France African Style What a name for a country which generated expectations – needless to say that they were not met. While the level of infrastructure might be higher than in other West African countries, there is not much shine if you scratch behind the surface of these modern looking buildings; plus poor neighbourhoods and […]
Abidjan, Ivory Coast Read More »
The Gold Coast of West Africa Having reached West Africa means short flights from now on until flying back to Europe. This one took us over the Gold Coast of former British Togoland, now Ghana. We got special permission again for a vista flight. Once one the ground handling was super fast and fuel already
Melting Cultures African Style Lagos would not let us go this easy. First endless 30 minutes for like 3 kilometers to the nearby airport and then the handler was not ready; we almost would have gone (and called back) without clearing immigration. Captain Tom made up for it through a great vista approach over Togos
Africas giant We woke up to clearer weather and took the ride to the airport as a last opportunity for some sightseeing stops before we got swiftly in the air. The scenery on the flight almost all across Nigeria went from brown Sahel, to lush green vegetation and ended over a sea of millions of
From green forests to the Sahel We left Bangui during rainy conditions which made urban street life look even rougher. So we flew a couple of hours north from the lush green forests into the Sahel. Temps in the 40ies greeted us in N’Djamena, yet a nice breeze made it more tolerable. Chad means waving
Genuine and rough Africa For starters, we (our plane) got inspected for the first time. Little did the inspector know that Tom is one as well! So it turned out to be a funny session with photos. During our flight up north, crossing the equator, we got to experience one of the last big chunks
Congo – two nations apart Leaving Kigali was swift and easy, the culprit from Monday wisely decided not to show up anymore, probably better for him. Our flight was a bit rocky but good, as was handling on the ground. Brazzaville, with around 2 million population seems laid back and manageable. There is not much
The Switzerland of Africa We did regret a bit the ultra short stay in Bujumbura getting up Monday morning, yet little did we know what was to come. To cut a long and painful story short, we were stuck for 8 hours at the airport until we finally made the short hop to Kigali. There
Cool and clean nation in Central Africa Like almost anywhere on this planet we were reminded again of regional animosities. So the Kenyans don’t have it with the Somalilanders and we (our nice plane) are also still on the “shit list” for the Sudanese air space. All of this had some impact to our goal
Bujumbura, Burundi Read More »
Refreshing glimpse of new nation in the making What a nice and warm welcome to this new nation. Everybody is very curious and friendly, no hassling at all even though it appears to be obvious that average standard of living is very low. Hardly any streets are paved but lot’s of trade is going on
Hargeisa, Somaliland Read More »