Day 29 – 21/2/12

Ray went to collect the car from CFAO. A great big thanks to Pierre and the folks at CFAO. They had repaired the tyre Ray had plugged, kept the batteries charged and the vehicle safe. They also gave it a wash and before leaving. CFAO is a Paris listed company and has always been very professional throughout out travels.

We checked into Le Meridian; thanks to Peter in home office and SPG for the points. We went to the patisserie for lunch and luckily ran into our friend Denis. The visited Moussa to pass on our thanks for the trip and thoughts on improvements; tents that are suitable for the task and bake bread in coals in the morning.

Ray tried to look at getting some visas for Burkina Faso from the French embassy, but due to a lack of language was not successful. They suggested we try again tomorrow!! Then we visited the Immigration office to see if we need a permit to exit to Niger, again try again tomorrow!

We had dinner with Denis (who we had met in Zakouma and who assisted us in Mongo) and Gianni & Genevieve De Angelis who had recently driven the route to Niger. The information was that this will be a very hard drive.

 

Day 30 – 22/2/12

A day of rest and small chores. Denis came to the French Embassy to assist us in getting, but it is closed on Wednesday (not sure why they told us to come back on Wednesday??). Ray went to the Department of the Interior to get a travel permit to go to the Niger Frontier. We are not sure if this is needed, but it will not hurt to have it and it was no hassle to get it. We then did a bit of emailing and chatted to Moussa, the MD/owner of Chad Evasion about the trip.

It was a little bit like Christmas – we managed to get gasoil (you can just see Rays smile, hey?) and we found some Coke light!!

We had dinner with Pierre & Isaline, a nice relaxed evening. It is great to be able to sit and chat about things in English.

 

Day 31 – 23/2/12

A relaxing day. Ray filled the water tanks ready for the trip to Niger and we bought some fresh provisions; oranges and apples from RSA ($1/piece). Bananas & pineapple from Cameroon etc. Later in the day we get some take aways from the Lebanese restaurant.

Avril went for a trip to the Grand bazaar/market with Jerome. It is massive and spread over a large area. Lots of stores with the same things. She purchased the Chad version of chilli biltong.

It turns out that the French Embassy can issue visas for some African countries, but they need a few days. Pity they did not start a few days ago then!

Pierre & Isaline had kindly asked us to their place for drinks. and we met their wonderful son, Martin.

 

Day 32 – 24/2/12

A dirty day! After picking up some fresh bread we left N’Djamena heading for the Niger frontier. The wind started to blow and kept up all day. At times the dust/sand was so dense we could only see a few meters in front of the vehicle.

The road to Massakory is tar and we did the 147 km in 2 hours. We purchased a jerry can of gasoil at Massakory. After Massakory, the track follows a remnant dirt formed road. Rarely can we drive on the old road, rather there are tracks along the side of the road. These tracks have a huge number of ditches, holes and bumps – basically we spent the day sort of riding a mechanical bucking bull! We never got out of 2^nd gear.

Massakory – Toumsari; 32 km, 1 hour. Toumsari – Ngouri; 53 km, 2 hours. Ngouri – Bol turn off; 86 km 3 hours. Bol turn off to camp; 50 km 2.5 hrs. About 10 km before the camp site we turned north and the remnant road stopped and we were basically driving on a paddock dirt track.

The dust was awful, every time we slowed for the road condition, the dust we had created caught up with us and enveloped the car. So, we decided to use the air conditioning rather than eat dust.

The driving was hard, maybe as hard as Angola. We did get bogged once, but that was due to a poor choice of route rather than the overall conditions.

We bush camped. The big news is that we passed 100,000 on the odometer (~ 25,000 in Africa).

The flies here are substantially worse than OZ; we never thought we would say that!! They do not even go to sleep – buzzing around way after dark.

Avril driving. 10.5 hours. 396 km. N 13⁰ 39’ 47.2’’ E 014⁰ 17’ 30.8’’ 

Day 33 – 25/2/12

Lost!! Again an awful day for dust, the maximum visibility we had all day was < 100m. It is a little daunting to be basically in white out conditions not having full knowledge of the route and the actual track being variable and subject to some pretty deep/abrupt holes and challenging sand.

Given the conditions, it is hard to describe the scenery and vegetation, however it is basically very flat with a good covering of thorn/acacia trees. We also passed a number of dried out lakes (Lake Chad overflow??) some of which are being mined for salt.

The route we followed (and this is the same for all of Chad) is not a single track, rather there are a number of tracks going in the same general direction. There can be more than 2 km between the tracks. Hence, you never know 100% if you are on the right track. We drove quite easily to Lioua from our camp site. On exiting the town we followed the most obvious tracks. After about 30 min we began to get a little nervous. It is OK to go off the general direction for a while, but we were not getting back to where we thought we should be going. We asked a couple of people, but most folks up here are scared of white people and there is a general tendency to smile and agree. Eventually we turned back.

The latest information we had was that we needed to go to Rig Rig, but we could not see any tracks going that way. So, we followed a road shown on T4A that bypasses Rig Rig and it all worked just fine. Lesson – trust T4A. Along the route we saw some buzzards, gazelles and Papas monkeys.

Camp – Lioua; 23 km, 1 hr. Lioua – Kiskawa; 63 km, 2 hrs. Kiskawa – Daboua; 47 km, 2 hrs.

We completed immigration and customs at Daboua. Very smooth, all professional, no one asked for a bribe etc.

The ~ 20 km later, after 1 month, we left Chad.  There is nothing to mark the actual border.

Chad Summary

Forget the melodramatic descriptions in the travel guides and the sometimes near hysterical warnings on Government advisory sites (are they there to provide realistic practical advice or cover the bottom of a bureaucrat and protect careers??).

Our experience of Chad was fantastic. We did not experience any security issues – the theft of our spade and wheel brace to one side. In general the people are very helpful and more than willing to go out of their way to assist. Funnily enough, this did not apply to our difficulties on the road. A big plus is the total lack of road blocks, this makes driving a lot easier.

As reported Zakouma National Park is world class. The Ennedi desert is also great.

Negatives are the heat; make sure you come when the weather is a bit cooler. It is also a bit expensive in N’Djamena.

We rate the Lonely Planet guide = 2/10. The IGN map; well how do you rate a map that has the title of a major geographical feature in the wrong place. Interestingly, T4A has some nice roads and Points of Interest marked.

Chad, part 3

Day 15 – 7/2/12

A slowish day, mainly getting ready for the desert trip. We went to Chad Evasion offices to sort out the finances (many thanks to the home office in Melbourne for arranging all this). Purchased some water and other items for the trip etc.

We ate a nice dinner at the mission.

Day 16 – 8/2/12

We woke up to a very dense dust cloud, just hanging in the air. It was hard to see even 100 m.

The Chad Evasion folks were early to pick us up and Moussa the owner came to the mission to make sure everything was OK. We dropped off our vehicle at CFAO/Toyota to be stored for the next 2 weeks.

Then we were on the road. On the way we purchased some local, goats milk cheese and a leg of goat (for dinner). The road was good tar all the way to Massakory, then immediately deteriorated to what is known in Africa as a “piste” which seems to be French for a bad dirt road.

The vegetation consisted of low widely spaced bushes and as you can imagine the bushes got smaller and more spread out the further north we went. The country side is very flat and grey, which, with the gaunt olive colour of the vegetation makes for a washed out/drab scene.  Around Massourro there were some sand dunes, ~ 25 m high, to break up the plain.

There were many villages along the way and a large number of people plus a large number of livestock. Surprisingly the livestock all looked well fed, much better than what we saw in the east. The buildings have also changed and now seem to be constructed of grey mud in the regular/rectangular Arab style.

Our team consists of; the driver Ahmed aka Gundee (from the north, ~ mid 30s, very, very thin, dressed in traditional clothes with robes and head dress. Turns out he has 2 wives and 2 kids with one of them) and a cook, Jerome (from the south, ~ mid 40s with one wife & 4 kids and not thin).

Lunch was a yummy fresh salad and dinner a goat stew & cous cous.

We camped in the desert with a full moon. The tent was just netting (it is too hot for full canvas) and with the moon we could almost read without a light.

N 13⁰ 52’ 02.8’’ E 016⁰ 28’ 08.4’’ 

Day 17 – 9/2/12

Unfortunately the dust had not abated, so we drove most of the day with poor visibility.

In the morning 2 trucks from Libya drove past, trading goods into Chad. Wars and revolutions come and go, but trans Sahara/cross border trade goes on.

In the morning we stopped to assist a broken down vehicle and after 1.5 hours Gundee got the vehicle going. He was very proud of himself!

The vegetation was quite sparse and the villages far apart. Despite this, there were still villages and people along the way. At one village we stopped to buy chickens, guess what we were having for dinner.

We must have mentioned before that Africans have not lost the art of conversation, they can talk 24/7 in any place. There are 2 volumes; very loud and shouting. At the moment, Gundee, is the big talker in the vehicle. His volume is mainly in between a shout and very loud. Often a long monologue ends with a “ugh? Jerome’s role is to make appropriate noises, mainly “Mmm” and “agh”. These are not simple grunts; the tone, length, inclination etc vary according Gundee’s requirement. Occasionally laughs are inserted; again these need to be appropriate for the occasion; humour, knowing, surprise etc. Jerome’s preference seems to be to sleep, however if an appropriate response has not been made, Gundee will shout, “Jerome” and natural order is restored.

Gundee has one, damaged, cassette tape of local music – damaged. It seems that this can be played monotonously with many repeats (we tried repeadity – but the spell check would not accept it), there is no limit to the number of times per day it can be played.

At one point, Ray put on some Deep Forest through the ipod/itrip. At one point Gundee stopped talking and increased the volume. The language in the song is his language. Very excited.

As predicted, dinner was chook pot roast with vegetables and chips.

The left-overs from the chook were thrown into the night and a jackal came and made sure nothing was left in the morning.

It was a very windy night and even as we went to bed it was apparent we would be eating sand all night. The netting tent is not appropriate for windy conditions and the fly provided is not the one for this tent & allows sand in.

N 15⁰ 49’ 55.1’’ E 018⁰ 22’ 57.5’’ 

Day 18 – 10/2/12

The wind did not die down all night. Still we were better off than Gundee & Jerome who both use a swag; they were covered with sand.

We set out driving almost directly east. The wind did not die down all day, but to compensate, the sand was golden, not the washed out look of previous days. The vegetation seems to come in patches with Hollywood style erg in the between.

Near Oum Chalouba there were rocky patches and it seemed that the wind had died down.

At one point there was an extensive area of grass and we passed groups of nomads with healthy looking camels and cattle.

We developed a flat tyre and from some distance away a nomad woman came with a bowl of camel’s milk (unpasteurised and unhomogenised, we assume). A welcome gesture for strangers who were working in the middle of the day.

We had many sightings of gazelles/springbok; with some great examples of pronking!

We bought provisions in the town of Oum Chalouba. Whilst Avril chatted to her brother, Ray went with Jerome, thinking they were off to get provisions. However, after passing out of the main town area and going into a separate, small settlement, they arrived at a local bar. There each had a beer – not refrigerated, but cool. Very nice. We camped in mobile telephone reach of the town!

Spaghetti for dinner.

Then the wind howled all night, but with the compensation that for some reason there was no dust or grit associated with it.

N 15⁰ 35’ 55.1’’ E 020⁰ 55’ 46.2’’ 

 Day 19 – 11/2/12

Ray got up early to photograph a brilliant desert sunrise, almost without dust.

Then we set off to Ennedi; the desert along the way is like the gibber plains in central Australia. Ennedi is a series of dramatic, sandstone mountains/hills rising almost vertically out of the desert plain. At lunch we stopped at Terkei (?), an impressive & very extensive Neolithic rock art canyon with red, white and occasional blue paintings. These are manly of animals but with family groups also depicted. We then drove to another impressive rock art site – one painting was of a group of riders, which we dubbed the Melbourne Cup.

We then drove along and inside the mountain range. Each minute bringing a new vista and worthy of a photo. Totally impressive in scale and grandeur.

We searched for a while to find a camping spot with some protection from the wind – the wind came in gusts and was very strong. We were only partially successful in our search; the dust came into the tent over night.

We should mention that thus far, there is fresh fruit for lunch and dinner as well!

Ray got some decent sunset pics.

 N 16⁰ 40’ 03.1’’ E 022⁰ 04’ 28.7’’ 

 Day 20 – 12/2/12

A wonderful day. Ray got up early again to get some sunrise pictures with a dramatic rock arch in the foreground.

Then we drove to Arc d’Alebra (?), a massive natural arch. We both guessed that it must be > 100m high. It is hard to find words to describe the scale and grandeur of the formation. This was one of the highlights of the trip so far. A couple of nomad girls set up an impromptu jewellery store and Avril bought a necklace, probably more out of sympathy than decorative worth.

After Arc d’Alebra we drove through a dust storm – at least we got to see how the arches and mountains are formed here!

Then continuing our trip through the mountains we went to a canyon with a permanent stream; Bachikele (?). There were a large number of camels being watered. We walked to the head of the canyon, ~ 500m, and Ray washed his hair in a pond  – upstream of the floating camel poo!. Interestingly, despite the lack of sanitation, the pond had fish.

On the way out of the canyon we bumped into a 3-vehicle convoy of tourism/guide students. All keen to ask a few questions and get our impressions: how was the food? – good and there are nice restaurants in N’Djamena; how is the price?? – very low compared to e.g. Kenya etc

We then drove to another spectacular natural arch; the Elephant. Avril could see the trunk in the formation!

Then we drove back through the mountains to yet another rock art site, Mandage (?); the pictures here were in grottos around 5 m off the ground and accessible via a narrow passage at the rear.

We managed to get a camp site out of the wind – a real bonus.

N 16⁰ 53’ 55.1’’ E 021⁰ 47’ 06.5’’ 

Day 21 – 13/2/12

We went for a walk over one of the gorges and into another very spectacular gorge – sort of like Kings Canyon but more dramatic and without the people. At the head of the gorge is a deep permanent water pool and believe it or not, out here in the middle of the desert were Nile crocodiles. Assumedly a remnant of when the area was a savannah. Site name is Archei (?).

Our guides for this ~ 2.5 hour walk were the son and daughter (~10 &12 yrs!) of the local chief. They were very concerned for us and continually checked that the old folks were doing OK. At the end of the walk they did not want to accept some payment-nice, but we did manage to get them to take it. They did not even want to accept water and snacks along the way.

After the walk we had some quiet time, which was nice as things have been pretty full-on up to now. When we returned from the walk there was a slaughtered goat hanging from a tree – guess we knew what we were having for dinner! Ray had some of the goat liver cooked with onion for lunch, but Avril passed on the idea of fresh goat foie.

After the midday rest, we visited another rock art site – I have the GPS coordinates for all the sites if anyone wants them.

Then, just when you thought it could not get any better… after some very impressive 4WD driving in deep sand, we arrived at Bachike; a massive rock chasm. It was about 2 – 3 m wide at the bottom and getting smaller towards the top, around 50 m high and an impressive > 250 m long. Awesome.

We camped at the top of a plateau among some mini rock formations.

Slow roast goat for dinner.

N 17⁰ 04’ 39.9’’ E 021⁰ 28’ 42.3’’ 

Day 22 – 14/2/12

A long, slow, hot day. Overnight both of us discovered that nomad goat was not for us. You can fill in the details yourselves.

In the morning we went to Fada to register with the police and to buy some fresh fruit – only water melon was available.

We drove north, crossing a series of wide, low valleys. Whilst there were some weathered hills/mountains that anywhere else would be worth a visit, after being spoilt over the previous days we were not that impressed, a bit sad really.

Again we rested from the midday sun from ~ 12:00 – 14:00

The drive was very slow due to the very rocky nature of the piste.

Just before camp time, ~ 17:00 we entered the Sabi in Yalla (?) valley that had some interesting weathered rock formations. Sort of like the white desert in Egypt, without the white.

We both passed on dinner – trying to let the goat roast pass. We felt a bit sorry for Jerome & Gundee as they had really tried to do the best for us with the goat; it just did not plan out.

N 17⁰ 39’ 34.2’’ E 021⁰ 26’ 20.2’’ 

Day 23 – 15/2/12

An interesting day driving north out of Ennedi and across the Mourdi Depression.

There was lots of wild life including gazelles. Late in the day a gazelle tried to have a race alongside the vehicle and Ray managed to finally get a picture of a desert gazelle. We also saw what we initially thought was a jackal, but Gundee said no, so we think it must have been a fox or such – note, we need to learn a bit more French!

Along the way we stopped to collect firewood. This can only be done from already dead trees. It is illegal to chop down a live tree in Chad, and it seems that at least this law is taken very seriously.

We passed by a couple of ancient dried lake beds where the mud sediment has been weathered into some interesting formations. For the Egypt folks, like the mud lions, but here they are not shaped like lions.

During the day some of the path was marked by old tyre tracks, sometimes by old 44 gal drums, but most of the time we made our own way. We assume Gundee uses the sun as a compass. Along the way we passed through an area of sand and some monster crescent shaped dunes. A typical desert day driving i.e. a 2 hour rest at lunch.

The Teranga Hills (?) are in the middle of the sand and at the base of the hills there is a very basic well. When we got there, there were a couple of nomads watering their camels. One man was in the well slowly scooping water from the well into a dish and filling a goat skin. When the skin was full, the other man would haul it to the top and fill a small skin trough from which the camels could drink. A very hard way to make a living.

At the village of Demi we stopped to fill our water containers. We get ~ 10 litres of water per day to wash. Pure luxury, on a lot of desert trip you do not get to wash for a long time.

Today we got a master class in 4WD from Gundee – he did not put a foot wrong all day.

The last few nights the insects have been quite thick, so rather than trying to read, we have gone to bed and listened to audio books on the iPod. A worthwhile alternative.

We camped at an Oasis. The wind and the jackals howled! Unfortunately there were lots of mozzies.

N 18⁰ 51’ 36.8’’ E 021⁰ 23’ 12.5’’ 

Day 24 – 16/2/12

In the morning, we went for a walk to the shore of the oasis lake. The lake is very saline and is being mined for salt. The salt is loaded onto camels and traded as far away as Abeche – which must be at least 2 days away by car. Not sure how many camel days = car day.

At the lake shore we surprised a very large black-back jackal; Ray was too slow to get a picture.

We drove along the bottom of the Mourdi depression, with a low escarpment running to the north. We stopped at another well in the middle of nowhere. Avril went on a scouting expedition and found a Neolithic grinding base – well done.

There was a dramatic drop into Ounianga Serir which had a small fresh water lake and a larger saline lake. We took the opportunity to have a wash beside the fresh water lake and relax for a few hours.

We stopped at the village associated with the lakes to pay our respects to the local chief and surprisingly one of the local elders could speak a little English. Ray was a bit surprised when he asked of Jerome: “is that black man from Australia?”

We then drove along a series of finger lakes to the night’s camp.

N 19⁰ 00’ 11.1’’ E 020⁰ 30’ 47.8’’ 

 

Day 25 – 17/2/12

We drove to the village of Ounianga Kelif via the large , saline Lake Yoa. At the village we had a long wait (3 hours) for the local police to turn up to work so we could register. We also took the opportunity to refuel and re-supply. Like a lot of the remote places in Chad we have been through, it had telecoms. The BIG find was a very usable SW radio. Avril is a rabid BBC listener (mainly for the sports results) and has been very disappointed with the large radio we bought in Oz (with only Chinese writing on the dials etc). This smaller one seems better able to do the job, so some one along the way will the recipient of a cadeau (cadeau is the what all the locals demand). When they see a white person they will run literally for hundreds of meters to demand; CADEAU).

Near Ounianga Kelif we stopped at another lake (Kakim (?) for lunch. Sitting at the lake, with its own micro climate and the wind, it was a tiny bit chilly. This was a welcome change from the ongoing heat.

On the way there we experienced our first anti white episode in Africa – some local lads on the way home from school picked up some rocks to throw at the car and one idiot actually threw a rock. You can imaging Gundee’s and Jerome’s reaction. They chased the individual, but in the end let the matter drop. This was all a bit surprising really as we had always felt totally secure and welcome in Chad. 

After lunch we had a fairly uninteresting drive into Wadi Doum. Avril likened the flat plain to a big back yard with pebble mix.

In the wadi we see the detritus of the battles between Chad and Libya in 1987 (?) including wrecked APCs and vehicles. We are assured they are all Libyan.

The wind blew a gale all day, so we were lucky that one of Gundee’s wives lives on Wadi Doum and if we can understand correctly he was at least partially raised here. So, we got to stay in the spare hut, rather than our netting tent. The hut had a solid wooden frame and the external walls were rattan mats. The lower parts of the internal walls were thin material. The floor was very clean sand. A mat was laid down for us to put our sleeping mats on etc. It was not totally sand proof, but much much superior to the alternative.

When we arrived we were welcomed with sweet mint tea and sweet cakes and dates.

N 18⁰ 24’ 54.8’’ E 020⁰ 21’ 55.6’’ 

Day 26 – 18/2/12

With the wind the way it was last night, Jerome slept in the car.

We had a yukky days drive; ~160 km in 6 hours in relentless wind and associated dust. In places it was hard to see more than 150 m.

We drove along a couple of valleys that must have been the axis of advance for the Libyan thrust into Chad as there was a lot of war debris along the way, including trucks blown up by land mines; mmmm, we hope they got rid of any left overs!

We descended into the Faya oasis, with large chalk areas and some big palm gardens. Chad Evasion, our tour company, has a house in Faya with a basic loo and shower, luxury again. We relaxed in one of the court yards, out of the wind and read for a while. Then we registered with the police and had a drive around. There is not much to look at in the town; the houses are contained inside high walls and so the street vista is just a line of high, grey mud bricks. The town has a slightly biblical look with the shops around the main mosque inside an arched walkway. But, it is really not much of a tourist location and as we were in shorts we were given some strong looks and did not feel all that comfortable.

We slept in out netting tent in one of the court yards – out of the wind!

We should mention that whilst the wind is a nuisance, thus far it has not impacted our travel and luckily it has not been all that bad when the scenery has been at its best i.e. it has not impacted viewing. One big benefit of the wind is that it has kept the temperature down – we have not had the high 30s/low 40s days.

N 17⁰ 55’ 40.1’’ E 019⁰ 06’ 06.7’’ 

Day 27 – 19/2/12

Gundee shows he is fallible. There are 2 roads out of Faya to the south. One seems to be mainly used by trucks and the other by smaller vehicles. We took the small vehicle route. On the ascent out of Faya you pass through a very confused jumble of hills and rock outcrops. Then we drove along a very long flat plain, devoid of vegetation. At the start, the route is marked by spent (we hope!) artillery shells. After the plain, there is an area of complex sand and dunes with continuous mini bumps which shake and rattle the vehicle, which does wonders for Ray’s vertigo – not. We get stuck a few times in the sand including one time where Ray and Jerome have to grab the sand plates, as Gundee slowly drives forward and put them in front of the rear tyres again.

Later we pass through some chalk fields and with the wind, visibility is reduced to 10 m (yes, 10 m). At ~ 15:00 we re-join the route that we took on our way north. At this point vegetation starts again for a time, then stops. At times we commented that we did not remember how desolate this part of the route was.

We camped in a small depression and Gundee and Jerome constructed a small wind break and Avril used the smaller, alternative tent. With some vertigo, Ray decided to sleep upright in the car.

N 14⁰ 52’ 50.5’’ E 017⁰ 18’ 45.7’’ 

Day 28 – 20/2/12

After the windy night, we had a clear morning and some nice lighting for sunrise.

Ray membered Mike Friedman at Hoechst. Mike was a Polish officer held by the Russians in Siberia in WW2. He once described how hard it was to do #2s in a Siberian winter and the techniques needed to achieve success. Ray remembered all this as he tried to do his morning ablutions in the sand in gale force winds. Brings into real focus the old saying about “not pissing into the wind”. Think about the physics of the loo paper.

We continued our journey south and stopped for fuel at Moussoro. The lack of a common language was apparent. Avril had asked a few times if it was possible to get to N’Djamena in 2 days, always with the response; “no”. In Moussoro Ray chatted to Jerome about the possibility and all of a sudden it was possible. So, we then hastened to N’Djamena. We managed to get accommodation at the Catholic Mission and some food from the patisserie.

So, we managed to get a very welcome shower and sleep sans wind.

Catholic Mission. N 12⁰ 06’ 21.2’’ E 015⁰ 03’ 20.8’’ 

Chad, part 2

Day 6 – 29/1/12

We set off early to make use of the cooler period of the day. We decided not to use the car a/c to conserve fuel and to try and acclimatise – we will be in this heat for a few months yet, so need to get used to it.

The road for the 1^st 400 km was good tar after that is was not too bad gravel. So it was an easy day driving. The drivers here seem to be more prudent than else where in Africa, there is not the same excessive speed and folks are at least a little considerate of others on the road. Another good thing about driving here is the road signs, the first decent direction signs we have seen since southern Africa. We are back to Chinese truck drivers and even they were not as aggressive as we have seen in other countries – but still aggressive!!

The country side was flat, flat most of the way, then near Mongo there were a few granite hills. The vegetation tends to be just sparse bushes.

Surprisingly, given the lack of feed, there is a very large amount of grazing going on; cows, camels and goats. There are also donkeys and horses. It is interesting to see very young kids, maybe 5 years old, looking after a herd of animals. None of the animals seem to be in good condition, generally ribs etc are showing. With the lack of good feed and what appears to be over stocking, you can see that with one or two bad seasons there would be famine.

We had been advised to stay with the Catholic sisters in Mongo, but either they do not have accommodation or it was full – we are not sure which. So we are staying at a very basic auberge near the Protestant Mission, and elected to camp in the court yard. Again the generosity of the locals stands out. We asked some one the way to the auberge and they just hopped on their motor bike and took us there. Very nice.

There was a group of 4 French folks staying at the mission – must have been a shock for them as it was probably one of the most basic places we have stayed. Bucket toilet & shower via jug. They are on a mission looking at renewable energy in Chad – let me guess, solar. Given the dust clouds we have been driving in, there does not seem to be much wind. Gota love the EU. They have a conference in Ndj after this. Mmm.

Ray driving. 8 hours. 528 km. N 12⁰ 11’ 42.5’’ E 018⁰ 41’ 13.2’’ 

Day 7 – 30/1/12

Again we started early to get the cool of the day. For a time we drove along a small mountain range, then it flattened out a bit. The vegetation picked up a bit with the scrub becoming a bit denser, we could only see ~ 50 m into the bush.

Again the massive number of (very thin) livestock shocked us. All along the way there are goats, camels and cattle coming and going to the few water holes. The water holes are a sight to behold, a huge number of animals all in their ownership group either drinking or waiting their turn to drink. No pushing of shoving.

The dirt road is a fair bit poorer than yesterday - the corrugations are OK, but the potholes cause some anxious moments. Out demeanour was not helped by the assertion of a lady with the French group that bandits had held up a French group on the road recently. She only said this as we were leaving!! No one else had ever commented on this, but it did put the wind up us a bit.

On the drive into the park to the lodge we saw groups of Cob de Buffon, reed buck, giraffe, water buck, warthog, mongoose and baboons. A cool welcome drink & cold towel greeted us at Tinga lodge.

Avril driving. 6 hours. 300 km. N 10⁰ 50’ 15.9’’ E 019⁰ 46’ 48.2’’ 

Day 8 – 31/1/12

Being good safari people, we were up early and on the road by ~ 06:15. We got back from our morning drive in time for a nice salad lunch. Then after an afternoon’s nap we went on small sunset drive.

We had a marvellous day viewing. We saw; Giraffe, Warthog, Hartebeest, Buffalo, Roan Antelope, Lion, 2 different types of mongoose, Jackal (striped back), Crocodile (massive numbers and really, really big!), Cob du Boffon, Springbok, Reed Buck and Waterbuck. Baboons & Vervet monkeys. There are large numbers of herbivores and they are not skittish, so you can get some reasonably good pictures (however, we have decided to just take one picture of each type of animal, unless there is an interesting event. Otherwise we will end up with 1,000s of pics). There are sufficient numbers of animals to make the drives interesting; you do not have to wait long before something new takes place near you. The animals appear to be in excellent condition, much better than the live stock along the road.

Along one road we saw some horses, ah we though, villagers in the park. But they were eco guards on duty to prevent poaching. This is not a job for the faint hearted – a lot of eco guards have been killed here protecting animals.

The park must be like paradise for the birders. There are massive numbers of birds in the rivers and even we could see there was great diversity.

Thus far we are very impressed with Zakouma. It is clearly well managed by Rian & Lorna Labuschagne. There is an excellent network of well maintained roads, with clear signs. Along the way there are interesting loops that take you past rivers, billabongs etc.

Tinga lodge has a comfortable, open communal area – for meals and drinks. The accommodation is 4 suites in a rondavel – each suite with its own bathroom, air conditioning etc. Importantly it is clean and has working showers.

Lorna has been holding our hands (electronically) re Chad for the last few months. She has been a wealth of information and passed on other contacts etc.

By the way, turns out the banditry the French lady warned us about was not along our route, it was in a remote area and was easily handled with a few bob. No need to worry!

After a beer and delicious dinner, we had an early night in preparation for an early rise in the morning.

Day 9 – 1/2/12

Again, up early. Yesterday we were impressed by the diversity of animals; today we were impressed by the numbers. We saw large herds of Roan Antelope, hartebeest, giraffe (are they a herd?) and a massive mob of buffalo. We saw most of the animals we had seen before as well. In addition, we think we saw an oribi – but as we did not have time to take a photo, we cannot be 100% sure.

There seem to be baboons everywhere, all the troops with young. So, this must be an ideal location for them.

The massive numbers and diversity of birds is amazing. Maybe we have never noticed before, but Zacouma seems to have a greater diversity and higher numbers of birds than we have seen elsewhere.

In the evening Jean (Lorna & Rian’s daughter) took us out for sundowners. Ben (pilot), a Kenyan who is monitoring the elephants here and assisting with anti poaching and Marketa (from African Parks, who looks after the local staff) came along. We provided the nibbles from our extensive stock (which we should now start to run down). We had a very pleasant time on the banks of one of the rivers, the opposite bank was crowded with very large crocodiles. After a true African red sunset we drove back to the lodge, doing a bit of game viewing & really putting the Santos spot light to the test (it performed very well!). On the way out we had spotted the “normal” buck, a lion just outside the camp and a bush buck. On the way back we saw a genet (in the distance), a white tailed mongoose and an African Wild Cat with 2 kittens – our 1^st spotting of the Wild Cat – very exciting.

Day 10 – 2/2/12

We explored the north of the park today. The diversity was still there, but not the large numbers we had previously seen. In addition to the other game we have spotted, we saw a grey duiker (and have a fuzzy picture).

The staff have really looked after us. For lunch we requested a salad and despite the distance from a main centre, the chef has come up with a different salad every day. Dinner is salad then a main course (meat plus carbs etc) and desert.

After dinner we went for a night game drive. We were lucky enough to have Jean come along as well. Again we used the spot light, which up to now had seemed to occupy space for no reward. As we left the dining/sitting area Ray said to the driver he wanted to get a picture of a Serval. We had only driven 10 minutes and we spotted 2 serval – and got some great pics! That was just the start of a fantastic nights viewing. We had multiple sightings of genet, serval, civet, spotted hyena, bush baby, black tailed (big) mongoose, fox (also with a black tail), hare plus all the day animals, which we woke up when the full glare of the spot light came on them. We managed to get a few decent pictures and the one picture per animal went out the window for the Serval.

 
Day 11 – 3/2/12

Our drive out of the park was to be remembered. Just outside the lodge we saw some Papas monkeys and then got a great pic of a grey duiker. Then just past the park HQ we saw a Carakul cat! Unbelievable! He/she walked alongside the road then calmly crossed the road just in front of us then made a chase for a rabbit/hare (?). It did not get the hare, however this was an awesome moment for us.

Knowing the shortage of gasoil in N’Djamena the folks at Zakouma let us fill up our tanks. Very kind and it allowed Ray to have a stress free drive.

The weather was very hot today, however we were going along just fine. Then ~ 40 km from Mongo we got that awful gasoil smell. Bugger the fuel leaks had come back. Having observed the mechanic in Batouri, Ray changed into old clothes and got on with the task. The first few cars drove past – very unusual. Then a group of Tunisian engineers (quoting on a road project) stopped and provided assistance. It turned out that one of the rubber tubes was punctured. Ray tried the magic USA military super tape, but it was not successful. So the Tunisians kindly towed us to the Catholic mission in Mongo.

We were warmly greeted and fortunately they had a room for the night. The room has basic facilities – still a lot better than the alternative auberge near the protestant Mission (where we had elected to camp rather than take a room.)

One of the Chadian priests assessed the situation, and got the bishops mechanic/driver to come out and assist. The driver went and bought some pressure tubing (late on a Friday night!) and seemed to know how to fix the problem. After attempting to fix the leak with the Toyota metal and rubber solution, he gave up and ran a temporary rubber hose all the way. This seemed to work, but tomorrow will tell the story. The mechanic was very impressed with the car and wanted to see all the bits and bobs. The Toyota Landcruiser  utes/bakkies/pick ups here are the sole property of the army, so it was a bit of a thrill for him to work on the car.

For the 1^st time in a long time, we had a simple snack dinner. Prosciutto, cheese, tuna, tomatoes and some vita wheat biscuits the kids had brought over.

So, it is now official: Zacouma is in the top 3 parks we have seen. Kgalagadi Trans-frontier Park has been relegated to 4. The volume and diversity of game is extraordinary. To see 3 different small cats (Serval, Carukal and African Wild cat) plus all the other special sightings: civet, genet, fox etc makes the park a very special place. As we said in the daily blog, the bird life is truly amazing. Game drives were always fun (the roads are well maintained and there are wonderful loops) and there was always something to see.

We found the lodge very comfortable and the staff super nice. Always willing to assist – even though at times it took some interesting charades. It is great to be accommodated right inside the park and not have the restrictions of gate open/closing times.

The price is considerably below most other parks.

Avril driving. 9 hours. 296 km. N 12⁰ 09’ 57.0’’ E 018⁰ 41’ 40.9’’ 

Day 12 – 4/2/12

A long days drive back to N’Djamena. After a bad nights sleep (dogs and other animals!) in the morning we tested the car (the temporary mend looked good), purchased gasoil (in jerry cans from the road side), paid the auberge which we had not paid when we left a few days previous and bought some bread.

The road description is the reverse of the drive here! We managed to get a few pictures of the mountain range around Mongo, which is very dramatic in places. The local women dress in very bright clothing and seem to either shave the front of their hair line of have very receded hair. The facial ornaments; nose ring or such indicate the status of the women. Is she 1^st, 2^nd or other wife.

Unfortunately one of our new tyres punctured as we hit the tar road. They are car tyres as Light Truck tyres have not been available since we left RSA. The wheel brace we were given to replace the stolen Toyota one was not up to the task. Fortunately we had secreted (from Peter M!) 12 V impact wrench which had a socket that fitted the tyres and also our socket set. So we managed to remove the tyre and Ray elected to fix the puncture rather than put one of the spares on. This was all successful. Interestingly no one stopped to assist – the 1^st time in Africa. Next time we will try and do it as per the Bedouin and insert the plug whilst the tyre is on the axle.

We were stopped by the police for the 1^st time in Chad. In English we said we were Australian Tourists on the way back from Zacouma to N’Jamena. This took 1 minute and we were on our way. The lack of road blocks has been a very pleasant relief; and not at all in line with what the guide books say to expect. 

The Chad Evasion folks had booked us a room in the Hotel Sahel – which is pretty run down considering the prices.

Ray driving. 8 hours. 514 km. N 12⁰ 07’ 12.0’ E 015⁰ 02’ 00.2’’ 

Day 13 – 5/2/12

A very, very lazy day. After too much breakfast at the local patisserie, we decamped to the catholic mission, which is a lot cleaner and more reasonable priced. Then we just read or prepared emails for the rest of the day. We had dinner at the French/Italian restaurant.

Mission: N 12⁰ 06’ 21.2’’ E 015⁰ 03’ 20.8’’ 

Day 14 – 6/2/12

A very bad nights sleep! Denis, the French overlander we met in Waza said one of the big pusses of the mission was that it was quiet. Not for us, between ~ 02:00 and 03:00 there was some sort of oriental religious chants that sounded like they were right outside our window. Then at 04:00 there was another loud noise. We are not sure what that was all about?? But we ended up with a very poor nights sleep.

Anyway, we went 1^st to the CFAO/Toyota garage. Ray stayed there until 16:00. We had a basic service done (new oil & fuel filters). You would not believe the dust that came out of the air filter. The trickiest part was reinstating the fuel system. That took considerable time and effort. Hopefully that problem is now behind us.

The good news is that is seems the CFAO folks will allow us to keep the vehicle at their garage whilst we travel to Ennedi.

Avril took a local taxi “down town” and made the final arrangements for the Ennedi trip.

In the evening we dined with Denis, we had met him in Zakouma and he had provided comfort during our fuel saga outside Mongo. By chance Olivier (a mate of his from Togo) was also at the restaurant – so we passed an enjoyable evening with e few beers.

Chad, part 1

We forgot to give our ratings for Cameroon: the Bradt Guide = 4/10. It was only published in late 2011 but is in the style of the joke books travel guides put out a few years ago. They like to write lots about travelling by local transport, waiting days at towns for a truck, asking locals to stay in their houses etc. They also seem to have no idea of the actual conditions in many places e.g. Dja NP. On basic things like ATMs they are way out e.g. many of the Total service stations have ATMs and very good shops.

The Riese Know How maps – they rate a negative. Basically they give a bit of an idea, but totally lack accuracy.

That said, the French map we have for Chad puts a major region/feature on the wrong side of the country – sort of like putting the Great Dividing Range in Western Australia.

Day 1 – 24/1/12

As we drove over the single lane bridge into Chad, we were pulled to one side by a customs official. A guide in Roumsiki had put us in touch with a local Chad guide, Adjid and he was there to meet us as well. Off we went to the customs office and the Chief there seemed to be very superior (as things turn out, we think it was a cover for the fact he did not know what to do with a carnet). We left the carnet with him and went to immigration (where the officer spoke perfect English). We completed the immigration formalities and then police came into the office and got our passport to do their thing. Then back to the customs people. They passed us up the line, so we drove and walked to where the big chief hangs out. We are not sure he knew what to do either, but in Rays gentle style (for Avril fans read grovelling) he explained what was needed and the carnet was stamped.

No one asked for any bribes or money. The poor junior customs official who originally stopped us had to walk a long way and do a lot of work (we did give him a bit of a tip for a great effort).

Then we followed Adjid to the hotel. He then arranged to have the required police registration carried out whilst we had a bit of lunch in air conditioned comfort.

Lunch was an interesting experience. Ray opted for the buffet. Avril decided on a la carte. It seems that the menu was either aspirational or an indication of a glorious past. Pizza – not available; hamburger – not available; sandwich – not available etc. After a gluttonous lunch Ray decided to give dinner a miss; Avril had a similar experience to lunch with the menu.

Ray driving. N 12⁰ 06’ 85.4’’ E 015⁰ 01’ 90.2’’ 

 Day 2 – 25/1/12

A rest day. N’Djamena is a very well laid out city, with predominantly paved roads which are clean as they are swept by women (a la Hanoi). We are very near the business centre which is kinda like Casterton on a lazy winters Sunday afternoon – very quiet, not much traffic. There is none of the large crowds and hassle and bustle of other African cities we have been through.

We walked around in the morning, as the afternoons are very hot, way into the high 30s C – and this is the cold season. We found the important things; restaurants, patisseries, super market (singular) and importantly a travel company that runs trips into the northern desert.

The northern areas are very remote and we would not do this by our selves, plus with the shortage of gasoil, we prefer to let others worry about fuel.

For dinner we went to a very nice Lebanese restaurant

 Day 3 – 26/1/12

We took a tour to Lake Chad – again preferring to let others worry about fuel.

The road to just south of a river port is all paved and an easy run. The river port is quite small, but there are many natural rough berthing places along the shore. After some considerable negotiation re a pirogue (the proprietor of the Lebanese restaurant says the Tchadians are harder negotiators than the Lebanese, a hell of an admission from one of the trading Phoenician stock) we agreed a price and set off.

It took ~ 45 minutes in a motorised pirogue to reach the lake, most of this through reed beds and narrow channels. Whilst we only saw the start of the lake you can at least get an idea of the size – one of the great lakes of the world. Truly huge (you cannot see the shores when you get out a bit) and an amazing sight.

On the way back we stopped at a fishing village to have a look – we think the guide wanted to buy the larger fish cheaply to on sell later. The village was on an island and as you can imagine very poor. No school for the kids. Most of the fish are ~ 100 mm long and smoked to preserve them.

After the pirogue trip we went to the local expat weekend haunt at Dougia. Bit of a disappointment. Reminded Ray of Zambia in the mid 1970s.

Day 4 – 27/1/12; our 33^rd wedding anniversary.

Being our wedding anniversary, we had a late start to the day.

With the luxury of A/C and satellite TV, we watched a bit of the Australian open and the 4^th test.

We needed to replace the trusty Dunlops on the front of the vehicle. Ray chatted to one of the drivers in the hotel car park and they immediately got onto the case. A “supplier” from the market came over and after some intense negotiations we bought 3 new Bridgestone Duellers. The new Michelin is unfortunately totally u/s.  Ray then drove over to the place that actually installs the tyres and the fitting took place. Unfortunately, this is where a lack of French hurts. We had insisted that the fitting and importantly balancing should be included in the price. The fitting was not an issue, but they did not have a balancing machine. So, we will see how we go. When we get back to N’Djamena from Zakouma NP we will need a Toyota service anyway, so we can do the balancing then – but it could be an interesting trip to Zakouma.

We had recently fitted the new Bridgestone we had purchased in Angola. So, we now basically have 4 new tyres of the same make on the car. Lets see how that goes.

An unfortunate aside was that whilst Ray was absent from the car (to change some money) the 3 piece spade (in a canvas cover) was stolen from the roof rack – it was secured with octopus straps. There were plenty of local men sitting around – including some with more years than us (or at least they look that way). So, the disappointing part of this is the implicit acceptance that theft from a white person is OK. With a lack of language it is hard to get people to understand what has happened – but they knew anyway we suppose. In addition our wheel wrench which was lying on the ground during the change over process was stolen. The blokes who had sold us the tyres were so embarrassed by this they gave us their wheel wrench.

In the afternoon we filled the water tank – via our filter system. The water seems to have developed a bit of an odour, it seems to be OK to drink as we are not getting sick, so we are not sure what has happened. We may need to empty the tank, flush it, change all the filters and start again.

In the evening we went to a very nice French/Italian restaurant to celebrate.

 Day 5 – 28/1/12

A day to relax. We watched more of the Australian open and the highlights of the 4^th test. We took a short drive to find the Catholic Mission where we hope to stay when we return and to buy some provisions for the trip to Zakouma.

More Lebanese for dinner!

Cameroon, part 7, cont

Day 42 – 16/1/12

We started the day with chores. Avril cooked up the great batch of vegetables we had bought from a gardener in Gamboula. Ray had the car serviced. Buy the filter from one shop, purchase the oil at the service station (A$ 100) and use the service station pit to change the oil. The air filter was cleaned by a person at a tyre repair shop and we went to the bus station to get someone to grease the car (A$ 10). All done in 90 min.

Then we drove the horrible road to Bertoua. It is as bad as we were warned and the guide book says. Very bad corrugations that travelling at speed does not make any better. Really awful.

We drew money from an auto teller in Bertoua and filled up with gasoil. Then we drove on a wonderful tar road to Garoua Boulai. We arrived at a decent hour and stayed at the Lutheran mission. No camping, we have a large flat.

We are well and truly out of the rainforest now. As we drove north the vegetation changed to woody savannah and as we drove further north the trees were sparser and smaller. The country side was mainly flat with the exception of one area that was sort of like the Pentland Hills.

The local houses in the south and west tend to be a light weight timber frame, closely spaced to allow mud to be packed into the spaces or alternatively sun dried mud bricks, generally with a corrugated iron roof or grass thatch. As we approached Garoua Boulai we started to see some traditional round houses with either mud or grass walls. We have been told this becomes more prevalent in the north.

There were not too many road blocks which made the day more pleasant.

 Avril driving. 6 hours. 332 km. N 05⁰ 53’ 02.8’’ E 014⁰ 32’ 87.9’’ 

 Day 43 – 17/1/12

After buying our baguettes and talking to the kids, we set out on the journey to Ngaoundere. The 270 km took 5 hours and was a mixture of “the agony and the ecstasy”. The best part was the new ~ 150 km tar in a few sections. The agony was the rest of the trip. Ray reckons as a former bush boy used to dirt roads and he knows about dust. But we have never seen dust like this, in places it is many cm’s deep. At one point a vehicle decided to overtake us, we had a dust fall down on us like a rain storm for a few minutes. For the 1^st time when we arrived at our destination we had a lot of dust on the accommodation unit.

We stopped at Ngaoundere over lunch, had the car washed (essential after all the dust) and got refuelled – diet cokes & gasoil. The town is very clean for an African town. There are also a lot of ATMs which is handy. We both had salad for lunch – Avril thinks we will get some fatal bug, but lets see.

We decided to drive onto the Benoue Mational Park and to be honest with quite low expectations. We did the 126 km in 90 min (Bradt 165 km, Reise Know how 110 km). The road was all tar, but badly pot holed in sections. As we descended down from Ngaoundere it got noticeably hotter. There was a very thick haze. The locals say this is due to the dust from the Sahara, we think the heat and grass fires (there are lots of them) may have something to contribute as well.

It must be the time of the year to re-thatch. We see big piles of new thatch in the villages along the way. Folks seem to be working hard putting up the thatch. The houses are set in small kraals with thatch or woven rattan (?) fences. The woven fences have a chevron design woven into them.  

Avril thinks the country side is like the northern Transvaal (we do not know new name).

We had thought that there would be a shortage of fresh fruit & veg, but the folks up here seem to be quite industrious and where there was water there were market gardens. We bought up big. We also bought some local honey from kids at one of the police stops, lets see what it tastes like.

The drive into the park started as expected, little game. But as dusk started to fall we saw lots of game (and this is only a single road in – no game drives). We saw some large monkeys, giant eland (unfortunately too slow to get good pictures, however there were ~ 6 and it was a magnificent sight), small antelope (grey duiker ?) and what looked like a large Impala -the horns were those of an impala but it seemed a bit bigger, lighter in colour and its coat seemed to have more fur. We are at a bit of a loss on identification as we only have a southern Africa mammal guide. As the guide book notes there are lots of birds.

We arrived at the Campment de Buffel Noir around dusk. We camped in the small camping area and were given the keys to one of the rondawels for ablutions. The facilities are in need of modernisation, but are very clean and well maintained. Importantly, they have cold beer!!!

Ray driving. 10 hours. 414 km. N 08⁰ 07’ 02.2’’ E 013⁰ 32’ 49.6’’ 

Day 44 – 18/1/12

We decided to spend the day at Campment de Buffel Noir. After a bit of a sleep in we set about doing some chores. In the afternoon we went for a game drive. We were fortunate to see quite a lot of game; lots of the buck similar to Impala, grey duiker, what we assumed to be red duiker (very red, large body and short legs with black socks), Bush Buck, Water Buck, baboons and a couple of enormous northern ground hornbills. At the river we saw hippos and crocodiles. Quite a successful drive.

The days are now quite hot but we need the doona at nights.

Day 45 – 19/1/12

May you live in interesting times! We left Campment de Buffel Noir early in the hope of seeing some game. We were not disappointed. We saw a herd of + 25 giant eland on the move and managed to get some reasonable snaps (very exciting), bush buck, the impala like antelope which we think in the local lingo is Cob de Buffon, baboons, monkeys, red duikers (?) and hartebeest (excited about as well) all with in ~ 10 km of the camp. We decided to take the track that follows the park boundary north. The track was quite bad in spots and we only saw a couple of Cob de Buffon, baboons and some monkeys.

We re-joined the main N1 road north which is tar but badly potholed in sections – vehicles weaving like Angola to miss the bad places. We stopped off at Garoua to do some quick internet, refuel (diet coke & gasoil), fresh fruit & veg, bread etc. Again we were impressed by a town in the north. They seem to be much better organised, cleaner and have some civic pride, for example there are large trees along the road into most towns.

After we left the National Park the country got quite barren, sort of like the pastoral plains north of Adelaide. Then it got even drier, very little in the way of trees, mostly grass lands. Avril still reckons like the northern Transvaal.

The road to Guider is tar. We stopped off the see the Kola Gorge just before Guider. The EU (bless their little hearts, they seem determined to do a Kensyian pump priming exersize all over Africa) has erected some picnic facilities. There were a large number of guides all wanting some work. Unfortunately, the gorge is not really that impressive. It is in the middle of a river bed in black granite with white stripes,  ~ 20 m deep and 5 m wide. It runs for ~ 100 m.

At Guider we turned towards the Nigeria border. The road was tar up until you head north at the town of Dourbeye. The road north is Green on the Michelin map and runs along north along the Nigerian border, with mountains all the way. It is very bad road/dirth track.  At one town there was a donkey was aggressively chasing another donkey and they crossed the road a few times, unfortunately just as we drove passed they decided to cross the road again – you know the rest. The 1^st donkey ran straight into the drivers side door. Bugger, fortunately there was no damage to the car. As per SOPs we continued on and did not stop.

Later we had our first puncture of the trip. As seems to be the norm on our trip, a motor bike with two chaps on it stopped and immediately took over the tyre change exersize – no point in Ray getting his hands dirty. Absolutely amazing how they just see an issue and get on and fix it. At the end we just could not seem to be able to get the tyre up to pressure. Turns out the ARB inflation tool pressure gauge is U/S, fortunately we have a manual spare.

Slowly the road got worse and the light faded. We got to our destination, Roumsiki and asked a local chap where Camp Roumsiki was, he proceeded to jog along the road and we followed. Then < 100 m from the lodge the draw under the vehicle tray fell out. Seems that both the latches decided to give up (also gives an indication of the rough treatment the roads have given us). Immediately there were many people around helping to lift the draw and put it back (which took some time) and then tie rope around to keep it in place. Again, folks came up and assisted, unasked. We always give some money at the end.

There was some discussion at the lodge, they prefer not to have campers (there is a camp ground up the road) but at the end they let us camp.

After Ray had a shower we had some cold beer or G&T and dined at the restaurant.

Ray driving. 11.5 hours. 402 km. N 10⁰ 30’ 57.0’’ E 013⁰ 35’ 16.5’’

Day 46 – 20/1/12

What with donkeys, “mad dogs”, chooks and general animal noises, we had a poor nights sleep. Village life is definitely not for us! Still we had a bit of a sleep in.

The previous evening Avril had chatted up one of the local lads whilst inspecting the alternative camping accommodation. This chap showed up at a respectable time to assist with any repairs. With another by-stander they look at the latches and within 30 minutes had replaced the 2 broken ones – with a new spare and by using another one that was not really needed. Ray chipped in occasionally with some management advice!

Then, they took the punctured tyre to be repaired. We settled down for a late breakfast. Turns out they did not have the glue in this village, so off the assistant went on a motor bike to get glue from the next village. We relaxed and read a bit. After some time the tyre was returned, sort of repaired. Looks like the puncture is more of a rip so we may need to buy a new tyre. Bit of nuisance as this was the new tyre we had just bought in Yaounde.

At around 12:30 (mad dogs and Englishman) we went out for a trek. Roumsiki is renowned for its spectacular scenery. There is a large basin with a number of dramatic volcanic plugs. We took a guided walk around the perimeter of the basin for a bit, then down to the basin floor before returning to the village. We had asked for a 2 hour walk but it turned out to be 4 hours. But it was well worth it for the great scenery. We also went with in meters of entering Nigeria.

On return, after the normal hassle with guide payment, Ray went for a swim in the artic temperature swimming pool. Avril watched!

Then we had an early dinner and went to the bar for some drinks.

Day 47 – 21/1/12

Knowing we only had a short distance to drive, we made a leisurely start to the day. The local guides had assured us that the road north was better than the road from the south into Roumsiki. Mmm, no it isn’t. The road is horrible all the way to Mokolo and on to Koza (we never got out of 2^nd gear), after that it improves marginally. At Mora we rejoined the N1 north – as per the guide book it is terribly potholed. At times we wish we were back on the bad secondary road.

The dramatic Roumsiki scenery continued on the way north, more volcanic plugs. After Mokolo we drove through some very interesting mountains. The locals here have the back breaking task of terracing the hillsides and clearing them of rocks. The terracing is extensive and with the family compounds seemingly growing from the rocks it makes quite an impressive scene. We then understood and appreciated that the guides had insisted we take this route.

At Koza the mountains stop and the industrious people of the north start irrigating the lowlands. We think we see sorghum, lots of onions and cotton. We stopped for lunch at the edge of the Mogozo-Gokoro National Park, which is not nearly as interesting as it sounds.

Back on the N1, the scene is more arid, very dry. The huts here are made of grass. Again along the route the locals have made an effort to plant trees at the entrances to the villages/Towns.

We are camped at the gate to the Waza National Park.

Avril driving. 7 hours (and we did not have many stops!) 180 km. N 11⁰ 23’ 30.5’’ E 014⁰ 33’ 48.2’’

 

Day 48 – 22/1/12

The day started rather badly. Ray went to get the (compulsory) guide for Waza National Park and Avril started the vehicle and drove to the camp ground gate – with oil pouring from the engine! In typical Cameroon/Africa style we soon had a number of helpers. Initially we looked for the bottom drain plug, then one of the keen observers saw that the oil filter was not screwed in properly. Mmm, so the mechanic in Batouri had not properly installed the filter and the very rough roads it had shaken it loose (may have had something to do with the hang over he was suffering from??). Luckily we had the tool needed to re-tighten the filter and one of the helpers tightened to filter. Lucky as well we had a 5 l container of oil bought from Australia. The manager of the park had another 3 l, so together we had enough.

So, we set of for our game drive at 08:00, with all systems go, Ray on the roof rack. We saw a few large groups of giraffe (the signature animal of Waza), lots of herds of Topi, our 1^st ever Roan Antelope, Cob de Buffon, wart hogs and the most exciting sighing for many a day, a serval cat. We followed the serval for some time and got a lot of glimpses, but not a photo. Very, very exciting. We also saw lots of interesting birds; blue roller, vultures, ostrich, grey crane, caribou stork, eagles etc.

Whilst we were relaxing at camp from the hot afternoon sun a French overlander couple drove up – also very exciting. In broken English and Rays pretend French we managed to swap information. They had recently come via Chad, Niger & Mali and were very positive about these countries.

We went for an afternoon drive and were fortunate to have Ross McLeod along on the roof rack with Ray. Ross has been travelling around Cameroon after teaching life saving courses in Kribi, we had met him in Roumsiki. We saw a lot of the same animals on this drive (but no further serval) plus a large group of small mongooses and near the park exit a couple of jackal.

After pitching camp, we had the French overlander couple and Ross over for some drinks and snacks. A very pleasant evening.

 Day 49 – 23/1/12

Another leisurely start to the day. The road to the Kalamaloue NP was tar, but badly potholed, so we took it slowly. The only trees along the route now are those planted in towns. The landscape is quite bleak - very short if any grass and there is a long way between villages. The huts are circular and made of the locally available grey mud with a thatched roof.

The National Park was established to protect the elephant migration routes and is situated on the banks of the Chari River.  

We arrived ~ midday, but decided to wait until it cooled (the thermometer was at 38^oC, and it is only January) a bit before going viewing. We went on a game drive in the afternoon and saw the promised elephants, a large group of > 50. The park is pretty run down so there was not a lot else; 2 different kinds of monkey, a mongoose, hippopotamus and crocodile.

It appears that the camp facilities are not yet open, but we camped there anyway; sans loo & shower. All the staff went home for the evening, so we were left to ourselves and the not too distant sounds of elephants.

Avril driving. 2.5 hours. 122 km. N 12⁰ 08’ 85.2’’ E 014⁰ 52’ 97.9’’

Day 50 – 24/1/12

As it was only a short drive to the border, we had a bit of a sleep in. We breakfasted with the elephants! About 100 m from our camp site, through some thin bushes there was a parade of elephants probably on their way to the water hole. They seemed to pass by single file for about 60 minutes. To be honest, this also involved a little bit of fear on our part, we made sure we could pack up very quickly.

On the way out, almost at the park gate, we saw a jackal.

We stopped before the town centre at Koussari to complete customs formalities. It turns out there is no gasoil in N’Djamena and maybe in all of Chad, hence as well the border town of Koussari theoretically had no diesel. At the customs post Ray asks one of the assembled locals about the possibility of getting fuel. Yes, we can buy it at a price. So we purchase ~ 47 l from the road side at ~ A$2/l. Still we would rather have the fuel.

We drew some money from a “hole in the wall” (lots of theme here) and bought some engine oil – but from the Total station.

Then we were off to the border. We have not seen chaos like this for many a day. They are building a new bridge, but in the mean time traffic is restricted to one direction for a time, then the reverse direction. Through the great mass of motor cycles we manage to work out where immigration was and get our passports stamped. No bribes asked for by any official.

Then we wait for the Chad direction to have its turn to cross. Of course the motor cycles at our end pack the entrance, so folks coming from the other direction cannot get off the bridge. Avril finds it frustrating (particularly as the cattle get top priority), Ray enjoys the carnival.

Finally after 1^st arriving in Cameroon on 18^th November 2011 and spending 50 days in the country we finally leave to the north.

Cameroon Summary

First the good points; Cameroon in general has wonderful people. Always ready to assist. We have always felt safe the whole time. Despite our whinging, there is quite good infrastructure; even remote villages have electricity and the road system is better than a lot of other countries.

We were fortunate to leave from the North as the folks here cannot help but leave a positive impression with their industrious nature and quiet and pleasant temperament. The national parks in the north were also good from our perspective as we saw lots of animals we had not seen before.

The customs people in Yogaduma to one side, requests for bribes were for the most part implied and not pushed too hard. However, the number of road blocks really did start to get annoying.

The east of the country is clearly the poor cousin. This may impact the local people as they do not seem as keen to get on with stuff as other places.

Our trip with the kids was coloured by the very poor experience in Dja NP and the large distances (and hence time in the car) we had to drive. The low point was the Seme beach hotel – a complete dive.

Maybe we spent too much time here, but Cameroon does not really have the tourist infrastructure or attractions to keep you engaged.