Blog

Day 74… Wednesday 14th June Early start today due to the Gabon/Republic of Congo border crossing and uncertainties with delays.  We knew the road before and after the border crossing was in bad condition therefore anticipated a long day.  It was an incredibly long day (15 hours on the go).  Turned up at the last...Read More

Day 73… Tuesday 13th June Set off for Mouila about 120 miles further south.  Got out more local currency (CFA) and stopped for fuel on the way.  The landscape has become drier and flatter with long grasses and the occasional tree.  A couple of police road blocks but no demands for documents and they simply...Read More

Day 72… Monday 12th June Headed to a local garage today to see if Greta’s rear suspension could be fixed.  She still has several thousand miles to go and needs to keep going.  Google translate and small talk in French worked wonders and the mechanic got started straight away.  His friend drove us around to...Read More

Day 71… Sunday 11th June Early start as we had 300 miles to cover and several hours of driving ahead.  Road conditions and police stops are the unknown factors so allowing plenty of time helps.  The road in the morning was in good condition and progress was easy.  Gabon has a monsoon climate being close...Read More

Day 70… Saturday 10th June After a delicious and substantial breakfast we headed to the Cameroon border.  I was sorry to leave Centre Touristique de Nkolandom and could have easily stayed longer.  Very easy road to the border with very few cars on the road.  Eerily quiet for several miles.  The border crossing out of...Read More

Day 69… Friday 9th June Off out of the chaos of Yaoundé.  After last night’s encounter with a corrupt officer and the social injustice of it, we were particularly apprehensive passing police officers in the city.  Less than 5 minutes after leaving the hotel, a police officer pulled us over and suggested that Greta was...Read More

Day 68.. Thursday 8th June Back at the DR of Congo embassy for 9am and handed over passports, photos and obscene amounts of CFA notes.  Our visas should be ready to collect at 8am tomorrow.  Found a Toyota service garage 3 miles down the road.  The city traffic was so bad that our journey took...Read More

Day 67… Wednesday 7th June Maize and plantain seem to be the main produce of Cameroon and we saw several cars/people loaded up with supplies.  It is a very common sight to see people carrying machetes to cut down timer, vegetation and fruit and then balance/carry it on their head.  Also seen ‘bushmeat’ for sale...Read More

Day 66… Tuesday 6th June Discovered a broken jar of pasta sauce in the back of Greta.  The entire contents had manged to work its way into the drawer runners.  The road from the Cameroon boarder had been brutal and the entire contents of Greta had been shaken around.  It was a time consuming clean-up...Read More

Day 65… Monday 5th June The mechanic arrived early and confirmed it was a gear box problem.  He drove Greta and us to his garage (first time for him driving a right hand drive vehicle) and fixed it the same day.  Far cheaper for car parts and labour in Africa.  We got a yellow taxi...Read More