Day 73: Halfway progress check

Soutpiel Safari
John & Jenny
Sun 16 Jan 2011 19:12
Day 73: Sunday 16 January 2010. Private house Accra, Ghana. Distance driven (by LR) 0 km.
 
Another lazy day.  We drove around Accra this morning taking advantage of the quiet Sunday streets to find the Land Rover dealer where I am trying to get a service tomorrow.  Then we (Jenny & I and her cousin, Max and a SA friend Mornay) went out along the beach towards Tema to a smart beachside hotel - The African Royal Beach Hotel - for  lunch.  We drove round looking for the Nigerian Embassy but failed to locate it.  It appears that it is no longer in the Embassy Quarter.  I must phone them tomorrow and then we must put in our visa applications. On our return two of the gate guards gave the interior of the LR a very good clean.  Tomorrow for the far rear!
 
Our Master Plan shows a 21 week (147 day) journey time for arrival in Jo'burg on 2 April and we estimate the total distance to be about 23 - 24,000 km.  At Day 73 we are now halfway on a time elapsed basis and we have covered 12,700 km to date so we are pretty well on schedule.  We crossed into Ghana 2 days ahead of Plan schedule and we want to cut down on the 15 days we allowed for Nigeria so we have some time in hand.
 
We had scheduled to get 5 visas in Abuja, Nigeria but we want to get in and out of Nigeria as fast as possible so we will see what visas we can get elsewhere.  We did find an Angolan Embassy in Accra so we'll try to get that one here.  We know that others last year obtained their Gabon and DRC visas in Lome, Togo so that leaves only Cameroon and Congo for Abuja.