DAY 27. FRI 02/03. Nouakchott to 40 km before Aleg. 223 kms. Total 6044 kms. Bushcamp.

Got most of our admin done yesterday, except for the insurance for Mali & Niger. Had another tip off of Darrin (back in Morocco) that the staff at Auberge Sahara in Nouakchott know someone who will sell you “Alliance D’Assurances” – valid for CIMA member countries in West Africa, that we needed for Mali and Niger. Apparently half the price that you would pay in Mali (although I am not sure if  this is true) and also less hassle by not having to worry about it when you cross the border and perhaps getting fleeced! We ended up paying €34 for one month which I was quite happy with. Had tried with Sedati at Auberge Sahara (N18 06.149 W15 59.847) the previous evening but he could not get hold of his contact so we came back this morning at about 11am. Turns out his contact was on the way back from Senegal at would only be there at 3pm. So we decided to wait. Filled up with diesel and then just hung out at Auberge Sahara for the afternoon. Watched the crazy Dutch come in on their Amsterdam to Dakar Rally, driving a collection of bangers – Volvos, Citroens, Peugots etc! Also spent a couple of hours talking to a mad Scot, ex Glasgow, who has been living in a tent in the desert for 14 months herding camels. He owns 2 camels, a few goats and a dog. Quite a character! Eventually the insurance salesman turned up just before 4pm and we were on our way by about 4.30pm only. Drove along the “road kill” route towards Aleg, with carcasses literally lining the road every few hundred meters, sometimes less! Camels, cattle, goats and dogs! Sometimes 5 or 6 all in one spot where obviously they had all been tagged at once. Rotting, bloated dried and desiccated with varying degrees of stench. How we never hit anything I don’t know. As we left so late we drove till just after dark to try and make a bit of distance and almost took some skin off some cattle as we were rounding a bend. Also came close to hitting a nervous young camel the following day. Stopped 40 kms before Aleg next to the road behind some bushes. Fairly decent camp probably just a bit too close to the road though with quite a bit of noise when the trucks went past but a good and hot nights sleep in the tent. We had already started opening 2 of the tent’s windows for the 1st time on the trip in Nouakchott because of the heat. Tent, mattress and bedding stores up quite a bit of heat during the day in the sun so you have to let it cool down 1st before going to bed. We now have all 4 windows open and it is quite airy, lovely and cool. Tonight though we just slept on top of the covers as it was soo hot! Also cracked the 2nd bottle of whiskey. 1st one didn’t last too long, surprisingly although Inga did use a bit for cooking 2 pasta dishes in the absence of wine! Still no sign of a beer since Atar.

DAY 28. SAT 03/03. 40 km before Aleg to 40 km past Kiffa. 433 kms. Total 6477 kms. Bushcamp.

Came fairly close to running out of fuel today! We weren’t carrying any spare and were planning on filling up in Kiffa. Not too sure if we would have made it as with 85kms still to go the fuel light started to come on and was half way through the reserve with 50kms still to go. Would have been tight! Luckily one of the small villages before Kiffa had decent diesel (had tried at the pumps too in the village before that one but no diesel) so we filled up there – 70 litres! Most we have ever fitted in the back tank so must have been quite empty! I have a feeling there might have been 10 litres left to go still but was quite happy not to have to find out. Also put 80 litres in rear tank and jerries in Kiffa to make sure we were fuelled up for Mali as it’s more expensive there while trying to keep a bunch of cardou/present demanding children at bay. They obviously get chased away regularly as they were all crowding around Inga’s window when I came around to that side of the Land Rover (not acting threateningly or anything – just to fetch something from the roof rack) and they all scattered! Couldn’t give them anything either as there were way too many of them and it would have ended up in a riot. One of them banged on the side of the landy as we drove off to register his disgust and I was out the door like a flash chasing after them but they were already around the corner before I even got out. Again you get the feeling that this is also a regular thing for them. Happy to be leaving Kiffa, not the most charming of places, we camped 40kms down the road towards Ayoun el Atrous. Camped under a large tree some distance off the road. Scenery & vegetation reminiscent of southern Africa – a lot more trees and shrubs with the dunes of the desert now behind us. Similar to Botswana with the sand too so we were expecting to hear lions roaring in the distance but all we saw were camels and goats. After a short while another group of better behaved children came over and started watching us – our 1st fan club. Didn’t do too much – just said bonjour and then just watched us for a while. We didn’t do too much to excite them, just sat around reading. Eventually 2 of the parents also came over to say hi. We asked them if we were ok to stay here of if they wanted us to move. They said no we were fine and off they went. A little later the kids said good bye and disappeared and we were left alone for the rest of the night. Much quieter camp with only the occasional chomping of goats and camels to disturb the sleep. Inga kept waiting for a camel to poke it’s head in through the window! Also pulled off our remaining rear mud flap, that had ¾’s torn through, just from wind pressure alone (cheap ebay knock-off’s) and discarded it so we now look balanced again. Will have to get Cathey a genuine LR pair for Christmas once we are home.

DAY 29. SUN 04/03. 40 kms past Kiffa to 20 kms past Nioro, Mali. 388 kms. Total 6866 kms. Bushcamp

Went via Ayoun el Atrous where we bought some bread, cokes and topped up 30 litres of diesel. Stopped for some lunch under a tree for a bit of shade mid afternnon and it was late afternoon before we went through Mauritanian Duones/Customs N15 49.490 W9 25.208 to have carnet stamped out. €10 again for this – luckily we had just this amount left in Ouguiya, so we got rid of the last of our Mauritanian currency. (Next comes the CFA). Then it was through Mauritanian police/border control to get our passports stamped N15 42.009 W9 18.919 before a 50 or 60 km drive to Nioro in Mali for Mali border formalities. Interestingly, twice on our last day in Mauritania we were asked to show our insurance also at the normal regular police check points and not just passport/fische details. This was the 1st time we had ever been asked for our insurance. I suppose it makes sense too as heading towards the border on your way out the is a chance some peoples insurance has expired and this would be good way of extracting “fines”. Luckily we still had one more day on our insurance even though we had spent 2 extra days in Mauritania than we initially had planned (by going via R2 piste to Atar and Chinguetti) so always by a few extra days than you think you will need just in case! Went through Malian police at N15 14.140 W9 34.820 to get passports stamped in and new customs building at N15 14.201 W9 34.045 to get carnet stamped in without it costing a cent. What a pleasure. Incidently, customs is no longer at dodgy, small building down side street further down in the village (N15 14.190 W9 35.380) where Rob & Ally of longroadtripsouth got there carnets stamped but new cream building on its own just after the Bamako road intersection on the right on the way in towards Nioro before police. We went to their old dodgy one 1st and now know why they moved it! Must have just been doing it temporarily while new building was getting ready! Must say all the officials were very friendly, best so far! On the run in to Nioro we had spotted our first Baobab trees which made us feel truely in Africa so on the way out of Nioro on the superb brand new Bamako road we pulled off about 20 kays down the road to try and camp under one of the Baobab trees but unfortunately couldn’t get to them so just camped next to some bushes in a clearing. 1st thing Inga saw when we stopped was a small brown snake which she said didn’t LOOK poisonous, so that must be alright then! Exactly a month today that we left London and temperature here must be about 30 degrees hotter than when we left too! Also our engine not turning off problem has cleared up, or maybe my rewiring did do some good? Either that or it may have been temperature related as for the last few days have just been letting her cool down to normal temp in last few kms before switching off and it seems to have been working. So we may now be sans mechanical/electrical problems which is good news!

SUMMARY MAURITANIA COSTS:

Camping:          1500 – 2000 UM (usually per person but sometimes per vehicle eg Auberge Menata)

Diesel:              224 – 233.4 UM/L. Average 230 UM/L; cheapest Nouakchott 224UM/L

Money:             1 € = 300 UM officially i.e. banks but black market rate is 320 – 340 UM. Campsites/Auberges change at 320 but street money changers will give 330 – 340. Usually 340 in Nouakchott

Shopping:         Supermarkets – none/we never used any! (There are a few smallish ones in Nouakchott but they mainly only sell expensive imported French items) All we bought was bread 40 UM for small baguette and 80 UM for large baguette. This is what you will pay if you know the price otherwise they will try and charge you more!

Made good time at 1st along the fabulous new tarred road to Bamako, apparently being financed by the EU? Best road in Africa so far. They still have to paint most of the white lines and are still working on the culverts but when it is finished all the way through to Bamako will be plain sailing. Unfortunately there is still a substantial stretch in the middle between Diema and Didjeni that they are still constructing that means several hours of driving over pretty severely corrugated road dodging broken down trucks, which most likely have been broken by the state of the road. Luckily no problems for us just Cathey is now covered in a layer of red dust! Did finally manage to stop under our Baobab tree for lunch and a photo though. After Didjeni the tar comes as a relief again and then it was full steam ahead to Bamako. A few navigational issues on the way through Bamako with markets, throngs of people, scooters and traffic all making for interesting driving. Luckily we are in a big car! Did manage to find an ATM though – our 1st since Morocco – as we had no local currency yet (CFA)! Eventually managed to find our way over the bridge onto the south bank of the River Niger before heading west along the river for 12 kms to Cactus Campsite, another excellent tip from our mate Darrin. N12 32.180 W8 02.760 right on the waters edge. Lovely campsite with no electricity or running water. Small bit of solar power for essential lighting and you draw water from a well by hand. Toilets and showers all have large buckets/water containers for washing, flushing and showering. Best of all there is a proper rustic bar….. with a bar counter, stools, fridges and wait for it, yes, beer!!! Large, cold bottles of Castel Beer (local Malian brew) like quarts served with proper beer glasses. Went straight in for 2 beers for Rob and 2 cokes for Inga – yes, still off the alcohol! In this heat I don’t know how anyone can refuse a cold beer in favour of a coke? Spoke to the owner, an elderly ex French-Canadian who has now been in Africa for some 30 – 40 years and another guest, ex-pat Brit living in France for 30 years. Good conversation about everything including the problems in Africa, Germany, France, Britain and emergence of China as world economy etc. Back to camp fairly late for dinner and bed.

 DAY 31. TUES 06/03. Bamako. 0 kms. Total 7301 kms. Camping Cactus.

Slowish start to the day. Mainly doing some camp admin eg. Washing, route planning, refilling water, diesel from jerries, gps info, updating blog etc. Even put up our side awning for the 1st time for some shade! (Have now used almost all our kit except for axe, side awning tent – not sure if we will ever use this and shower – although with the heat getting worse for the next month I’m sure we will use it soon.) Inga went for about a 10km walk back towards town to try and find some laundry pegs as we can’t find where we packed ours that we brought, or we may even have left them behind? Didn’t find any pegs but did come back with some food (fruit, veggies, bread and sardines) as we were getting a bit low after Mauritania where there is not that much on offer. Later on a walk along the river and then maybe try our luck getting some meat off a street butcher as we haven’t had any in a while!