A city name for the ages

After what was reportedly the fastest border crossing into Burkina Faso ever (its amazing what guys will do when its 15 minutes before break time) we headed to the capital city. What a great name! Ouagadougou (wagadoogoo). Just rolls off the tongue don`t you think? After being in the truck and bush camping for about a week, the beautiful pool and air conditioned bar were places to haunt at our rather plush camp site (attached to a hotel). After a couple of days of rest, recuperation, swimming and beer, we set off again for Mali and the next major stop - The Dogon Trek.

The Dogon people are an indigenous tribe who live at the base and on the top of an escarpment on the edge of the Sahara 200km long. They have a fascinating culture that includes amazing dances (if we tried what they can do, major doctors bills) with costumes and ornately carved wooden masks. Wooden carved doors and locks. After being sat in the truck for a while, it was good to stretch the legs again. The escarpment itself is beautifully picturesque. Unfortunately the Sahara is beginning to encroach on their land and the Hamattan, the wind that blows from the desert, produces a haze of dust. We slept out under the stars and drank river cooled beer and soft drinks. It was great to be out and walking again.

We all headed back to the truck (with some of our companions struggling a touch) to camp again on the hostel roof and rest some tired legs. Soon we head off to Timbuktu.

Accra, Ghana and a Truck called Madge

As we are major fans of red eye flights (no really), we arrived into Accra at 3:30am with a pickup arranged. But due to a miss-communication (I communicated-they missed) we were left stranded. It always amazes me how many helpful people there are at airports, ready to be your friend. A couple of guys were very keen for me to use their mobile phone (I want to help you!). After being advised by airport staff it was too dangerous to leave the airport in the dark we decided to go back inside and wait till light and get some much needed sleep. After some Tash heroics (I was utterly useless) we eventually got to our hostel.

Ghana is a very hot and muggy place that was quite a culture shock for me. Dusty dirt lined streets, people and cars heaving through the streets, getting hassled to buy or give. But the smiles are huge and the welcomes warm and friendly. The kids are great too. We met up with our truck group and met Madge. Madge is a Mercedes Benz truck (it gets shirty if called anything other than truck apparently) with a passenger cab on the back. Its quite comfortable, with everything unpacking out of compartments in the body.

Upon leaving Accra, our first stop was lake Botsamtwi which was caused by the striking of an asteroid. Beautiful camping spot. From there we rumbled up to Ghana's second largest city of Kumasi, where we checked out a huge busling market, and spent the night in a Presbetyrian church guesthouse under massive lightning strewn storm clouds.

We were heading for Burkina Faso, and spent the next night bush camping under the stars at a place called Fuller Falls. A nice little place. As Ghana is a God fearing nation, on the path down to the waterfall there were constant signs asking us if we were going to up (heaven) or down (hell); and were we really sure? Near the border I spotted some grey shapes moving to the side of the road: A massive herd of elephants! My first time seeing them in the wild. Next stop Burkina Faso