Vamos a la playa


After this crazy experience in , I was in a hurry to reach the beach, going for a deep chill on the sand, resting from my plastic seat!

Since I'm in , I've also noticed that it's much hotter here, temperature going up to 42°C easily!!!  There are no more mountains here, and I really feel it! Sun is very strong and the bike should feel it soon as well...

Great African hospitality is back there, and I've been invited twice on my way to Ziguinchor. Hustlers are back in cities as well, classic...

I'm leaving for Kafountine soon a fisherman's village, expecting a nice place for my deep chill! Then I'll head north, toward Saint Louis, should be done in a few days, if going trough is straight forward.

I'm having an exhibition of my pictures from India "KAMBALAS" (buffalo racing) in Paris, near Champs Elysées, at BAYARD PRESSE 3-5 rue Bayard, if anyone's around there...

8 April 2005




 
Casamance

 

One week off on the beach! A real threat not doing anything! It was a big surprise to meet so many Rasta men in this place (why here?). That was really cool anyway, much easier than . Reggae parties on the beach, fishing during sun set, waking up very late, easy days! Enjoying !

Many westerns live here year round, and have a piece of land with a small house for around 2000 euros!

I went for a fishing trip overnight in the Bolongs (the mangrove) with some German guys… but no fish came, and the expected fish orgy was replace by a few barbecued potatoes!!

On our way back, we visited ”special agriculture”, well hidden in the mangrove. Quiet amazing, theses Rasta are growing big quantities! There’s also a lot of palm wine to drink, and the boat missed to sink several times!

It has been quiet hard to set up for the road again, thinking the desert is coming soon, while it’s so nice chilling on the beach.

It took me 3 days to reach Saint Louis, near the Mauritanian border. I had to cross (only 17 Km) but needed almost 3 hours on this crapy road they call “trans-Gambia-Highway”. Customs are really greedy, and you have to pay the bribe (fixed price, no bargain please!)  to get your passport stamped. Then it was quiet easy back in , roads are generally good (had a 260 Km ride in a single day) except for the short-cut I used, where I had to push my bike through sand dunes!

Vendredi 22 Avril 2005

 

 

Palm Wine Shriek!

 

 

 

Sand driving in Kafountine

 

 

 

Sunset Cow...

 

 

 


Saint Louis


Finally a nice city in Africa! I don't know if it's due to the French colonial style, but that’s really pleasant. Saint Louis is composed of 3 parts, one mainland, one island on the river Sénégal, and one stretch (100 meters large) between the river and the ocean, called Langue de Barbarie. There lot's of fishermen, and it's a lively town, without many cars. I've added some pictures in photo album.

I'm leaving for tomorrow, only desert in this country, should reach Nouakchott, the capital after 2 days normally. I'm not sure what to expect at the border as Mauritanian customs are known as the most corrupted in West Africa. With that small bike it should be fine anyway...

I had much informations on the desert crossing from motorists who just came through. I've bought 2 nice plastic tanks to upgrade the autonomy up to 750 kms! I've done servicing on the moped, everything is greased, oiled, even made modification on the exhaust, it's going now 5 km/h faster!

I've been asked to pose near my bike by a French couple coming on massives Harley Davidson, coming from north of in only 7 days! That's not the first time I pose for a snap, and I pretty like it! But still for me, real challengers are definitely the cyclists, (met 10 of them already) sometimes going as far as !

No reply yet from Peugeot about my project; but I'll try motorbike magazines (why not!), maybe they will be interested by the challenge! If someone knows such a magazine, and can get e mail to contact some of them, that would be most welcomed!

24 April 2005