Being in Europe again. A bit odd to see all the luxury again
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| Driving through Spain again, after some hours sleep in the W123 |
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| Short picnic, longing to see my friends again @home |
Posts tagged ‘w123’
Relax day in Essaouira, after the monster trip from Bamako
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| Nice bus from a dutch fellow I met on Essaouira camping |
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Another friend at the camping  |
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| Interesting overlanders vehicle! |
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| Back in Essaouira again |
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| Lots of elderly people from Europe enjoying the warm winter in Morocco |
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| Essaouira square |
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| Picturesque Essaouira |
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| Square in Essaouira |
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| Saharagelber in Essaouira |
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| Saying goodbye again to my two friends |
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| Essaouira beach |
Driving 16-17 hours a day in the immense Sahara heat, no problem for the W123!
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| The long lonely road continues for thousands of kilometers |
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| Tar and sand |
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| Now listen ya’ all! I am your host for today and will tell you about the Sahara. |
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| Enormous heat in the Sahara |
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| Western Sahara coast line |
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| Camel transport. How many are in there? |
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| The Sahara dunes |
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| My own campsite in the Western Sahara |
A loooong way through the Sahara
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| Seeing the sun rise in the Sahara |
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| Good colors early in the morning just after sunrise |
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| Abandoned W123 T modell in the Sahara |
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| Sahara early in the morning, Mauritania |
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| Saharagelber in the Saharan desert on the way back to Europe |
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| On my way to Nouackchott |
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| Sahara, Mauritania |
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| 1 camel and 4 persons in the back of this Landcruiser |
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| W123 300TD in the Sahara |
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| Saharan desert |
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| The Sahara |
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| Grazing Camels in the Sahara |
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| Sahara, Mauritania |
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| Transatlantic route, Sahara |
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| Sahara, Mauritania |
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| 119000km on the clock! |
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| W123 Taxi, Mauritania |
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| Driving the Transatlantic route through the Sahara (Mauritania) |
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| Sahara, Mauritania |
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| W123 in the Sahara, Mauritania |
Driving through South Mauritania and spend the night with some saharan nomads
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| On my way to the north, driving back home, I’ve got 5 days left and 9000km to drive |
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| Direction Nioro, North-East Mali |
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| Very useful tool: The compressor. My spare tire had to be inflated first. |
| Hitting 118000km |
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| Broken tyre this time. It’s sometimes difficult where to place the jack. I collected some stones to place the jack on so I could lift the car, instead of the jack digging itself in. |
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| Entering the real Sahara again |
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| Saharagelber in the desert |
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| Baobab tree |
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| Driving to Mauritania, close to Nioro |
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| Sign close to the Mauritanian border |
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| Main road to Aayoun El Atrous (Mauritania) Driving and driving…. and driving. |
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| Sahara sunset |
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| Bush camping with the Saharan nomads. I asked some nomads if it was okay I stayed with them, they were okay with that. That evening I sat with them but we couldn’t exchange any words, they didn’t speak french but only their local language. |
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| Cooking gear |
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| Relaxing and enjoying freedom |
Driving back, heading to Bamako and dropping Amanda in Djenne
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| Amanda and Andrada enjoying the drive through Mali |
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| Amanda leaving for Djenne |
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| Flat tyre.. Cause: A key from a moped |
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| Loads of Baobab trees in Mali |
Driving to the Dogon valley
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| Just entered Mali, staying on this lame campsite |
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| The Saharagelber in Mali |
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| Baobab, Mali |
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| Chameleon |
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| On the way to the Dogon valley (again) |
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| Mali, on the way to the Dogon |
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| On my way to the Dogon valley |
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| Anoter terrific Baobab |
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| Great scenery in Mali |
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| The Dogon area |
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| Small pieces of farming land |
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| The Dogon valley |
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| Small houses built between the rocks |
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| The Dogon valley planes |
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| Rock formations in the Dogon valley |
Relaxing in this Oasis @Lake Volta
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| Camping at Lake Volta at Chez Alice |
Going to Akosombo Dam together
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| Slept on the parking lot of the Cafe |
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| Nice bridge, close to Akosombo Dam |
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| Lake Volta, Ghana |
Accra, Ghana, and look who I found there?
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| Kokrobite beach campsite in Accra |
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| Driving to Accra city center |
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| Meeting up with old friends |
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| Slept on the parking lot of the Cafe |
Coast of Ghana continues to impress
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| Fishing village, Ghana |
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| Having a lunch stop |
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| A roundabout in Accra, Ghana |
Impressive slavery forts on the South coast of Ghana
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| 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. |
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| The huge Cape Coast castle, Ghana |
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| I was ashamed to be from Holland, after hearing those terrible colonialisation stories of the slavery |
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| Colonial style, Cape Coast (Ghana) |
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| The huge Cape Coast castle, Ghana |
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| Elmina Castle |
Ghana is very impressive.
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| Early morning visitors |
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| The sweet kids paid me a visit again |
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| Canopy walkway in Kakum National Park |
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| Walking via the canopy walkways so you can experience the upper layers of the rainforest |
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| Rainforest, Kakum National Park |
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| The canopy walkway, Kakum National Park |
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| Ouch! Not a tree to climb in. |
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| Again an amazing tree, this one looks like a tropical flower |
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| Big fort in Cape Coast, Ghana |
Staying in the village Domama with my new friends
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| Rainforest, Domama |
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| The friendly guide (left) is Stephen the Priest with his friend to the right |
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| A very, very odd tree |
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| The processing of drying cocoa beans |
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| Walking to the place of birth of the guide Stephen. A small village close to Bomama |
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| 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) |
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| They go mad when they see themselves on the digital camera |
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| After the visit they started cheering and dancing, an unforgettable experience |
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| Foodstall on the street |
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| Driving back from to Domama, tricky road |
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| Slowly driving and finding my way through the deep grooves |
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| Camping in the middle of the village. The kids wanted to see everything. The tent was checked by each individual too |
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| The kids were very happy with their new inhabitant |
Mole National Park, Ghana
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| Male warthog |
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| Great view from the terrace of the hotel in Mole NP |
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| Got myself a place in the girls dormitory |
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| Night in Mole National Park |
Entering Ghana and visiting Tongo Hills
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| Presbyterian church in Ghana, only paid a couple of coconuts as I didn’t have any money from Ghana |
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| Going to Tongo hills via an old tarmac road |
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| Enormous boulders in Tongo Hills |
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| View from the shrine high on the hill |
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| The high hill where the shrine is located |
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| The Tongo village |
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| Goat on its own Tongo hill (Ghana) |
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| German overlanders on the road to Tamale |
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| Irritating road full of holes and corrugations |
Having my tyre fixed in a creative way.
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| Back in Ouagadougou again. Having my tyres fixed |
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| Buzzing streets in Ouagadougou |
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| 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 |
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| Green Mercedes taxis in Ouagadougou |
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| South Burkina Faso, on my way to Ghana |
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| Waterfall from the air, Burkina Faso |
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| Huge showers make driving nearly impossible |
Enjoying nature and the Burkinabe’s
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| Taking the ‘moped’ route to the falls |
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| 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. |
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| Getting out of the mud |
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| Huge fruits from the tree |
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| The Banfora Waterfalls |
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| Domes de Fabedougou |
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| The Saharagelber in Burkina Faso |
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| Burkinabe village |
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| Cooking ‘meself’ a meal |
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| 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 |
Enjoying Burkina Faso, exploring the less visited western part.
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| Red gravel roads, Burkina Faso |
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| Beautiful rainforest, Burkina Faso |
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Passing the 111111km  |
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| Heading to Banfora and enjoying the W123 diesel |
Going out in Bobo-Dioulasso
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| Cool campsite in Bobo-Dioulasso |
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| Bobo-Dioulasso |
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| Taking a tour through the old town |
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| The old town of Bobo-Dioulasso |
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| Old town in Bobo-Dioulasso where the original tribe still lives |
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| 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. |
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| Yellow coloured Mosque in Bobo-Dioulasso |
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| Djembe performance in this relaxed restaurant |
Exploring Burkina Faso
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| A still full operational W123 Taxi in Ouagadougou |
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| The tollroad checkpoint in Burkina Faso. The checkpoints consists of gates which will be opened by someone after you paid. |
Ouagadougou (er, what?), here we come!
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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| Being on my own again, having lunch somewhere on the road to Ouagadougou |
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| Aproaching Ouagadougou. Burkina Faso’s capital has the cool name ‘Ouagadougou’, nice Scrabble word. |
Entering Burkina Faso
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| Mud mosque |
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| Driving through Africa |
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| Bush camping in Burkina Faso close to Ouahigouya |
Sand, sand, sand!
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| Drinking strong tea |
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| The nomad daughter, she just came back from a 3 days walk with their cattle through the Sahara |
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| The pretty daughter of the family. |
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| Living a primitive and sometimes hard life, but they like it all the best |
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| Beautiful young lady in the Sahara, north of Tombouctou |
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| 2wd in soft sand in the Sahara |
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| Unbelievable, going upwards in soft sand! I couldn’t imagine so much is possible with only a rear wheel drive by deflating the tyres a bit (to 1 bar) |
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| Driving the Saharagelber through the Sahara |
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| Hooaaay! |
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| Tombouctou town |
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| Tombouctou library |
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| Mosque |
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| Isn’t she sweet? |
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| Beautiful door in Tombouctou town |
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| Sandy streets in Tombouctou |
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| How a Land Rover ends up sometimes |
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| Market stall in Tombouctou |
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| Entrance gate of Tombouctou |
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| The trustworthy W123 |
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| Ploughing through deep sand |
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| Ploughing through deep sand.. Coming from Tombouctou you have to drive on this dyke, where deep tracks of other vehicles make it hard to cross. People around were amazed this ‘petite voiture’ made it through the terrain. |
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| Gaining enough speed is the trick to go through it as is deflating the tyres a bit |
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| Lost some speed but the Benz still goes on |
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| The last metres and… We did it! |
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| I think it can’t get dirtier |
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| Sweet and healthy donkeys in the Sahara |
Our stay with the sahara Touaregs, northern Mali
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| Tombouctou town |
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| Sandy Tombouctou |
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| D(r)iving into the Sahara Our german friends stayed behind en we went into the sahara with the good old Benz |
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| Staying the night with saharan nomads |
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| Feeling utterly relaxed, drinking tea with the nomads under the stars |
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| Our stay with the nomads in the desert |