in spite of the mistrust of Alexandra, which has proved more than justified. The path was in a terrible state,i had to keep watching and to have a lot of driving skills among the rocks not to touch the ground, but I have not been able to avoid four times scraping the basses softly. In an hour we have only recurred 12 kilometres, anyway, after another half hour the track seemed to improve, and has followed like this until we have arrived to the main asphalted road, where after little it has started to pour with rain in an apocalyptic way. N?Gaoundéré (see on map) 21/05/2007:
The road towards N'Gaoundéré is excellent and also the landscape going among low and rounded mountains, passing from a green zone but with scarce trees to another another luxuriant one. It has surprised me to cross different big villages all of them built with bricks of mud and roofs of straw, but in spite of the rustic and traditional air, that seemed prosperous with the agriculture and the stock farming, there was abundant grass and the crops seemed to grow without too much effort. We have also crossed different wooded areas and some protected areas, with thick vegetation with wide leaves, in one of whom we have seen some big primates of red bottom. We have stopped to observe them but the shouts of illusion that Alexandra made have frightened them and they have hidden immediately. 22/05/2007:
Yesterday and today, we have been able to relax in the autocaravan, without asphyxiating nor sweating, thanks to the fresh temperatures of N'Gaoundéré, which its found at 1100 meters above the sea level. Anyway we have also gone out to walk through the city, quite calm and similar to Maroua, with simple small homes and quite a lot of trees making shadow in the streets. Only the motorcycles taxi s broke the calm, running up and down with the drivers protected with anoraks and bodice with the number of licence and the passengers (one, two or three more the packets) caught behind. In the morning I have walked alone through the market - without being robbed -, which extended on the sides of a long street, with mixed shutdowns of every type : the vegetables among the clothes, the fish next to the legumes... The people of the market were nice and they agreed easily to being photographed, and even the girls who in the previous countries avoided frightened the camera, have appeared more permissive here and one has even done proposed to marry me. In the afternoon we have arrived to the chaotic train station, final destination of the main railroad of Cameroon. More than one boy has suggested to sell me thickets to load the autocaravan in the train, which was going out soon, because the station was full of people pulled among big amounts of suitcases. Yaounde (see on map) 25/05/2007:
We have recurred a thousand kilometres of African roads in only three days. The day before yesterday it was the day that I was more while at the steering wheel, although we only advance about 300 kilometres. The beginning of the track in Garoua-Bolai, near the border with the African Centre Republic, was very wrinkled and sometimes perforated since the majority of the transport from the North of Cameroon to the South is carried out by train up to N'Gaoundéré. We started to circulate at an average of 30 km/hr shaken by the continuous small waves of the ground and we said that we did not have haste to arrive to any place , but after two hours the impatience or boredom took hold of me and started to look for a speed in which the vibrations of the road were 1.5 times the resonance frequency of the vehicle. But Alexandra became annoyed without understanding this research, because although sometimes it seemed that we slid on the track to 60 km/hr, other times we bounced with such a brutality that it seemed that the autocaravan came imto small broken pieces. Confirming the importance of the railroad from Yaounde to N'Gaoundéré, on the track did not circulate many trucks, although as in the previous roads, there were quite a lot spoiled in the ditches, and one totally broken in the middle of the track. The inhabitants of the closest village had opened a parallel track helping like that the traffic but they asked for a toll that we saw ourselves obliged to pay. For sure that was a lucrative initiative, although the village through which we passed did not seem extremely poor, for example there were dogs that did not seem to pass hunger; the homes were less primitive, rectangular, with the smooth walls and painted with four brushstrokes and thatched roof or oxidised iron roof; there were open flatwares where to relax in group on rainy days; and more towards the south, the homes were adorned with flowers in front, the lawn was cut, the clothes well extended... The vegetation of the surroundings of the villages was thick and every time more impenetrable as we advanced. We were in full forest and to prove it we allmost crossed over a long green snake . In comparison to the previous day, the road of Garoua-Boulai to Bertoua was excellent, finished in European standards. there were even resting areas or posters that indicated the panoramic views. The road cut quickly the waves of the ground with villages in the high parts and crops on the rest of the area. There was not too much traffic, but the inhabitants of the area had found a curious way of benefiting from the asphalt: they extended floor mats so that they could dry in the sun the fufu (yuka). Anyway, in spite of the good road we did not reach Bertoua as quickly as one might have waited. There were days now since I had felt bad, with belly akes and sporadic diarrhoea, so I tried to rest and to sleep more time. In the same way, because i did not have to put 100% of my attention in the road I had quite a lot of time to think on the journey. Despite not finding myself completely well, I thought with optimism that after having arrived to half of the route on the way to South Africa and of having surpassed with success hundreds of kilometres of tracks that destroy nerves and cars, the probabilities of arriving at least to South Africa were sky-high and, therefore also the possibilities to end up complying the dream of arriving to Australia in two or three years from now, when i will already be 36 or 37 years old (Alexandra remembers it to me often). Anyway, afterwards I still feel like continuing the journey with the American continent, I will finish the adventure close to the forties. This age is not identified with the youth, but I would like to arrive living the life as an impulsive and enterprising youngster , traveling to know the world and to be formed in life, because still there is a lot to learn. As we had previewd, the road that came out of Bertoua has been a track full of holes again, but after about three hours and about a hundred kilometres , we have started to find heavy machinery that was building a new road and prepared to tar it. We have kept circulating among the machines, without anybody directing the traffic, except after driving many kilometres that we have found a check point. The boy in the check point told us that we arrived too late and he has put a bar of metal to make the forbiden order more strict. he has informed us that we were not being able to pass until 18:30, after four hours and a half. But while we asked the cause another 4/4 has arrived on the other side of the road and the boy has taken the bar of protection off. Then the boy has told us that his boss had told him to forbidd the passing to any big vehicle. We have tried to make him understand that our car was small, but as he seemed not to understand we crossed, avoiding carefully the boy who had left the crossing point without the protection of the bar. We have followed circulating with precaution the next kilometres, but have not passed any excessively complicated section that could have stoped us for four hours. When arriving to Yaundé i was tired and feeling even more ill, but we have followed the roads to find a place to spend the night. As we arrived to the centre hidden between small mountains and waves, we have seen the Hilton hotel behind a big roundabout and decided to look if they had some discrete parking place to sleep. But when managing us following the wide avenue that crossed the roundabout, some boys have indicated to me that people could not circulate on that route. I have turned over but some police officer made me follow him up to the police station . It did not find myself too well, but I have tried to feign to be worse exaggerating the tremor of my hands and of my state of mind. The policemen brought together have explained to me that the avenue that crosses the roundabout is the presidential street and that even if there was not any poster indicating it, all the world knew that it was forbidden to circulate on it. I have tried to argue that i had arrived today, that i did not know and that i would not make the mistake again, but they did not seem ready to forgive me. The officer in head has explained me that the punishment of the infraction was about 40 €, but I have told them that they could give me the fine and that i will talk to the ministry (i did not want to bribe them). Finally my regrettable state has been what made them understand that was better not to lose more time with me and let us continue. 26/05/2007: Yesterday we asked for the price to camp in a presbyterian guesthouse but it was out of our budget and we spent the night in a wasteland a little further on. But this morning they have knocked violently at the door. I have put on a shirt on my bare body and I have opened the window. Next to the autocaravan there were about 8 policemen, a 4x4 and other people. The policeman who had knocked the door has ordered: - open the door. - We are sleeping here, is there some problem? - open the door - he said in a more authoritarian way. I have opened the door showing with my nakedness and I have exclaimed: - We were sleeping here, what is the problem ? Another policeman in the background, that seemed the head, screamed offended: - What are you doing? closes the door. I have closed it and the first has told me through the window to dress myself. Alexandra has also been and prepared everything to leave. I have went out in order to use the same tactics as in the previous day. - Whats the problem ? We were sleeping here and I am ill - I have said extending my quivering hand. - Do you have parkinson? - the boss mocked at me. - Very ironic - I have commented trying not to lose the nerves. Then they have explained me the problem : we were parked in the grounds of the presbyterian church and a witch woman, who every time that I opened the mouth talked against me acusing me of being a liar and a perverted , and she was the one that denounced us. The woman wanted us to pay the cost of the guesthouse and I said no. Finally the head of the policemen has taken the passports and told us that we have to accompany them to the police station , together with the ass kissser of the witch. In the police station they have presented the case to another officer that has tried to be the arbiter between both sides but I have remained firm (but with the trembling legs caused by the illness) that i will not pay. After talking a lot , I have suggested from the floor where I was sitting: - I do not want to pay, but if the church wants they can denounce me and the courts will decide. The policeman has commented me that the things did not work like this in Cameroon, but the proposition has seemed to cause the effect that i was looking for and the policeman has started to explain to the ass kisser that they should not treat the tourists this way and that Cameroon was hospital-related in front of everything. And to confirm the explanations he has expressed that not to have problems the following nights we could freely use the parking of the police station. I have been grateful for the offer, although i knew that Alexandra would not accept it, and asked about the problem with the church. - Solved. - He has answered. - Solved? I do not have to pay anything? - You have courage and you do not have to pay if you do not want. We have gone towards the north of the city and we have found a relatively economic parking place in the enclosure of a Greek community with orthodox church where I have rested good part of the day trying to recover my forces. While i slept I have been thinking that this belly ake and the lack of energy could be owed to all the tensions lived the last days, or the last months. Images of the policemen from the morning, of those of yesterday or of the policeman on the exit of Gao that had been fixing me with the finger almost introducing it in my eyes, they all came into my mind; i remembered very clear how we had escaped of the inhabitants of the village yesterday, where we had stopped to eat, and when they arrived with machetes (all the world takes machetes to the forest) and had told us that we had to pay them something; i remembered the face of rage of Alexandra few days ago when she had discovered that i was laying me on the bed on her sunglasses and that i broke them by mistake; i also remembered the fears that the autocaravan will not hold all the journey and really was possible to get broken too or it remembered that the fridge had stopped working a day ago. I had always minimised the worries, looking the future with optimism and thinking that the negative experiences are good to explain, but even if my mind was not tensioned, i noticed that my body was , concentrating all the nerves in my digestive system. I have tried to continue visualising how all these experiences and fears kept dissolving and they kept releasing my stomach and I have imagined with energy and i will be completely cured by morning. afterwards I have kept resting all the day and I have only written a little and I have fixed the fridge (an electrical cable had only been deconnected). ‹ Previous (28/03/2007) MONTH Next (2007-05-27)› ‹ Previous (2007-04-04 - Mauritania) COUNTRY Next (2007-05-03 - Niger)› |
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