6. Central Africa
Day 218: TONY!!
06.08.09: After getting to the hotel, I had worked for an hour or so on getting a video speech for
Day 219: Beyond Thunderdome
07.08.09: At 6am, Tony kindly dropped me off at the nearby taxi rank and before too long, I was sitting
Day 220: Glastonburied
08.08.09: Roland woke me up by firing up his little generator outside the hut. The lights came on and so
Day 221: Monsooner Or Later…
09.08.09: After a couple of hours of shuteye, it was back on the case for your favourite ginger wanderer here.
Day 222: TCHAD!
10.08.09: The train arrived at 7am in the central Cameroon town of N’Gaoundéré and, if we were VERY lucky, we
Day 223: Think Once, Think Twice…
11.08.09: We arrived back at the railhead of N’Gaoundéré at about oh, god knows?, and promptly checked into a nearby
Day 224: Taps
12.08.09: Started the day in fine fettle – crossed over the border into the Central African Republic (and got tapped
Day 225: The Best Chocolate Eclairs In Africa
13.08.09: I rushed to get my visas for Equatorial Guinea, DR Congo and Gabon. The visas for DR Congo and
Day 226: The Four Guineas
14.08.09: I headed over to the Equatorial Guinea embassy only to be told that all the borders were closed and
Day 227: The Spanish Whiskey
15.08.09: Last night we made friends with a girl called Vivian who said she would help us do the old
Day 228-35: Listless In Libreville
16.08.09-23.08.09: A week in one blog entry? Lazy I know, but whatchagonnado? Quick rundown of the last week: no boats
Day 236: The English Disease
24.08.09: One of the more remarkable things about my journey thus far is that I haven’t had a day off
Day 237: Er… Do I Get a Lifejacket?
25.08.09: Ha! You want to see the Steamboat-Willie style affair that I’ve got to get on to Sao Tome on
Day 238: The Dirty Mac Brigade
26.08.09: The ‘Andrea’ was originally scheduled to leave last Monday, but TIA, so you can forget about that flight of
Day 239: Why Africa Why???
27.08.09: Awoke at 6am, eager and excited to get going today even if I did have that early morning sickly
Day 240: The Temple of Boom!
28.08.09: I woke somewhat perplexed to find myself in a hammock in a Bwiti temple, but then I remembered I
Day 241: Going Nowhere, Fast!
29.08.09: It was a extremely short sleep before I was up and at ’em. First up I rang Jean, the
Day 242: The King Is Dead, Long Live The King
30.08.09: Oo eck – Election Day! So here’s the situation – Omar Bongo, the former longest standing African president (since
Day 243: Pining For The Moon
31.08.09: Monday began like most days here in Libreville – although now I have Jean-from-the-Andrea’s phone number I don’t need
Day 244: My Kingdom For A GPS
01.09.09: I had a mission. Mission GPS. The results of the election still hadn’t been announced so half of Libreville
Day 245: Do You Know The Way To Sao Tome?
02.09.09: We had a couple of things to do – first up, get some damn maps (sorry, Hugh – charts)
Day 246: The Blue Desert
03.09.09: So then your humble narrator found himself back on the high seas. The Reol was tiny – the smallest
Day 247: The Hidden Gem
04.09.09: Sao Tome. Wow. What a place. We pulled in at around 5pm, without proper charts we had no idea
Day 248: Blister In The Sun
05.09.09: That night we made tremendous progress back to Gabon. I really liked Sao Tome, but there was no sense
Day 249: Sail of the Century
06.09.09: After yesterday’s epic sail we only had about 70 nautical miles to go today. I woke to find myself
Day 250: Clinging On For Dear Life
07.09.09: We motored in to Port Mole at 7am, gathered our things and got taken by the ferryman back to
Day 251: The Overlander
08.09.09: In a trend that will no doubt continue for the rest of the month, I got up at 5am
Day 252: Exit Planet Dust
09.09.09: Setting off again at dawn, I found the shared truck for Dolisie (the junction half way to Congo’s capital
Day 253: The Last Thing I Needed
10.09.09: Let me tell you about Vogons. “Vogons have to be just about one of the most unpleasant races in
Day 254: The Saddest Song In The World
11.09.09: RULE 2: NEVER TRUST A VOGON I awoke on the little couch in the ‘chief’s’ office. Gone was any
Day 255: The Heart of Darkness
12.09.09: RULE 3: VOGONS HAVE NO EMPATHY “The only way to get a drink out of a Vogon is to
Day 256: The Horror, The Horror
13.09.09: RULE 4: VOGONS ARE UNFEASIBLY STUPID You cannot reason somebody out of a position they haven’t reasoned themselves into.
Day 257: You’re Free But You Can’t Leave
14.09.09: RULE 5: AVOID AFRICA I’m sorry. I’ve cracked. The wars (all 47 of them, want a list?) may be
Day 258: The Second Pizza of Freedom
15.09.09: RULE 6: NEVER EXPECT AN APOLOGY I woke up before dawn to find that my guard had gone. I
Day 259: England Expects
16.09.09: First thing, I headed off to Kinshasa over the River Congo, escorted on and off the boat by British
Day 260: Heroes Day
17.09.09: Today is Angolan Heroes Day, so the Embassy was closed. Looks like I’m going to be here for the
Day 261: A Hard Day’s Night
18.09.09: So…after two days, I finally got to the Angolan Embassy and found out that there was a chance –
Day 262: The Dirty Stop-out
19.09.09: A great lie-in was interrupted by my desire to watch as many of Alex’s DVDs as possible before I
Day 263: Why Fool Yoda Is
20.09.09: Today was another DVD-fest, a Hitchcock triple-bill (The Trouble With Harry (Crap), Topaz (Good) and Marnie (Okay)) culminating in
Day 264: Visas and Viruses
21.09.09: Okay. Today was my DAY OF ACTION. I headed down to the Angolan embassy first thing in the morning,
Day 265: Hen’s Teeth
22.09.09: I returned to the Angolan embassy, fingers and toes crossed. I hung about for an hour or so before
Day 266: Anglin’ Fer Angola
23.09.09: 5am! Are you having a laugh? The bus didn’t leave until nine!! I could have had a good lie-in,
Day 267: The Go-Slow
24.09.09: I was roused at 6am and thought great – we’ll be in Luanda tonight. My phone had stopped working
Day 268: Breakdown
25.09.09: So I slept a second night in the truck cab. Again I was awoken at 6am; why, I have
Day 269: Luanda House Party
26.09.09: I woke up resoundingly NOT in Luanda. We hadn’t moved all night. Peter was nowhere to be seen. I
Day 270: Gung Ho-Hum
27.09.09: With less than 48 hours left on my visa, Emilio’s wonderful driver, Yuri, picked me up at 5am to
Day 271: Exit, Stage Left
28.09.09: Got up at 6am. Bus left at 9. If you think there’s a pattern emerging here, THEN THERE IS