We just drove through Benin without visiting something special. It is easy to obtain a 48-hour-transit visa at the border for around 15ooo CFA and that’s enough time to cross the country. Seen mostly from out of the car window, there isn’t much difference between Togo and Benin.

We went up north in Togo and didn’t drive along the coast because we wanted to avoid the coastal region of Nigeria, especially Lagos, and decided to head inland as soon as possible. We entered Benin at Kara without any problem (small border post) and spent the night near Parakou. We didn’t have any waypoints for accommodation and the Campement Chez Mimi didn’t exist any more or we couldn’t find it, so we ended up in the female monastery „Monastère Cistercien Étoile Notre Dame“ several kilometers out of town. The nuns were very friendly and nice, yet inquisitive (only natural). We could use toilet and bathroom of a simple, but tidy room. The nightwatch was muslim. All in all a pleasant place to stay for the night.

The next day we drove to Nikki in order to go to Nigeria (border post there is at Tchikandou). We had some CFA left which we spent on fuel (fuel in Nikki was cheap, so it was by the time a good idea to fill up). We followed the way in tracks4Africa and ended somewhere very far in the bush and definitely not at the border. Back in Nikki, we met Juerg Sollberger, a Swiss travel organisator and his group who did a self-drive trip through Western Africa to Cape Town. We didn’t meet Dirk and Nicole with whom we wanted to drive through Nigeria. So we went with Juerg and found the immigration/emigration and customs office IN town: it’s at a road left (east) of the main road and the road was BLOCKED so that every car had to drive through the office yard. There was no sign and at first we thought that the road was simply blocked. The road to Tchikandou is bad but not too uncomfortable with a 4×4.

Roman and Almu drove so far north of the Nigerian coast region that they drove through Niger (somehow via Zinder) which they said was expensive, dirty and unpleasant. The route we took was okay.

As mentioned in the Ghana-chapter, a visa for Togo can be obtained in advance in one of the neighbouring countries or, for seven days, at the major border with Ghana at Lome – NOT at a smaller border post. This seven-day-visa (around 15000CFA) can easily be extended at the immigration office in Lome, for 500 CFA, 3 passport photos and a form that you have to fill in three times. But for this hassle, you get a one-month multiple-entry visa. As you see: it’s CFA again. There are some ATMs in Lome, and they are working. The immigration office (in the GTM building) is quite out of the city centre, but once you’re there, check out the area, there are some restaurants, a pharmacy and at least one bank there and you can get passport pictures taken for cheap.
It’s quite easy to get a visa for Ghana in Lomé.

Due to the priorities the president sets, roads are generally in bad condition (maintenance is not on top of the list) what doesn’t prevent from driving people in the apparently typical African style: as fast as possible. A lot of second-,third- or tenth-hand cars from Europe is shipped to the harbor of Lomé to serve for the rest of their “live” in Africa where exhaust regulations seem to be unknown as well as proper service. Few cars are private cars, most are taxis. We figured out that there are two tariffs in Lomé: the cheap one where you hop on a taxi doing a regular route when you can end up cramped with three people (including driver) in front and at least five in the back, children, shopping bags and chicken excluded; and the expensive one where you hire a taxi all for yourself that brings you to your destination (that can be ten times as expensive).
The area that hosts the market in Lomé close to the beach (around the Grand Marché) is some kind of hub for the various taxi lines, so you can change here or give this place (Champion or Marox supermarket) as destination. If you like some adventure, try a ride with a motorbike-taxi.
We didn’t encounter any police checkpoints, but the road from Lomé to the north is a toll road (the money is apparently not used for road maintenance).

What amazed me was the number of huge posters with AIDS-related content: about condoms (the local condom is called protector and comes with BANANA flavor – no joke!), information about HIV and anti-stigmatization of HIV-infected people (seems that they want to prevent and avoid the problems in South Africa where AIDS is a taboo) and education to prevent HIV. One can only hope that these campaigns are successful.

Because we had with Chez Alice a good place and great help, I decided to ask my parents to send me some stuff I considered useful for a journey around Africa (when I started I thought I’d be back home soon, and I didn’t have so much space in my backpack). With normal post a parcel can take between two and four weeks and it is traceable through DHL, but I think that feature is a German special. DHL is present all over Africa, but has its own offices and is very expensive (sending documents is fine). So, after some time, we checked in the internet where my parcel was: in Lomé, but there hasn’t been any notification from the post office. So we decided to go there and ask. We found out (without much difficulty) that the parcel was still at customs, but that we could get it; we paid 5000 CFA, got some papers sorted out, rushed into the customs office and out we went with the parcel which contained cheese (don’t send that!), books, magazines, clothes and my hammock! It is very, very, very important to get active by yourself and not wait for any notification from any post office in Africa. Otherwise you will be waiting for ages for your letter/parcel.

To our shame, we only hang around in Lomé and visited the Mount Agou where a friendly soldier showed us the radio station located on this, ahem, mountain (1000 meters above sea level). Togo is tiny, Sarah claimed it is as big (or small) as the Kruger National Park in South Africa, but there is more to do than we did. For example, visit some other towns (we crossed Kpalimé and that looked nice) or the voodoo market near Lomé. The landscape is very beautiful, the area around Kpalimé is hilly and green, very nice. Roman and Almu were in the North of Togo and visited a traditional village and judging from the photos they had a very good time.
In Lomé and surroundings, it is absolutely NOT adviceable to have a swim at the beach: people use it as a toilet and it is terribly disgusting.

The people we encountered were very friendly. The guy at the small border post at Kalme/Klouto seemed a bit weird and asked us if we had firearms with us (?), next time when entering from Ghana his colleague was a bit uncooperative, but after we said that the traditional broom in our car was a gift from Alice, everything changed to positive. People in Lomé are used to Europeans but regard them as co-residents, not as easy-prey-tourists. So we walked through the mess called market searching the main post office without any problems (apart from orientation). As you would have guessed by now, people are wearing either European-style clothes or the traditional tailored dresses. Vlisco is a special Togolese brand of wax fabric and one of the best quality.

We feasted on excellent Swiss food at Chez Alice, but cooking for ourselves was almost as much fun. There are three supermarkets in Lomé, quite close to each other, and we always went to Marox where we had safe parking (although it was easy to go there by taxi which we often did). Don’t forget to tip the guard. Milk is, like everywhere in western Africa, expensive, but at least available, and so is yoghurt and cheese (if you are willing to spend a fortune on this). The supermarkets are at the beginning of the big market where you get everything, and the food department is right in front of these supermarkets. We could buy almost any vegetable we wanted, cheaper than in Ghana. I can’t recommend the avocados because they are a sweet sort, and I like more the “neutral” ones. Fish comes in Lomé, being a port, fresh from the sea and next to the harbor there are women selling it.
Lomé has a local brewery, too and it offers not only beer but yummy soft drinks like grapefruit lemonade (Pampelmouse) or something they call cocktail des fruits. Tonic water is available, too. The beverage called Pom Pom tastes, well, awful. Unless you like artificial apple flavor.
Peeled papaya-slices are sold as a street treat and cheap restaurants are everywhere; Timo and Max went to one opposite Chez Alice and said it was good (fish and rice for 1500 CFA). Brochettes are popular too.

Lomé: We didn’t stay directly in Lomé, but a 200 CFA taxi-ride outside at Chez Alice, a lovely place run by an amazing Swiss lady (Alice). The place is listed in the Lonely Planet under Sights & Activities, but it is a lodge and camping ground, too. The comfy restaurant/lounge is one of the biggest lapa in this part of Africa and at least when we were around there were lots of interesting people, most German or Swiss, there. Some come every year, since twenty years or longer, some even have a house (and girlfriend) somewhere around Lomé and spend at least part of the year in Togo. Chez Alice is also a famous place for individual overland travelers such as Jonas and me. The food is great, wonderful salad, good coffee, baguette, roesti, every evening there is a special dish on the menue and on wendesdays, when there is one of the best cultural dances (a very popular event), you can order fondue bourguignon. Around the hotel there are some other restaurants, several shops selling the typical African clothes and fabrics (one shops sells the fabric and calls a tailor for a dress if you want), a bank and an internet café with a rather fast connection where you can use your own laptop.
Every Sunday we went to the Seemannsheim (Seaman’s Mission) where they serve excellent Black Forest cake. The cheese cake is not so good. You can use the pool for a small fee.

Sokodé: The road from Lomé to Sokodé is a wonderful drive through mountains (with such a lot of burnt-out trucks beside the road that you drive very carefully). We spent the night on our way to Benin in the Hotel Central; it’s nothing to camp for several days because you are on the parking lot, but for 5000 CFA for 2 persons and the opportunity to use a room (why is there a sheet on the door about how to use a condom?) for toilet and shower it was okay for transit. We decided it wouldn’t be comfortable to cook on the parking, so we had dinner and breakfast (the first disappointing, the latter nice) in the restaurant.

With our visa from Ouagadougou we drove straight down south to Ghana. We didn’t have any problems at the border as far as I remember, it was just quite big with lots of people hanging around, but everything went well. Except that the currency had been revalued and we weren’t sure if the money changers had cheated us or not (we decided to change only a small amount of money at the border because we suspected the rates to be too bad and then change more in an official bureau or at a bank). We soon found out that we got the right money at the border but the POLICE cheated us: Ghana has some bridges where you have to pay toll fee. That is 8 pesewas. A toll post is at the same time a snack selling point where girls and women with a bowl or a plate containing their wares (the usual water bags, fried plantains and such) on their heads run to the cars and trucks in case someone would like what they have to offer. So it’s quite chaotic. Two policemen offered us assistance at the first bridge and said we should give them 10 cedis. They gave us two back and a receipt over 8p. So we thought “Wow, that’s expensive, how can people afford that?” We also thought that we didn’t have enough money for the next bridge, but the guy there was honest and charged the right amount. Which was, as you may have guessed, a fraction of what we had paid the first time!!! So one cedi was at the time we’ve been in Ghana approximately one Euro and 100 pesewa were one cedi. Some people, even young girls, sometimes name the old price, so when they say 1500 for a doughnut, it’s 15 pesewas.
Money (Euros) can be changed at good rates in Forex Bureaus, visas (for Nigeria for example) can be paid in US-dollars. ATMs are still rare or not working, so money change is a real option.

When Peter and Micha with whom we had been travelling through the previous countries speeded up and after we finally split up in Togo, we decided to wait for another “team” to go through Nigeria with them and went back to Ghana from Togo to enjoy the beaches. The visa for Ghana in Togo can be easily obtained at the embassy in Lome, but make sure you get your change.

As you can imagine, traffic consists mostly of public transport by cars and minibuses. Unlike Mali and Burkina Faso, there aren’t any cows and donkey carts on the road and few bicycles. So locals add a little challenge by driving like crazy. It’s really amazing what accidents one can accomplish. Apart from the bridge toll stops, there are police stops as well. We were quite lucky because we drove in a Toyota like all the NGOs are using and our number plate looked like a Ghanesian one, so often police just let us through. One guide book said that it would be forbidden for foreign cars to drive after dark (don’t do that, you aren’t made for this kind of driving), but we never had any problems. At the stops we were often asked what we would have brought for the policeman (or woman). It’s completely okay if you answer with “A smile” or, better, “My friendship” (offer a handshake). When they say they are thirsty, give them a bag of water, if they pretend to be hungry, a biscuit or a sweet will do. Probably cigarettes, we don’t smoke and went well without any through all the West Coast. Streets are tar and in “mint condition”, potholes, speedbumps or, the mean variation of, speed holes or the occasional car or truck wreck can be troublesome. Be aware that small goats or chicken can emerge any time from the high grass beside the street.

The general route is through Ghana from north to south, then spend some time at the beach and then go further east to Togo. We found out that it is far more relaxing to avoid the big border post directly before Lome and drive some kilometres north to a way smaller border post (Kloutu) where everything is done without waiting, arguing, people wanting money but as correct (probably more correct) as at the big one. Only the carnet gave them trouble, but with some explanation that went well, too. The disadvantage of the small border post is that you have to get the visa for Togo in advance in Accra; at the Lome border post, you’ll get a seven-day-visa for Togo which can be easily extended in Lome.

We tried some of the hotel rooms in Ghana. Generally, they are clean and everything’s working, but don’t expect anything similar to Europe. West African furniture is somewhat like an African would imagine European style and completely inappropriate for the climate. There’s mosquito protection everywhere and a fan (you’ll need that one!). No hot water, and I don’t know why they adapted the European sit-down toilets. There IS toilet paper available.

Health service is good, in the hospital you better be two persons (the sick and one healthy one) and bring loads of patience because you will have to wait. And wait. And wait. At least there are people selling water and food outside and a telly inside. Needles etc are clean and the doctors use gloves. It’s really okay if you don’t mind blood and lots of people. As a foreigner, you’ll have to pay some money (not much for our measures) and you get a book where every doctor writes in his observations, diagnosis and prescription (good idea, I think). I wouldn’t want to get an operation there, but they have an excellent routine on malaria and are aware of AIDS risks and prevention.

Ghana is a good country to spend some time there: lie at the beach, explore the remains of the tropical forest, learn something about Ashanti culture, explore the Volta rivers and lakes or participate in a volunteer project. The country has a relatively stable democratic system, people are educated, a health system is existing and working and compared to other African countries Ghana appears quite wealthy and well organised. It has a sad history as a country where the slaves were shipped to America and you can visit the European castles where all this took place. The one in Cape Coast is very famous. We rushed through the country because I had malaria and we knew a hotel at the beach run by Germans, so we reckoned it would be good to get some advice and help there. Before I got malaria, we went to the Mole National Park. That’s nothing compared to the ones in South Africa, but quite nice and relaxing (and cheap). They got baboons, warthogs (who know how to open a garbage bin), some antelope , crocodiles and elephants. When you stay at the campsite you can use the hotel pool and the restaurant where you can look at a waterhole. The road to the park is terribly bad. The second time we were in Ghana we went to some forest leftovers at the Kakun National Park and Jonas did some canopy walk with the others. I’m afraid of heights, so I watched the dog. The rest of the time (several weeks) we spent at the beach or at the lake. Yeah. Always loads of volunteers on weekends.
Ghana is famous for its coffins which come in every shape the customer wants: fishes, bibles, flip-flops, houses, cows, cars, teapots (all true, Thomas and Marion visited a coffin workshop and took some photos), name any. Teshi is THE place to see some of these.
Leave some space in your bag to carry home fabrics, dresses and beads. I can’t remember any special or famous wood carvings or masks, but if you’re interested in this, get informed, perhaps it’s worth it.

Accra, the capital, is ugly like any other African city and the traffic is stop and go all day long. It took us more than four hours to “drive” from Teshi to Kokrobite on the other side of town. Traffic is tight, but at least nobody can speed. The advantage is that you can do some shopping or get a snack while you wait because there are people offering virtually anything at every traffic light. You’ll encounter a quite unique way of selling CDs, a combination of the African’s peculiar love for noise and hawking: small trucks are equipped with some sound equipment and tortured loudspeakers running on full volume and people are selling the music right off this truck. If you plan to go to Zambia, buy some of these reflector stickers for your car, you will never ever find them as easily as in Ghana where they are held right under your nose. Furtheron there are enough markets, shops, restaurants and pharmacies to keep you well fed and occupied. There even is, just before you drive to the highway to the east and to Togo, a shopping mall with Game and Shoprite supermarkets, so it’s perfect to stock up before heading to Central Africa.

Besides of the policemen and –women, people in Ghana are honest, friendly and interested. Despite all the chaos in the cities, the atmosphere is relaxed. Kids go to school, but I saw a lot of girls of about ten years and older who sold food and water. They are nice and fond of empty plastic bottles (half litre), I swapped one bottle for a bag of water. Selling snacks, beverages or whatever imaginable or unimaginable on the street (most people even don’t have a stall, they just walk around) is a completely normal form of merchandise in Ghana. If you want something, get into your car and cruise around. As far as I can remember, begging from white people is not a common habit in Ghana. You are a potential customer like any other person but selling is never aggressive. The only preying on tourists we encountered was at the parking of Elmina Castle at Cape Coastwhere some guys ask your name and, after the tour through the castle, offer you a mussle shell with your name written on it. The parking guard doesn’t like that.
People, especially women, carry everything on their head, even if it is only a bottle. The babies are carried on the back. Both habits are common in Mali and Burkina Faso, too, but in Ghana it became really obvious. There aren’t so many mosques around, Ghana is beyond the area that is largely influenced by muslim culture.
Young women and men like to wear “European” clothes, but who can afford it and especially on Sunday (church!) everyone dresses up in colourful hand-tailored clothes made of wax fabric. There is a difference from the dresses you see at Mali, but it’s just as nice. There are tailor stalls everywhere. You get some nice batik fabrics and dresses, too. A lot of young women are wearing their hair very short, older women often wear cheap wigs that became fashionable (they feign smooth black hair). The culture of the Ashanti is visible, especially at big events (they are wearing a special black cloth wrapped around them) and interesting. You’ll often get a chance to see some dancing, and acrobatics. The performance is always accompanied by awesome drumming. Tips welcome.

Yam is the root of choice, fufu consists of that or plantains (cooking bananas). At the lakes fish and crabs are offered, at the sea seafood (as one would suspect). They have the habit to fry little fishes, then place them into a glass box and sell them (wrapped into a plastic bag). Looks yuk. Along the road between Biriwa and Accra are a lot of stalls selling tomatoes, onions, pineapples, bananas and oranges. In addition to that, we found eggplants, beans, green peppers and cucumbers. You’ll get spaghetti (in fact, it’s vermicelli) and tomato paste. If you like some adventure: They sell some sort of big rat in whole and some guinea-pig-like rodent roasted along the streets. The strange red thingies coming in a big bunch are palm nuts to make red palm oil from. Street treats are boiled eggs with pepper (red chilli and onion paste) sauce (25 pesewa, yumyumyum) or fried plantains (also yumyumyum). Although the usage of milk is not common, you get ice cream or iced yoghurt on the street and at groceries, but we never tried some. Stefan, a Swiss traveller with a motorbike, did and he didn’t have any problems. At some place where we stayed we even had some local dish, I liked boiled yam with palava sauce (be aware it comes with either chicken or beef) and red red (beans in spicy sauce). Milk is only available at big supermarkets (means Shoprite), the awful bread is the only drawback. No, the one: the other is the water, Voltic. Imagine you have malaria, sweat, vomit once a day and have only this terrible water to drink! Standard which is better is sold only as bag, but available in a 20-bag package.

Our first night in Ghana we spent at Tamale. This was also the first night we drove in the dark and we spent in a room, because they wouldn’t let us sleep in the car. 16 cedis for two, but it was quite okay.

Then we drove this awful road to the Mole National Park where we stayed at the campsite, swam in the pool and made a bushwalk in the morning. The baboons and warthogs WILL get your garbage, no matter what you do.

We then had to stop at a health centre because malaria hit me, and we were stuck for one night in a bizarre hotel room (Jonas decided to sleep in the car) at Kintampo. If you can, spend some time in Kumasi, the traffic is unbelievable, but it IS the capital of the Ashanti.

We headed south to the German-run Biriwa Beach Hotel, where we decided to spend some money on a decent room with AC and good food at the restaurant. We made a visit at the hospital in Cape Coast for a proper malaria test. At the hotel was a great English guy, must have been around eighty or ninety years, who said he wouldn’t like the British winter and preferred to stay in Africa then, since he could afford it. Righto. I liked him.

We went to Big Milly’s Backyard (Wendy’s Place) in Kokrobite three times (okay, once only for one night). It’s close to Accra and all backpackers and overlanders get there. There was some guy who was very keen to do our laundry, but he charges one cedi per piece and although you’ll get all your clothes back, you won’t see him again if he owes you change. Around Big Milly’s grew a laid-back tourism-orientated (Rasta) community. It IS the dreadful road going down, the locals are right. Big Milly’s has a good restaurant (vegetarian English breakfast!), but just around the corner is a genuine Italian one! Salad and pizza are excellent, but if you are two, share the pizza. They close early. Every Friday there is an amazing dancing performace at Big Milly’s, a lot of locals come watching. Saturday is reggae band day, but the bar plays so much Bob Marley it’s nothing sensational. The place is open, the gates only close at night, which means a lot of people from the village are coming through. The advantage is you can stay in your chair all day and buy fresh fruits from the girls coming by, the disadvantage is that you should watch your stuff. You share the beach with the fishermen, but it’s nice watching them. For veggies, we made our rounds in the village where there are several small stalls and shops. It’s a question of taste or mentality or whatever if you like the place or not, we rather enjoyed it. To get some visas in Accra, best thing is to get some people together to share a taxi because it is expensive (25 cedis). To go to the internet cafe or to some shops, you can take a shared taxi that has the fixed price of 50 pesewas and does a route like some kind of bus. One thing: wear shoes! It’s tempting to go with bare feet, but there are chicken everywhere (some have their sleeping tree at Big Milly’s), and they (and the cats) leave their droppings everywhere, and this droppings can contain worms and when you walk barefoot in the sand, these worms will get under the toenails and into you! Ieeeek! Tourism begins to be the big thing in Kokrobite and hotels are being built along the coast, so I worry a bit about the future of this nice spot.

Another popular backpacker’s spot at the beach is the Green Turtle Lodge at Dixcove. Stock up before you go there because it’s in the middle of nowhere (and some palm trees). And the road is only gravel. With the usual potholes. Great place, but the air is so humid and salty our equipment suffered quite a lot and everything got sticky. The restaurant is very good and cheap, so we ate there several times. Get proper malaria protection (like everywhere in Ghana), there are a lot of mosquitoes around. The youngsters from the next village do some dancing every Saturday. There is really a lot of space for overlander cars and trucks, no noise, as much privacy as one wants and a phantastic view at the beach. You can stumble out of your car in the morning and crawl only a few metres to the sea.

Another place we liked a lot was Aylo’s Bay at Akosombo at the Volta Lake. The camping area is not very big, but at least it is some, not only a parking place. You can swim in the lake and the hotel restaurant is good. It is popular as a bar-restaurant among the wealthier locals. It can get noisy on weekends.

At the Kakun National Park we more or less had to stay to make the canopy walk in the morning, but I can’t recommend the camping site. We couldn’t get there with our cars because it’s a ten minute’s walk into the wood, not too well maintained and costs 9 cedi per person! We stayed (for the same rate) at the parking place and used the visitor’s centre’s toilet.

On our first trip to Togo when we went to the big broder at Lomé, we didn’t make it in one day and stopped at Keta. It is a tiny city at the sea that offers the ruins of a Danish castle. It is supposed to be renovated to attract tourists. We couldn’t find the “resort” or whatever where Peter and Micha stayed and ended up in a Christian (Lutheran?) centre. The people there were really nice, the boys washed our car and they insisted that we should sleep in a room. They are trying to establish a guest house and they are so friendly and welcoming that it would be worth to stay a night there.

We didn’t dare to bushcamp because people use to initiate bushfires, and they aren’t always controlled.

Nicole and Dirk spent some days in Kumasi and at the lake Bosumtwe (there is a nice lodge). Flo and Sarah mentioned a National Park near the border to Ivory Coast which they liked. Worth a visit are the waterfalls near Hohoe, when there IS water.

I finally discovered some features for the pictures, so check out my comments in the gallery! I decided to add more than the average six because we spent so much time in Ghana.

We didn’t spend a lot of time in Burkina Faso. Generally, it is pretty much like Mali, only poorer and dryer. We got the visa at the border in Bankass (10000 CFA for the transit) and the whole procedure (immigration and customs) was very correct and friendly. There are no campsites, but some hotels allow to stand on their parking place and provide shower and toilet facilities.

Traffic in Ouagadougou is terrible, but if you managed Bamako, it’s okay. There is some kind of regulation that trucks are only allowed at certain hours in the inner city, so consult your guide book.

The main roads we drove along were tar and in good condition. Watch out for cows, goats, sheep, donkeys, donkey carts and bicycles. Burkina Faso is said to be of some “Prussian” mentality. In fact, everything appears to be tidier and less chaotic, almost organized compared to other West African countries. Quite relaxing.

It’s worth to negotiate about the taxi fee. The inner-city taxis are old cars that are just able to move (and, hopefully, break), no suspension, optional windows (it’s too hot for closed cars anyway), bent metal.

ATMs are working with Visa and (perhaps) Maestro, but prepare for some hiking around to find the one that IS working. Money (Euro) change at money transfer bureaus such as Western Union is possible, too.

There aren’t any special activities for tourists; you just drive through and visit one city or another. In the northeast the market at Gorom-Gorom is very famous because a lot of different people meet there, Fulbe and Touareg for example. It’s once a week and we would have had to wait for several days so we skipped that. Bobo-Dioulasso is said to be very nice, too. Roman was there in the hospital because he had malaria. Ouagadougou is a big town, but not too ugly. There is a famous African film festival every year; the also famous market (the black African equivalent of a shopping mall) has burnt down and the shops are now in the buildings around the ruin. Perhaps the market will be rebuilt. Very nice is the espace culturel ZAKA in the middle of the town: there are a souvenir shop, a restaurant and cultural events. All in all, I found the city more relaxed than Bamako and felt quite good there. The only hassle can be the hawkers, but they only try to earn some money and the Touareg are quite friendly. It depressed me a bit seeing the Touareg in the city trying to sell “silver” jewellery (I could bet it’s more copper than silver at this price) or even swords. If you need a metal bucket, a box or something like that, the ones in Ouagadougou look nice and of good quality.

I think Burkina deserves more time to travel through than we gave it.

Most people in Burkina are very poor and try to make a living somehow (mostly as farmers or nomads). Like in Mali, they seem to be proud of their culture and traditions even when they can’t afford such fancy dresses as in Mali, the majority is still wearing traditional clothes. Some of the taxi drivers in Ouagadougou had decorative scars in their faces. Most people are friendly and nice, hawkers and shop owners can be a nuisance, but most of them accept a No. Some guys expect money if they help you with something and they can be over-eager to help. But no one got aggressive or turned out to be a nuisance. Don’t tip too much, people are used to low amounts and don’t teach them that white people are rich. I tried to figure out the right amount by thinking what a taxi ride or food costs.

I don’t know much about the local food, at the Zaka or in the hotels they serve (as far as I remember) European-style food. The baguette is good (sold in bakeries), but there are no dairy products around, despite all the cows, goats and sheep around. Vegetables are sold per piece or pile in the street, tomatoes, onions, cucumbers and green peppers mostly. In Ougadougou are some supermarkets, but they are expensive. I liked the local mango juice. Try the common snacks, roasted groundnuts or refreshing watermelon slices (sold on the street, good vendors cover them to keep off the flies) for around 50 CFA.

From the border we drove straight to Ouagadougou where we first stayed at the Hotel Ricardo. But it’s not very comfortable to sleep in the car there because you have to stay at the parking where you can’t sit around plus they keep 11 (!) dogs and these are running around the parking place. We spent the day in the hotel (they are very friendly and don’t mind as long as you order some food or drink) at the pool (which we were allowed to use, we were supposed to use toilet and shower there). But for 5000 CFA per person we considered it too expensive and moved on to the Hotel O.K.Inn. Which is known as Hotel Okay, if you ask for the way or go there by taxi. It’s behind the truck parking for douanes (customs) in the south of town. In front of the hotel is an area with an abandoned minigolf field and there you can stay for free, use the shower, toilets (European style) and pool of the hotel. The watchman keeps an eye on your cars but of course would like some tip (according to the length of your stay). They expect you to have dinner at their restaurant, which is a good deal, because the food is good and quite cheap for this kind of quality. We enjoyed ourselves there while waiting for the visa for Ghana to get ready. Outside on the street fruit and vegetable stalls, the bakery, shops and a supermarket are within walking distance. But you’ll need a taxi to go to the city centre; we started at a 400 CFA rate and ended up at 250.

As mentioned above, Roman and Almu travelled with Roman’s brother a little bit more around and spent some time in Bobo Dioulasso. We met them in Ouagadougou at the hotel O.K.Inn where we helped them to start their car.

It seems that I hadn’t taken any pictures, so the photos are from Jonas. Or at least from his camera, we started to take pictures with each other’s one, so the copyright isn’t clear, but we don’t mind.

It will take a very long time until Liberia will be a traveler’s, not to think of holiday, destination. Harald and the locals said that controls got lesser, the UN just watches the cars go by, and from Saniquelli to Monrovia there are now only three police controls (you have to go in and register). Police and locals play the complicated game named bribery, but don’t try to join in. The road was in acceptable to good condition, perhaps because the big rubber companies have their trees and factories along that road. And perhaps this is the only tarred road that exists in this country (according to Michelin road map, it is). From Lola in Guinee we proceeded on something that can’t even be called gravel road to the tiny border post of Saniquelli, where officials want less money than in Ganta, which is said to be terrible. On my way back to Mali I had to cross there, and I didn’t have any problems on the Liberia side. BUT I am a small white woman who looks very young and was accompagnied by a driver who managed everything for me and the other passengers in Guinee; so I don’t know how much of the money the taxi guys got from me was needed to “accelerate and facilitate” the bureaucratic procedures.

We applied for the visa in Nzérékoré. The embassy seems to move every year (probably in the hope that nobody will find them anymore), so you’ll have to ask around where it is at the very moment. The fees vary, Harald told me it would be 40 US-dollar (was in 2007), it was 100 actually. So think twice before you plan to go to Liberia.

There is hardly any affordable accommodation, especially in the countryside (along the road was the Cocoo’s Nest, run by a well-travelled, nice Libanese, three hours from Monrovia). Bushcamping is almost impossible for the same reasons it is in Guinee: jungle left, jungle right. Harald told me that the hotels in Monrovia itself begin at 100 US-dollar. Harald himself invites travellers to come to his place, but you’ll need a 4×4 to get there (sand) and preferably an own tent or something alike. Bring traveller’s soap as the bathroom is a sweetwater-lagoon next to the house. From Monrovia, go the road along the coast to the south to Boysville and ask for Mama Africa (and Papa Harold).

Be aware that the climate is very humid and that you can catch all kinds of disease like malaria or dengue fever.

Public transport happens like everywhere else: overcrowded cars and minibuses.

Take enough US-dollars with you, ATMs don’t exist, only bureaus for money transfer (like Western Union). Everyday shopping (food and drinks etc.) is done with the Liberia dollar, for large amounts the US-dollar is very welcome. To change money can be difficult, I had help from Mami.

Harald’s place is great, directly at the Atlantic Ocean and a sweetwater lagoon and it would be a wonderful stop on the way down south to Ivory Coast and Ghana, if the country (or countries) around would be easier to travel: Think about a country where freed slaves from the US settled down and which was devastated by an unimaginably brutal civil war, then you get a rough picture of what Liberia has to offer. There is no electricity (everybody has a generator), no running water (probably not even a well to provide clean water), no toilet manners (no plumbing, no long-drops, only plenty of greenery), the filling stations are street stalls with huge mayonnaise glasses full of fuel. The only shops that exist are that for building materials and beverages (preferably beer). The rest is sold on the street. Quite (in)famous is the Red Light Junction in Monrovia, a chaos of shops, stalls and wheelbarrows where you can get everything, including other people’s wallets. Got me a pair of “African safety slippers” there. The signs along the road worried me quite a bit: a lot of the usual NGOs, plus instructions when to wash hands (!?), the value of sending girls to school, violence and abuse in marriage, AIDS, how rumors lead to mobs and other issues.

Like in Guinee, most people live in small settlements in the rainforest. They grow bananas and yam (known as cassava) and keep livestock such as funny-looking dwarf goats, sheep, chicken and pigs. And they make coal (lots of wood around) and sell it at the street. You will not see many cats and dogs because people had to eat them during the war (so imagine how bad it’s been then). I experienced the people as open-hearted, friendly and welcoming (and sometimes drunk), in the countryside they are wary against strangers, but helpful. Most speak Pidgin-English which is almost not understandable, some proper English. Occasionally you’ll see a traditional mud hut with nice decorations. Most people wear western clothes.

Harald’s wife did some genuine African cooking for me during my stay with them. It’s based on yam which I enjoyed most cooked like potatoes; fufu is interesting and tastes great, but the texture reminds me of starch-based glue and sure can be used as such. As they live at the beach, they eat a lot of seafood, including giant crabs. I don’t know if other Liberians cook with such a lot of chili…

Purified water is sold in sealed packages well cooled on the street. I wouldn’t try the soft drinks that come in non-sealed plastic bags, I suspect they are mixed with tab water. Get sure your beverage is properly sealed and opened in your presence.

We drove quite a bit until we found a clearing where we thought we could spend the night. Behind the clearing was the settlement of a family and they said it would be safer if we drove to their place. So we did and slept in the car. That was one of the worst nights in my life: the dog was too hot, I was too hot, too, we couldn’t open the windows because we didn’t have any mosquito nets. So if you are planning to go to someplace hot and humid, prepare the car so that you can sleep inside with some ventilation! That’s why I am so happy Jonas’ Toyota has a pop-up rooftent. And mosquito mesh at the windows.

The rest of the days I spent in the tent at Harald’s place and it was really great.

Harald and I got the visa for Guinee in Bamako at the embassy. It was quite expensive, about 60 Euros; if you want a laisser passer, get sure that all the data is correct. The border post at Kourémalé is big and corrupt: customs (emigration from Mali) complained about the laisser passer from the embassy and wanted 10 000 CFA to issue a “correct” one, police some metres later wanted 5000 CFA because they only accepted the laisser passer of the embassy which was still incorrect. It could probably have been of great use for Harald to speak French and stay polite at this moment, but he was so nice to struggle with  all the bureaucracy, so I shouldn’t complain.

The good tar road ends in Guinee. There once were tarred roads, now there are very big holes. Taxis drive like crazy, though. On the route we took camping is unknown, mostly we rented a room in a hotel or a Christian guesthouse and Harald slept in the car, I in the room. Bathrooms were always pretty clean and there was some kind of shower opportunity. Can’t remember the toilet paper situation, carry some with you. Public inner-city transport often happens with motorbikes while overland one is done by cars and vans.

The time we crossed Guinee (and we really just drove through) I haven’t gotten used to real black Africa yet, so traveling was a bit stressful. It’s just dirt, chaos, fat market women at their food and vegetable stalls and humid heat. The Guinee Franc is worth about  the CFA with one more zero, but better get informed on place. I didn’t see any ATMs or banks, Harald changed money at a filling station (!) in Siguiri or in the hotel. Dollars or Euros are very welcome, change comes in local currency.

Be aware of really bad road conditions, overloaded taxis with suicidal driving style, sweat and an instable political situation. When I was driving back to Mali (my taxi driver was a real treasure, he drove comparatively sensibly and took really care of me, taking me to a local’s café for breakfast and dinner and all), the president was found dead the same day and military took over! Don’t drive at night (as is recommended for all of Africa), the goats and sheep are lying on the street then. By the way, the goats look quite funny, they are some dwarf race. Hygienic standards are quite low, especially on the countryside, but there is no need to panic. I was wondering all the time what the guinea worm is… Get informed well about diseases you might catch, but I guess health shouldn’t be a problem when taking the usual sensible precautions like taking malaria prophylaxis/prevention, drinking only bottled water and eating only well-cooked food. I even ate raw vegetables and didn’t have any problems.

Because we were just driving through the country, I can hardly tell anything about what to do and see in Guinee. It must have some scenic routes, and I heard you can visit some waterfalls or indigo dyers in the more touristic north. Most of where we went through was more or less hilly rainforest, the most forest I saw at the West Coast. Really. And that was great just to see. The heat and humidity is another thing. In the area between Guinee, Cote d’Ivoire and Liberia, at Lola, there is a chimp research station. The area is popular for chimpanzee research, I heard that scientists from the known Max Planck Institute Leipzig are at the Mounts Nimba if the political situation allows it. Lola is a very small station, but we could camp there and I went with some guys to watch the chimpanzees, which costed about 20 US-dollars or less. You’ll pay 30 times more in Ruanda or Uganda. Perhaps it’s better organized and there’s a guarantee to see the chimps/gorillas, but for me the tour in Lola was really okay.

The majority of the people in Guinee seem to live in small simple settlements in the forest, often around a huge tree and life from what they grow (mainly bananas and yam). They keep lifestock such a goats, sheep and chicken, even pigs. Men in the countryside carry a gun and a machete so they look very dangerous, but they are okay. Who can afford wears typical African tailored clothes, who not (the majority), what is donated by Europeans and issued by help organizations or sold cheap on the street. Some muslims seem to be more severe than in Mali or even in Mauretania because I saw only in Guinee women completely veiled in black, they even wore the usual slippers with black socks, so you could’t see any skin!

As far as I remember we only bought bread (Baguette), everything else we carried with us. There are the usual food stalls and fresh produce sellers at the market. In hotels food can be good, I had fried bananas (allol) because there wasn’t anything else without meat. At local’s restaurants, I found the food quite good, too. It’s just simple, with meat or egg. Guinee people seem to like baguette filled with something like scrambled eggs, but on the menu they won’t write that it comes in a piece of bread! Coffee is terrible because at least at the street stalls it’s Nescafe with plenty of sweetened condensed milk. Despite people keep plenty of sheep and goats, there is no milk around. Don’t even think about cheese.

Unfortunately I didn’t keep a diary the time we drove through Guinee, so I’m not 100% sure about the cities.

In Kankan we stayed at a Catholic guesthouse where I took a room for 60 000 franc. It was quite clean, with shower in the room, but shared toilet across the corridor. You can see the remains of a great colonial architecture and city planning, tree-lined streets and all.

We went along the main road to Kissidougou, where we/I took a room at the Hotel Savanna (?), 60 000 francs with a good restaurant. Don’t do that at weekends because there is a discotheque attached to the hotel and it is booked out because the men want a short distance between discotheque and bed in case they make friends with one of the party-girls (I think and no offence meant, that is common in Africa). Not to mention the noise.

Then we more or less bushcamped. This is quite difficult to do because of all the dense forest, so you’ll have to ask at a settlement (if they know French) or a school. We found a place where they built a new street and where they had parked all the engines for the night. So Harald asked the guards if we could park there too and we had a guarded bushcamp (I slept in the tent).

Then we camped at the chimp research centre near Lola. They have a well with drinkable water. To be true, it is a little bit hard to find…The road to there is small and muddy.

We applied for the visa in Nouakchott, Mauretania, which is very easy and comparatively cheap. We entered at Nioro, and all the bureaucracy is not directly at the road, but in Nioro. The only safe place to change money is at the pharmacy in the town centre. Mali was the first country where children asked for a cadeau. No, I don’t have anything. Do I look like Father Christmas? Or like the Sugar Plum Fairy?

Public transport happens with small taxis or also small busses. Fees are low, but overland taxis will start when they are full, which means hopelessly cramped or overloaded for European measures. But they drive more or less safely, as far as I remember. Most roads are in good condition, but every little village has a sample of various speed bumpers. Police was never a problem. They were praying or too lazy to lift themselves out of their chair and the shadow.

Travel guide books tell about some dangers and tricks to get money out of tourists. Just be discreet when taking a picture. In the Dogon country people want some money for a photo. Generally, I consider Mali a safe country, just don’t show your precious belongings too openly. There are quite a lot of tourists in Mali, young overlanders and even the guided tour ones.

When you are staying in Bamako, you WILL get malaria. Take great care and if you are staying only a short time, take prophylaxis.

Mali is great to travel, with beautiful landscape and good roads. If you love Mali music, go to the festival du desert near Tombouctou in january. I missed it – this year. We Europeans often forget that muslim culture was once very powerful, influential and wide spread. Not to forget more progressive than the European one, at least in the middle ages. So Mali has a great history and you can even visit some cities for looking at the architecture. It’s a big country and so there is various landscape, the Sahel zone and the desert mostly. It can be dangerous to drive in the desert (partly because of the desert, partly because of rebels or terrorists), especially in the border region to Algeria and Mauretania. Get advice from the locals and an experienced guide.

I had the impression that the people are very proud of their culture. They like to dress traditionally, when they can afford it, with beautiful cloth patterns and rich embroideries. Everywhere there is a tailor stall. The all-purpose piece of cloth which is word as skirt and called pagne costs about 1500 and 3000 CFA. Women mostly wear their hair in elaborate braids. Kids can be tiring because they are very enthusiastic when they want to sell you something and they seem not to understand the word “No”. Not to mention the phrases “No interest”, “No cadeau” or “Leave me alone!!!”. Especially in touristic areas you will wish yourself back to Mauretania where nobody took interest in you. Don’t give anything to children. They get enough from other tourists. In the Dogon country, you have to pay a small fee (250 CFA) for taking a picture of a person. Ask your guide. The souvenirs are way too expensive, some (most?) woodcarvings are not authentic, but it’s hard to tell if you are not an expert.

Most people are poor, very decent friendly folks. In rural areas there is no use to ask a woman for the way: they only know the way to the next market place and they don’t speak French (don’t think about English)!

Bargaining about the price is very common, especially for souvenirs. Touareg jewellery is offered virtually everywhere, but my opinion is that it is better to buy it either in Tombouctou or in Agadez (Niger). I like the indigo-dyed fabric, it costs slightly more than other.

When you are at a local’s restaurant, there will be some bowls and cans with water so you can wash your hands, because people eat with their hands or a spoon.

There doesn’t seem to grow a lot in Mali, at least you’ll get the impression when you eat in a cheap restaurant. People who know couscous from Mali insist it is made from millet (the Maghreb one is made out of wheat). Perhaps they are right…In the Dogon country, the cheaper restaurants serve some stew made with canned vegetables, served with noodles, rice or couscous. If you spend some more money or go to a real local’s restaurant, food is quite good. You are never wrong with brochettes, but it’s a little bit difficult for a vegetarian. They get some special fish from the Niger that is said being worth a try.

Although the Fulbe wander around with big cow herds, it’s difficult to find affordable milk and milk products. Big supermarkets are very scarce (didn’t find any), fresh fruits and vegetables can be bought at the market or at wandering street vendors. They are sold per pile or per piece and have fixed prices. We found water melons, pineapple, bananas (they are very small, but taste good), oranges (green to yellow, better to make juice than to eat), tomatoes (200 to 300 CFA per pile), cucumbers, carrots, green pepper, potatoes and onions. Harald even managed to get cauliflower and green beans. Baguette-like bread costs about 100 to 150 CFA.

If you want a softdrink not being from the Coca Cola company, you can try the local tonic water with lemon or the grapefruit (lemonade). Clean drinking water is sold everywhere in half-liter plastic sacks that cost 50 CFA.

Bamako is good for souvenir shopping, an interesting city and cheap on transportation once you found out the actual taxi fees. I liked the national museum, it has a high standard and is very interesting. Harald and I stayed at Le Cactus, a very nice hotel with camping ground run by an old Canadian couple. The woman keeps two small dogs. They offer a famous free sunday brunch, unfortunately we missed it. The hotel is near the Niger but a little bit far from the city centre, so you have to use the green city mini bus. The second time I went to Bamako to meet Jonas there. He and Peter and Micha were staying at the Hotel Djoliba which is also near the Niger, but not so far from the centre. There is a great pool which I appreciated a lot, but the toilet facilities and the shower (same room) are not so great (clean, but the hotel guys use them too).

We stayed one night in Segou, unfortunately I can’t remember in which hotel, perhaps at the Motel Savanne. The city seemed more calm than Djenne and I think it’s worth a visit.

Djenne is overrated in my opinion, people there love tourists and as soon as you are at the river waiting for the ferry, locals want to sell you souvenirs or offer you a guided tour in the city. They don’t mean no harm, but they are so enthusiastic about their business that you can’t shrug them off. They don’t know what “No interest” means. We found out that you can get in or out of the city at noon, when it’s hot and everyone is only interested in his/her siesta. We stayed at Le Campement, but the small camping space was so full that we had to stay outside the hotel walls (we had a guard at night who read aloud in the Koran); so we were victim to all wanna-be-guides and street vendors. The restaurant at the hotel is good, for the sake of some quiet we even had breakfast there; you can buy postcards in the hotel, too. Or souvenirs. Yes, the traditional architecture IS interesting. We didn’t stay long enough to visit the Monday market.

Haven’t been to Tombouctou. So I have to go to Mali a second time, he he he.

I liked Bandiagara where we stayed at the Togona (shower without roof). It has a relaxed atmosphere and the south of the Dogon country is said to be not so aggressive touristic than the north, so get your official guide here. We made the mistake to go to Sanga, which is very touristic. We drove along the Falaise with the 4×4, a very beautiful route, and made a day’s walk guided tour down the Falaise which would have been nice hadn’t been there all this guys and kids wanting money or cadeau or stilo or…

Bushcamping is possible and generally safe. Locals passing by say hello and go on with their business.

We applied for the visa in Germany, but you could still get it directly at the border. You don’t have to drive in convoy anymore, but the good tar road ends and you have to drive some tough kilometers from the Western Sahara to the Mauretanian border post. Perhaps the border police guys ask for something, perhaps not, but they definitely have enough tea, so you don’t have to buy some in Guelmin. Do you really have to bring alcohol into the country? Customs will ask if you carry any with you and perhaps search your car, because alcohol is forbidden in Mauretania. Some guys will offer you a car insurance directly at the border and since there is a new camping site at the road to Nouakchott, you don’t have to go to Nouadhibou to get it. Don’t forget your fiches. Jonas needed around 40 for all countries.

In 2008 you could drive to Senegal or Mali all on tar! On the route de l’espoir (also known as route de cadavres) there is an awful lot of dead animals along the road. 99% of the cars in Mauretania are old Mercedes. And they are in such a bad condition that you will ask yourself how someone can do this to a car!

It could take some time to find a working ATM. Banks, if there are any at all, sometimes don’t change, so we got our money at the camp site and the auberge in the two big cities.

Toilets were always okay.

Most people go to Mauretania to go into the desert. The country is nothing but desert, with some wildlife along the coast. If you like desert, muslim culture, lots of landscape and solitude, it’s a great place. I want to go there a second time to see some more. The two big cities are quite new and without character. The market in Nouakchott is said to be worth to see, but I missed it. For some adventure, drive the way along the coast from Nouadhibou to Nouakchott, but get lots of information before and drive with at least two cars; there are people who lost their car in the tide! Jonas and I tried, but our second car turned around at the first obstacle (a stone) and went back to the safe ground.

Mauretania was considered safe for a long time, but in recent time the association for an Islamic Maghreb gains power along the border to Algeria, so this area is considered dangerous. On the other side, Mauretania is so big that you don’t have to go to the dangerous areas. I always felt safe.

A lot of Europeans consider the Maures racists, and there is some truth in it. Maures are nomads and merchants and the rich ones can be nice or very arrogant. Small business is run by blacks, former slaves – or Lebanese. Maures are quite hard to understand, I think, but they are very polite in their own way towards foreigners. The Maures consider themselves as bearer of a great religious muslim heritage, so try to respect muslim culture and don’t offend them by wearing shorts or tops. But, like in Morocco, I never wore a veil (only a scarf around my neck, to show good will). And most Maures were very nice. Except some stupid rich youngsters who thought they’d be more holy than the prophet himself and wanted our dog thrown out of the restaurant.

I found their French difficult to understand (didn’t try any English). The Maures speak hassani or hassanya, a very melodic arabic dialect. And they are pleasantly surprised when they notice that you know some Arabic. Best thing: they don’t care if you are there or not, no one bothers you, at least no Maure. I guess they will help you when in trouble and of course they like tourist money, but they have their pride and wait until you come to them asking for a service.

I like the clothes. Women wear mahlifa, a long piece of cloth wrapped around the body like a sari, the design differs from region to region. It can be a special kind of elaborate batik or even indigo. Maure men wear mostly traditional clothes in shades of blue or white, always with a chech.

Nothing spectacular to report in the food department. Acceptable to good dishes are served in Morocan or Lebanese restaurants. Mauretanian culture is nomadic, so there isn’t an elaborated cuisine. Don’t insult them by asking for alcohol, they won’t have, at least not for you. Some kind of baguette is sold on the street (I didn’t see the chubs (bread) like in Morocco. Strange…).

In Nouadhibou we stayed at the campsite Auberge Abba, very nice, but also frequented by overlander trucks. The city is small, with little more to do than watch the train coming in. Don’t expect to stock up your supplies there, do so in Morrocco.

In Nouakchott we were at the Auberge Sahara. That is a nice place to stay, with free wireless internet. The cook is a Belgian who makes great tagine and leads an interesting life. The camping is the parking place, not very big and sometimes cramped. It’s a little bit out of the town centre, but you won’t need a taxi to get around. Jonas peeked into the Auberge Menata and liked it more, so perhaps next time. The harbor and the fish market are worth a look. If you like fresh fish, go there. The city was founded in the sixties, so don’t expect anything spectacular.

We drove along the route de l’espoir and bushcamped in the stone desert.

In Aoyun el-Atrous there actually is a campsite, or at least a hotel where you can camp (Auberge-Camping Saada Tenza). The very nice owner offered us dinner and it was cheap and quite good.

Don’t treat the Western Sahara as a singular country towards Morocains. They are quite special about this subject. It is treated as a part of Morocco, so you don’t need any special visa. Tourism isn’t very big, perhaps because of political reasons, perhaps because for some reason, it is among desert drivers not so popular like Tunisia or Algeria. You drive through on your way to Mauretania, and for most people, that’s it. Fuel is cheap, so it’s worth to fill up before Mauretania. There is only one big filling station after Dakhla. Police loves fiches de renseignement, little papers where you have written down your data (in French) because otherwise they would have to write everything from your passport into their big black books. There is a stop at the entrance/exit of every town. The main road towards Mauretania is tar, the reason why there are so many conventional camping cars in Dakhla; better news: you don’t have to drive in convoy towards the border and there are hardly any mines. The road between the two border posts is not tar, though. It’s not even gravel, just some tracks through a nowhereland where there are perhaps no more mines, perhaps there are still. But almost everyone manages without a guide, so don’t fall for the guys.

Fishing enthusiasts go to the shore, and there is a French-run hotel virtually in the middle of nowhere offering fishing tours (near Sidi Akhfennir, as far as I remember). They closed their camping site. There are some young guys in Dakhla who want to establish wind surfing there. On the way to Dakhla is a beach where all the Europeans with their camping cars are staying during the winter.

Nomads aren’t interested in what you are doing, but I guess they will help you if you are in trouble. It won’t hurt to carry along some extra water, if someone asks for it. In the cities live the Morocans who emigrated there.

We bushcamped one or two times next to the sea, quite easy and nice.

In Dakhla we tried a new camping (camping Moussafir is not very nice), it’s directly at the beach outside of town. We missed it the first time because it looked like a little settlement. The atmosphere is quite relaxed (or surreal), the owner is nice (with strange looks), but one of the other guys is a heavy drinker (he gets drunk, but not aggressive). Don’t expect too much regarding toilet and shower. You can get breakfast and good atay there. The surfing guys use the kheima (tents) there to accommodate their customers. The internet café in Dakhla is hopelessly slow.

Morocco is just a short hop over the street of Gibraltar from Europe. You get a stamp at the border/airport with which you can stay three months in the country. Customs in Tanger are said to be still tough to dangerous, so we took the ferry from Algeciras to Ceuta. Most travelers sleep in Algeciras at the parking of the Lidl (Carrefour is across the street) in the industrial area, not far from the most popular ticket office (go along the road between Carrefour and the parking area with the greenery behind, then turn the next small street left, it’s on the right side). In the wintertime you will encounter a lot of European pensionists with their camping cars in Morocco, most of them in Agadir.

Tourism is big business, so you find more or less cheap hotels and at least one (well equipped) camping site in every big city. Public transport is cheap and comparatively safe, there are two bus systems, the more expensive but very comfortable CTM (which works together with Eurolines) and the more adventurous private busses starting from the gare routière; in rural areas they stop wherever someone wants to get on or off the bus, official bus stops have no toilet (behind the bushes) but shops and stalls selling food and drink. There are official fees you pay at the gare routière, but it can happen that you have to pay some additional fee in the bus. Depends (I guess) on if you are local, French speaking foreigner or only English speaking foreigner. When you drive on your own, police has been a nuisance in former times. 2008 they kept quiet, but look out for speed controls, usually behind a hill and/or under a big, shady tree. Roads are in very good condition, mostly tar. There’s always someone who will fix your car.

As everywhere in Africa, it’s better to change money at the bank or at an official change bureau than at the border or on the street (less dangerous and better rates).

In the sanitary aspect: toilets are mostly of the kind that there’s a hole in the floor with some ceramic around it (but water flushing). In a hot country, I consider this kind more hygienic. Mostly you have to bring your own toilet paper and throw it into a rubbish bin somewhere provided. If you want to try something new, wipe yourself with your left (!) hand and wash it with the water from the convenient easy-to-reach tab producing from the wall. So you found out the second function of this this tab besides filling the bucket underneath to flush the toilet. And why people are so keen about what hand does what.

I want to travel to Morocco again and again because there is so much to do and see. It’s really worth several visits. I love especially the desert and the Atlas mountains.

If you ever have the chance, go to a public bath called hammam. The big ones in Marrakesh are very touristic, not authentic and expensive, but will give you the idea. I miss the hammam very much, it’s soooo great. Don’t put off your undies and, if you visit the real thing, bring a small sample of shower gel for the person running the hammam (will help you and give you a massage). It’s considered impolite to talk about what’s going on in a hammam in mixed company, so wait until your host or any other locals are out of sight.

As different as the landscape is the population in Morocco. Most of them are Berber, but like every people, they make a difference between the tribes. So there are for example Atlas Berber and desert Berber. Some claim that they are Touareg, but if someone in Ouarzazate or Zagora comes up to you, speaking about him being from a nomad or even Touareg tribe and offers you a trip to the desert it is almost certain that this guy knows as much about the desert as you.

My experience is that most people are very friendly, descent, tolerant, polite and helpful. I personally feel very safe there. It helps a lot if you speak French (or Spanish in the north), but a lot of Moroccans know German or English as well, at least in the cities. Moroccans are very communicative and the usual greeting includes formal questions about health and the family. The knowledge of this greeting form can open you hearts! It differs a lot from the formal Arabic greeting as it uses mostly Berber words (after “peace be on you”, “no bad” follows; due to their past they really had to assure themselves that they mean no harm when meeting!). Handshake is just sliding the hands, not holding them. In very touristic areas shopkeepers will invite you to visit their shop, only to look (once you’re inside, they will offer you this and that until you feel obliged to buy something). When you are not interested, say so, but politely or pretend that your tourist group/husband/wife/family is waiting for you so you don’t have time. Don’t give money or sweets to children. They now know the trick that many tourists give them only something after they posed for a photo or showed the way, so they give you a service in advance and THEN want money from you. So best thing is not to accept any service unless you really want it and only after negociating about the price (Same for young men offering you a guided tour or a glass of tea at their home). When you do not want anything, say so, politely but firm. Eventually, they will notice that you’re serious. When you want to buy some handicraft or another item (except food or fixed price items), don’t accept the first price, it’s way too high. Start with a fourth or a third of this price and make your way through the bargain. It’s part of the game and shows your respect for the seller. When the final price is still to high for you, say so. Drop by the other day and ask for a new price. Don’t show you want this item like you never wanted anything in your life. A good place to see what something is worth are the centre d’artisanat like in Marrakesh.

I haven’t encountered kids throwing stones at me when I didn’t give them what they wanted, but that can happen. Try to find the parents and make a big fuss about it.

Traditionally the woman has a strong role in Berber society so especially in the cities women don’t wear veils (in the countryside it’s just useful to do so with all the work in the sun), to me it seemed more a personal thing. But women dress very closed, even when modern. So it won’t hurt to adapt and wear long trousers or skirts and not too open-hearted t-shirts. Cover your shoulders. It is reported that women travelling alone (in my opinion you can do that) are bothered by young men. There’s no harm in saying “bonjour”. Don’t dress invitingly, don’t shake hands firmly and don’t look men directly in the eye. That sounds impolite for a European, but it will save trouble in most muslim countries. Invent a husband and children, if you have a question, ask another woman or an older man adressing him as father or uncle. Don’t do anything you wouldn’t do in Europe concerning strange men. Some men, with better manners, just want to chat a little to kill the boredom or make friends with a European (of course, a rich wife from Europe would be nice…). If the man is really bothering you, do what is recommended even in Europe: get loud. Older people still have a lot of respect in Morocan society (so be polite towards them) and won’t tolerate the comportment of young hasslers. You’re pretty safe.

Morocans are not used to dogs, so they are either freightened by big dogs (women) or impressed (men). Boys are freightened, too, but they will tease the dog to show how brave they are.

Please do never ever give anything with your left hand or touch food with it! (Okay, locals hold bread with their left hand) Why? See above.

I love Morocan food! In the restaurants you will be served some variation of couscous or tagine, although the Morrocan cuisine has more to offer than that. Now they even serve vegetarian food. They are great with all kinds of vegetables and bread which is mostly “home-baked”. A speciality is the soup Harira, served in tourist restaurants during all of the year, but traditionally the soup is eaten in Ramadan (after the date and before the big dinner). If you like olives, brinjals, oranges, sugar and spices like turmeric, coriander or cumin, it’s your country! I consider meat on the safe side because it will be hallal, and a long muslim tradition of dealing with meat in great heat will spare you trouble. But don’t insist on pork, although it is said you can find some in Agadir. In Chefchaouen, snails are common street food, and fish is big at the coast. I don’t eat seafood, so don’t expect any infos about that. Morocains are quite open-minded concerning alcohol, so you can have a glass of local wine to your food.

Another speciality is the tea, called atay (Berber) or shay (Arabic): it’s green tea with sugar and Nana-mint (nana means mint, but it’s different from the mint we know). In the cities, it’s nice and drinkable, you get served one big glass. In the desert, it’s atay, Touareg stuff, basically liquid sugar with an incredible amount of teeine and flavouring (mint, absinth, incense or something they call cimbel). You have to drink three small glasses per serving or nothing at all, and it’s a ritual like in Japan. I love that stuff so much that I spent quite a lot of energy in finding the right teapot, tea, sugar and mint plant in Germany.

If you want to buy fruits and vegetables at the market: they have fixed prices and sell per kilogram and half kilogram, not per piece. We found a supermarket in Marrakesh, but the local market is more colourful and you will find almost everything you need there.

Where we were:

Chefchaouen: Has a very nice camping site in the hilltop (Camping Azilan), run by very nice young men. You have to ask for hot water for a shower and pay extra. It will get quite cold in the night! Chefchaouen is a nice little town and once you’re there for more than one day, the kif (hashish) dealers will know you and leave you alone. The local handicraft has a lot to do with wool, and I liked the colours of the blankets very much (next time I want to buy one). People speak Spanish more than French. If you drive through the mountains and someone tries to get your attention and wants you to stop the car, you can be sure he wants to sell you – kif. Just say no.

Fes: It is recommended to book a guide to visit the city because it’s a maze. We had even trouble to find the camping site. Le Diamond Vert is very nice and they book the guide for you. It’s outside of town, so you will need a taxi. I went with two French ladies and we had a nice day, our guide did some culture- and shopping-tour. Nothing wrong with that, I consider Fes better to shop for handicrafts than Marrakesh. The pottery is exceptional. Furtheron, there are the famous tanneries (leather products are very cheap and good), Berber blankets and carpets, high-quality djellabas, gold-and silversmith works, wood-works and pharmacies. Worth to stay for a few days.

Casablanca: We just drove through. It’s a very big city.

Marrakesh: It’s the most touristic city for me. The babouches are more colourful that the ones in Fes, and you can buy a lot of Berber jewellery. Of course, the most famous thing in Marrakesh is Jemma el Fna, but I think it’s overestimated. I liked the museum, which is a little bit difficult to find. You see the sign only when coming from Jemma el Fna. Camping Le Relais is very nice, outside the city in the palmerie near the famous Chez Ali but has a reliable taxi driver who earns a fortune driving you into town. I met Jonas, Peter and Micha there for the first time.

Essaouira: It’s a small city and although quite touristic, more relaxed than Marrakesh. It’s famous for the many painters living there, but surfers like this spot, too. Everybody has a shop selling nice things, but nobody makes such aggressive “advertising” as in Marrakesh. Again, we stayed at the camping site (Camping Sidi Magdul) and this time we could walk into the city (on the beach).

So far I saw before this tour Zagora, where I stayed at the Le Sauvage Noble Guest House in Tizergate, 5km before Zagora where you can book a tour to Tamegroute (old university with library and pottery), the oasis, the casbah (I loved the local museum!) or the desert. Best accommodation, tea and food in Africa! The owner speaks French and German (and a little bit English) and as an anthropologist he can tell you a lot about the local people. Book a perfect desert tour with Renard Bleu Touareg which is run by nomads (via the hotel). The owner of the camping site near the casbah Tizergate is a cheat: he will wait for tourists at the bus station and pretend that he is from Renard Bleu. He surely is NOT. And his name is NOT Hussein. At least not Hussein Naji.