11/20/05
The plan this morning was to continue on towards Cameroon but since my stomach has been getting worse (I will kindly leave out the details of my stomach and intestine ailments) I decided this was a good place to visit a doctor. So after a quick trip to the doctor at the Muslim Hospital (not sure but I think they noticed I wasnt Muslim) the doctor told me I had a pretty serious stomach infection and need to take a pretty heavy dose of antibiotics. So with a bag full of pills I left the hospital.
After the hospital we decided to see the one tourist attraction in Kano, the ancient indigo dye pits. The dye pits were in pretty bad shape but the tour guide was quite good and very enthusiastic so that was a bonus.
Deciding that the Chinese food was so good last night we should do it again and after dinner nothing better than some good ice-cream. While we were eating our ice-cream I was approached by a husa man who wanted to buy my motorcycle. He looked quite wealthy (the Lebanese shop owner (Ahmed) gave me confirmed he was very wealty and the Assitant to the Governor) so I jokingly said $25,000 to which he quickly said OK. Saying that we should meet tomorrow and he would bring the money. Not sure if he would actually do it or he was just talking I said OK. Once he left Anna and I sat at the ice-cream shop talking to Ahmed for a couple hours before calling it a day.
Todays Specs
Weather: 95F
Distance: Kano Nigeria
11/21/05
At 1:00 we were supposed to meet the man for the motorcycle but to no big surprise he didnt show up, so we ended up going to Ahmed's house for lunch. He had a beautiful house with a lovely wife and served us a great Lebanese curry meal. His whole family lived on one block, 3 brothers had houses on side of the quite street and his father lived on the other side.
After lunch we went back to the hotel for a quick nap before meeting back up with Ahmed who invited us to his house again for tea. We ended up staying at Ahmed's house till almost 1:00 a.m. before calling it a night.
Todays Specs
Weather: 95F
Distance: Kano Nigeria
11/22/05
We got on the road about 10:00 and after a fairly uneventful ride we made it to Potiskum about 4:00. The scenery here is the typical Sahel savannah/desert, so there really wasnt too much to even look at. Though today unlike yesterday we only passed one checkpoint but they just smiled and waved us through.
Once in Potiskum we figured we would try the Catholic Mission and see if they would let us stay. They were very receptive and let us stay, they even gave us a room though we ended up staying in the tent due to mosquitoes. Apparently the lord wasnt paying attention because no lightning bolts struck me the whole time I was in the mission though Anna and I had to pretend we were married and that I was catholic.
The people in the mission were very friendly and were more interested about talking about Nigeria and culture over anything related to religion, which was fine by me. I can honestly say it was very pleasant stay in the mission.
Todays Specs
Weather: 95F
Distance: 230 miles Kano to Potiskum Nigeria
11/23/05
Today was another uneventful ride up till the point we came around the only corner for 100 miles and found two large semi-trucks coming straight at us. The only corner on the straightest road I have ever seen and this idiot in a 20 ton truck decides to pass. So with a handful of brake and a quick change of direction off the road we go. We were very fortunate that there was a decent size shoulder so we didnt wreck when we went off the road. So once I came to a complete stop and checked that I was still alive I proceeded to pry Annas fingers out of my back. I think it took her at least 3 minutes before she blinked or even said a word.
After a quick underwear change we got back on the road and made good time to Maiduguri. As we stopped and looked at the book to find a hotel we saw a goat get plowed by Peugeot, these drivers here really are the worse I have ever seen.
We ended up staying at an overpriced dilapidated 4 star hotel with the brownest swimming pool I have ever seen, I cant imagine the bacteria that were growing in that thing. Though they did manage to bring us a great dinner of potatoes and chicken.
Todays Specs
Weather: 100F
Distance: 150 miles Potiskum to Maiduguri Nigeria
11/24/05
Happy Thanksgiving.
After watching CNN and seeing about the busiest travel day in America and the other news we left our hotel and headed for the border. Today was a big day, we were heading towards Cameroon, the transition point from West Africa to Central Africa.
On our way we made a wrong turn so we had to stop and ask some locals for directions, the trick is you ask about 5 people and if the stories are somewhat close you know you have a decent chance that you are heading the right direction. We stopped to ask a farmer coming in from the fields, he was carrying a large ax type hoe thing and was walking towards the road and as we pulled up and came to a stop he gave one look at us and turn around and full sprint ran back into the field only slowing down to see if we were still there. It was one of the funniest things I have ever seen, I am not sure what scared him but he was truly scared of us. Once we found the right road it led to a small border town where the road gave way to dirt and went 3 different directions. So I obviously chose the wrong one and almost made it illegally across the border before being chased down by a concerned Nigerian border guard. He quickly escorted us to the correct crossing where after 20 minutes and no hassle we were ready to cross into Cameroon. After checking with everybody in uniforms they even let us take some pictures of the border crossing, which isnt too common here in Africa.
It became apparent very quickly that Cameroon does not have the oil money of Nigeria, it was almost like stepping back in time. The guards were very friendly and stamped our passports with out any problem though the customs guy had never seen a Carnet before so I practically filled the whole thing out for him and stamped it myself.
First thing we noticed is that for the first time we saw public drunk people. Through the more strict muslim countries we didnt see any but here we noticed several and unfortunately even got talked to by a couple of them.
We also discovered that the northern part of Cameroon is French speaking so once again we had to go back to gestures and body language to communicate, we had gotten soft in Nigeria.
We followed a decent dirt road that lead to Mora where we found a nice little Auberge that let us camp for $4 and had decent showers.
Todays Specs
Weather: 105F damn the heat is back
Distance: 150 miles Maiduguri Nigeria to Mora Cameroon
11/25/05
This morning was quite a big day, tire changing day. After lugging these tires around for almost 7000 miles I am excited about putting them on. I could have probably gone a little further on the ones I have but owell.
I found the tire changing man in the village, he had a stack of 4 tires and a tire iron, obviously a professional. So with a crowd of no less than 100 people we changed the tires, these guys are amazing, it literally took him 2 minutes with one iron and bare feet, truly amazing. The crowd had gotten so big that people were pushing in to see that a fight between two grown men broke out, the tire professional made sure I was clear and it ended as quickly as it had started the sober guy quickly won and the drunk guy decided it wasnt his day to win.
While I was changing the tires Anna happened to meet a German couple who had rented a landcruiser and were heading to Waza Park. They quickly asked us(after I invited myself) to join them through the park since we wouldnt be able to bring the bike in the park.
After getting a horrible exchange rate at the bank we headed to Waza Park, Anna happily riding in the Landcruiser while I followed on the bike.
The park was only 50 miles away and the road was very good so we made it there in short order. The park has a nice little bungalow/camping area right in front so we set up camp and headed into Waza town for dinner. After a good dinner of rice, fries, plantains, chicken and a couple cold beers we decided to check out the nice hotel in town. The nicer hotel was on top of a hill overlooking the park, it was quite amazing as the sunset over the sahel.
Todays Specs
Weather: 105F
Distance: 50 miles Mora to Waza Cameroon
11/26/05
This morning came very early as we had to be up packed and ready to go by 6:00 to try to see the best animals.
As 6 of us piled into the mini-lancruiser we headed into the wilds of Africa. I made several impersonations of the Australian crocodile hunter, Krikey look at that Giraffe, but no one seemed to notice.
The park was very nice, we saw several huge warthogs, several different types of antelope, huge birds, lots of Giraffe, and even a lone elephant who was mud bathing.
After the park we headed back to Mora and set up camp with plans to head to Oudjilla, a small village outside Mora where the chief has over 50 wives and 113 kids. I figure I got to meet this guy.
Todays Specs
Weather: 105F
Distance: 50 miles Waza to Mora Cameroon
11/27/05
Our guide met us at the campground at 8:00 and off we headed to Oudjilla which was a mere 8 mile walk away, one way, up hill, in the heat, why was this a good idea, oh yeah the guy with 50 wives.
Our tourguide was a guy we met on our first day here, he was kind of an outcast and had a bad limp and a slumped shoulder. I would probably have chosen a healthier guide but everytime we were in town over the last couple days he always greeted us and took us around made sure we paid decent prices and never asked for anything in return.
So we made it the Oudjill around 11:00, fairly tired and hot, I was quite excited having conjured up visions of a hedonistic king with 50 naked wives running around. Well unfortunately the place in my mind was much better than the one in reality, dont get me wrong it was still amazing, the town overlooked several mountains which had been terraced for farming and was dotted with grass huts and people going about their African village business, but no naked wives. We got a tour of his palace, which was a collection of about 50 mud huts and 100 grain huts ( each wife has to fill two huts of grain) and I even got some picture with the king.
After the tour we started our 8 mile walk back, some people from holland passed us in a landcruiser passed us and apologized that they didnt have room for us an said bye, I wished them goodbye and said I hope they get a flat tire, yep little bitter on my 8 mile walk in 110F heat.
Actually it wasnt that bad and it was kinda refreshing to hike, but a 5 mile walk would have been better.
Todays Specs
Weather: 110F
Distance: 15 miles Waza to Oudjill to Waza by foot
