Day 111: Beach life again
Soutpiel Safari
John & Jenny
Wed 23 Feb 2011 13:41
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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!
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