Fighting the Sahara

After relaxing in our camp at the Senegal-river...

...it is time to say goodbye to our small refugee-group...

Thank you Martin, we had a good time, hope to see you soon, Zwiebelrostbraten!

...and start our 2000 km fight against the Sahara with the bordercrossing to Mauritania

The nomads are settling down...

...we don`t settle here,
 just say good morning Mauritania, good morning sand, good morning wind...

...good morning Sahara...

...we continue...
...Sandblasting, the bikes are clean like never before...

...Sahara meets Atlantic...

...and we meet the mined no-mens-land between Mauretania and West-Sahara (Morrokko)

...so we finished the fight against the Sahara (no chance to win)...

... and are riding the morroccan mountainridges...

...and yes, we did it,
this is the last African country on our trip...

Thank you for keeping in contact with us during the last 9 month, we hope to see you soon!

...Schweinzbraten!!!

Escape, out of Mali

We were sitting 10 days in our camp in Bamako, the German Consul gave us regularly report and supplied us with "beer, made in Germany" to keep us happy.

Thank You Larissa!!!



The last report from Larissa:

"Leave the country, you have 72 hours, after this time the borders out of Mali will be closed"

...so we leave next morning, 6.30 am. direction Senegal.



...a short rest after 6 hours riding through Sahel bushland...

...Sahel, water is precious...

...we are escaping, 4 people, 2 bikes, 1 Landrover and 1 bicycle on top...

...nothing, even not the mali-border can stop us - only the Yamaha...

... solving gearboxproblems...

After 4 days and 1500 km escaping, we reach the Senegal-river...

...we loved Mali, the landscape, the people, the Niger-river, the dust, the heat...

But now we are very happy to be out of this country, all the stress from the last 3 weeks is falling off and we enjoy the french bakery and cafe au lait.

Burkina Faso...Mali military-putsch

After taking a rest in Burkina Faso - got both quite sick- we are very happy to feel
fit enough to continue our ride...

...let`s ride...

...till the rearweel-bearings of the Yamaha say no...

..."Pernot", the "little helper" for us and the bikes...



...voodoo, the lokals trust in different things...

Mali, the biggest mud building in the world

- Mosque of Djenne -



...Niger-river...



...crossing...

...driving east, direction Dogonland...

...rural farming in Dogon-area...

...a Dogon boy...

We had perfect ridings on dirttracks around Burkina and Mali, visited the Mopti Area and Dogonland and got lost a few times in the little villages. The situation more east is said to be dangerous, because of the fightings between Tuareg and Malian military. We were very careful and watched the advices at the police-checkpoints and the lokal peoples. The "Red Line" (No-Go-Area) was east and north from Mopti. We met very friendly people in the rural areas, had a very good time and saw nearly no tourists...

We started our way west - to Bamako, and were sure to be now really out of "dangerous" area...

...but...

...we arrived in Bamako, captial from Mali on wednesday, 21.03.2012 at noontime. One hour later some parts of the Malian military started to attack the newsstation and the Presidential Palace in the capital without any warnings. The military closed the airport, all landboarders and set a curfew (=Ausgangssperre) for Bamako. The military said, that they took over control about all Mali. They arrested a few ministers and the President is hiding himself anywhere in the country.

We get only very few and controversal informations, because the situation is very intransparent. 

So we are sitting in our camp in the city and are counting the shootings around us - day and night. The atmosphere is very strange, no people on the streets, around 15 "tourists" and a few crazy journalists are here with us in the camp.
We are spending the days with waiting, talkings and try to avoid cabin fever (=Lagerkoller)...

For the journalists around us it is buisness as usual and they are taking photos from the fightings on the street... strange...

At least there is still cold beer in the camp-fridge...and we feel quite save behind the campwalls...

23.03.12:
- There are some lootings in town, supermarkets, privat houses, some hotels - north of the river Niger (Information from the German embassy next to us).
- A journalist, living with us in our camp get robbed on the street.

24.03.12:
There is a rumor in Bamako, that the Tuareg military start an of offensive today in Timbuktu with the intend to take the chance from the chaotic moment in Mali to occupy this north-east city...

25.03.12:
The lady from the German ambassy comes in the camp and give a report
 - nothing really new - some negotiations are going on...
She ask us, how we are... our answer:
"quite good, but the beer in the fridge get less and less, we can not guarantee for our mood, when the beer is finished..."
!!!One hour later she brings a cold box of  "Warsteiner" in the camp!!!

26.03.12:
-Demonstrations downtown started in the morning,
-14 governement figures start hunger strike
 -Bamako airport will be opened on 27.03.12 from 6am to 1pm, only Airport, no Landboarders open  (Info from German embassy)
A ironic story:
Today is the 21st anniversary of the last coup, when Toure putsched himself to power...
(Warsteiner finished)

27.03.12:
-Situation is comming calm, most shops are open, controversal storys about opening  of Airport and landborders.

28.03.12:
Everything seems to come back to normal, Airport and landborders open...
...so we are back on the road, organising Mauretania Visa ;-)


http://mg.co.za/article/2012-03-26-malian-lawmakers-opposition-condemn-coup-chaos/



http://www.neues-deutschland.de/artikel/222264.putsch-in-mali-fiel-nicht-vom-himmel.html

http://www.tagesschau.de/ausland/mali138.html

29.03.12
The west-african-union is setting an ultimatum from 72 hours, after this time landboarders will be closed.
The German Consul brings a nother box of Franziskaner and Warsteiner.

30.03.12

At 6.30 am. we escape direction Senegal. After 11 hours driving we arrive there and sleep straight at the Senegal border-post...we are save...

Scotty beam us up...

...North,

the way up the westcoast of Africa is full of administrativ problems... Visa for Angola takes 6 weeks(!) and it is not sure to get it, same for Congo. Nigeria boarders are closed...

...so we crate our bikes...

...and Scotty was beaming us and our bikes from Jo`burg up to Accra in Ghana...

...where it took us two days of work to get the bikes out of the customs...

...Ghanas "Slave-Coast"...

...Fort Elmina, countless slaves were shipped from here to the "western world"...

...and we riding up north...

...and pushing up north...

...rushhour...


...some "stopps" on the way up north...

... some mud up north...

...before we reach Burkina Faso and the "Grand Mosque" in Bobo Dioulasso...

...water is not the only problem in Burkina Faso,

which is said to be the 3rd poorest country in the world...

The bikes are working, but we have nearly every day some mechanical problems,
punctures, welding, kabels...

...so not only we two, but also our bikes are feeling the kilometers from the last 7 month...

...and it is bloody hot again...

South...

...Africa welcomed us and
MIDAS
- something equal like A.T.U. - 

invited us just 5 km after boardercrossing from Mosambik to repair our bikes
in their showroom, THANKS!...

...because after 10000 km without adjusting - the valves made crazy noises
and the engineoil was over the edge...



...so we are ready to rock Swasiland...

...have our first "braai" with special people...

...and finish our tires - which were lasting for 25000 km...

...before we drive back to South Africa to change the vehicle...

...to get "stucked" again...

...in Krügerpark...

Kati got quite sick, she had to take a lot of antibiotiks and we decided to take a rest and make holidays. So we parked our bikes save in Pretoria and took a night train to Cape Town, where we rented a car again.
But our holiday in Cape Town got a nightmare, they broke the window of the car and stole our backpacks including passports, drivinglicence, camera and a lot of small but important items...so we are a nother number in South African crimestatistiks...and had to go shopping...

Top of the Table Mountain, the first pictures with our new camera...

...we lost a lot of money, nerves and time but we are both healthy
and got a lot of support from our embassy, german offices, parents
and south african friends, THANKS!

...so let`s go on and party...

...with Anita,
a friend living also in our hometown Bad Reichenhall and
owner of Sunsplash Divers in Egypt (we got stucked there 6 month ago),
we met her incidentally in the 3.5 mio Town at the Cape...

...with our "guestfamily" du Plessis in Pretoria - they gave us asyl, food, drinks

and so much good time, THANK YOU!

...with Christo and Heinrich from Bike-Tyre-Centre in Pretoria,
unbelievable support from unbelievable people - THANK YOU!

We met so much lovely people down here in South Africa,

and found so much new friends, THANKS!

Hope to see you all again soon!

So the most southern point of our trip is done and we are organising our way up north...