Saturday, May 17, 2008

Delays

Well, we didn't get to the DRC as planned yesterday. Nothing is ever perfectly executed out here but this time it wasn't our fault. We were at the port and had been stamped out of Congo by immigration when we found out that the ferry across the river had been cancelled for safety reasons. That was a bit of a shock. Who would've thought that safety actually counted for anything out here? Anyway, there is a lot of debris and it seems that the bank upstream has been tearing off
floating down the river at the moment so it is currently too dangerous to navigate. They were nice enough to let us back into the country to wait and our best hope now is for the ferry to restart on Monday. We found out later that these cancellations are quite common and last week the ferry was cancelled for the whole week. So we wait.... Ben is not too thrilled about getting further behind schedule, but the good news for us is that it has given me time to upload photos and even this little video clip of us crossing the condemned bridge in eastern Gabon.
Enjoy,



Ammon

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Congo

I know what you are thinking. I thought the same thing too. Hot, steamy jungle with muddy roads, river crossings, still, oppressing air and swarms of bugs. That and war with police and military patrolling the streets and checkpoints every few km. Forget it. We were completely wrong. Maybe a different part, but not where we were. When we crossed from Leconi our beautiful paved road instantly turned into sand track through the grassy landscape.
We picked up a sick policeman at the Congo border post and he followed along with us for the rest of the day, no doubt enjoying the luxury of a good 4WD for a change. The sand road wasn't too bad and we made decent time until another little bridge got in our way. It was over a tiny stream but again had a single plank spanning a 3 foot gap and did not look prepared for our weight. Just enough to make us worry. Ben decided to test the stream and promptly got the Land Rover stuck in the mud on the far side and couldn't even get himself winched out so once again we reinforced the bridge, crossed over and then pulled him out with the big truck. Kees was so happy he finally got to be useful and had been wishing for such a thing to happen to the little trucks all day. We just overlook the fact that Ben ended up in the mud on Kees' behalf in the first place....
The area out there feels very remote and we didn't see any other vehicles until the end of the day, just before dark, when in trying to get around an oncoming pickup Kees hit it with the front tire of his motorbike and gave the pickup a dent. Honestly, the guy is lucky we didn't tip over and crush him to death because we were so close to going over that Patrick behind was screaming at us (we didn't hear him). A long negotiation began for the compensation because it ended up being the chief postman for the entire region and the usual Africa rules of hit and let live don't seem to apply anymore. 80 euro and a few flashlights later (down from their initial asking price of 1000 euro) we were ready to set up camp at the abandoned police post on the edge of some random village. What a first day in Congo!
After 200km of sand and dust and little villages full of very excited and happy people we hit paved road again. I don't think I've ever seen such an excited stretch of villagers in my life, they just all seemed so friendly and it's funny to think that they are so isolated that they have no clue where England, China or Canada are, let alone anything about them. We're just one of the very rare white faces (despite being Chinese, Kerry is considered and called "white" out here) to come along. Until recently the main overland route went south from Libreville to Point Noire, Congo and that was our original plan but the road has become so terrible that the route we just took will probably become the main one and these villagers will suddenly see a little spike in overlander traffic, all the while completely ignorant of the international issues and considerations involved in putting them on the map.
Despite being a relatively good road with little traffic we are slow moving and Kees' truck is now beat up to the point of the odd problem that requires time tinkering around underneath nearly everyday, so we had to stop one more night at a closed hotel in a town called Ngo. The people continue to be very friendly and the owners of the hotel didn't even want to charge us. Usually we pay a few dollars per person or maybe a group lump sum or will get free camping in exchange for promising to eat at the hotel restaurant but either way we usually end up in much nicer places than the local dives we were used to before, even if we are outside. The following day (yesterday) we arrived in Brazzaville, the capital, where we are now. Congo has had its share of civil war recently but for the most part things seem ok now. The suburbs are dirty (but not west Africa dirty) but the center seems well kept and full of nice ministry buildings and not a lot of traffic. We have resorted to sneaking photos from deep inside the trucks because one of the quickest ways to get in trouble in the Congos is to take photos in public.
To our group Brazza was the big question mark as it has recently become the stuck point for overlanders. These days the Angolan embassies along the route have been refusing to issue visas and currently the best place to get one is in Matadi, DRC (the really bad Congo, formerly Zaire) right on the Angolan border. But even more recently the DRC border guards have been refusing entry to everyone on the grounds that they don't have an onward visa already. Our solution was to get preclearance from the embassy in Ghana and have him notify the guys here in Brazza so we'd be expected and get the visas when we arrived. Nothing ever goes as planned in Africa so after talking to them today we've ended up with a letter from the Angolans telling the DRC that we'd been cleared for a visa in Matadi and to please let us in. We'll try tomorrow morning and since we are all afraid of the DRC, we'll try and cross it in a day and get to the "safety" of Angola as quickly as possible. Things are generally going well though.
Ammon

Gabon

This style of travel is so different from what we are used to that I don't know how I can say anything about where we are. The approach and experiences are just too different. The cultural experiences and interactions have almost completely disappeared but it is nice to be able to get out to see scenery and places that we wouldn't otherwise get to on public transport. So at best I can attempt to describe the scenery (more Savannah's thing than mine) or point out a few obvious features that distinguish themselves from the country before.
Cameroon had roughly one tenth the population of Nigeria and Gabon has one tenth of Cameroon's so the low density has been very nice and gives a feeling of remoteness even on the main routes through the country. Apart from the area around Libreville, the capital, there is almost no traffic on the road and villages are few and far between. Since we don't really stop anywhere I can just comment on passing through villages but there is still a lot you can tell. The Cameroonians waved a lot while the villagers in Gabon tended to be older and more reserved or less excited about seeing strangers as whole. Different villages have different characters, attitudes and reactions. Some are very excited and happy and all the people rush to the side of the road to wave with their kids. Some are suspicious or grouchy and just stare, others look stunned and some seem totally indifferent and uninterested in the outside world as a whole. The ones I like the least are those with the people that look at you and give you the rude hand flick that says "What do you want?" and/or "What are you going to give me?". We've only had a few rocks thrown and one boy tried to push his friend or little brother off the hill and in front of the truck, but we've had less of that than I expected overall. Gabon's villages were also quite clean and sometimes I wonder if it is because the rain washes the garbage away better or if they simply are so poor that they don't buy anything to have plastic wrap, etc to throw around but I doubt it. I think they actually take better care of themselves because even the dirt in front of their homes looks swept and is not a mud puddle like it otherwise could be. It is such a nice change and makes so much difference in our overall impressions of a people and place.
Gabon has been ruled by the same president for the last 40 years and in that time Gabon has been one of the few peaceful central African countries and now has a reputation as an expensive package ecotourism destination. It has oil and resources but because of corruption, the rich are rich and the poor are very poor. Libreville looks like a modern European city and has lots of SUVs, expats and modern conveniences. It is the least African thing I've seen since arriving in Africa!
For the most part the main roads were good and after the first night in a catholic mission in Oyem up north, we drove all the way to Libreville and camped at a restaurant right on the coast at Cap Esterias, about 25 km from the capital and a popular weekend stop for the expats. We were there a couple of days, the first of which was a Sunday and saw lots of French couples come out with their young children for lunch and a swim. The water was warm and the sunsets were amazing.
Coming down from the north we continued to drive through dense rainforest like in Cameroon and dad had to do most of the driving because Kees came down with malaria. He's not the only one that has been sick and at present all of us are trying our best to not go insane from wanting to scratch all the bites all over us. Mosquitoes are not the worst. We've suffered most from little biting black flies and sand flies to the point of bad rashes and open sores though each to a different degree. I'd rather sweat than deal with all that so I cover up more than most and so am suffering the least :) There were also huge logging trucks hogging the road (and nearly ran us off it a few times) and it is sad to see that the biggest trees are being systematically taken down. Of course we never got to see primary rainforest because we were on the main roads but there is still tons of vegetation where it occurs.
I am also happy to announce that finally, after 91 countries and many years of travel, I have finally crossed the equator for the first time. That took a lot of work and now I have a whole other side to explore :)
As we travelled further inland after Libreville the rainforest gradually thinned out to grassy meadows and until we were on a plateau of softly rolling hills and grasses with the occasional tree, soft colours and a guaranteed thunderstorm every afternoon though they don't last long and often miss us. No wildlife to speak of though it looks perfect for a safari. The national parks are really expensive and are not as full of wildlife as at more famous African destinations so we stayed behind on the one afternoon when the rest of the group went for a little guided drive in Lope's Nature Reserve and saw some pygmy elephants.
A few days later on an attempt to find a waterfall on a little dirt road around Franceville, we stupidly drove across (and wrecked) a little log bridge before finding the road washed out and impassable a little further ahead. By that point we were approaching dark in a thunderstorm and the muddy road was so narrow that we were ripping branches off all the trees a getting a good car wash as we went along. It was very Jurassic Parkish. Forced to turn back, we decided to just set up camp in the middle of the road and proceeded to try to scare each other with jungle horror stories. There were lots of sounds out there and the setting was perfect..... The following day we turned around and spent a few hours rebuilding the log bridge and it's exit to hopefully hold 10 tonnes of truck again. We'd unloaded a lot of weight too, and just as Kees was about to give it a go some road work guys showed up. They told us the bridge was scheduled to be replaced in 10 days time and that there was no way it would hold. Since we really had no choice and it held the first time, we made a few more adjustments at their suggestion and went over. It was pretty intense and a bunch of logs ended up falling into the river but the bridge survived and we made it across. Got a nice video of it too! Drove as far as the next bridge and all jumped in the stream for a wash and relax after another rough day. That night we stayed in Franceville and Ben, without really expecting any success, managed to talk his way into getting us free camping at the nicest hotel in town. The president's house is on the grounds and we even got to use the swimming pool. Talk about luxury!
A little closer to the Congo border is the Leconi Canyon. We'd hoped to camp out there before crossing the border but the locals in town told us that it had bandit problems so we ended going with a policeman as a guide and staying only half an hour or so for a quick look. It was small but very colourful and reminded us a lot of Bryce canyon and some of the others in the Utah area. We ended up camping in front of the police checkpost and crossing into Congo the following day.
Ammon

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

The Dirty Dozen

This is Savannah's revised and continued blog....
After one week of counting down the days, I had become very anxious to reunite with Bre and Ammon. It got to the point where I was pacing like a puppy at the door, waiting for its master to return. On the night of their arrival Ben and I were reflexively lifting our heads at the sound of each passing car. “Where are those siblings of mine?! I’m sick of being an only child.” As soon as Bre stepped out of the car I attacked her with jelly bean jumps and hugs. I can’t remember the last time I felt so silly, screaming and spinning like little girls together. We practically knocked each other over with our aggressive encounter of love.
“She just wanted me back so I could take her to the bathroom since she’s probably been holding it for the past week!” -Bre.
Bre has taken up residence in Ben’s truck so we don’t see much of her these days. Ben was directly returned to his rightful owner. I have not suffered much from my loss of a husband, for I have already replaced the first with a dashing Dutch man.
If only there was a way of capturing the individuals in this group with words, I’d already have myself a novel! Where do I start?! I find myself constantly in the presence of people who are looking to have a good time and make the best of even the stickiest of situations. Ben is the kind of person who can never sit still. He is up and bustling about at the break of dawn each morning. He is very active in his planning and organizing, taking lots of pride in what he does. He turns everything into a comedy with his witty comments and gung-ho attitude towards life.
Kees on the other hand is a laid back, chilled out guy. Unlike Ben and Alex, he believes in relaxing but never gets the chance as the list of chores goes on and on. He’s up first thing and before we even start the day he’s covered in grease and dirt from being under the truck with the angle grinder then he’s either cleaning, organizing or driving the truck and at the end of the day there’s always something to be fixed and occasionally kitchen duty on top of all this.. At first glance he can be very intimidating. I was scared when I first met him and was going to stay as far away as possible! At the beginning I imagined he would be very anti-social and unfriendly but he’s turned out to be one of the funniest, coolest guys around. He continues to crack me up with his blunt, brutal honesty about things and he is still confused as to why I’m laughing. His usual response is something like, “What? It’s the truth isn’t it?” He doesn’t have to try in order to be funny….he just is and he never cracks a smile at his own “jokes”. He’s so serious that it’s humorous.
He feels so lucky to have us “Crazy Watkins” around and always says “Life just keeps getting better and better. All I need is to be fed grapes and I’m set.” He has his own personal masseuse, veterinarian, hair dresser, chauffeur, chef, DJ, lawyer and house cleaner now. What a spoiled guy. Within a matter of days we had already managed to take over the controls and overthrow his majesty. Attack of the Watkins! He doesn’t seem to mind too much, being able to take advantage of his new status in the truck. For example, at road blocks he tells Dad “You deal with it. I’m just a hitchhiker!” “In your own truck?” I asked with an eyebrow raised.
The more Kees gets to know us, the more we hear him say, “Oh, you crazy Watkins!” He still can’t figure us out. “You don’t swear, drink or smoke and you’re all too smart! You’re just TOO nice.” He is still amazed and is glad to see when we argue “It would be too perfect otherwise.” He is honest. We continue to stump this poor man. He may think we’re the strange ones but he isn’t all that normal himself! For example, when we entered Douala, the biggest city in Cameroon, Kees promptly decided to drive on the wrong side of the road…at rush hour! He takes over the road, easily ignoring the shouts and honks directed at us. As long as the policemen witnessing it don’t complain, we continue to do it when necessary. Can I say “CRAZY Dutchman!” or what? ….and it isn’t the first time we’ve seen him do that! And he calls us nuts! Can you believe that?! At least Ben and Patrick would have an excuse, having their steering wheels on the wrong side (right hand side).
We continued on from Calabar into the wilderness of Cameroon. We managed to get through all of Nigeria with only paying one bribe of half a bag of dried instant noodles that Ben had been eating at the time of crossing a road block.
We crossed the Nigeria/Cameroon border at noon, entering a route bound for trouble and full of potential chaos. Having been forewarned by many Overlanders before us, we were expecting the road from Hell! And so it proved…. to be a lumpy, bumpy, muddy ride! There was visible contrast in the roads; the difference between night and day. The smooth tarmac road suddenly transformed into a thin, winding track through dense African woodland. We sat at the gates, peering through to the other side; this was the adventure we’d all been waiting for! The land seemed to blend together, no division between earth and sky. We had been washed up in a whirl of green. All signs of civilization smothered by the overpowering strength of the jungle. We were really struggling to conquer each stretch of gooey, overflowing mud. We were at the mercy of the muck pulling us deeper and deeper, dragging us into the depths of the earth. Our tires were packed down and filled, windows splattered and trucks smeared with rusty-red paste. "This is a nice intro to the country!”-Ammon
Our vehicles were in a convoy from smallest to biggest. James in the South African truck and Bre in Ben’s were thrilled and so excited. They almost immediately jumped out of their windows and climbed onto their roof racks. James and Bre had their cameras rolling from the top, cameraman filming cameraman filming camera man. I felt like we were driving our convoy across the lands of Jurassic Park. It was almost a dreamlike collage of bamboo, fern and palms sprouting from the mesh of weed infested grounds. Any random onlooker would assume we were a part of some sort of film school. We have more film being shot than in the Oscars and will easily be able to make an awesome video in the end.
We send our guinea pig, Ben off each time to take on every slip and slide. After his test run he would radio back to the rest of us to give advice on the next step.
“You want to keep to the right but not too much right because it’s extremely steep on that side. It gets soft in the middle and you’re going to slide to the left so try to stick to the right as much as possible.” “Is this the time I use The Buttons?”-Kees has found a new love for those buttons! These “Magic three buttons”, as he calls them, are located on the side of the driver’s seat. The best traction you can get to prevent slipping is with the diff locks engaged. “I don’t know what they’re for but they sure come in handy!”-Kees
In preparation everyone would line up on the opposite side of a huge puddle, waiting for the upcoming event, cameras in hand. The most amusing part was watching the faces of our audience. “Look at all of my fans!” -Kees “Look at Patrick’s face!”-Mom
We couldn’t fully understand what all the commotion was about until we saw the videos that night and how close we came to losing control. We have one shot where our back wheel’s hanging entirely off the edge, dangerously dangling over a steep pool of mud. Yikes! Kees turned to Alex, putting on a serious face, “What were you doing girl?! You’re supposed to jump left when that happens! We almost fell over right!” He joked, as if it would make any difference.
Holding on for dear life, arms tight around my legs, toes wiggling like mad, I held my breath and forced myself to keep my eyes open. Meanwhile Kees’ forehead was glued to the windshield and his jaw was practically hitting the dashboard.
“I was scared!” Said Kees, knuckles white with strain from the death grip on his steering wheel! It isn’t everyday you get to hear a tough guy admit to such things, hehe. All the while Bindhi just sits in her seat uncaring and not realizing what the heck is happening.
Kees had been thrown back into command for this huge mission, Dad not being prepared for this kind of thrashing. Hhaha, little did we know that Kees was a novice and didn’t actual have the experience we thought he had.. This discovery became quite evident with his repetitive, “UNBELIEVABLE!!” He was shocked; if not more than we were, with the condition of the road and ability of his truck. “If you knew how little confidence I had in this truck you’d be terrified! If I had seen pictures of this beforehand I would’ve stayed home! I never would’ve expected to survive this.”-Kees Gee, thanks Kees that makes us feel a million times better….
“We’re going to get lost in Cameroon and get eaten by head hunters,” -Dad said with excitement as we got bashed around like ping-pong balls!
It seemed as though we had already been swallowed up into the heart of Africa. Branches were overhanging the road, coming down on us in a shower of leaf and vine.
“As long as they aren’t these horrible little flies I’m okay. I’ll take the head hunters!” He was right; they were extremely annoying and persistent. There were hundreds of them swarming us and buzzing around. They were little eyeball sucking pests!!
We were struggling the most in our big, bulky truck so we were lagging behind. There was a little bit of motorbike traffic all day and we saw only one car; broken and rusted in the ditch. “I really don’t think trucks are meant to go through these parts, haha; especially not in a beasts like this!”…but they certainly do!
Slowly but surely we made our way through the muck and grime of 8ft. deep craters. It was like the aftermath of a blown up battlefield. Splashing mud and spinning wheels caused quite the scene. Obstacles were thrown in our path at every bend! Finally after great effort and nearly drowning in the process we’d catch up to the others. Around almost every corner they’d come into view, stopped in their tracks…..
“They’re getting out of their trucks...”-Kees
Ben and Patrick would be out of their trucks again with sticks measuring the puddles, inspecting and calculating our odds. Sometimes it looked doubtful but our group has high morale. “Not again!”-me “Patrick’s getting out his boots. You guys ready for the next leg of the journey?”-Mom
It was a never ending quest of masterminding and figuring out which of the few routes to commit to. At the most extreme black diamond runs, we always had to get out the cameras. “Lights, camera, crew, we need you over here!”-Ben. I mostly stayed inside to feel the ride, bumping and sliding….and to watch the others’ faces cringe with terror as they witnessed our thrilling escapade. ”Magic, all it needs is a little magic.”-Kees would mumble as he referred to his trusty three buttons.
A few times we doubted and worried, our odds looking exceedingly slim. “I can’t believe this truck made it through!!” Said Kees astonished. Wide eyed and flabbergasted, mom says, “We almost didn’t.”
The unknown kept us on our toes. There was never a moments rest. No matter the challenge, I always seemed to be surrounded by jolly, happy people. Ben’s voice crackled over the radio singing, “Mud, mud glorious mud. There’s nothing quite like it for cooling the blood. So follow me, follow, down to the hollow and there let us wallow in glorious mud.” Jolly indeed!
Our first day in Cameroon we covered only 14km in 6hours! We bush camped that night, prepared dinner under the stars and enjoyed the mysteriously silent lightning. Fireflies flickered in trees and tall grass. We threw a hose out the truck window and connected it to the sink in order to have a shower….more like a mud bath by the end, hah. We all spread out around a small camp fire sitting on our trucks, chairs and on dirt mounds, eating our supper. Kees looked around, baffled by our state and finally concluded that, “We’re sitting here in an ugly mud hole and yet we’re all happy, so happy.”
The next morning we woke and continued on our way, prepared to be abused some more!
Our initial setback for the day involved a bribe, camera, bridge and cops. Cameroon ended up being much worse with the bribes. We got busted for taking pictures of a bridge which was later described to us as a “military instillation”. We were delayed an hour, trying to negotiate with the stern official. We were lucky to get away with only giving four beers and a small bag of rice away, our cameras and chips still in our pockets. Major Charles, the arrogant, ostentatious man had complained about the puny bag of rice given to him. Ben had insisted in a very serious and matter of fact way, that “This is special English rice! It fluffs up into six times its original size, comfortably feeding your platoon of four men.” This was a little white lie on his part, to allow our passage to continue smoothly.
We didn’t get far before encountering our huge mission of the day. We came to a stop in the road where there were four tracks….our choices were 1) bumpy, tilted trail too narrow for cars and used for motorcycles 2) straight shot down and into a massive slop filled crater 3) twisted, sharp angled, less muddy with high, narrow walls or 4) up a steep hill into the woods and around and down with another steep, sharp hill…Hmm, I think we’ll do option 3… and so this is where the Dirty Dozen comes into the plot.
Bre managed to get her shoe sucked right off her foot as she was leaping out of the way of the trucks. As Patrick came sliding past he ran right over it. We thought it was a goner but James was stubborn and snatched the shovel from Bre until he retrieved the flip flop or “slip-slop” as he would call it. James is a cool guy who turns complaining into an art whenever he is disgruntled. Much like us, Watkins, his idea of a shoe repair is duct taping it together. I knew I liked him for some reason, hah.
We knew we had a serious problem when Ben and especially Patrick’s trucks had difficulty in passage. We had to stop to rethink and reroute for The Beast. We tried option #4 to no avail. We contemplated filling #2 with rocks, branches and logs but resulted to widening the path of #3 before attempting it.
Next thing we know the boots come out and the boys were all ripping their shirts off, grabbing shovels and breaking into a sweat. Kees and I would make a perfect gum boot couple, haha. It was our job as the women to wait on our men, distributing food and water as they worked, bare backed in the scorching sun. Alex was running around barefoot in her little pixy dress, ribbon in hair in the middle of jungle. “There is something not right abut this scene, haha.” Alex is a typical, witty, brash Australian chick. If there’s something to be done in the camp; she’ll be on top of it, thinking it’s her job.
After some time digging we put Kees in the truck and sent him through. He had so much pressure on him. It all depended on him and his skill to make it out but he takes it well. In true African fashion Kees would insist, “five minutes. We’ll be out in five minutes.” It’s unbelievable to me how, even as his tires were spinning helplessly, stirring up dust, only getting deeper and deeper and all hope was lost, he still had a smile on his face. Ben frantically guided and instructed, while Kees simply hung out the window laughing and singing away. “He’s lost it, hahah.” He simply goes with the flow and trusts our judgement. It seemed as though no matter how sticky the situation got…nothing fazed him. The company you have makes all the difference in the world. We turn the mess into a fun and exciting experience that we can look back on and smile.
“Left, left go left. Not TOO much leeeftttt!” “Careful! Not too fast!” The truck went slipping and sliding, with the pedal to the floor until it got jammed and stuck. Each time we attempted to get anywhere the situation only got worse until the entire front right tire was swallowed up in mud and the truck was at a 40 degree angle! “I guess we’ll be sleeping on an angle tonight, Kees!”-me. It was beginning to look like we’d be setting up camp on the side of the road. I couldn’t imagine how we would possibly get the thing vertical ever again. We had to send in the crew of diggers several times before finally resorting to the winch. We spent hours and hours in the mud, chopping logs, hauling wood and trying to get ourselves out of the dilemma. Each time Kees climbed back in to try again, my heart rate sped and we were all stiff with suspense. The whole thing was exhilarating to say the least. We sent scouts venturing into the bush to find a nice big tree, but unfortunately there weren’t any extremely sturdy, big trees. On our final effort to release ourselves, we were all praying the tree would hold as it practically hit the forest floor with strain. After 7 hours of stress and effort we hooted and hollered in celebration as we pulled free from our temporary earthly prison. We came out of that as the true Dirty Dozen that we are, covered in scrapes and cuts, mud oozing between our toes and clumping in their leg hair. They were more mud than men by the end of the day... It took us a grand total of 9 hours to travel 12km!! The aftermath of a day like this for the truck is intense. All of the bags are thrown around, things have fallen off shelves, and the amount of dirt from everyone going in and out with muddy boots is painful to see. I obviously didn’t know what I was getting myself into when I signed up to be the designated sweeper!
As the sun was setting; we rolled into the nearest village and set up camp on a big grass field laced with fireflies. I must say that after all my experiences and travels, Africa wins the award for the best sunsets ever. One of the villagers took the lot of us through the bush until we came to a little stream tucked away in the jungle. That must’ve been quite the sight for villagers who so rarely even see tourists, let alone share their bath with them.
It’s not uncommon to find us stopped on the side of the road by a river/small water fall taking a dip. It is the best sensation to rinse off in cool, clean water after so long in the bush, eating Ben and Patrick’s dust.
The very next day we ran into a huge traffic jam of trucks and cars digging out of a big obstacle. They had been digging for two days straight before our arrival so it was great timing. What a disaster! Luckily we were only stuck waiting for two hours before they got everyone out. As we waited, Kees entertained half of our group by taking down his motorbike and giving James and Alex a lesson on how to ride. Dad smoked them by hopping right on and zipping back and forth on the dirt track. “You coming for a ride?!” Kees said in a tone that made me hesitate before answering. “Hhaha, I don’t know, Should I trust you on that thing?” I hopped on the back and we took off. Wow, I have a new love for motorbikes! So much FUN! We did go down in the mud and came back with matching brown legs but I forgive him for it, hah. Every chance I get, I’m on that thing. Wind in my face, sky overhead and dirt track doing by in a blur! Once we were through, Ben handed out cool roll out sunglasses to all of the locql diggers. They were super pleased with their little rewards.
Driving past all of the villages the little children come running out, chirping “white, white” as they chase the vehicles. They’re like reincarnations of the seagulls in “Finding Nemo “mine, mine”.
The days are generally very long, starting from 6:00-7:00 a.m. until dark when we either arrive in a town or find a place to bush camp. In the end we are just an exhausted, filthy happy bunch of people trying to reach South Africa. Things couldn’t have worked out better and I’m so pleased with how this trip has taken off. I constantly find myself turning to Kees to thank him when I see people crammed on local transport. “I love you, I love you. I’ll give you my soul. for saving me from that!!” He smiles and laughs…..
Savannah

Friday, May 09, 2008

Mt Cameroon

Ok, so things are going to get a little out of order I guess because Savannah works too hard on her blogs and I just write the basics. She should eventually get you some more descriptive accounts of the mud.....
Having said that, I am trying to work on the pictures but we are in the middle of nowhere and even in the capital cities the photos take so long to upload that it is almost impossible. We will have some good ones though as there are at least 5 cameras and different angles to choose from. Our days are so jam-packed that we just don't have time to sort these things out.
I know the other trucks in our group are tracking everything with their GPSs but I don't have any coordinates. All I can say at the moment is that we are currently in Eastern Gabon (I know, we are way behind on writing) but the road from Nigeria to Mamfe, Cameroon was the most intense so far. Things have generally been good since though there have been many stretches of very potholed or dirt road (with lots of little bridges with the guardrails knocked off) but we have not been stuck since the horrible road in Cameroon (you must wait for that story....). Having said all that, once clear of the mud, we made our way south to Limbe, a beautiful, quiet and very clean town on the coast, from where you can see the main island of Equatorial Guinea (alas, as close as I will get for a very long time :( since it is too difficult to get to). We picked up some money, had a jump in the warm water and drove through some very pretty tea plantations (it felt like Darjeeling or Sri Lanka) to the small town of Buea at the base of Mt. Cameroon.
Mt. Cameroon is an active volcano (last erupted in 2000) and at 4090m (13300ft) it dominates the landscape in the south west of Cameroon. It is also one of the wettest areas on Earth and despite being at the beginning of the rainy season, Ben had it listed as one of his 5 mountains to climb in Africa and had convinced us all to give it a go. It is not a technical climb but a simple walk straight up and down but made more difficult by the fact that we had to do it as fast as possible, thus a vertical climb of 3000m (10000ft) in 2 days on some very steep terrain. We had to organize the whole thing through an agency in Buea so we were required to take a porter each and 2 guides for our group making us a massive group of 26 people and one dog (Kees' Bindhi) trudging up the mountain. We started though tropical forest but above 2000m it just turned into bare, rocky earth with clumps of grass and lots of cloud. We were lucky in that it only rained the beginning of the first day (we nearly had a mutiny as we were freezing and the porters didn't even have raincoats and also wanted to quit) and we were able to continue. We slept at 2800m and though you might think it was not too cold at 14C, we were all about to die. I had 5 layers on and slept with 2 sleeping bags!
8 of our 12 continued at 4:30am the next morning and made it to the top before the very long, thigh and calf burning run back down. Dad, Bre and I made it to the top in our family. I was a little surprised dad made it, his lungs aren't what they used to be and he was suffering from the altitude at the end. Bre and Ben are the most in shape and kept up a brutal pace with the first guide leaving everyone behind except for myself. We spent all of 5 minutes at the top. There was no view because of the cloud. Ben called his mom, we took a couple photos, collected our victory rocks, and started back down. Kees did even less than that. He got to the top saying "there better be something up here" looked around, said "nope, nothing here" and started back down. No rest, no photo, nothing. Kees and James started the anti-Mt. Cameroon club by the end and were ready to kill Ben for tricking them into the whole thing. James lost his big toenail so I can understand. For days afterwards we could all barely move and there was a lot of grouchy yapping at each other due mostly to our discomfort than any real anger (though there has been the odd bit of social adjustments to get used to). Even Bindhi looked worn out.
From there back to Limbe for a night and then on to Yaounde the capital to get visas. We thought we'd be there for a week but ended getting the visas express and leaving after only a few days. Can't say I'm thrilled to be back in French again. Cameroon is like Canada, it has 2 languages, French and English but divided into regions, but with the smaller area and oppressed language being the English as it is only in the area next to Nigeria in the south.
Cameroon suffers from a (justified) reputation as being horribly corrupt but I have to say that it is by far the cleanest (and perhaps most organized looking) country in Africa so far. Most people consider it part of West Africa but honestly it is light years ahead of the poverty and chaos of that region. The capital was easily the nicest we'd seen to that point, not too crowded and set in between lots of hills and with a better overall temperature. It was also really nice to drive on good roads with no traffic for a change. The problem of course was that there were still the annoying police stops and they just flat out say "I'm hungry, give me food" without even bothering to make up excuses. One time dad was written a phony ticket and fine for driving without his shirt on. That was good for a laugh and a 5 minute argument, but as with all places so far, we have escaped without paying anyone. The weather has been hot and humid and we get thunderstorms almost every evening. They don't always hit us and it has been great to watch some of them in the distance. Since meeting up with these guys we have camped every day. 5 tents for 6 people on the ground and 2 pairs on rooftop tents on the smaller vehicles and 2 more inside Kees' truck. Sometimes in the bush, sometimes in the back lot of a hotel and sometimes on a nice patch of soft grass beside a guest house, but always outside, listening all night to the crickets and frogs. There are tons of fireflies too, lighting up the grass or zipping by your head. Patrick is also an excellent cook and we have had many a great South Africa stew to break up our usual poor and unexciting meals.
Ammon

Monday, May 05, 2008

Offroad

After one week of counting down the days, I had become very anxious to reunite with Bre and Ammon. It got to the point where I was pacing like a puppy at the door, waiting for its master to return. On the night of their arrival Ben and I were reflexively lifting our heads at the sound of each passing car. “Where are those siblings of mine?! I’m sick of being an only child.” As soon as Bre stepped out of the car I attacked her with jelly bean jumps and hugs. I can’t remember the last time I felt so silly, screaming and spinning like little girls together. We practically knocked each other over with our aggressive encounter of love.
“She just wanted me back so I could take her to the bathroom since she’s probably been holding it for the past week!” -Bre. Ben was directly returned to his rightful owner. I have not suffered much from my loss of a husband, for I have already replaced the first with a dashing Dutch man.
We continued on from Calabar into the wilderness of Cameroon. We managed to get through all of Nigeria with only paying one bribe of half a bag of dried instant noodles that Ben had been eating at the time of crossing a road block.
We crossed the Nigeria/Cameroon border at noon, entering a route bound for trouble and full of potential chaos. Having been forewarned by many Overlanders before us, we were expecting the road from Hell! And so it proved…. to be a lumpy, bumpy, muddy ride!
There was visible contrast in the roads; the difference between night and day. The smooth tarmac road suddenly transformed into a thin, winding track through dense African woodland. We sat at the gates, peering through to the other side; this was the adventure we’d all been waiting for! The land seemed to blend together, no division between earth and sky.
We had been washed up in a whirl of green. All signs of civilization smothered by the overpowering strength of the jungle. We were really struggling to conquer each stretch of overflowing goo. We were at the mercy of the muck pulling us deeper and deeper, dragging us into the doom of its depths. Our tires were packed down and filled, windows splattered and trucks smeared with rusty-red paste.
“This is a nice intro to the country!”-Ammon



The vehicles were in a convoy of smallest to biggest. James in the South African truck and Bre in Ben’s were thrilled and so excited. They almost immediately jumped out of their windows and climbed onto their roof racks. Ben was our guinea pig in the front, taking on each and every slip and slide. Being first he would radio back to the rest of us to give us advice.
“You want to keep to the right but not too much right because it’s extremely steep on that side. It gets soft in the middle and you’re going to slide to the left so try to stick to the right.”
“Is this a button job?”-Kees had found a new love. These “Magic three buttons”, as he calls them, are located on the side of the driver’s seat. The best traction you can get to prevent slipping is with the diff locks engaged.
“I don’t know what they’re for but they sure come in handy!”
Everyone would line up on the opposite side, waiting for the upcoming event, cameras in hand. The most amusing part was watching the faces of our audience. We couldn’t fully understand what all the commotion was about until we saw the videos that night.

“Look at Patrick’s face!”-M
I was holding on for dear life with my arms tight around my legs, toes wiggling like mad, holding my breath and forcing myself to keep my eyes open. Meanwhile Kees’ forehead was glued to the windshield and his jaw was practically hitting the dashboard, knuckles white with strain from the death grip on his steering wheel! “I was scared!” It isn’t everyday you hear a tough guy admit to such things, hehe. Kees had been thrown back into his seat for this huge mission, Dad not being prepared for this kind of thrashing. Hhaha, little did we know that Kees was new to all of this as well. This discovery became quite evident with his repetitive “UNBELIEVABLE!!” He was shocked; if not more than we were, with the condition of the road and ability of his truck. “If you knew how little confidence I had in this truck you’d be terrified! If I had seen pictures of this before I would’ve stayed home! I never would’ve expected to survive this.”-Kees
“We’re going to get lost in Cameroon and eaten by head hunters,” –Dad said with excitement.
It seemed as though we had already been swallowed up into the heart of Africa. Branches were overhanging the road, coming down on us in a shower of leaf and vine. We were enclosed in a mesh, creating an arch overhead.
“As long as there aren’t these horrible little flies I’m okay. I’ll take the head hunters!” Black flies swarm, suck on eye juice.

On several occasions I have caught myself thinking “Oh geez, what did we get ourselves into?!” Always in good humour of course. “We are all in this together!”

“I’m talking to my truck, is that a bad sign?” - Kees


Slowly but surely we made our way through the muck and grime of 12ft. deep craters. It was like the aftermath of a blown up battlefield. Splashing mud and spinning wheels caused quite the scene. Obstacles were thrown in our path at every bend! There was a little bit of motorbike traffic and we saw only one car; broken and rusted in the ditch. “I really don’t think trucks are meant to go through these parts, haha. Especially monster trucks like this!”
We were struggling the most in our big, bulky truck so we were lagging behind. Finally after great effort and nearly drowning in the process we’d catch up to the others. Around almost every corner they’d come into view, stopped in their tracks…..
“They’re getting out of their trucks...”-Kees
Ben and Patrick would be out of trucks again with sticks measuring the puddles, inspecting and calculating our odds. Sometimes it looked doubtful but our group has high moral
“Not again!”-S
“Patrick’s getting out his boots. You guys ready for the next leg of the journey?”-M

It was a never ending quest of masterminding and figuring out which of the few routes to take. At the most extreme diamond runs, we always had to get out the cameras. “Lights, camera, crew, we need you over here!”-Ben. I always stayed inside to feel the ride, bumping and sliding, and to watch the others’ faces cringe with terror as they witnessed our thrilling escapade.
”Magic, all it needs is a little magic.”-K
A few times we doubted and worried, our odds looking exceedingly slim.
“I can’t believe this truck made it through!!” Said Kees astonished.
Wide eyed and flabbergasted, mom says, “We almost didn’t.”
The unknown kept us on our toes. There was never a moments rest. No matter the challenge, I always seemed to be surrounded by jolly, happy people.
Ben’s voice came crackling over the radio singing, “Mud, mud glorious mud. There’s nothing quite like it for cooling the blood. So follow me, follow, down to the hollow and there let us wallow in glorious mud.” Jolly indeed!
Our first day in Cameroon we covered only 14km in 6hours!
Savannah
PS. To be continued.....