Guinea

Well we started off the month of December with Tobaski festivities. If you will remember Tobaski from last years entries it is a big Muslim holiday where everybody goes to the mosque for special prayers and most families that can afford it slaughter a ram. This year went much as expected and we had an excessive amount of meat to eat over the course of several days. We came up with even more ways to cook goat and sheep and all was delicious but I managed to control myself better this year in the face of large amounts of protein and not eat so much that I got sick like last year. Anyway after that we had a few days to relax and then few days of work before we took off on our trip to Guinea

We have been looking forward to a trip to Guinea for a long time now. Ever since we heard about the awesome landscape of the eastern part of the country known as the Fouta Djalon we were pretty set on going there to do some real hiking, which we sorely miss here in the flatness of Gambia. So Lydia and I again set out on the dusty roads of West Africa to see what it had is store for us.

Our trip started out pretty mellow with a long day’s trip to Basse in the east corner of The Gambia where we spent our first night in the PC transit house and where we could get transport from the car park to Guinea. In Basse we pretty much rammed down some dinner, did some last minute rearrangement of our gear and crashed. There’s not much to do or see in Basse and since we have both been there many times and all our friends were out of town we didn’t feel like we were missing out on much.

Next morning we got up early and walked the mile or so down to the local car park. In case I’ve never explained before a car park is basically just a small dirt lot in larger villages or towns where all the bush taxis gather and you go to get a vehicle wherever you’re going. They can be slightly intimidating when your not used to them since there is usually a lot of madness, cars going all over and people yelling to try to recruit passengers. The one in Basse isn’t too bad and were pretty used to the routine at this point. We quickly found the car that would take us on the first and most grueling leg or our trip. We were there early and were the first passengers to arrive. Usually cars only leave once the car is full, there are no schedules and set number of cars a day or anything. So as you can see there is an obvious downside to arriving first because you have to wait around and just hope enough people eventually show up so you can get on your way. But in some cases there is a very big upside to being first. You can pick which seat you want. This was our number one priority on this trip due to the length of the ride and the type of vehicle. The cars that run this route are French made seven passenger station wagons that are very common in this part of the world. Sometimes they are referred to as Fula taxies due to their popularity on the long haul trips to Guinea and other parts of Africa that are predominantly ethnically Fula. Not being limited by occupancy laws or physics apparently we managed to eventually squeezed … wait for it… nine adults plus the driver that makes ten, four kids, and one baby into the car and just for good measure at any given time there could be between one and three guys riding on the roof on top of the luggage. That totals up to between 15 and 17 people being transported by a seven passenger car. Next time you go out to dinner try to double the rated capacity of your Honda Civic and see how many times all of your arms and legs fall asleep at the same time. So anyway we got there early because we wanted to make sure we could get spots in the middle row and pick the side where the seat looked most intact and supportive. This is also the best place as far as head room goes but I still ended up pulling an Ace Ventura with my head out the window for half the way to Guinea just so I could stretch my neck out, always on the lookout for the fast moving tree branch ready to decapitate me. After waiting around for about 5 hours we managed to collect enough people to fill the car up and the guys started to load all the luggage up. I still haven’t nailed down exactly why everybody going to Guinea always has a ridiculous amount of baggage but I think it might have something to do with things being more available in The Gambia or taxed less or something. When you see a car you can immediately identify if it is going to Guinea or not by the amount of luggage strapped to the roof of the car. Our haul was about average and at least doubled the height of the vehicle.

Around noon we set out on the road with thirteen of our new best friends and everything except the kitchen sink for our first stop, Labe the regional capitol of eastern Guinea. The rumors of this road before we set out and the memories of it now that I have traveled it two ways will haunt my dreams for many years to come. It was something like rally racing with an old car with way too many people in it. O ye… and it lasts 27 hours. Ye that’s not a typo twenty-seven hours. The first leg took us just out of Basse about two hours to the Gambia-Senegal border were we went through customs and passed into Senegal. The section of the road in Senegal wasn’t too bad, unfortunately it didn’t last very long and by late evening we were at the Senegal boarder with Guinea and checking into our third country for the day. Just after the road crosses into Guinea it gets a lot worse with major holes and ruts and all kinds of good places to get stuck. One thing that helped was that we were not traveling in rainy season which would have made things significantly worse. As we charged on into the night sleep was fairly impossible due to the road conditions but that didn’t stop me or my body from trying. I managed to smack my head on all areas or the car and people around me as I slumped from one position to the next but at least everybody was courteous enough to return the favor. At some point around 2 or 3 in the morning we stopped in a small village because the driver needed sleep. Lydia and I spend the next few hours walking around in the dark to get the blood flowing in our legs and sitting by a small fire trying to keep warm since I have apparently lost all ability to survive at temperatures below 75 degrees and I didn’t have very warm clothes. That being said the night was beautiful and sky was crisp and clear. It was defiantly one of those moments when I had to stop and make my self realize where I was and what I was doing. Pretty amazing stuff. After catching a few hours of sleep the driver woke and we got back on the road. Most of the trip was a blur due to the lack of sleep and constant smashing of my head against the seat in front of me but as we got closer to Labe the road become more vertical and we began to go up and down switchbacks and as the sun came up we could see some wonderful vistas of rolling green hills. We eventually arrived in Labe around 3pm and extracted our selves from the car. After a quick ride to the other side of town in another car to the other car park we quickly found another car to our next destination. This time luckily only an easy hour away. We arrived in the town of Pita which was pretty much our last significant town before heading to the village where were we planned to spend most of our time. Again we went to the car park and found our car which took some time to fill but we managed to finally get going out of Pita around 7 or so that evening.

As painful as the first leg of the trip was we can say that we were lucky we didn’t have any serious breakdowns. The cars are so old and over used that they tend to have what you might consider pretty major problems pretty often. Along the way I noticed that most of the drivers carry slightly more then your spare fuse in the glove box. The inventory in our car consisted of among other things, a spare drive shaft and a spare axle. Well as soon as we were out of Pita we hit our first problem. The lights went dead and the engine cut off before we even really got on the bad road. Over the next thirty minuets they managed to get the car started/pushed up a hill to the side of the road where they could replace the battery which of course we conveniently carried a spare for in the trunk. Once we got that fixed we only got another 20 minuets down the road and we all had to get out again while they repaired something with the rear axle. Back on the road again which by this time and location in the trip was very windy, rocky and hilly we made it a little further until we ran out of fuel. This is when we learned the engine got its fuel from a 2 liter jug under the hood with a hose in it and this jug had to be refilled quite often to keep us going. It was around now that I decided I was even more happy it was a diesel engine lest we meet a fiery death. We carried on with frequent axle fixing and fuel jug refilling stops and what was supposed to be a 1.5 hour trip turned into a 4 hour trip that was actually pretty entertaining. The biggest highlight was trying to get up the really steep rock covered slopes. The clutch was so bad that it couldn’t hold under much pressure so it couldn’t handle the weight of the fully loaded car on the steep slope. Usually we could make it by making three or four running starts and zigzagging our way up but on one particularly bad hill we all had to get out and help the car up by pushing it. At about 11:30 that night a good 35 hours after starting out we dropped on the side for the road in the village of Doucki. Almost at our destination we walked the last 2km to the camp we planned to stay at, navigating a rocky road by moonlight in our flip flops, and had to wake up Hassan (our host) so we could get a place to sleep. At this point despite being extremely tiered we really (really) needed a bath because we had so much dirt on us that you could probably measure it in inches. Alas, Hassan said the well was far away and there was no water available but he would get some first thing in the morning. Although the look of disappointment in Lydia’s eyes was clear I was secretly quite excited I could go directly to bed this dirty without being yelled at. Off to sleep, and oh what wonderful sleep it was.

This little camp we stayed at is run by Hassan Bah. He started out life as a mechanic and lived in Sierra Leone for some time after leaving his home in Doucki looking for work. He then got a job as a sea going mechanic working in various places including Morocco, Spain and Holland for eight years before coming back to Doucki. In his time abroad he managed to learn English and Spanish in addition to the French and Fula which he already spoke from living in Guinea. Sometime after returning to Guinea he met and worked with some Peace Corps volunteers working in the area and took them on hikes in the surrounding area to show them around. After the volunteers realized how cool the place was one of them suggested to Hassan that he should lead hikes in the area as a guide. Long story short, Hassan worked with one of the volunteers to develop the camp and get the business going and today it’s a Peace Corps success story. Always good to see one of those. Hassan is an awesome guy and always getting into new things. While we were there I gave a few impromptu computer lessons since he was learning how to use the laptop he had just gotten a few days ago.

We spend five days at Hassan’s and loved every minuet of it. The area is awesome with some great trails and more waterfalls then you can figure out what to do with. Everyday we went on one or two hikes ranging in length from 2 to 8 hours and sometimes did a few in one day. On pretty much every hike there were multiple opportunities to swim in cool pools of water in the river or under waterfalls. There were two hikes in particular that we both enjoyed the most. The first left from the top of the Plateau and he called it Shoots and Ladders. We descended into a large canyon which is about 1500 feet deep. Once on the bottom we crossed though some pretty sweet jungle and saw a troop of baboons just off the trail. The trail back up to the Plateau went through a very narrow slot canyon where there was a stream running down and you had to climb up rocks and lots of improvised ladders to make it up. These are trails that have been in use forever and are still in use as normal routes for locals traveling between villages. Another cool hike he called Indiana Jones, which took us thought these huge rock formations where a lot of vines were growing all over the walls and water ran between some of them. It was a pretty surreal place and the name was right on the mark, something from temple of doom, complete with swinging on vines and eerie caves and lighting.

In the evening we just hung around and chatted with Hassan or some of the other guests and enjoyed the cool evenings. We met a cool guy from Arizona that was on an extended trip of Africa. We all agreed it was good to see other Americans traveling since it seems to be a rarity, especially in out of the way places. Come on people get on it, the world awaits you! He also gave us some Tobolerone chocolate which we never get so we were pretty thankful. Lydia carefully guarded it against melting any further or other possible disasters for the rest of the trip.

Unfortunately the day finally came that we had to head back and face the long road in reverse. The trip started out pretty smoothly and we made it all they way to Labe without any major problems. Partly due to it being a downhill journey this time. Once in Labe we headed to the car park once again and found our chariot awaiting us. This time we weren’t first but close enough to get some good seats. We spend the next four or five hours waiting around for more passengers and for the guy to work on the car. We should of known that this amount of work just before a long trip is a bad omen but we didn’t put all the pieces together (get it?) and if we had it’s a good chance the next car would have been just as bad but anyway we rolled out of town in the late afternoon once again fully loaded. I wont go into detail for our time in this car but lets just say the trip from Gambia was a cake walk in terms of mechanical problems compared to the trip TO Gambia. We had all manner of things breaking and innumerable stops on the side of the road or at the road side “mechanic” shops (guy with a hammer, metal bar, and wrench). Anyway it all came to a sudden end sometime the next day on a dusty road in Senegal with a loud bang and several pieces of metal left behind the car on the ground. The source of these pieces of metal is still now unknown but the result was immediately clear, the car wasn’t going anywhere on its own. Now we just sat or lay in the bush for awhile hoping somebody might come along and tow us but even when we finally got a tow it only lasted for a few kilometers before the other driver was to worried about damage to his own car and left us for the hyenas. Finally a big truck came along. There are a lot of these big trucks that travel between Guinea and other areas carrying goods. Its like a cross between a semi and a Jeep. There pretty sweet and can deal with the bad roads pretty well. We all climbed into the back of this cattle truck and paid the driver a little bit to take us all the way to Basse which luckily was on his list of destinations. We proceeded to get even more covered in dust and this portion of the trip will definitely go on my list of most interesting travel stories. All I can say here is it involved a lot of praying to Allah by the other individuals in the truck, a border crossing, some bad French (the language not the people) and another arrival after dark.

After we finally made it to Basse that night we were starving and very very dirty. We went to the transit house and washed up then rode some bikes over to get some chicken and beer at a favorite PC spot. Best beer and chicken EVER. Even though I only drank one beer I almost didn’t make it back to the house once the effects of sleep deprivation combined with the alcohol. Needless to say another night of wonderful sleep. The next day we woke up and as always here I have my shortwave radio within arms reach. Being a lazy morning after a hard trip I flick on the radio and tune to the BBC without getting out of bed. First thing I hear is that there has been a military coup in Guinea. Nothing like good timing I suppose. From what I could tell we missed it by about 12 hours. Such is life in Africa. Hopefully it will turn out ok and so far at least it doesn’t sound violent. We spent the rest of the day just hanging out in Basse recovering, doing laundry and getting things in order.

The trip was great in spite and likely because of all the figurative and literal bumps along the way. We saw some great places and met some cool people. Both on the way to Guinea and on the way home we met and got a chance to know some great Gambians who were traveling to visit family in Guinea and were always willing to help us out with anything they could. Thanks.

The trip from Basse back to home is a story for another day and also quite interesting but i'll have to wrap it up here. If you made it this far into the story I commend you on your commitment to reading and wouldn’t want to push my luck by writing much more.

We spent the Christmas holiday in the capitol hanging out with friends. Nothing too special just some good food, a few movies and a pretty good party that the Brits threw at the British High Commission. I just told them that my bother in-law is from England and they let me right in…crazy. We missed all you back home and hope your holiday went great. Next year we will celebrate Christmas in the decidedly cooler climate of Colorado and your all invited. See ya!!