Photos: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151358931776961.1073741825.562066960&type=1&l=6383df2809
We set off early the next morning on the road to Guinea.When we left town we turned off the main road and onto a one lane red, dirt, track. It was our best travel day yet. The scenery was absolutely gorgeous. We entered into country side with cone shaped hills surrounding us, beautiful vegetation of palm oil trees, what we called "umbrella" trees because the leaves hang in pods facing downwards, and ferns. The architecture in the villages was slowly changing to small homes with bamboo walls and thatched rooves with some mud block structures. We reached the most simplest of borders around 11. The border town was nothing more than a few houses on the edge of the road and a customs office made out of simple mud block building with a metal roof. Got safely through the "exit" procedure and arrive at the Guinea border. They were incredibly welcoming, and we made our lunch, with of course the requisite onlookers, but were quickly (for Africa) processed and were soon on our way with entry stamps in our passports.
The second part of this journey was even more stunning than the first. We continued on the worst road you can imagine, not that it is the "worst" here, but if you can imagine the worst, you might have some indication of the road. It was fun, but must have been awfully hard work for the guys driving the truck. The road was hilly, windy, narrow, gouged with ruts from the rain season, rocky with exposed areas of stone, and gorgeous. The little villages were really quaint and pretty, but we noticed that every one of them had lots of signs up advertising the aid projects: building of wells, schools, business, and health. Everything was sructured through aid. It is pretty sad when something as basic as a well can't be constructed properly without the Japonese (for example) donating money and labour to build the well. On our left, the Mount Nimba Mountain Range appeared as a shadow on the horizon. This stretches for about 40+ km through Liberia, Guinea and Cote d'Ivoire. Shortly after the border, we came to a stream that we had to ford. It looked like a big gully, but once we all got out Dave and Jimmy expertyly, and slowly, drove down the steep side, across the stream and gunned it up the other side without too much trouble. This same crossing in the wet season had taken something like an hour and a half. Once over the stream, we soon hit a "bamboo tree avenue". Bamboo is an amazing plant. Imagine a large tree trunk made up of hundreds of thick bamboo stalks with the leaves forming an arch across the road and you have the wonderful avenue we drove through. We got out and walked part of it, in other parts, Jimmy had to get out and move the bamboo from the road so we could get the truck through it. It was amazing! The soil was constantly changing colour from red to amber, to almost white. We travelled up hill and down hill and wound our way carefully navigating the ruts, pot holes, and rocks through scenery decorated with the most goreous palm trees, mop head deciduous trees, and ferns.
Around 4:00 p.m we reached Bossou and the Bossou Environmental Research Institute where we were camping overnight. As it was the final game in the African Football League, we trekked into town to watch Nigeria vs Burkina Faso. We tried a couple of places, the first had a great screen but was sooo hot, we couldn't even imagine sitting inside. The second had a tiny screen, but no beer; so we gave both a miss and joined Drew and Anna and Dave and found a neat little pub on the edge of the river where we listened to the frogs, the toads, and the sounds of the crowds' "oohs and aahs" over the near misses and goals from the game. To our disappointment, Nigeria won. We, and the village, were hoping it would be Burkina Faso! Then we wandered back to the Research Centre, ate our dinner, and retired to bed. It was an interesting night. We could hear the sound of music blaring out from the village. We could still hear it at 3, at 4 and I think it may even have continued right through. The researchers at the centre said it goes on all day, and all night, all the time! It would drive you nuts!!!
We set off early the next morning on the road to Guinea.When we left town we turned off the main road and onto a one lane red, dirt, track. It was our best travel day yet. The scenery was absolutely gorgeous. We entered into country side with cone shaped hills surrounding us, beautiful vegetation of palm oil trees, what we called "umbrella" trees because the leaves hang in pods facing downwards, and ferns. The architecture in the villages was slowly changing to small homes with bamboo walls and thatched rooves with some mud block structures. We reached the most simplest of borders around 11. The border town was nothing more than a few houses on the edge of the road and a customs office made out of simple mud block building with a metal roof. Got safely through the "exit" procedure and arrive at the Guinea border. They were incredibly welcoming, and we made our lunch, with of course the requisite onlookers, but were quickly (for Africa) processed and were soon on our way with entry stamps in our passports.
The second part of this journey was even more stunning than the first. We continued on the worst road you can imagine, not that it is the "worst" here, but if you can imagine the worst, you might have some indication of the road. It was fun, but must have been awfully hard work for the guys driving the truck. The road was hilly, windy, narrow, gouged with ruts from the rain season, rocky with exposed areas of stone, and gorgeous. The little villages were really quaint and pretty, but we noticed that every one of them had lots of signs up advertising the aid projects: building of wells, schools, business, and health. Everything was sructured through aid. It is pretty sad when something as basic as a well can't be constructed properly without the Japonese (for example) donating money and labour to build the well. On our left, the Mount Nimba Mountain Range appeared as a shadow on the horizon. This stretches for about 40+ km through Liberia, Guinea and Cote d'Ivoire. Shortly after the border, we came to a stream that we had to ford. It looked like a big gully, but once we all got out Dave and Jimmy expertyly, and slowly, drove down the steep side, across the stream and gunned it up the other side without too much trouble. This same crossing in the wet season had taken something like an hour and a half. Once over the stream, we soon hit a "bamboo tree avenue". Bamboo is an amazing plant. Imagine a large tree trunk made up of hundreds of thick bamboo stalks with the leaves forming an arch across the road and you have the wonderful avenue we drove through. We got out and walked part of it, in other parts, Jimmy had to get out and move the bamboo from the road so we could get the truck through it. It was amazing! The soil was constantly changing colour from red to amber, to almost white. We travelled up hill and down hill and wound our way carefully navigating the ruts, pot holes, and rocks through scenery decorated with the most goreous palm trees, mop head deciduous trees, and ferns.
Around 4:00 p.m we reached Bossou and the Bossou Environmental Research Institute where we were camping overnight. As it was the final game in the African Football League, we trekked into town to watch Nigeria vs Burkina Faso. We tried a couple of places, the first had a great screen but was sooo hot, we couldn't even imagine sitting inside. The second had a tiny screen, but no beer; so we gave both a miss and joined Drew and Anna and Dave and found a neat little pub on the edge of the river where we listened to the frogs, the toads, and the sounds of the crowds' "oohs and aahs" over the near misses and goals from the game. To our disappointment, Nigeria won. We, and the village, were hoping it would be Burkina Faso! Then we wandered back to the Research Centre, ate our dinner, and retired to bed. It was an interesting night. We could hear the sound of music blaring out from the village. We could still hear it at 3, at 4 and I think it may even have continued right through. The researchers at the centre said it goes on all day, and all night, all the time! It would drive you nuts!!!
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