-Hanin Yahya-
THAT was the best sleep I have had all trip. Even with the aircon not working and the
sound of the water pump kicking in all night, I felt amazing this morning. Can the hot shower last night have been the
key? I don’t know, but with another hot
shower this morning I was feeling on top of the world. Add onto that an omelet, fresh baguette and
happy cow cheese for the breakfast, it was a great start to the day that
promised to be 8-10 hours on the road. I
have worked out that I don’t care if I have people sitting next to me on the
truck now, I would just really prefer a window and I will be happy. It does work in my favor as a lot of people
want the window until the sun comes beating through, and on non-West Africanized
skin, it is hot and you can feel the burn and I rekon I could still get a
window seat in the afternoon when people want to move out of the harsh
sun. Anyway, I moved to a seat, I made
sure I had nothing on the seat beside me and if someone want to sit next to me
I would be fine. As it works out with
Zoe away, the front seat has been on offer yesterday and this morning, so with
people taking up said offer, it leaves another seat free in the back. That will change of course when we head out
of Labe in 3 days’ time, but seize the opportunity while we can and its funny
that it took Sam to be sick in week 4 for Suzanne to get the seat for the day
and then in the next 2 days there will probably be 4-6 people cycling through
the front. I think there is too much
pressure in the front for me, a conversation with Sam and also keeping track of
the directions and map directions are not my strongest point, so I am happy to
not sit in the front. Thanks
anyway.
We were on the road today at 8am. With a bigger group, I think you sometimes
need to clarify what the departure time means.
Is it doors closed and truck moving at 8, or people turn up at 8 to pack
the truck and then we roll? There have
been a few instances on the trip when we have left late, and let’s just say it
was no fault of the passengers……ever.
This morning wasn’t too bad and we left the hotel at 8.15am, but it is a
little annoying when you are on time every single day and the newbies are a
little slow on the uptake, but that is not my problem and I just need to keep
my nose out of it. The Guinean roads
continue to surprise us and we made it to Dalaba at 10.10am and you know when
we are making good time when Sam let us off the truck to go and have a look at
the mosque while he went in search of bread and fresh stuff for lunch. This was unheard of on the previous 2 trips
and we even stopped for a photo opportunity yesterday when Karl asked to stop
for a view shot, which Sam was more than happy to oblige. He is like a new man and when I spoke to Ian
about it he commented that maybe we just didn’t ask enough for stops and photo
ops and he is probably right. I do have
to say there was a lot of pressures on the last trip with drives, the roads and
the unknown, and this is section so far is a breath of fresh air and when you
are a pioneer, there are some things that have to be forfeited and I feel that
having the freedom to ask for stops was one of them. Ian and Suzanne found the buy of the Dalaba
stop and they were biscuits from a local lady and when they shared one with me,
it was an exact taste of shortbread!!!!!!!
Exactly. They went back to buy
some more and I got Suzanne to get me 2 small packets (there were 4 in a glad
wrapped packet) and I will be rationing them over the next few days. When we left Dalaba 25 minutes later, we were
1/3 of the way and if we continued we would be in Labe before 2pm.
There are more French speakers on this section, which is
good to help take the mundane things off Zoe’s plate, like translating things
or asking for things that we have asked through her. Suzanne, Rich and secretly Ellie, all knew
bits and pieces, enough to get us through most things and with the new group
there is Helen who seems well versed, Lord Byron is in the throes of learning
but has a great grasp and the surprise of them all is Clem that seems quite
fluent. Ollie and Sian also seem to be
okay at certain things and Cathy’s Spanish is getting her through. Actually I think I am the only one, no wait
and Karl, who have no idea, no concept and no comprehension of the French
language. When it was discussed last
night over dinner, Rich said that I would know at least 10 words and you know
what I got up to 15!!! Look out my
French is cracking along, but I can still only have a 3 word conversation
before I run out of conversing words, but hey I am giving it a crack and it
does sound like I know what I am saying, well at least for the first 3
seconds…….
11am saw us come down from the Mamou Mountains and the
scenery changed to flat looking with knee height elephant grassed plains. This part of Guinea is a beautiful part of
the country and we were now heading into a region called Fouta Djallon. Fouta Djallon is a highland region in the center of Guinea. The
origin of the name is from the Fula word
for the region plus the name of the original inhabitants, the Yalunka or
Jalonke (French:Djallonké).
Fouta Djallonke consists mainly of rolling grasslands,
at an average elevation of about 900 m and the highest point, Mount Loura,
rises to 1,515 m. The plateau
consists of thick sandstone formations which overlie granitic basement
rock. Erosion by rain and rivers has
carved deep jungle canyons and valleys into
the sandstone. The area receives a
great deal of rainfall, and the headwaters of three major rivers, the Tinkisso
River (major upriver tributary of the Niger),
the Gambia River and
the Senegal River, have their sources on it. It is
thus sometimes called the water tower of West Africa. Some authors also refer
to Fouta Jallon as the Switzerland of West Africa.
Since the 17th century the region has been a stronghold
of Islam. The revolutionaries led by Karamokho
Alfa and Ibrahim Sori set
up a federation divided into nine provinces. Several succession crises weakened
the central power located in Timbo until 1896, when the last Almamy, Bubakar Biro,
was defeated by the French army in the battle of Poredaka. The Fulɓe of Fouta Djallonke spearheaded the
expansion of Islam in Guinea. Fulɓe Muslim scholars developed an indigenous
literature using the Arabic alphabet. Known as Ajamiyya
this literary achievement is represented by such great poet-theologians and in its
heyday, Fuuta-Jaloo was a magnet of learning, attracting students from Kankan
to the Gambia, and featuring Jakhanke clerics
at Tuba as well as Fulbhe teachers. It acted as the nerve center for trading
caravans heading in every direction. The more enterprising commercial lineages,
of whatever ethnic origin, established colonies in the Futanke hills and along
the principal routes. It served their interests to send their sons to Futanke
schools, to support the graduates who came out to teach, and in general to
extend the vast pattern of influence that radiated from Futa Jalon. The area has also been called Fuuta-Jaloo
"the Tibet of West Africa" in homage to the spiritual and mystic
(Sufi) tradition of its clerics. The
region's main cash crops are bananas and other fruits and animal
husbandry is important, and cattle, sheep, and goats graze in open areas. The main field crop is fonio, although rice is grown in
richer soils. Most soils degrade quickly and are highly acidic with aluminum
toxicity, which limits the kind of crops that can be grown without significant
soil management. A traditional system of gardening, notably women's or kitchen
gardens called cuntuuje in the Pular
language which involves addition of various organic inputs (kitchen
scraps, harvest residues, mulching, manure). These produce a significant
quantity and variety of agricultural products. The gardens are always fenced in
to protect against free-grazing animals.
We stopped for lunch by the side of the road, driving
down again, a small track right next to a pine forest. The trees looked pretty cool, all lined up
straight and tall next to each other with their very dark trunks and their
bright green pine needles. It made for a
great photo. We weren’t totally obscured
from the main road here and we got a few beeps from passing bikes and 2 men
turned up that had a look and then turned around and walked back to the road
and jumped back on their motorbike. It
was Ready Steady Cocks turn for lunch and with very fresh crusty bread, all 6
sticks with tinned beef luncheon, tomato, happy cow cheese, onion, cucumber and
mayo-they really do make for an amazing sandwich for lunch. We will get our chance to shine in a few days
for dinner at the next bush camp and Cathy bought a secret ingredient at the
stop in Dalaba, ginger. Oh yes Ready
Steady Cock was going to rock the socks when we cooked dinner, with all the
same ingredients that we all have to use.
It is going to be in the art of making something taste different from
the last dinner, using the same staples.
It can get tricky, but that is the good thing having different people
cook, they all use different herbs and spices and they generally will have a
‘different’ element to them. Ours will
be the ginger.
We were heading for the region’s largest town of Labé
and we arrived and found the hotel just after 2pm. We were staying in an LP (Lonely Planet)
recommended place and the write up on the hotel was favorable and it apparently
served the towns best pizza!!!! Oh it
will be nice to have a different food besides chicken, beef and chips. I was going to have pizza for dinner. LP also had a computer sign listed in the
amenities, could we be that lucky and have internet/Wi-Fi access. Sian put a small doubt out there that last
night’s place also has a computer symbol in its blurb and they didn’t have
Wi-Fi, so I am not getting hopes set on that.
But wouldn’t that be nice! There
seemed to be a mix up on the room front and even though we had made a booking
there were not enough rooms for us all tonight.
Sam went and investigated what was actually available and then he dished
out the rooms as he saw fit. I was a
little pissed when all the couples were automatically given the free standing
bungalow rooms, Karl offered to camp so he would get some cash back, the
remaining 3 guys had to share a room in another building and Helen and I were
in a small room off the same building.
This was the same man that made a fuss over the lodge at the chimp place
and I just had to see what the bungalows looked like before I said something to
Sam. I found Sian and Cathy’s door open,
so I asked if I could stick my head in there room and it was actually a mirror
image of our room, theirs was just round and we were in a rectangle room. Okay, well that made me feel better and I
wasn’t going to say anything. But the
assumption that the couples get those rooms I think is what infuriated me more
than anything.
The next few days here in Labe consists of hiking, which
I am totally NOT interested in at all, but Sam was still to find out all the
options and the costs from a company that is based here locally and they were
going to come to the hotel in the next few hours, so we decided that we would take
a walk into the town and have a look around.
We left the hotel in dregs, but then we waited on the main road for
everyone and then we walked en-mass into town.
People didn’t seem to be hassling us much here and I think that they
must see their fair share of white people here in the form of NGO and a handful
of tourists for the hiking. We still
made a bit of a stir and I was glad that I wasn’t on my own. We located a working internet café that we
wanted to stop in on the way back and we also passed a post office, which I
will try and come back to in the next few days for a stamp for my Globetrotters
book. We continued on and walked past
the outskirts of the local market and then as people peeled off to use the ATM
and others circled back to the hotel, Rich, Ellie and I walked up to the top of
the town to have a look at the mosque, which Rich went in for a quick look and
we waited outside (males only permitted) and then we looped back around and
started top make our way back. There was
a storm brewing, dark clouds started to form and the rumble of thunder could be
heard as we picked up the pace, tried a different route home, thinking we were
walking parallel to the street we came in on, getting disorientated for a
minute and then me spotting an abandoned church that we had passed earlier as
my land mark and we happened to pop out right next to the internet café. Perfect.
We purchased 30 minutes of connection for 3,000 (70c AUD) and I was able
to check Facebook and let the world know I was okay. I saw a status update that Zoe had the
passports and she was on her way back.
Sam thinks she is due in around 10pm tonight after all day in the crazy
loaded bush taxis that we have been seeing, so I wish her safe travels back to
us. I think I will come back tomorrow
and load some blogs, as I will have the time so that I don’t bombard people
when I finally get a Wi-Fi connection again.
I bought a USB stick for that reason, so I will check that out tomorrow.
We walked the 15 minutes back to the hotel and just as we
arrived back the heavens opened up and the rain came down in all its
glory. It even hailed a little and our
timing could have been more perfect, as usual.
Helen and the girls were not back yet, they had stopped at the internet
café and were stuck there until the storm stopped enough for them to make a run
for it. Dinner was scheduled for 7pm and
I came across to the restaurant at 6.50pm and ¾ of the group were already
there, which is fine, but they had all gone ahead and ordered dinner without
waiting for everyone. For some reason
this just pissed me off, as I am sure we were all hungry, but they only had to
wait 10 minutes and then we could all order together, this new group has just
waltzed in and don’t have the common courtesy to wait for everyone and it was a
little disappointing that Sam was included in that charge as he should of known
better. The first fracture? Maybe I am making a mountain out of a
molehill, but it is the first time it has happened in whole 7 weeks, with a new
group and I think it was a little rude and poor form. Some people agreed with me, so it’s not just
me getting my nose out of joint. Cathy,
Sian and I had to wait while they all got their pizzas before we could even
order and people were talking about ordering a second one before we had even
placed our first one. It just infuriates
me when people just look after themselves with no regard to people around them,
and not knowing that people hadn’t ordered or eaten as they try and get a 2nd
pizza. Rant over.
Sam had all the details for the walk tomorrow and it
seems the only option is a 2 day hike.
They drive for 2 hours to a small village that has no shops etc…. where
they will base themselves for the night in accommodations there that sleep 10,
and if there are more people than that they had permanent tents where people
can sleep. They will do an afternoon
hike for around 2 hours, which was aid to be easy (yeah I have heard that
before and he still had my attention until the following day they head on a 6
hour hike that has a few rises, including a 300m summit and then I was
out. It did sound like you would see
some good things including a natural rock bridge, a vine bridge and some
waterfalls, but even those temptations would not get me on a 6 hour hike. I am pretty sure I could have done it, I have
done such things before in my travels (a 6 hour hike in the Andringita National
Park in Madagascar and a 2 day trek through tea plantations in Sri Lanka) but I
am just not 100% sure I would enjoy myself and based on that I was out and I
was the only one not going. I am ok with
that. I don’t mind spending some time to
myself. It gives me a chance to get fully
up to date with my blog and start editing my pictures, I can walk to the post
office for a stamp, I can jump on the internet and I have a good book at the
moment that I can read. So I am sure I
can keep busy enough. The trip seems
good value at 25EUR per day which includes everything, the money was not the
issue for me but it is just not my cup of tea.
I didn’t climb Macchu Picchu when I was in Peru and I didn’t climb when
I was in Torres del Paine National Park in Chile and I was also okay with those
decisions. Based on tonight, I think it
is good that I have some time to myself to reset and settle. I hate a fractured group, it can change the
whole dynamic of a trip and I hope this one doesn’t get out of control.
So I am getting 3 nights here in Labe, 2 full days and I
have to say I am looking forward to the prospect.
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