Please comment your guess as to the whereabouts of this unique and very cool stilt village. I will post the correct answer later today. Good luck! The correct answer is Ganvie, Benin on Lake Nokoue. Easily the best (and only) tourist attraction in Benin and a nice way to spend an afternoon exploring by dugout […]
Reflections on West Africa
January 27, 2009 by 6 Comments
There is no place I have been, no place in the world like West Africa. The energy, beauty, poverty and insanity are unmatched and hard to get your hands around. The area of West Africa is vast and huge and can be a daunting place to visit let alone simply find on a map. It […]
#200 and the Nigerian Nightmare
January 21, 2009 by 31 Comments
I have been unable to get to the Internet for several days now and have been ridiculously busy after leaving Ghana overland into Togo for a night in the capital Lome. I had a quick tour of Africa’s biggest fetish market which features such lovely accessories as dead birds, monkey testicles and skulls of various […]
Africa For Beginners-Ghana
January 16, 2009 by 3 Comments
Africa for beginners is what Ghana is generally called because it is Africa of course, but not the Africa of many of its neighbors. Ghana has infrastructure, paved roads, political stability, very few barnyard animals roaming the streets freely, people speak English and there isn’t much challenge to getting around Ghana. The capital of Accra […]
Niamey, Niger
January 15, 2009 by 3 Comments
After driving a very long way from Mali, through the entire country of Burkina Faso, I finally arrived in Niamey and was expecting little from the visit as I have a buddy who served in the Peace Corps there for two years and didn’t speak too highly of it. Let me tell you that I […]
Ouagadougou
January 13, 2009 by 8 Comments
Doesn’t that name just say it all? Ouagadougou (which I had to practice spelling), pronounced Waga-Doo-Goo or more affectionately known as Ouaga, is the greatest city name is history and capital and largest city in Burkina Faso, formerly Upper Volta. Ouaga is at the crossroads of a lot of different places and most people, me […]
To Timbuktu and Back
January 11, 2009 by 8 Comments
Timbuktu, that most rhythmical of African names, has for centuries been synonymous with Africa’s mysterious inaccessibility. With an end of the Earth allure that some travelers just have to reach and clearly I am one of them. It’s the name we all knew as kids but never really knew where it was. More than just […]
Abidjan, Cote D’Ivoire
January 9, 2009 by 4 Comments
Cote D’Ivoire or Ivory Coast was once the shining light in West Africa and was an example for other nations to follow. An intricate part of the French influence of West Africa, Ivory Coast had fluorished financially as the center of business in the region and was home to a huge amount of French and […]
Post-War Monrovia, Liberia
January 8, 2009 by 12 Comments
Liberia is the only place that I was a little nervous about visiting this trip because of the conflict that was so recent and so violent. You can see remnants of the war everywhere and the former child soldiers make up a good amount of the touts and beggars on the streets of Monrovia as […]
Freetown to Monrovia Overland
January 8, 2009 by 7 Comments
Think of the countries that you probably wouldn’t want to visit in general. Now think of the countries that you would definitely not travel overland between. If you’re like most people, Sierra Leone and Liberia probably rank right up there at the top of both of those lists and that is exactly what I did. […]
