Bamako again!
 |
Bamako parking lot  |
 |
| Driving to north Mali, leaving Bamako |
Archive for October 2006
Driving back, heading to Bamako and dropping Amanda in Djenne
 |
| Amanda and Andrada enjoying the drive through Mali |
 |
| Amanda leaving for Djenne |
 |
| Flat tyre.. Cause: A key from a moped |
 |
| Loads of Baobab trees in Mali |
Wandering through the Dogon area between the tribes and their villages
 |
| Rock formations |
 |
| Huge fruits of some kind |
 |
| Large mountain wall with lots small residences in it |
 |
| School kids with their work-books |
 |
| Dogon canyon |
 |
| Walking back |
 |
| Lonely tree |
The Stunning Dogon, one of the most impressive places in West-Africa
 |
| Dogon village |
 |
| Relaxed breakfast in the small Dogon village. Left to right: Me, Amanda (Germany), Andrada (Sweden), our Guide (I forgot his name, er.. sorry). For some it was too early |
 |
| The local children in the Dogon village |
 |
| Dogon valley, Mali |
 |
| Great view of the Dogon valley |
 |
| Stupid tourist in the Dogon valley |
 |
| Grains from the local farmers |
 |
| Grain silo’s |
 |
| Andrada with old(est?) woman from the tribe |
 |
| Take me to your leader. |
 |
| Fine handcrafted door |
 |
| Cute kids, proud of the stuff they made |
|
| Cute kids, proud of the stuff they’ve made |
 |
| Another really cool tree |
 |
| Cute baby donkey! |
 |
| Storage compartments |
 |
| Some ruins in the Dogon village |
 |
| Handcarved doors |
 |
| Wood storage? Or just a place to have a bit of shade |
 |
| Wooden fence |
 |
| Relaxing and keeping out of the hot sun during mid-day |
 |
| Rocky mountains of the Dogon |
 |
| Cattle on the hill |
 |
| The Dogon valley |
 |
| The Dogon valley |
 |
| Amanda and the guide wandering through the village |
 |
| Great tree |
 |
| Late afternoon in the Dogon |
 |
| Cute kids |
Driving to the Dogon valley
 |
| Just entered Mali, staying on this lame campsite |
 |
| The Saharagelber in Mali |
 |
| Baobab, Mali |
 |
| Chameleon |
 |
| On the way to the Dogon valley (again) |
 |
| Mali, on the way to the Dogon |
 |
| On my way to the Dogon valley |
 |
| Anoter terrific Baobab |
 |
| Great scenery in Mali |
 |
| The Dogon area |
 |
| Small pieces of farming land |
 |
| The Dogon valley |
 |
| Small houses built between the rocks |
 |
| The Dogon valley planes |
 |
| Rock formations in the Dogon valley |
Crossing Burkina Faso, entering Mali, quite some hours driving!
 |
| Le Campement Hotel, Togo. I was allowed to stay on the next to the hotel building for a tiny amount of money. Pretty relaxed place, where I could easily cook my dinner and get my rest after the 16 hours drive yesterday. |
 |
| Hi Burkina Faso again, and bye Togo |
 |
| The north of Burkina Faso, close to Mali already |
 |
| Baobab tree |
Back to Togo
 |
| Beautiful handcraft |
 |
| Handcraft worker creating a new chair |
 |
| Fantastic giraffe chair |
|
| Handcraft worker creating a new chair |
 |
| Heading to North-West Benin |
 |
| Driving on the typical african red gravel roads |
 |
| Tiny village in Benin |
 |
| The Saharagelber in a tiny village in Benin. |
 |
| Tiny roads are sometimes in a bad shape |
 |
| Just entered Togo from West Benin |
 |
| Terrific road in Togo |
 |
| Beautiful Togo |
Exploring Benin!
 |
| Saying goodbye to my friends at Chez Alice |
 |
| Eric & Sharikay from border-crossings.com |
 |
| Oil and filter change in Togo |
 |
| The Saharagelber gets a lot of attention |
 |
| Quite impressive sign about incest. It says: ‘What if this man would have sex with your young daughter…’ Then why do you have sex with your young girl?’ |
 |
| Educational sign about Aids protection |
 |
| Packed with stuff |
 |
| Popo beach coast line, Benin |
 |
| Popo beach, Benin |
 |
| Wide beaches and no lost soul around |
 |
| The Cactus |
 |
| The Saharagelber in Benin |
 |
| The Saharagelber in Benin |
 |
| Stilt villages, Benin |
 |
| Packed pick-up, Benin |
 |
| Nice T-modell in Benin. I wonder what the weird rear window is for |
 |
| Cotonou, Benin |
 |
| On the road in Benin |
 |
| Ganvie by boat |
 |
| Sailing to her home in the stil village Ganvie (Benin). |
 |
| Ganvie |
 |
| Main street Ganvie, Benin |
 |
| Benin stilt village: Ganvie |
 |
| Nice cottage in Ganvie. Please watch your step |
 |
| smail sailing boat with a selfmade sail from plastic bags. |
 |
| Sailors with sails made from clothes |
 |
| Buzzing market in Benin (Ganvie village) |
 |
| Cool guy transporting wooden branches in a Peugeot 404 Pick-up |
 |
| Passing the 115000km |
Togo! Going further on my own again.
 |
| Driving in Togo |
 |
| Chez Alice, Togo |
Wlif falls
 |
| Great campsite next to the Wli Falls |
 |
| Genet cat |
 |
| Wli falls, Ghana |
 |
| Overlanders vehicles |
Heading to Wli falls
 |
| Camping at Lake Volta, this place is a real gem |
 |
| Going to the Wli falls. My friends from border-crossings.com driving in front of me |
 |
| Trying to pull out the Landcruiser. This did not work, the Landcruiser pulled back the Mercedes with the winch |
 |
| Landcruiser HZJ78 being pulled by the HJ80 |
Relaxing in this Oasis @Lake Volta
 |
| Camping at Lake Volta at Chez Alice |
Going to Akosombo Dam together
 |
| Slept on the parking lot of the Cafe |
 |
| Nice bridge, close to Akosombo Dam |
 |
| Lake Volta, Ghana |
Accra, Ghana, and look who I found there?
 |
| Kokrobite beach campsite in Accra |
 |
| Driving to Accra city center |
 |
| Meeting up with old friends |
|
| Slept on the parking lot of the Cafe |
Coast of Ghana continues to impress
 |
| Fishing village, Ghana |
 |
| Having a lunch stop |
 |
| A roundabout in Accra, Ghana |
Castle route along the coast of Ghana
 |
| Terrific place to camp, at this beach. Ankobra beach hotel, Ghana. |
 |
| A real ‘Bounty island’ palm beach |
 |
| Coastline, South Ghana |
 |
| Colonial building in Ghana |
 |
| Sleeping in front of this nice fort |
 |
| Watching the sun set from this relaxed fort |
 |
| Sleeping in front of this nice fort |
Impressive slavery forts on the South coast of Ghana
 |
| I slept in front of the hotel here, Cape Coast. I did quite some negotiating, the hotel owner wasn’t too happy with this bum standing in front of his hotel. When I made my breakfast that morning, setting up the table with my chair, he asked me to eat inside and not in front of his hotel. Fair enough A bit later I ordered a breakfast in the hotel. |
 |
| The huge Cape Coast castle, Ghana |
 |
| I was ashamed to be from Holland, after hearing those terrible colonialisation stories of the slavery |
 |
| Colonial style, Cape Coast (Ghana) |
 |
| The huge Cape Coast castle, Ghana |
 |
| Elmina Castle |
Ghana is very impressive.
 |
| Early morning visitors |
 |
| The sweet kids paid me a visit again |
 |
| Canopy walkway in Kakum National Park |
 |
| Walking via the canopy walkways so you can experience the upper layers of the rainforest |
 |
| Rainforest, Kakum National Park |
 |
| The canopy walkway, Kakum National Park |
 |
| Ouch! Not a tree to climb in. |
 |
| Again an amazing tree, this one looks like a tropical flower |
 |
| Big fort in Cape Coast, Ghana |
Staying in the village Domama with my new friends
 |
| Rainforest, Domama |
 |
| The friendly guide (left) is Stephen the Priest with his friend to the right |
 |
| A very, very odd tree |
 |
| The processing of drying cocoa beans |
 |
| Walking to the place of birth of the guide Stephen. A small village close to Bomama |
 |
| Visiting a primary school. All the kids ran out of their classes to see the ‘Obruni’ (that’s how they call white people, it means white) |
 |
| They go mad when they see themselves on the digital camera |
 |
| After the visit they started cheering and dancing, an unforgettable experience |
 |
| Foodstall on the street |
 |
| Driving back from to Domama, tricky road |
 |
| Slowly driving and finding my way through the deep grooves |
 |
| Camping in the middle of the village. The kids wanted to see everything. The tent was checked by each individual too |
 |
| The kids were very happy with their new inhabitant |
Kumasi Magazine area
 |
| There’s a Mercedes repair center too |
 |
| Mercedes repair center in the Magazine Area, Kumasi |
 |
| Mercedes repair center in the Magazine Area, Kumasi |
 |
| Doing an engine revision just on the street |
 |
| Hitting the 113000km |
 |
| Rainforest in Ghana |
 |
| Sweet kids |
 |
| Crossing via the old train bridge |
In Kumasi they fix -everything-, believe me..
 |
| Brilliant W123 originating from the USA driving in Ghana |
 |
| Another saharagelbe W123. This local W123 seems to be in a good shape |
 |
| Engines for every type of car |
 |
| Shock absorbers, there’s enough for everyone |
 |
| Having my wheels fixed in the Magazine area, Kumasi Of course I had to think about someting to repair, because I would experience the Magazine area where it’s famous for. |
 |
| The bends in the rims were fixed and some tyres replaced |
|
| There’s a Mercedes repair center too. Most of the cars in Ghana are japanese, so the W123 is not so common |
Cool monkeys and stunning trees
 |
| The road to the Boabeng Fiema Monkey Sanctuary |
 |
| Black and White Colobus in the monkey forest |
 |
| How about this: A hollow tree |
 |
| The hollow tree from the inside at the bottom looking upwards |
 |
| Wreckless drivers could end up like this. It’s horrible to see all these wrecks along the road, everytime I am thinking about how many innocent people died when one crazy individual is speeding. |
 |
| Driving to Kumasi |
Angry elephant charge
 |
| Grazing Warthogs. They’re so cute! |
 |
| Look at his tusks, this male Elephant was HUGE! The evening I entered the park I cam across this giant, it practically attacked my Mercedes. I made the mistake to think passing him slowy would make him angry. It was about 1,5m from the car, and then trumpeting VERY loud. I guess I was pretty lucky nothing happened. |
 |
| Ready to depart from Mole National Park |
 |
| Old mosque in Larabanga close to the entrance of Mole NP |
 |
| Enthousiastic (ADHD) kids wanting to see the image before I had the change to take it |
 |
| Kids from Ghana |
Mole National Park, Ghana
 |
| Male warthog |
 |
| Great view from the terrace of the hotel in Mole NP |
 |
| Got myself a place in the girls dormitory |
 |
| Night in Mole National Park |
Entering Ghana and visiting Tongo Hills
 |
| Presbyterian church in Ghana, only paid a couple of coconuts as I didn’t have any money from Ghana |
 |
| Going to Tongo hills via an old tarmac road |
 |
| Enormous boulders in Tongo Hills |
 |
| View from the shrine high on the hill |
 |
| The high hill where the shrine is located |
 |
| The Tongo village |
 |
| Goat on its own Tongo hill (Ghana) |
 |
| German overlanders on the road to Tamale |
 |
| Irritating road full of holes and corrugations |