MY WEST AFRICAN PHOTO DIARY - 2013

This is my photo diary from my trip to a very challenging part of the world - WEST AFRICA.  It was not my first overland trip but I knew it would not be like any overland trip that I had done before.  It was made clear in the trip notes that it was going to be a difficult part of the world, and they weren't kidding.  It was one of those trips that you wondered why you paid money for an experience like that and you truely appreciated it more once you were back home.  It was the TOUGHEST trip I have ever done, but I am glad I did it and I wouldn't change it for the world.    

I have spent hours sorting through thousands, literally thousands of photos to create the perfect book, picking the top pictures to collaborate my time on my travels.  I am quite proud of the end result and it was truely rewarding going back over the pictures to give me an appreciation of the trip and reliving great memories.  I think that everyone should go back over their holiday snaps at one point, to realise just how lucky we are to see and tour this beautiful planet we call home.

Click the link below to enter my West African experience:
My West Africa Photo Diary-Series Eleven

Some interesting ‘stats’ of the trip is listed below in a summary of what the trip consisted of on my 10 WEEK African overlanding experience, and WEST AFRICA at that.  None of this easy peasy East Africa business.

70 days

10 weeks

9 countries

12 borders

4500km travelled

328.5 hours sitting on Madge (the truck)-92.5 hours section 1-140 hours section 2-96 hours section 3

23 AMAZING PEOPLE

15 chickens (minimum)

53 tins of tuna

35 tins of SPAM

14,000 waves to complete strangers

23 pieces of West African material

7 camping nights

9 bush camps

38 hotel/guest houses

15 ‘other’ accommodation eg: dorm, bad hut upgrades

13 full pages taken up in my passport

4949 photos

70 quotes for my blog from the roof of Madge

And my love for Africa strengthened.

The stats were a little eye opening to say the least.  Probably the time in the truck is the biggest stat that stands out for me 328 hours, which converted is 13.66 days, full days in the truck, which is nearly 2 weeks, sitting on Madge.  It sounds a lot when you put it like that.  All in all I’ve had the time of my life. 

So a MASSIVE shout out to my group 3 of the trip.  You guys rocked.  We had an INCREDIBLE, diverse bunch of people and you really all did make the trip what it was ‘a trip of a lifetime’.  In no particular order:

Rishard and Ellie-UK

Ian and Suzanne-Ozwi’s

Cathy and Sian-Australia

Clem-UK

Lord Byron-Australia

Karl-Australia

Helen-UK

Ollie-UK

And finally Zoe and Sam-the rocks, the glue, the motivation and the driving force, literally, of the trip and for putting up with me for 10 whole weeks, or should I put that around the other way?

THANKS A MILLION TO EVERYONE who was a part of my 10 week journey:

Bean-UK

Harj-UK

Patrick-Australia

Ducky-USA/Australia

Eva-Australia

Patty-USA      

     

And to finish with one of my favorite quotes from the roof of Madge that Sam went to a great deal of trouble to sticky tape them all:

“Travelling is a brutality. 

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-

THANKS AGAIN and the best thing of travelling is meeting and making new friends and knowing that you will see some of them again.  That is the beauty of travel.