-Clint Borgen-
Our start this morning wasn’t until 8am, I think Sam was
being nice to us and we didn’t think we had tooooooo far to travel, well not
compared to what we have been doing the last week anyway. We had to stop in town to get some lunch
supplies, which always sounds easier than what it actually is, as there isn’t
just a big shopping center with a big supermarket-we have to park the truck
somewhere, usually in the center of a super busy town, which can be a trick in
its own and then we leg it on foot from there to see what we can find. As it isn’t a big job, only a few of us have
to go and I hate to say it was my turn with Suzanne to head into the craziness
of the market with Sam to look for food.
And craziness it was!!! It was a
small version of the chaotic market in Kumasi.
There were little stalls everywhere, colour, noise, car and bikes
beeping (seemingly for no reason) people everywhere, ladies selling food and
items from their baskets and we navigated around them all looking for
something’s we could find for lunch. Our
basic food requirements for lunches are normally onions, tomatoes, baguettes
and anything else we can find. Today we
just couldn’t seem to find tomatoes! Of
all the produce and goods for sale, not a single tomato! I did spot a small supermarket, so we stopped
in there and we stocked up some of the dry goods for the bulk supply including
4 packets of couscous, 4 tinned corned beef, 2 tins’ of corn, 8 tins of tuna
and 3 bottles of small soft drink for 380,000 (76AUD) which isn’t the cheapest,
but not the most expensive we are going to pay either I guess. We then started to double back to the truck
buying some onions and pasta from some local ladies and then Sam sent us back
to the truck with the supplies and he was going to head into the market
properly and see if he could find tomatoes and bread. Good, you do that, the outside stalls were
crazy enough for me and we went back to the truck. I even saw some material in the crazy fray
and I didn’t even stop to check it out-yes people it was ‘that’ crazy.
After stocking the food, we were on our way. We had an end point this afternoon of Macenta
but is things go well, and depending on the conditions of the roads, always it
depends on the road conditions, we would push further onto a place called
Kissingdougou, (Kissing-doo-goo) and what a great name for a town. The first thing that I noticed when we
finally cranked it onto the open roads was the way that some of the people get
around, literally hanging onto the back of a minivan. Literally. The doors were closed and there were 2 guys
standing on the back of the van, holding on in a star like formation, and what
I would consider ‘for dear life’. The
van was travelling at over 100km an hour, so if they fell off, well it would be
nasty to say the least. I thought maybe
it was just a once off until a few minutes later a car came roaring past us and
the roof was packed to the rafters, people packed in the car and a guy sitting
straddle on top of the roof! Again they
were travelling pretty damn fast and the wind factor up there would not have
been pleasant. Then they just kept
coming, every 3rd-4th car had a person hanging out
somewhere, somehow, even a guy was lying on the roof just like another bag that
was strapped down. It was a funny sight
and I kept trying to snap them as they hooted past us and I was successful on
some occasions and others I completely missed all together. But what a sight!
We did have an activity planned for today and it was to
check out one of the things that Guinea, as a country is famous for and it is
the vine bridges. I am not normally a
Lonely Planet person, I don’t live by them, I don’t travel with them, but I do
have to say in this part of the world, they have been a great source of
information, on hand, that we have to refer to for things to do and see in each
of these random little places that we find ourselves. It was listed in there about one of the vine
bridges that we could walk to and that we couldn’t just turn up, we had to ask
for the chiefs permission once we found the village of Koya, and then we would
have to pay a ‘small’ fee to the chief, and then we would be guided to the
bridge. Even to me, it sounded like a
plan and the BEST thing about it all was the walk was only to be an hour in and
an hour back out. Now, that I can
handle. Any longer than that and I am
not sure if I would have gone. We came
across the village easy enough, it is located on the main road that we were
travelling, so Sam and Zoe got out, spoke to one of the locals that were sitting
under a palm frond shelter and they were then taken up to the main part of the
village to meet the chief and see what he had to say. They were gone for around 20 minutes and when
they came back they had good news and bad news.
The good news was we were granted permission and could walk to the
bridge, better news was the walk was only 45 minutes each way and the bad news
was Chief Justin, was a little greedy and the ‘small’ fee turned into 100,000 (20AUD)
EACH (and this was the negotiated price!!), per person, which doesn’t sound
that much to us, but 100,000 is A LOT of cash for them when you can buy a bunch
of bananas for 1000 (.20c). But we were
here, we hadn’t done much ‘sightseeing’ since leaving Ghana and figured why
scrimp on the trip now when there was something worse seeing. So we agreed to his substantial fee and Sam
and Zoe doubled back to the chief to pay and they returned with a local to take
us to the spot where we were to start the walk.
Forested Guinea is a forested mountainous region in southeastern Guinea,
extending into northeastern Sierra Leone.
It is one of four natural regions into which Guinea is divided and covers 23%
of the country. It includes all of the Nzérékoré administrative region and is known
for its diverse ethnic population, including the Toma and Lissi groups, and also shelters a large
number of refugees from the Sierra Leone Civil War, the Liberian Civil Wars and the Côte d'Ivoire Civil War. The area also has a rich fauna and
flora. The Mount Nimba Strict Nature Reserve lies 70% inside Guinea and also
extends into Côte d'Ivoire.
It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and includes significant portions of Mont Nimba,
a geographically unique area with more than 200 endemic
species and a rich
fauna and flora including duikers, big cats (lion and leopard), civets, and two
species of viviparous toad. In the Simandou Range and at Mont Nimba, Guinée forestière has iron deposits which are amongst
the highest quality known worldwide (66-68% estimated iron content). In a poor
country like Guinea mining is the most important source of income and exports
but poses a threat to the natural environment and biodiversity.
It was a 5 minute drive from the village and we turned
down a dirt road and parked the truck about 1km from there. Even if you tried to do this on your own
without the chief and guide, I think you would be pushed to have found the start
of the walk anyways. So we parked up the
truck and we set out exactly at 11.45am, and not being a walker, I was going to
be clocking the time as we walked deeper into the jungle. It was not a ‘tourist’ path, it was a local
path to some of the smaller villages, which we didn’t see, but we did pass
people on the walk. Our guide was a
bridge weaver, which is what they call the guys that build and maintain the
vine bridges. Zoe asked the guide how
old the bridge was that we were going to and he replied back that it is older
than him. He would have been over 40, at
least, and the skills of the vine bridge builders are passed down from
generations, father to son. It was a
beautiful walk, humid and hot at times when we left the canopy of the
rainforest, crossing some muddy patches and streams, walking through dozens of
butterflies but the timing was perfect, being a time watcher on walks, it was
exactly 45 minutes. The vine bridge is a
piece of engineering brilliance and at first look it was a wow moment. It is entirely constructed of vines, that now
can’t be found in the region-apparently hence the expense in the ‘payment’
which is used for fuel to get the vines from other parts of the region. It looked safe enough and the group were
going to cross over to check out the other side. The bridge could take 4-5 people at a time
but Suzanne and I decided to stay and not cross, but after I had seen everyone
go over safely, I decided to climb the large crude made ladder out of bamboo,
and walk out ¼ of the way to get a feel for the bridge and say that I did
actually stand on it. The bridge is in a
v like shape, with a vine netting from the floor of the bridge up to about a
meter high and the floor is made of bamboo and vines that would be no wider
than 20cm. It made some noises when you
walked on it but to be honest it felt a lot safer than the canopy walk bridges
that we walked on in Ghana. There were
then vines wrapped around surrounding trees, like spider webs and the base was
knotted with vines to stabilize it. To
think it has been here over 40 years is incredible and it looks like it will
stand for at least that in the future.
The walk back to the truck always seems quicker, and as I
prefer to walk last so that I don’t feel like I am holding people up, I was
accompanied by 3 young boys who must have been around 14 years old. They didn’t speak English and I was never far
from the main group, but they seemed like my little protectors and when I
stopped to take a photo, they too would stop and wait and then we would move
on. Zoe spoke to them at one point and
apparently they don’t get too many ‘white’ people in these parts. We made it back to the truck quick smart and
offered to drive the guide back to the village before we stopped to have lunch. We also offered for the 3 boys to take a ride
in the truck and at first they said no, but their body language was saying yes
and after a little prodding, they were keen as mustard to jump in the
truck. They were super shy, but they did
get a chance to wave at some friends that were swimming in one of the small
rivers, which was cool and I am sure they will have a story to tell their
family and friends around dinner tonight!
We were back on the road again at 1.50pm and it felt good
that we didn’t have a whole day in the truck and it was broken up by actually
seeing something of the place. The roads
were better than expected with all going well until mid-afternoon. We hit the first option we had of stopping at
a town called Macenta, which was the scheduled stop for the night, but it was
only 3.20pm and we decided to push on hoping to get to Kissingdougou by the
evening. I think everyone just fell in
love with the name and we were hopeful we could get a photo with the town
sign. It seemed the people in this area
of the country are not as friendly as their southern counterparts. They ran hot and cold with their waves and I
have to say, besides myself I have never seen anyone wave as much as Ian did
today. We are fellow wavers in unity and
most of the times the last week we have sat on the same side of the truck, so
when we see something or somebody, waving or not, we turn and know that we have
seen the same thing and have a laugh. It
is nice to meet a fellow waving machine and I would nearly go as far and say as
a bigger waver then me, well nearly, but he was on fire today. I have to say the ‘couples’ are awesome. Not once have I felt left out, they always
include me in everything and not once has it been awkward. It is also really really awesome to see that
people can find their life time partners with both couples having been together
for over 25 years (or more) and I think that that kind of commitment in the
coming generations will be lost (which includes me with a divorce under my belt)
and it will be super unusual for people to be married for that long in say, 20
years’ time. My best friend is also an
exception from that last comment, oh and also SA, as they have both been
married for more than 12 years now and they are ‘my’ generation. But it is wonderful to see and I have to say
an inspiration.
The roads deteriorated and our magic run on the tarmac
roads came to an abrupt halt after Macenta.
This in turn was going to slow us down for our final destination of
Kissingdougou, but we ploughed on and just see where the afternoon would get
us. It was a little frustrating as there
would be tarred road for about 50m, then it would be dirt road for 100m and
then tarred and then with pot holes we passed a pretty scary looking town
called Tuloko around 4.30pm and I could see one friendly face in the larger
village. We had to drive through a super
busy market and we didn’t feel a lot of love in that place at all and were
happy to keep on moving. There was one
thing to note that I saw in the afternoon and it was a lorry, a large truck
that was FULL of people. If we didn’t
know any better it looked like what you would imagine a people smuggler truck
to look like with people literally packed to the rafters. There would have been over 100 people in the
back of this truck which was the size of a small, very small swimming
pool. We pulled up at a checkpoint after
having overtaken this ‘people mover’ and asked for our papers, so the truck had
a chance to catch up. I looked out the
window and the driver handed over a fistful of notes to the guy that had just
checked out papers, and then they took off again past us. No checks, no questions on the people that
were literally hanging from the back of the truck and I see, and always knew
that there is corruption everywhere, but to see it is like watching a
movie.
At 6pm we hit the border town of Gueckedou and it became
quite clear we would not make Kissingdougou today and made the unexpected plan
to stop here. It took us 1 and a half
hours to travel the last 35km and as of this town, we still had 75km to go,
yeah we weren’t going to make it today.
Gueckedou looked like a town out of the Wild West and it looked a hot
pot of dodge, with truck, small shanty shops, people that didn’t look too happy
and I guess I wouldn’t be either living in a town like this. Guéckédou is a town in southern Guinea near
the Sierra Leone and Liberian borders.
It had a population of 79,140 in 1996 (census) but has grown massively since
the civil wars and, as of 2008, it is estimated to be 221,715. It was a center of fighting during the Second Liberian Civil War and the Sierra Leone Civil War in 2000 and
2001. The city is renowned for its large
weekly market, which attracts traders from across Southern Guinea, Sierra
Leone, Liberia and Côte d'Ivoire.
On 12 February 2007, the town's police station was ransacked amidst the
resumption of protests and strikes against President Lansana Conté
The weather was starting to turn and before any big storm
that has appeared so far in West Africa, you get warning winds before the down
pour and today was no different. The
wind picked up and the rubbish was being blown around, people were hastingly
trying to pack up their shops in preparation of the coming downpour. Zoe had climbed out and spoken to some of the
locals to ask where there was some accommodation for us and we asked a motor
taxi to take us there just as the heavens opened. So we pulled over, so that the motor taxi
could get out of the rain and 15 minutes later it had let up enough for him to
keep driving to take us to the ‘best’ place in town. As we drove around ‘dodge’, the streets were
brimming with water streaming in the overflowing drains with rubbish and we
were all looking at each other wondering just what sort of accommodation we
would be finding in this border town that has border crossings for Liberia and
also the Ivory Coast. We had a panic
moment when we saw a ‘local’ hotel called Stadium Hotel Plus on our left, and local
meaning ‘local local’…… and the look of fear on Ellie’s and my face must have
been priceless and then after we slowed, and then finally passed it, the look
of instant relief would have been hilarious.
We turned the last corner and there was the most unexpected sight we
could have ever expected. You can play
some trumpets now, and you could feel the atmosphere in the truck lift
tenfold. It was a ‘newish’ 4 story
looking building that looked like an oasis in the surrounding dodginess of the
town. After we had pulled up in front,
Sam and Zoe did a reccy to make sure that they had rooms and there was a smile
from ear to ear when he returned, they had rooms and they even had a
POOL!!! Who would have thought? We had really lucked out!!!
As they say, never judge a book by its cover, and the
hotel looked better from the outside than what was delivered, BUT having that
said even though the rooms seemed like they had been long forgotten, they had a
good bed, the promise of the air-conditioning later, the taps in the shower
didn’t work, even though they had turned on the water, we had large garbage
cans full of clean water for our showers and a view of the swimming pool, so we
couldn’t really complain and I am sure it was 150% better than the Stadium
Hotel Plus just down the road and compare that to a bush camp, yes this place
was going to be just fine. After
checking in just after 6.30pm, the rooms were pretty hot, so we met downstairs
for a drink and to order dinner, as you need to give as much time as you can
for the Africans to cook dinner and it was just as well as we did as the food
didn’t hit the table until 8.45pm. I was
knackered and as soon as dinner was consumed we all pretty much hit the
rooms. There was a flurry of getting the
air-conditioning fixed, the lights were working but the power points were not,
so we couldn’t even use a fan (if they had them) and we had all resigned ourselves
to the fact that we were going to be sleeping in sub hot conditions. At 10pm, I got a knock on the door and they
said that the air should now be working.
The power points were, but my aircon wasn’t. They fiddled around for about 10 minutes,
giving the unit a hit a few times, to no avail and then they got the air
working in Ellie and Rich’s ex room, which they had moved out of due to a large
hole in the roof the size of a kitchen sink in the bathroom and they offered
that I move in there. I quickly assessed
the aircon option with the risk of an animal living in the roof and eating me
during my sleep or sleeping in a mozzie infested hot box room and in a flash
took the aircon room and moved all my gear.
It was nearly subzero temperature in the room within 10 minutes and then
45 minutes later it conked out and stopped working, after all that. By this time it was just after 11pm-so I
figured the room would hopefully stay cool enough and before I had another
thought I was fast asleep.
So another unexpected travel day, but we are doing okay
and still only a day behind on our itinerary.
Pioneering is tough work sometimes.
No comments:
Post a Comment