The road to Cameroun

We spend a week here for free!

After spending 3 weeks in Abuja, and  being looked after by Stefan and Dagmar (thanks again for everything, guys) the frame of Anita's car was welded realy proffesionally (here we have to thank Udo Strack, we owe you big time)

So now we could leave for the border of Cameroun, before our extended visa's ran out. That evening we found a nice place on the riverbank near Katsina, but the locals came and insisted we saw the village chief. That ment we had to pack up everything again, and reluctantly we followed them to the village on the main road. After getting the permission it was almost dark so we setteled for an improvised camp under the bridge where we were witness to a spectacular lightshow announcing the start of the rainy season.

 
 Next day we drove up to the border, first on perfect tarmac to Takum, then on potholled roads to Bissaula. Nigeria had been crossed without problems, except for  a few rather aggressive immigration officers holding us up for an hour or two, and the people were friendly, athough not all of them appreciated having their picture taken, or as they call it here 'make a snap'. Many times we heared them say 'did you snap me?' .

So that was Nigeria, but we sure expected to get to Cameroun a little easier. Our logic on where to cross into Cameroun was a bit faulty, which had us end up on the worst road between the 2 countries.

 We didn't want to take the infamous Ekok-Mamfe stretch (just type it in YouTube) although we were informed that it is easily passable now and soon the Chinese will finish it. We also had information on the moutain road via Gida, Beli, Mayo to Gemou which was good but ment a 200 km detour. So when we arrived in Takum, and the locals assured us the road was good (why do we every time believe that) to Bissaula and the border.

 Actualy the locals were right, up to border the road was nice, with a few water crossings and beautifull lush rain forest. It was the next day, just after we were stamped out of Nigeria, and still in no mans land, things got hairy. After a watercrossing and a steep rocky hill, that already had my heartrate up and had me sweating profusely, I decided to put all my luggage in the car. A little further came the real test, even without the heavy luggage I only made it halfway up the nasty steep and very bumpy hill. When a big rock slowed me down, I had to put the bike down, luckily just hurting my finger, but by then I was exhausted, and close to heat shock. It took me some time to catch my breath, all the time being harassed by the tiny flies (witch had the habbit to crawl only into my ears, the others had no problem).

The hill that beat me. Trust me, it is steeper than it looks here.

 When I tried to attack the same stretch, it went all wrong at the same place, the bike went to the ground, sending me flying down the hill. There Regis was in the right place to catch me in full flight, and we almost went down toghether, but we mannaged to stay on our feet, lucky escape. We then decided to get the cars up first, especially Regis' car, which had a winch, that could winch us up in the worst case scenario. With fear and amazement I watched the cars crawl up the hill, the diff lock on and the 4 wheels strugling to find grip on the loose rocks, all of them only just missing the stranded bike while rocks shot from under the wheels. When we had a break halfway up, eating some pineapple, three guys arrived on a moped (a moped in Africa carries 3 or more, yes) and they convinced us we had to get the bike up as soon as possible, because by now it had started raining, and the piste would get slicker by the minute. With combined effort, it took 6 guys and a towing rope, we pulled the bike up 30 meters. The last part up was just as difficult, but miraculously I stayed on the bike and 20 minutes later all the cars and the bike were on top.

Santa and his helpers

Sliding down

 A quick snap with our rescuers and then on to the descend, as daylight was fading and the skies looked menacing. This also soon turned out to be tricky, just as steep and more slippery as the other side, my two wheels where going in different  directions and as I picked up more speed I came close to having a crash several times. The others seemed to enjoy all of this, but I'm no thrillseeker, no adrenaline junky, I find it hard to enjoy myself when I fear for my life, and this was certainly the scariest thing I ever did! So after the cars slid down, some sliding into big rocks or ditches, we made it to a flat piece of road just before dark and spent the night right there, on the 'road'.

Next day rewarded us with an easy connection onto a good piste where we picked up some workers and gave them a lift to the border town police office of Ako. Some of us then  got into Cameroun without a valid visa, because the officer didn't bother to look at any of the visas and as the customs where not in the village, we also didn't bother with a 'laisser passez'. If it wasn't for the gnarly road, I would even recommend this border, realy easy.

Cameroun was all I hoped for, nicer and more developped than Nigeria, very friendly people and stunning landscapes. It was no coincidence then that our bushcamp that evening was the most special so far, under some eucaliptus trees, right next to a spiky hill, overlooking the whole valley.

The 'Fon' of Kungi

An 'actor' from the movie

 The villagers soon informed the chief that some strange people had landed, and a couple of hours later the 'Fon of Kungi' himself was standing on the hill. We promised to come to the palace the next day, where a whole ceremony with some fermented drink and cola nuts followed and it was made clear that a donation was expected. Kungi was such a nice place, and soon it was decided we would stay for a few days. Regis especially liked it as he got to play a role in a movie some guys where filming and even we were filmed having breakfast at our camp place. The next morning we saw the 'gorilla' the people said lived on the mountain. It turned out to be a baboon, but it made the whole experience even more special nevertheless. This place was just magic.

Video report

Clips of video from Ghana, Togo, Benin and Nigeria.

Clip of a day out on the KTM 450 of Stefan

Lovely Nigeria

As it turned out, the border at Chikanda, from Niki was indeed very easy, with Thomas and Anita getting a free 'laissez passez' and the officials on the Togo side not seeing that I passed through Togo without one or any Togo visa whatsoever.

 We used our visa cards in the first bank and were surprised the Naira's just flowed out like that, in Parakou,Togo the 4 ATM's refused my visa and mastercard just the day before. The road however turned into a difficult piste just 20 km into Nigeria continuing for about a hundred km, which was very tiring. Apart from a few aggressive immigration officials, we found the Nigerians to be very welcoming and friendly.

Anita, Thomas and Regis

 It also seems a lot cheaper here, eating streetfood at half a euro or less, drinking a cold coke for the same price and even having a litre of fuel for that same 0,5 euro. Diesel unfortenately is twice the price and pretty hard to find too, our convoy needs to drive into about 10 fuel stations to find one with diesel. Because of the badly potholed roads it took us 4 days to reach Abuja, bushcamping every night, preparing our own food while fending off the irritating small flies, that had the habbit to go inside your ears. Once we got to the busy cities of Mokwa and Bida we also experienced the famous Nigerian driving style, on one car I read 'My security is God', another read 'Take care, God is on my side', which sums it up nicely.
 In Bida, we noticed Anita's car was a bit low on the rear and found a big piece of the frame was broken on both sides. In only 2 hours they managed to weld it (very badly), and we were on our way again before noon.

 As it was saturday we decided to bushcamp once more and drive into Abuja early sunday, to find the person which Thomas was in contact with, and who had a 'nice big place where we all could camp'.

Sterilizing water as Regis makes dinner

 The contact proved to be Stefan, a german, who works for a big company here and lives in Abuja with his wife Dagmar and 2 kids. As overlanders and bikers themself, they knew exactly what we needed after 4 days in the bush. I'll just list what these hospitable people offered to us , campsite with swimming pool, internet, free beer, complete kitchen to use, workshop for the car from the company and they will wash our clothes and help with the visa. Never in my life I was welcomed so overwhelming, from our bushcamp in the morning, it was like returning to all the comforts of europe. So, now we will use our time in Abuja to get the visa and plan our route to Cameroun. While we are at it, we may also try for the elusive Angola visa, but our chances are slim. And oh, the welding on Anita's car is allready starting to crack and another piece of the exhaust broke off, seems like her car is in permanent repair, but then again, it is as old as she is.

Togo & Benin

Our last days in Ghana were spent with my motorbike friends in Roots Yard near the border of Togo in the mountainous region of Ho. The day before, Heidi en Jens (Enfield diesels), Tony & Charlie, Max & Marjane and Hubert (Ural sidecar) put their bikes in Tema into a container to be shipped to Walvisbaai, Namibia.

 As a result they where now bikeless and took a tro-tro (minibus) to Roots Yard to meet up with us and Matt, who we met in Bamako and who was celebrating his 30th birhtday. Before me and Anita were leaving for Togo, we decided to visit a waterfall. As we decended without guide ( I took a sneaky picture of the guide's map) and only 15 minutes into the walk, the path narrowed and wasn't clear annymore leading into the cascades. I told Anita to wait, while I took a look at where to go, but although standing on dry rock with my climbing boots, I slipped and fell. I recovered, only to slip again, and again, and again, now on the slippery green wet rocks sliding deeper into the cascades on my belly to arrive in the waterpool at the end with a splash. Luckily I didn't hurt myself too bad and with wet sigarettes and money (camera is waterproof, yes!) we arrived at the waterfall a bit later with the rest of the group.

Slid some 20 meters before ending here!

This wasn't the only mishapp of the day, Anita spotted a cashew tree full of fruits, with the cashew nut in a protective shell under the fruit.

The fruit was edible, she knew, but when she tried to get to the cashew nut by biting the shell, a strong acid burnt her tongue and lip.  As we went back to Roots Yard, a real tropical thunderstorm forced the group of 7 into Anita's car for the ride back.

Matt, Tony, Parisa & Bahar

Next morning we left our friends to take on the rest of Africa. First was Togo, we crossed the easy border and after taking refuge for a 2 hour downpoor which left the car and my bike luggage wet, we arrived in the dark at the Benedict monestary of Dzobegan.

Just as we were in the shower, the bell for diner went, exactly 7u25, everybody was expected in the dining hall. While we were still eating, a servant took the rest of the food that was still on the table and served desert. It was clear that we needed to eat faster and as soon the desert was finished we were summoned to help with the dishes. In the morning we attended the morning mass, after which I left Anita to take on the rough mountain track towards Atakpamé, all in all a fantastic experience.

By now, I noticed the rear tourance tire, that was still on since I left home more than 3 months and 12000 km ago, had a strange bulge on the side, so it was quickly changed for one of the spare tires that I now keep on the roof of the landy (handy, having a girl with a landy). Togo is just a small country and so the border of Benin was soon reached using a bumpy track that at one place was  blocked by a broken down truck, I squeased through while Anita took a detour through the village.

In Benin we made our way to Savé that night to meet up with Thomas, a 21 year old Swiss mechanic, traveling in a 4x4 mercedes van and on his way to Tanzania to work as a 'bush mechanic'. We met with Thomas in Bamako where he already had to work on Anita's clutch.

Drawing a crowd as we come into Benin

 As we arrived at Savé, and got Thomas on the phone, we saw another overlander in a Toyota landcruiser. Regis, a French national, stepped out and asked: 'are you also looking for Thomas?'

The organised chaos in Anita's car

So now we were 4, and after making  bushcamp, we decided to spend one more day in Togo to get to the more safe entry North to Nigeria at Niki .