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The day started out peacefully with breakfast and a chance to watch the sunrise, then we were off on our way once again through the forested area of Guinea.The drive through this mountainous area was outstanding with beautiful vistas of pine trees and my favourite upside down tree which I don't know the name of, forest with its frenzy of trees, vines, and liana, and small villages with hordes of people yelling "Bon voyage", "bon arrivee|", "hello", "bonjour" "ca va", at us. Sadly, some patches of mainly kids were also yelling "donnez moi un cadeau". i guess they have learned that from someone. I have never waved so much in my life. The children scream with delight, the women shout out a welcome to you, and the men wave, smile and hurl instructions at you, most of which are lost in the villagers babble. The road on this journey started out very well. Paved, white lines, guard rails, and netting to protect the road from falling stones. Then, there was a heavy braking, a thud, and we were on the worst road imaginable. Dirt, pot holes, breaks, gullies. We wonder how commerce can survive here as a lot of the vehicles on the road are big heavy trucks. There are no railways. This continued for most of the day. The only thing worse would have been doing it in the rainy season!
As evening drew near our crew were looking for a place to camp. It is difficult here because of the bush. Eventually, as a last resort, it was 6:30 and about 10 minutes away from dark, we found a logging road just before Madina and just after Kissiedougou (don't you love some of the names - so and so appropriate for Valentine's Day), and after moving some hewn timber we were able to set up the tents, cook dinner, and camp for the night. Around 5 this morning I woke up with something hitting my tent and the sound of crackling in the bush around us. Not sure what it was, but definitely some little critter. I don't think it was interested in the tent but had just come across it in its travels. Could have been a chicken, a goat, or some unknown forest creature, a snake maybe....not sure! But once again we made it safely through the night.
The day started out peacefully with breakfast and a chance to watch the sunrise, then we were off on our way once again through the forested area of Guinea.The drive through this mountainous area was outstanding with beautiful vistas of pine trees and my favourite upside down tree which I don't know the name of, forest with its frenzy of trees, vines, and liana, and small villages with hordes of people yelling "Bon voyage", "bon arrivee|", "hello", "bonjour" "ca va", at us. Sadly, some patches of mainly kids were also yelling "donnez moi un cadeau". i guess they have learned that from someone. I have never waved so much in my life. The children scream with delight, the women shout out a welcome to you, and the men wave, smile and hurl instructions at you, most of which are lost in the villagers babble. The road on this journey started out very well. Paved, white lines, guard rails, and netting to protect the road from falling stones. Then, there was a heavy braking, a thud, and we were on the worst road imaginable. Dirt, pot holes, breaks, gullies. We wonder how commerce can survive here as a lot of the vehicles on the road are big heavy trucks. There are no railways. This continued for most of the day. The only thing worse would have been doing it in the rainy season!
As evening drew near our crew were looking for a place to camp. It is difficult here because of the bush. Eventually, as a last resort, it was 6:30 and about 10 minutes away from dark, we found a logging road just before Madina and just after Kissiedougou (don't you love some of the names - so and so appropriate for Valentine's Day), and after moving some hewn timber we were able to set up the tents, cook dinner, and camp for the night. Around 5 this morning I woke up with something hitting my tent and the sound of crackling in the bush around us. Not sure what it was, but definitely some little critter. I don't think it was interested in the tent but had just come across it in its travels. Could have been a chicken, a goat, or some unknown forest creature, a snake maybe....not sure! But once again we made it safely through the night.
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