A story of one of the legendary W123's of Mercedes on vegetable oil
Archive for the ‘travel’ Category.
 |
| 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 |
 |
| Camping at Lake Volta at Chez Alice |
 |
| Slept on the parking lot of the Cafe |
 |
| Nice bridge, close to Akosombo Dam |
 |
| Lake Volta, Ghana |
 |
| Kokrobite beach campsite in Accra |
 |
| Driving to Accra city center |
 |
| Meeting up with old friends |
|
| Slept on the parking lot of the Cafe |
 |
| Fishing village, Ghana |
 |
| Having a lunch stop |
 |
| A roundabout in Accra, 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 |
 |
| 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 |
 |
| 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 |
 |
| 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 |
 |
| 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 |
 |
| 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 |
 |
| 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 |
 |
| 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 |
 |
| 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 |
 |
| Back in Ouagadougou again. Having my tyres fixed |
 |
| Buzzing streets in Ouagadougou |
 |
| This is how they fixed my tyre: Just meld the rubber to seal the rubber. It took about one and a half hour, bit long, if you ask me |
 |
| Green Mercedes taxis in Ouagadougou |
 |
| South Burkina Faso, on my way to Ghana |
 |
| Waterfall from the air, Burkina Faso |
 |
| Huge showers make driving nearly impossible |
 |
| Speechless.. They fit more in and on a 504 then we do in a small truck |
 |
| Taking the ‘moped’ route to the falls |
 |
| Then we got stuck. We used the cane to get out. Putting loads of cane in front of the rear wheels helps to get grip again. Though it takes some time and dirty feet. |
 |
| Getting out of the mud |
 |
| Huge fruits from the tree |
 |
| The Banfora Waterfalls |
 |
| Domes de Fabedougou |
 |
| The Saharagelber in Burkina Faso |
 |
| Burkinabe village |
 |
| Cooking ‘meself’ a meal |
 |
| It’s incredible how rythmic these men are. They play here every night, and in the weekend lots of villagers came to visit too, this band is formidable! The children and women started to dance |
|
| Taking the ‘moped’ route to the falls |
|
| Then we got stuck. We used the cane to get out. Putting loads of cane in front of the rear wheels helps to get grip again. Though it takes some time and dirty feet. |
|
| Getting out of the mud |
 |
| Going to the Sindou peaks via some sludgy dirt roads |
 |
| The Sindou Peaks, Burkina Faso |
 |
| The 300TD in front of the Sindou Peaks, Burkina Faso |
 |
| Difficult parts on the road from the Sindou Peaks |
 |
| This muddy pool was tricky, but again, we managed |
 |
| Sacred place for sacrifices |
 |
| One of the oldest Baobab trees in West-Africa I think.. |
 |
| Around Banfora, sometimes it gets difficult in the rainy season |
 |
| Toilet to pee, complete with bucket-flusher |
 |
| Toilet to do the ‘the other thing’ |
 |
| Life entertainment, spontaneously they play together for some hours on this campsite |
 |
| Red gravel roads, Burkina Faso |
 |
| Beautiful rainforest, Burkina Faso |
 |
Passing the 111111km  |
 |
| Heading to Banfora and enjoying the W123 diesel |
 |
| Cool campsite in Bobo-Dioulasso |
 |
| Bobo-Dioulasso |
 |
| Taking a tour through the old town |
 |
| The old town of Bobo-Dioulasso |
 |
| Old town in Bobo-Dioulasso where the original tribe still lives |
 |
| A good woodworker builds very nice furniture. He showed me in a book what he creates and sells. It was really good work. He made beds and cupboards, tables etc. |
 |
| Yellow coloured Mosque in Bobo-Dioulasso |
 |
| Djembe performance in this relaxed restaurant |
 |
| A still full operational W123 Taxi in Ouagadougou |
 |
| The tollroad checkpoint in Burkina Faso. The checkpoints consists of gates which will be opened by someone after you paid. |
 |
| I reached Ouagadougou! This place somehow felt very remote |
 |
| People standing under the tree, wondering who’s camping right there That’s how I woke up, by the voices of the people who start to work early on the fields. |
 |
| Old Mercedes 190, the passengers must have ended up dead.. This must have been a very nasty crash. I think this would be a good way too for Europe, to leave the crashed vehicles for sometime. People will hopefully think better about speeding. |
 |
| Being on my own again, having lunch somewhere on the road to Ouagadougou |
 |
| Aproaching Ouagadougou. Burkina Faso’s capital has the cool name ‘Ouagadougou’, nice Scrabble word. |
 |
| Mud mosque |
 |
| Driving through Africa |
 |
| Bush camping in Burkina Faso close to Ouahigouya |