It forces you to trust strangers and to lose
sight of all that familiar comfort of home and friends. You are constantly off balance. Nothing is yours except the essential
things-air, sleep, dreams, the sea, the sky-all things tending towards the
eternal or what we imagine of it.”
-Cesare Parese-
I think I am a travel-holic.
I LOVE to travel.
I love experiencing new places and cultures.
…..and I love meeting new people.
I always have and I think the travel bug will ensure that
I always will.
So with that said I have a few trips pending but the BIG
trip that is the talk of the moment is my last extended trip that I will be
taking and I call it Central Africa but people think I am talking about the
Central African Republic (which is not a safe country to travel) when I say it,
but it really combines West, Middle and Southern Africa in one journey to be ‘country/region
correct’. Some people may think I am
crazy, going back for a second dose, well it will be the third, counting East
Africa, which I did in 2012, but East compared to West Africa is like chalk and
cheese, a walk in the park. When people
ask me about my West Africa trip I tell them that it was the toughest trip I
have ever done, and I am pretty well travelled, so it is a pretty bold and
honest statement. And when I speak to my
fellow travel buddies from West Africa they can only nod their heads and wish
me luck as some have said that they could not go back and repeat the trip, or
do a similar one. I have to say I think
I appreciated the trip more once I was back, as there were days that we had all
looked at each other and stated that we had paid money to so the trip, and
believe me there were some tough days.
But the rewards, the appreciation, the experience and the friendships
formed far outweigh driving for 3 days to cover 65km on the worst roads ever,
in an 8 tonne truck. You just had to
mention 3 words for us to shudder-“emergency bush camp”. Yes East Africa is for the weak-try West
Africa for a real overlanding experience.
So with all that said, I am signing up for another overland
journey. I know what to expect and the
interesting fact here is that it is 2 weeks longer than the last one and I was
MORE than ready to finish at the 10 week mark then! I do believe it is physiological, a frame of
mind and when I start the trip the extra 2 weeks will not make much difference-I
hope.
Africa is a massive continent and to break it up into
smaller sections of where I will be travelling are listed below:
10 countries-12 weeks.
·
West
Africa has been defined in Africa as including sixteen countries and I will visit 4 of them. Benin, Ghana, Nigeria, and Togo.
·
Middle
Africa (as used by the United
Nations when categorising
geographic subregions) is a term that includes 9 countries.
Angola, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Chad, the Republic of the Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial
Guinea, Gabon, and São Tomé and Príncipe of which I will be visiting 4 of these countries.
·
Southern
Africa has been defined in Africa including 11 countries and I will be visiting 2 of them. Namibia and South Africa.
So out of the 54 ‘countries’ on the continent I will be
travelling to 10 more of them on this trip and I have already been to 5 of
those, so I will get to see more of countries I have been to before and 5 new
countries to add to my African tally. I
have been to 27 countries as I recently just completed a 10 week West Africa
overlanding trip in November 2013. Not bad with exactly half of the
African continent traversed and with me back on the road again in January 2015
it will bring my tally count to 32 by April 2015. There is only 1
departure per year for this trip and I actually made the booking back in
January, 12 months in advance, and the tour was already half booked!! As of last week there were less than 7 seats
left, so this is the positive of being an early planner and getting onto the
tour before it booked out.
As with 95% of Africa visas are going to be the main
point of contention. I had friends that
did this section of the trip in 2011 and they were unable to get their Angola
visas en-route and had to fly over that section of the trip. Last year’s departure didn’t have any hassles
in obtaining visas and once this years’ trip has finished at the end of this
month, we will be notified and updated on the visa situation in due course. In total out of 10 countries I need to get 8
visas, 5 I can get in Kenya, one in Ghana and the other 3 will have to be done
en-route but we will see what information comes out of the 2014 trip. Visas are the bane of a travel holiday and
they can be quite stressful getting them.
Out of the 7 that I have to get Angola seems to be the trickiest but it
seems that it is one of the ones that really can be obtained on the road. Even if we could get it before departure (in
London or Tanzania) it takes 21 days to process, so ideally on the road would
be a far better option assuming that we can even get it. ***I
HATE OBTAINING VISAS*** A LOT***but they are a necessary evil of
travelling. The great thing is I got my
passport re-issued last year in preparation of my West Africa trip so I have
plenty of blank pages for the next load of visas to collect which is just as
well because passing through those 9 countries took up 16 pages of visas and
stamps, so you need to make sure you have plenty of room for these visa kind of
countries.
So what countries will I be going to and where will I get
my visas?
Ghana- can be obtained in Nairobi.
Togo- can be obtained in Ghana before the tour.
Benin-can be obtained in Nairobi.
Nigeria-can be obtained in Nairobi.
Cameroon-en-route
Gabon-en-route
Congo-can be obtained in Nairobi
Angola-en-route. This seems to be the hardest one to
obtain.
Namibia-do not require a visa.
South Africa-do not require a visa.
So what’s involved joining an overland trip?
On an overland trip you're more than just a passenger,
you're part of the crew, and everyone gets involved to help with setting up
camp, pitching tents, shopping for food and even cooking. There are also a
number of other responsibilities that are part of the overlanding lifestyle,
for example collecting water and firewood, loading luggage and helping to keep
the truck clean and tidy. This idea of ‘pitching in’ as a group has always been
fundamental to overlanding – generations of overlanders have revelled in the experience of being part of an
adventure rather than just a passenger.
These tours are designed to offer freedom and flexibility, so there's a
route to follow rather than a strict hour-by-hour itinerary or even day by day
itinerary. The vehicles allow us to get off the tarmac road and to travel the
road less travelled. This ability to go beyond the tourist infrastructure
is core an overlanding experience. Truck
based overland journeys, or overlanding, is all about taking the road less
travelled and getting away from the tourist trail.
BUT this isn’t just any overland trip. The first 2 months will be travelling where
only a few tour companies operate. It is
a primitive part of the world. This epic
and challenging trip takes us right the way through some truly off the beaten
track destinations. THE ADVENTURE TRAVEL REALITY CHECK. A journey anywhere in the
world, even from your home to place of work, can expose you to risk of an
accident. However, travelling in the developing world can expose you to risks
not normally faced at home and the type of travel on all these kinds of trips can
sometimes be less predictable than you may expect. The countries we will visit have lifestyles
and expectations very different to those of developed countries and events can
occur that will require patience and understanding from you, the traveller.
Health and safety and operational standards, particularly of hotels and local transport, can be
unpredictable and are generally not up to western standards. No matter how experienced
and organised Oasis and their Tour Leaders are, we are often at the mercy of
the unpredictable. It is important to remember this and be aware that the type
of trips can never be guaranteed to be without a hiccup or two. After traversing West Africa for 10 weeks in
November, I think the whole above paragraph is aptly worded and at least I know
what to expect, really expect, on this particular trip. No big surprises for me. If I can do West Africa, I figured this side
of the continent can’t be that much harder.
Because Oasis do not operate normal 'package holidays' the itineraries given in the brochure cannot be guaranteed to run exactly as outlined. However, it is rare that they have to make major changes and in the event that they do this will be discussed with us either before or during the trip. It is important to bear in mind that should it not be possible to enter a certain country due to safety concerns, visa problems or political turmoil etc., and it becomes necessary to fly over a country in order to continue a trip, that all costs for flights will be borne by the passenger and not Oasis. The aim is to use accommodation that is locally owned and operated. However, while reasonable care is taken in selecting accommodation the health and safety regulations in the countries through which we travel are not up to the standard of western countries. Some of the trips may only pass through a particular area once or twice a year, and in this time the standard of the staff and accommodation can change a lot, so please be prepared to accept inconsistencies such as this as these are things we have very little control over. If you choose to travel on this type of adventure trip in developing countries you must be prepared to accept that these types of incidences are all part of the possible experience. In many of the countries we visit, once we are outside major cities the emergency services and facilities are of a very limited nature compared to western countries. In summary it is very important to accept that these trips involve an element of personal risk and are of a potentially hazardous and unpredictable nature.
Because Oasis do not operate normal 'package holidays' the itineraries given in the brochure cannot be guaranteed to run exactly as outlined. However, it is rare that they have to make major changes and in the event that they do this will be discussed with us either before or during the trip. It is important to bear in mind that should it not be possible to enter a certain country due to safety concerns, visa problems or political turmoil etc., and it becomes necessary to fly over a country in order to continue a trip, that all costs for flights will be borne by the passenger and not Oasis. The aim is to use accommodation that is locally owned and operated. However, while reasonable care is taken in selecting accommodation the health and safety regulations in the countries through which we travel are not up to the standard of western countries. Some of the trips may only pass through a particular area once or twice a year, and in this time the standard of the staff and accommodation can change a lot, so please be prepared to accept inconsistencies such as this as these are things we have very little control over. If you choose to travel on this type of adventure trip in developing countries you must be prepared to accept that these types of incidences are all part of the possible experience. In many of the countries we visit, once we are outside major cities the emergency services and facilities are of a very limited nature compared to western countries. In summary it is very important to accept that these trips involve an element of personal risk and are of a potentially hazardous and unpredictable nature.
The one thing I do draw away from these trips in Africa
is my love for the continent grows. My appreciation
for what I have in my own life and also for the country of Kenya that I call
home. It also challenges myself, my
character and also of the people around me.
If you knew me 3 years ago, I hadn’t camped a day in my life, I would
not bush pee, let alone, you know…. a number 2 in the bush and now I am volunteering,
paying for the chance to do all 3 for a 3 month ‘holiday’. My, how things can change!!! Overlanding has evolved over the last decade
and you can now find cushy campsites that offer flushing toilets, running
showers and even Wi-Fi (slow as a snail-but it is there) and I think that West
Africa and Middle Africa offer one of the last places on the planet that is truly
an overland experience. None of the mod
cons and sometimes you could actually believe that the world could be ending
and we would be oblivious to the fact and sometimes you feel like you are in
another dimension.
Does any of that sound like a great holiday or what?
A paragraph from my last day on my West Africa trip, November
2013.
“Would I recommend
the trip to someone else and the answer would be yes, but be prepared for some
tough times, change of plans, long truck days, bad roads, tinned meat,
mosquito’s, tuna rolls and an experience of a life time that you would get
nowhere else on this planet”
I ask again, does that sound like a great holiday or
what?
Checkout the trip:
http://www.oasisoverland.co.uk/trips/Africa/details/73/Trans-Africa-12-Weeks-Accra-to-Cape-Town-.html
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