Day 47: Mali Border

Soutpiel Safari
John & Jenny
Tue 21 Dec 2010 17:59
Day 47: Tuesday 21 December 2010. Kadira, Senegal/Mali border. N14 25.835 W012 11.847. Distance driven 380 km.
 
Tonight we are camped on the banks of the Senegal River looking across to Mali, and we only a few miles from the frontier.  We got here early but couldn't cross today as our Mali visa is only good from tomorrow. It seems only a short time ago in Morocco that when we got to a camp site we immediately went to the place where we would get the last of the evening sun.  Now, we get into as much shade as we can as soon as we can!
 
Today's run was uneventful, except that it was very hot. The road is pretty straight and mostly a good surface but we encountered a lot of broken-down trucks and a few which had turned over and crashed off the road.  i think the primary cause of both events is purely over-loading. One crashed truck we found had been carrying a load of logs.  He had obviously swerved - probably fallen asleep- braked hard and the logs with a high centre of gravity had caused the truck to lean over and then had burst open the sides spilling the load. By that time the truck was on its side.
 
Today we have commissioned the ERM System (Engine Room Meals).  For this idea we have to credit Peter Creighton, veteran adventurer and Land Rover traveller.  Peter and his wife Eileen have traveller over most of the world in their land Rover Discovery.  ERM is the slow cooking of a meal by placing it in a wire basket positioned over the exhaust manifold.  The meat, vegetables etc are placed inside an oven bag and then into an aluminium foil tray which sits in the wire basket.  Peter has this down to a fine art and knows exactly how long in advance to start cooking so that the meal is ready when he makes camp.  We are still experimenting so tonight will be a good test.  jenny pre-prepared the meal last night -steak, onions, carrots, potatoes and some gravy left over from the last curry.  It certainly smells good!