Day 111: Beach life again

Soutpiel Safari
John & Jenny
Wed 23 Feb 2011 13:41
 Day 111: Wednesday 23 February 2011.  Auberge Tara Plage, Kribi, Cameroon. N02 54.342 E009 54.103  Distance driven 134 km
 
Today is "75% day" by elapsed time and we have driven just 17,000 km which is just over 75% of the estimated total distance of 24,000 km.  We hope to pass into Gabon on Friday which is two days ahead of schedule, so we are pretty pleased with progress. However, Gabon seems to be a wonderful place and we look as if we shall stay considerably longer than the 5 days we allowed, so we will have to pick up a few days, maybe in Congo and in Namibia later. There is no doubt that 5 months is too short for this trip!
 
Jenny asked me recently, if I had to plan the trip again, how would I change it? My re[ply was that I would have spent more time in Mauritania and travelled more widely there, not gone to Senegal at all but straight to Mali, and from there explored Burkina Faso more than we did before travelling into Niger and Chad and then down into the northern part of Cameroon which we have not seen at all. This would have cut out Ghana and Nigeria, which I didn't find worthwhile.  It would, however, have ventured more into territory (eastern Mali, Niger and Chad) which is considered quite dangerous by the FCO and I guess that is the reason I don't consider it at the time. My preference is much more towards the dry desert areas than the humid, steamy coastal areas and it is only with the benefit of having travelled and met with other adventurers that one comes to know of other possibilities.
 
We are already forming the basis of a future expedition, maybe shipping the car to Cameroon and travelling to the far north and then into Niger and Chad, but with the Arab world in turmoil it is far too early to plan these sorts of ventures.
 
Today we drove from Edea to Kribi and are camped in the shade of palm trees at a delightful little auberge on a deserted silver-sand beach, just 3 degrees north of the equator.  The drive here was through delightful countryside on a fast smooth tar road- another delight!