Diary
A very brief diary of events.......one day I will I write it all up!
26th December 2008
We left home with the car fully stocked. Food, tent, water, tools and all the medical supplies kindly donated by Christchurch Pharmacy in Braintree. We also had a supply of old mobile phones and boxes
of cigarettes to use as payment & bribes. These were to come in very handy! The ferry crossing was good and we drove drove down through France to stay with a friend of Al's in his chateau. It was a very cold night and in the morning we discovered the diesel in the car had frozen. A quick thaw out and we were on our way.
27th December 2008
Drove into Spain today, a lovely winters day, we drove non-stop until 7pm when we reached Bogus for our overnight stop. First contact made with Nick & Gary one of the other. team members.
28th December 2008
After checking the car over we made an early start to drive to the bottom of Spain to meet up with all the other groups. There are only about 12 teams (from the original 40). Many people pulled out due to the warnings given about attacks on tourists in Mauritania and Senegal. I feel a little apprehensive but will deal with events one by one as they unfold. Got to the hotel to meet everyone. One team Lions of Chance are missing as they are bringing an ambulance and have broken down already, they hope to be with us ready to leave in the morning.
29th December 2008
Today we went to Gibraltar. We went up the mountains and saw all the monkeys. The weather was appalling, but fortunately for us Gibraltar was actually open as occasionally Spain gets the hump and shuts it! I bought a camcorder ready for the trip. We booked tickets for the ferry crossing to Ceuta as we were advised that Tangiers was troublesome and hostile.
30th December 2008
Up at 4am! All teams are now here, including the Lions but they can' t set off with yet as they are waiting for a part from UK to fix the ambulance. They hope to catch up. Boarded the ferry and left our cars & luggage below and with wallet & phone went up to have breakfast. I noticed the Muffin Men (another team) all carried a toilet roll, which made me smile, 20 mins later I realised the scale of their wisdom!! LESSON 1. NEVER travel without toilet roll. Crossed strait of Gibraltar at 6am into Ceuta. What a culture shock! The border was a terrible place, bad people, very aggressive, I couldn't wait to leave. We drove on to the nearest town to get insurance, without which we would be imprisoned! Found a market place with a guy selling shoes (not pairs, just single shoes) he seemed to be doing a roaring trade. In the UK we have taxi ranks, in this town you have men with barrows, all in a line waiting for someone to employ them to move something from
A to B. We eventually found some insurance but were constantly accosted by beggars, I had never seen poverty at this level. A man of 60 with barely any clothes living on the street and a girl no more than 4 also living on the street. We left the town and drove to the walled city of Meknes (much better) and pitched up at an International campsite. Good site. Had an amazing taxi ride in a car that wasn't fit to go 100yds, it had an oval wheel and appeared to be running on fumes, but the driver was incredibly happy. I have since learned it is not unusual for taxi drivers to ask for money upfront and then put enough fuel in to do the journey! I feel like I have been away from home for months, not days!
31st December 2008
We drove to Marrakech today via the Rif mountains up to Chefchaouen. The terrain was really bad. The road map has told us not to travel alone through this area, yet we found ourselves doing that! Mountain roads with sheer drops to one side. It's slow going and the engine doesn't sound too good. We also kept getting passed by old Mercs with blacked out windows and no number plates. we have been told they are drug runners and we are not to stop or interact, just let them pass. Sometimes a car would follow you for an hour but as you approached a military checkpoint (something else to get used to) the car would disappear. I arranged to meet some teams in a little village high in the mountains for lunch, which was brilliant and then we continued onto Marrakech. Each team found their hotel and we arranged to meet up in the square, where both me and Al accidentally got tattoo's! I had been keeping contact with The Lions of Chance and they were hopeful to meet us in Marrakech tonight, but unfortunately this wasn't to happen. I felt I had made a couple of friends in them and was hoping to travel with them. The square is alive with stalls & market by day and food halls in the evening, something that me and other teams took great advantage of. The food was fantastic. As the evening went on we arranged to meet at another hotel where the Muffin men were staying. On arrival we were taken to a room quite high up. It is illegal to sell Alcohol in this country (not sure about drinking it) but we were sold tokens which we could take to another a part of the hotel & exchange for a small beer. Frustrated at this arrangement we found ourselves wandering into a hall with food which we all started to enjoy assuming the hotels New Years Eve hospitality...but NO, we had stumbled across a private party! The hotel staff not wanting to cause a problem led us to an even higher room and bar where we could buy beer, there was small band, a belly dancer and local people looked on with great amusement at the British paying £5 for a small bottle of Heineken and drinking it like someone is about to take it away! I got very merry and had a great night.
1st January 2009
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Woke up a little worse for wear. Got a text from the Lions and arranged to meet for breakfast. We met at a cafe overlooking the square and had lunch. Made a plan for our journey. We were all concerned about the situation in Mauritania and one team had already decided they were turning back. We heard at this point that there was unrest between Western Sahara and Morocco and that the UN were in force to keep the peace.
2nd January 2009
Left Marrakech early and headed towards Agadir. A very rich costal resort. After a couple of hours through the mountains the suspension on the car broke. We found a small village where no-one spoke any English but were all happy to see us. Using my trusted method of 'hand signals' I negotiated a welded repair, which was done brilliantly and cost 200 Drakmar, which is about £15, a mobile phone and 20 fags. Carried onto Agadir, which was a very nice place, even the beggars seemed to have money! We found a room for the night and employed our first guard. he turned up with a fluorescent jacket and a big stick and assured u no-one would go near the car for the price of 2 Euros. I woke at 5am, looked out the window and sure enough there he sat, sitting on the bonnet of the car. What a guy!
3rd January 2009
Left Agadir and went down the coast to Tan Tan. Long day driving. Tan Tan was really rough and full of UN vehicles, so we decided to push on to Laaymont, which was even worse!!! We found a hotel of a sort and employed the services of another guard. A 60 year old guy who sat by the car all night long for 1 Euro. It seemed we had been stitched up the night before!
4th January 2009
We had become separated from the other teams and as we approached Daklah we found a garage with 2 rooms at the back which we rented for the night. I had read in the Road map that the flies in this area were epic, my experience was that epic didn't seem a big enough word! By day you are surrounded by them and eating food involves a one handed operation whilst swiping flies away, but by night as I sat in a cafe eating I looked up at the ceiling which was 90% black...with flies! The answer to my question was clear...Where did the flies go? Awesome..
While enjoying my meal talking to the owner of the establishment, 2 massive guys came in and stood at the door. The owner apologised and said he must talk to them NOW. On his return he explained they would be in the next room to us and they would be leaving at 4am in 2 BMW's. He advised us not to interact with them and all would be well! I took this advice and lived it to the letter. Everyday is a school day.
5th January 2009
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6th January 2009
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7th January 2009
By early morning the Latvian contingent, a fantastic group of people, who moved with military precision in their Lada's, arrived, unloaded food, ate and with a call from their leader ED, were off. Soon after the other teams came through and we joined the convoy. Destination the Mauritania border (much apprehension). On arrival at the border a very busy and confusing place (lots of military), lots of people professing to be guides. At this border we were individually questioned by the military. He was a big soldier with a gun, sitting under a tree. Guns I had got used to by now, but this guy looked liked he wanted to use it ( he had normally killed someone by noon). My time came and I walked and sat beside him ( very nervous). He asked me a couple of questions, then with a big smile said "enjoy Mauritania, it's a nice place, you should come back and stay longer next time". He advised me to learn French..I promised him I would! As each team passed the interview process we gathered a s a group on Mauritanian soil. The camp was split, some teams were going into a town called Noudhibou, a town run by villains, but was promised to be safe as it recognised the benefit of travellers. We however, along with the Lions of Chance, The Everyday Journeyman & Hakuna Matata elected to do a non stop dash across the country and get into Senegal as soon as possible. Stopping for nothing as we were in bandit country. We checked our cars and left. For the first 5 hours we were followed but then the car turned round. We drove until well into the night and decided to get some sleep. We slept in the cars ready to move at a moments notice. Usually in these circumstances everyone disappears out of sight for the call of nature, however on this occasion nobody wandered far!
8th January 2009
We rested for a few hours and then set off. Each car had a CB radio in. We headed towards Nouakchott, the Country's capital. Make no mistake this ain't no City of London. It's like a Western town, no cars have number plates and everyone is in a hoodie! We were negotiating the smaller streets trying to find our way through. The Lions had the lead. Suddenly everything stopped and over the CB came a voice saying "turn round, turn round, we are in Black Hawk Down" and indeed it looked like we were! We spun the cars round and made a hasty retreat. From what I am not quite sure but it seemed like a good idea at the time. Finally exiting Nouakchott we had to embark on what is known as the Diama road. This was 8 hours of a road so bumpy the only way to travel it was at 50mph which kept everything in the car permanently in the air! I did for a while video both inside the car and leant outside the window videoing the teams behind, trying to capture this visual spectacle for all time and only a day later realised I had left the lense cap on. I put it down to brain shake! We stopped for 1 break and was approached by an old Merc doing about 80mph. It pulled up and 5 guys got out, 1 announced he was the Mayor and welcomed us to the area. We thanked him and he was on his way...
Eventually we got to the border crossing thinking all now would be plain sailing, it's Senegal, it's a democracy after all, they speak English. On border crossings one person from each team, me being the one from mine, would go in together and try to negotiate the crossing. Each of us played a part. Nick was the French speaking negotiator, I was the broke Englishman (who produced an empty wallet on demand and an equally empty look on Nick's signal), Loyal was the American with the Obama promotion package which was going down a storm, (never before had there been a better time to travel as an American in Africa) and Bob (clipboard Bob) was the very organised Englishman who had every piece of paper at hand.
This border crossing should have been no different to the others. As we went into passport control, a small office with a big leather chair, with a guy in it who reminded me of Morgan Freeman and he wanted loads of money! Nick negotiated long and hard and we were thrown out of the office more times than I can remember, but Nick managed to get us back in each time until eventually we sealed the deal. Thinking that this was the worst we went to the police control next which went very smoothly. He then said " you just need to get a stamp from the Senegese passport control". We looked around but couldn't see anyone else to go to. There was a building with a veranda with a guy in a bright yellow silk suit standing with 2 ladies each side of him, he looked like Wesley Snipes, very cool with his shades and his stance.
He watched us skulk around for 10 mins and then stepped forward and said "if you want to get into Senegal you talk to me". My immediate thought was Oh shit! His wages didn't buy him that suit. We entered into negotiation....
This guy was one of the highlights of the trip. He was a man in the middle of nowhere, who had power and knew it but worst of all he answered to nobody so he made the rules completely. We had gone to the Diama crossing over Rosso as it was considered an easier border and Rosso had a reputation of being aggressive. This meant we now found ourselves in the hands of Wesley! His demands were high and seemingly without compromise. It was pay or turn round and go back into Mauritania. He really didn't care. We negotiated for hours, never really getting anywhere. With all other borders after a few hours Nick always found a thread of common ground, (football, family/children etc.) which then concluded in an agreement, but as the day drew to an end this was seeming unlikely. Suddenly he looked at his watch, took a big sigh and his attitude changed. Football was the subject he drew back to, then children, he asked if Nick had any children and mocked him for producing only girls, then went on to speak about his own children. He seemed happy, jolly and within no time a deal was done. An expensive deal but a deal nevertheless. It was at this point we realised that at this very quiet border crossing, we were his days entertainment, it was just a game and now he wanted to wrap it up and go home to his family! We passed through into Senegal, thinking all was smooth now and meet everyone else at the Zebrabar. (A very nice campsite, all english speaking, good food, drink and full of like minded travellers) As we exited the border, military police pulled us over and wanted to check the cars. They went through them with a fine tooth comb. Mine had a side light out, which was amazing considering the torture it had gone through that day. I could pay a roadside fine of 100 Euros or go to court. After a long day I paid the fine, I thought this was a little harsh as cars were going past with panels missing and some with no lights at all! Was very happy to get to Zebrabar and have a beer.
9th January 2009
As all teams met up for breakfast, all slightly hung over from the night before, we discussed plans of routes to take to the Gambia. Hakuna Matata were keen to take a scenic route so I travelled with the Lions and the Journeyman, we decided to cut through the dessert to meet the Gambian river to go to a place called Georgetown. Nick's brother runs a charity which operates in Georgetown and he was expecting us. We drove all day, going through village communities with amazing huts, where we felt we were the first crazy travellers they had ever seen! It was incredible. Everyone was very happy to see us. At this stage we were completely off the map and having to navigate with a compass and the sun. At the end of a very long day we drove until it was dark and you really have to stop because you can't see soft sand and rocks. We made camp about 1/2 mile away from a village. Gary (the chef) collected food from all teams and cooked us an incredible meal. The night was still and you could hear tribal music coming from the village. we think there may have been a wedding or party occurring. It was the perfect night.
10th January 2009
Up early and had breakfast (again thanks to Gary). We were talking about the peaceful night and Daryl said he thought he had an animal sniffing round his tent in the night, Loyal told him it may have been a lucky escape, it was probably a lion! It appeared that Daryl was the only one who didn't know that Lions didn't inhabit this part of Africa. (Nobody chose to tell him otherwise). We drove all day towards the Gambian border again passing through villages with fantastic markets, selling fruit & bread, which we stopped and bought. I pulled up at a military checkpoint and stopped, a young soldier with an automatic rifle came running at me shouting, all I could focus on was that his finger was on the trigger of the gun that was pointed straight at me! My hands were in the air and I was shouting WOAH...a lot!! Clearly unfamiliar with WOAH he continued to shout a lot in French and pointed the gun further at me. This wasn't a normal day for me so I wasn't sure quite what to do, but his gestures were suggesting that the Journeyman (who unbeknown to me had followed me into the checkpoint) should reverse back outside the checkpoint. Once this had happened he was fine :) Our papers were checked and we were allowed on our way. I was going to suggest that next time he just asked instead of taking 10 years off my life, but elected to just move on and smile. We were heading towards Georgetown which was an island on the Gambian river and as we queued for the ferry it was clear that health and safety had no place in this town. We were not sure that anyone actually knew how many vehicles this ferry could hold, I figured they would just keep filling it up until the day it sank, we all wondered whether today would be that day! Georgetown was fantastic, we were made very welcome, children were proud of their town, their school and their community. There was a hospital in the town and I felt that this was the place for me to donate my medical supplies. I requested to meet the head Doctor the next day. The locals had planned a welcome party for us and would be roasting a goat. For this to happen the local holy man had to come and bless and oversee the killing of the goat (just another normal day). I was elected to help build a spit with the local blacksmith, who was amazing. He had welded his whole life without ever using welding goggles and wondered why his vision was impaired! A young lad befriended me and had shown me round the village and introduced me to the blacksmith and had arranged a visit of the local school and meeting with the doctor. A seemingly good lad. The evening was great, goat delicious & beer was plentiful thanks to Richard (Nick's brother/organiser).
11th January 2009
Woke up very early to the sound of birds in the trees above. I wandered to the rivers edge, 30 feet from the tent, just in time to see the sun coming up on the Gambian river (see photo). It was absolutely amazing. Only a good day can come from this start. I was later taken to the hospital to meet the doctor. As I approached there was a tin shack with 3 sides and some wooden benches under it. The sign hanging of the roof said 'waiting shed'. The hospital runs on a shoestring and the doctor was overwhelmed with my supplies and I couldn't have been happier and just wished i had brought more. I then went to the school but because it was Sunday there were no lessons, however all the children were cleaning the school (see photo). They were very proud of it, as the greatest gift in this area is an education. All the children in the school were sponsored, mostly by Richards charity.
I was lucky enough to go into a room full of gifts. The head teacher explained that they all came from a school in London, there were boxes and boxes of unknown items and the teachers were opening them, it was like it was Christmas for them. There were pens, pencils, paper, it was good to see the other end of so much charity work we hear about in England. One teacher was thrilled to announce there was a computer in this batch and much celebration followed. I looked at it but to me it was just an old early computer with a massive screen, like you see at dumps all the time, however it was a big deal here! Although the island only has electricity for 6 hours a day. As the tour continued I was introduced to students. I was impressed with their drive & ambition. They really did see education as a gift. I enquired to what age they were educated and the head said it varies. Often they take time out to earn more money for more education, so I enquired how much a years education was and was staggered to find it was only £35 and this included full-board.
12th January 2009
The Journeyman planned to leave today so me and Al decided to go with them as the Lions were staying in Georgetown an extra couple fo days. I was slightly apprehensive (as pom-de-terre is the only French I know) and asked Nick for some tips as he had been our main spokesman. He laughed and said "this is Gambia, English is their first language". By this time in the journey I was kind of known as Ahmed, because when people asked my name I replied "I'm Ed" in perfectly good English but they heard "Ahmed" and responded accordingly, so I wasn't sure that an English speaking country was much help to me! We drove down to Barra to get the ferry across to Banjul (sounds easy) but on arrival not so much. A very busy place, lots of people professing to sell ferry tickets. Because of the regularity of this rally local rogues take full advantage. We were promised all kinds of preferential treatment for small fees and I saw many scams unfold before my very eyes. I went into a local police station to ask if there was a legitimate ticket office but it appeared to be shut (not locked - very open) just not staffed. I eventually took faith in one guy who said "leave the cars here I will take you to the ticket office 1/2 a mile away and sort out the tickets for the cars and people, if you collect the money from your mates we can do the whole lot". We decided that me and Daryl would go, in a taxi, with this guy, with the money and collect all the tickets. We got into the cab, Me and Daryl in the back and the guy in the front, just as we were about to pull away two more guys got in either side of me and Daryl! My apprehension went through the roof and I was quite vocal. The guy assured me everything was fine and spurred on by adrenalin I said to Daryl "if anything happens we can take these". Credit where credit is due we went to the ticket office and they negotiated us a really good deal for a pre-arranged fee. As we waited to board the ferry young girl selling fruit came round car to car. She can only have been 9 or 10. She had a knife 12" long of which she skilfully peeled the fruit once you purchased it. She spoke 4 languages, went to school from 8-2pm then worked the ferry's from 3-7pm. A young boy of similar age was selling coconuts which he split with a machete! 2 of the most incredible children I have ever met. Once on the ferry we had a few moments to reflect and I pronounced that we had made it. Our little vauxhall (of which I was sceptical at the start) had completed the journey. we had gone through rocks, sand, heat, mountains and all kinds of terribleness and it had survived. The moment we rolled off the ferry we were in Banjul (our destination). Our hotel was on the outskirts of Banjul and as we were weaving our way through the town our car suddenly made a terrible noise. On investigation (roadside) it was apparent we had lost a cylinder, we pushed on to the hotel, running only on 3 cylinders (which is great, because now I can still condemn vauxhalls).
13th January 2009
Met up with other teams as we were having a meal together that evening. There was to be a convoy through the town of all the vehicles, but alas our was unable to take part due to the engine failure. Short on money I wandered to a hotel further up the coast, which had a cash machine. The hotel complex was overrun with monkeys, who scavenged for food, they were funny & sweet for 5 mins! Now the journey was done my only focus was to get home so I made every effort to exchange my ticket for a flight as soon as possible, to no avail that day. Back at the hotel we handed over the cars to the charity along with all the camping supplies and our tools etc. There were many dealers trying to buy everything before the cars went into the charity auction. they figured that if a car had driven from England to Banjul and made it, it was a good car.
14th January 2009
Up early and packed everything to go to the airport. Although I got on really well with everybody me and Nick had struggled with time away from our families and understood each others pain, so we were both very keen to get on a plane as soon as possible. Armed with my bribe pack (mobiles & fags) we set about trying to get a flight. I offered one guy everything I had to travel in the hold, fortunately that wasn't necessary & we were give the news that seats were available on the next flight. To say we were overjoyed was an understatement! I have never been so happy to get on a plane. On arrival at Gatwick I had an emotional reunion with Vic and introduced her to some of my travelling companions, whom I will remember forever.
Final note:
This had been the greatest adventure. I never would have believed I would experience the things I did, it took me so far out of my comfort zone, had I have known I may never have gone but I wouldn't change it for the world! I left England believing that mostly people are good and kind and just want to get on with their lives. I experienced nothing to change my mind.
