West Africa Trip

[Ed463]

Crossed the Tropic of Cancer today. Visited a French Foreign Legion fort.
At the Mauritania border now

 

[glasseye]

Fantastic! Keep 'em coming. Consider contributing to the "Who has a better campsite than me?" thread.

Happy trails!

 

[Ed463]

And few more photos.
Champagne at the Mauritanian border, strange I know but we need to get rid of any alcohol

 

[lindenengineering]

Hey Ed
Slumming it aren't we ?
Laurent Perrier when a 1968 Bollinger would have been more appropriate!!!
Keep the pictures coming-I am enjoying the progress going south .
Cheers Dennis

 

[Ed463]

A few more ( using up my Moroccan data before it runs out

 

[Midwestdrifter]

Northern Africa must have been an interesting place 2,000 years ago. Semi-Arid forests and grasslands, a flourishing civilization.

 

[Ed463]

Northern Africa must have been an interesting place 2,000 years ago. Semi-Arid forests and grasslands, a flourishing civilization.

Yes lots of evidence of dry river beds, stone age drawings, stone arrow heads, fossils just lying around. Meteors again just lying around.
Not that long ago (in the scale of things) the full range of big game was wondering around!

 

[ranchworld]

Meteors lying around in North Africa makes me think of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's book, Wind,Sand and Stars where he has crashed his plane in the desert and the ground is littered with meteorites.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind,_Sand_and_Stars

Your adventure looks like good fun.

 

[surferJ]

You are a very brave traveler Ed. That is security wise, the western Sahel and such.

I am in the planning stages for a Moroccan jaunt and do not think I will get much past Agadir.
There were a few other outfitted sprinters I know of in Nouakchott yesterday.
Thanks for the pictures.

 

[Ed463]

Mauratania is a mix of flat boring sh*te and some stunning terrain. A lot easier than Morocco. Nice smooth, flat sand rather than rocks or corrugations.
We're now in Mali. Oh yes. Cold beer
Arrived in Bamako. It's not clever or funny but via the "red zone"
With some money changing malarkey at the Mauritanian/Mali border.
Apparently this is called a Coddiwomple trip
I can't upload photos at the moment :-(
WiFi is pathetic but I'll get a local SIM later.

 

[Ed463]

Mauratania is a mix of flat boring sh*te and some stunning terrain. A lot easier than Morocco. Nice smooth, flat sand rather than rocks or corrugations.
We're now in Mali. Oh yes. Cold beer
Arrived in Bamako. It's not clever or funny but via the "red zone"
With some money changing malarkey at the Mauritanian/Mali border.
Apparently this is called a Coddiwomple trip
Until I get a local SIM I can't post any photos. WiFi is pathetic.

 

[Ed463]

You are a very brave traveler Ed. That is security wise, the western Sahel and such.

I am in the planning stages for a Moroccan jaunt and do not think I will get much past Agadir.
There were a few other outfitted sprinters I know of in Nouakchott yesterday.
Thanks for the pictures.

That may have been us! Plus another that turned up as we were leaving.
Mauritania and Western Sahara is safe as long as you do your research. The route we took east to Gogoui not so much

 

[Ed463]

A few photos
Rush hr.
First cold beer in a week. I didn't think I'd miss it so much
The money exchange office

 

[Ed463]

We're now in eastern Mali, chilling at an amazing campsite
https://www.coolcampmali.com
Took us 12hrs to do 198m to get here around 5hrs to do the last 56m but it's worth it ?
Today we tagged along with someone who visits remote villages to repair their water pumps (in a T1N 4x4). Treated to some singing and dancing and dragged on to the dance floor ??
Then some swimming with Hippo's in the afternoon (not really, but there were 2 maybe 600m away. Close enough I think ?) followed by a crate of cold beer ?
This place must have the highest density of 4x4 Sprinters in Mali. THREE??

 

[Ed463]

Some photos

 

[Ed463]

By the way.
The VC dampers and Sumo springs have been superb handling shockingly bad roads easily.
Best modification I've done!!

 

[Midwestdrifter]

Thanks for posting. You should send the guys at VC an email with a photo of your van. They really like that kind of stuff.

 

[marc1]

Dang am I jealous. Keep it coming.

 

[Ed463]

Today's trip.
Crossing the border into Senegal tomorrow, which could be a little challenging

 

[surferJ]

Like I said, brave man.