Final Post: Interesting Numbers

Made it home!  Dakar, Madrid, Dallas.  Uneventful flights, all on time.  So good to be back with Pam.

After being away for a while, the contrast felt more impactful when arriving back to the developed world ... cleaner, more orderly, less chaotic, brighter colors, more advertising, people working with greater intensity and focus ... happy to be back. For a final post, here are some interesting numbers:

Trip Statistics:

• Total kms covered:                                       5,500

• Total kms off-road:                                       200

• Longest distance w/o out gas stations:         400km (Mauritania)

• Number of speeding tickets:                         1 (Western Sahara)

• Highest temperature:                                   98 F (Gambia-Senegal Border)

• Lowest temperature:                                    30 F (Atlas Mountains Morocco)

• Flat tires:                                                     0.5 (my rear needed air every day)

• Mechanical issues:                                         0

• Stomach issues:                                             1 (Chris - near Chinguetti)

• Number of Slow Falls:                                    1 (ice - Chris), 1 (sand - Rene)

• Fastest border crossing:                                  30 minutes (Gambia to Senegal)

• Slowest border crossing:                                 4 hours (Western Sahara to Mauritania)

• Ferrys taken:                                                   3 (Gibraltar, Gambia (2))

• African countries visited:                                 5

• Morocco
• Western Sahara
• Mauritania
• Senegal
• The Gambia

• Currencies used:                                              4
• Dirham (Morocco)
• Ouguiya (Mauritania)
• West African Franc (Senegal)
• Dalasi (The Gambia)

• Official Languages: 
• Arabic:                                               Morocco, Mauritania
• French:                                              Morocco, Mauritania, Senegal
• English:                                              The Gambia
• Wolof:                                                Senegal, The Gambia
• Mandinka:                                          The Gambia

• GDP per capita:
• Morocco:                                            $4,500
• Mauritania:                                         $2,500
• Senegal:                                              $1,700
• The Gambia:                                       $1,200

Day 22 - The Departure Scramble ... Journey Completed

Today, I started the day with a walk in my new hotel's new neighborhood.  The contrast betweenn one street and the next is remarkable ... one street is paved with nice, new, tall building ... and the next is all dirt with shop after shop of things like metal work, electric motor repair, moped repair, door and window making.

The wealth disparity in the country is noticeable but it all seems to co-exist seamlessly ... European quality businesses like a patisserie are beautiful but usually deserted ... street vendors selling food are crowded ... the price difference is also staggering ... a fried pie on the street is about $0.75 USD and at a nice store it could be $5 USD.  It quickly separates people when considering that most laborers here make $50-$70/month.

A caravan of 20+ nice motorcycles escorting a few Range Rovers went by with all their lights on ... is African politician excess endemic? : )

Around noon, it was t time to head to the cargo terminal at the airport to build the crate to put my motorcycle on.  The airport is 70 km away!  This new airport was put in operation in 2017 and it is pretty big.  Nothing around it, just good old African open fields ... why soooo far!

Found the people that were going to build my crate and we got busy ... we decided to just do a base and then just shrink wrap the whole thing ... i.e., no side walls or top.  This will make it significantly lighter also.  After disconnecting the battery, removing the windshield, lowering side mirrors, lowering GPS holders, and lowering the handlebars, it was time to strap it to the base.

When done all of us wanted to say "this baby is not going anywhere" buy I could not figure out how to say in French : ) ... these guys definitely have done this before.

The Air France cargo official came by to inspect and give its approval.  The bike is scheduled to get on a plane in about a week ... too many vegetables being exported at the moment apparently ... but maybe earlier if there is room.

Got a ride to the main airport terminal to have snack, a cappuccino, and to wait for my flight to Madrid tonight and then connect in Madrid to my flight to Dallas.  

Wow ... what an adventure!

Some important dude needed an escort of 20+ motorcycles ?!?

My walk this morning to the boulangerie

Building a complicated sculpture outside

Looking for palette materials for my motorcycle shipping

Hard at work putting it all together

And the final product

Heading to the Dakar airport

Mission accomplished!

Day 21 - Retracing Back to Dakar

Today, I had an early breakfast with Urban (from Sweden, owner of the hotel) ... juice, fruit, an omelette, coffee, tomatoes, cucumbers ... packed the motorcycle and headed out to the catch the flaky ferry.

Beautiful morning, beautiful ride to the port, not very crowded, ferry had arrived to the port from across the river and was unloading ... ready to board and then ... a big truck was stuck inside the ferry and was unable to drive off ... the steering column shaft broke ... they tried everything ... they even flipped the ferry 180 degrees to see if it could be pulled from the other side to no avail ... this ferry was done for the day for now so we had to wait for the other one.

The second ferry arrived ... bigger, more modern, faster apparently ... interestingly, it was named Kunta Kinte which made me look up his story.  It definitely shifts mental perspectives when you realize you are standing where he was from and where it all started.

As always, it was mad dash to get on the boat ... people, carts, cars, trucks ... all at once.  Finally we got under way 2 hours after the original try.

Once on the other side, headed to the boarder which was about 50 kms away ... to my surprise, it was relatively empty ... and it all went smoothly on both sides for a change ... some of the officials even came out to say hello and welcome back ... very nice ... and no money exchanged with officials this time on either side.

The ride to Dakar took me again through the Saloum Delta ... interesting how the same road looks so different from the opposite direction ... then the usual crazy towns where you have to dodge everything under sun like video games ... and, finally, the smooth 6-lane highway all the way into Dakar.  

Temperatures reached 98 degrees after the border and stayed there until it started dropping as Dakar got closer ... apparently, Dakar always has 75-80 degree weather because it is surrounded by the ocean on 3 sides.

At the hotel, it was time to get organized and to get the motorcycle ready for shipping tomorrow.

I ended up going to dinner with a YPO member in Dakar to an iconic seafood restaurant built on stilts over the ocean ,,, very cool.  Great conversation.  Our waiter wanted to buy my motorcycle and was on the phone trying to get the money.  He may show up tomorrow morning with the cash.  

The universe will decide if my trusted steed stays to live in Senegal or if it goes back home with me.

Made it to the Gambian River Ferry early ... trouble in paradise again ... a huge truck could not unload ... broken steering column shaft ... Ooops! 

The second ferry came ... a mad dash again ... everybody and everything very tightly packed 

Beautiful crossing

These limits are definitely not being followed : )

Riding the Saloum Delta in reverse is like riding it for the first time ... beautiful

Stopped in Foundiougne for a quick byte

Dinner with Xavier

The iconic and famous Restaurant Lagon in Dakar

Day 20 - Gambian Story Collection Time

Started the day with a nice breakfast at the rooftop of my hotel with a nice view of palm trees under a deep blue sky ... the world is smiling : ) 

Today, was story collection time ... it helps that now most people speak English around here (not all) ... Wolof and Mandinka are more common. 

As I made my way to around the town to the crafts market and the beach ... I met a few great people.

At the crafts market, I met Bernadette, one of the vendors there, and we talked about her family ... her brother's name was Rene and lived in Senegal.  

Walked to the beach and met Kaddy, a police officer that gracefully agreed to give me the police patch on her arm, and told me about being a police officer at 28.  

Met Sarjo, a lifeguard for one of the hotels on the beach ... we talked about Gambian and Mexican music (his favorite song was Nna La Duwa (My Blessing), by ST Da Gambian) and about migrants boarding wooden boats right on this beach to make a trek all the way to Spain! ... in open seas, with only a handheld compass ... and the tragedies that often happen ... the universal plight to find better opportunities to help your family is everywhere ... he showed me some pictures on his phone ... silent tragedies.

After the long walks, found a cappuccino place and went on to try to find a bank to get some cash ... ran out of cash of any denomination (bad idea when traveling so far) ... but, after a few tries, found an ATM that worked 😰

After a good Gambian lunch, took my bike to get it washed to get it ready to be crated for shipment in Dakar.  And, there, I met Balla who ran a used car business off the sidewalk next to the guy washing vehicles.  We talked about adventures, life in Gambia, and migrations for a while.

Tomorrow, I head back to Dakar early ... dreading the ferry and the border crossings ... but looking forward to going through the Saloum Delta again.

A good way to start the day ... in Gambia ... at the rooftop of my hotel ... very civilized

Feeding the vendors at the crafts market as it was opening

My first glimpse of the beach in Banjul ... white sands, wide open, deserted

A few hotels facing the ocean

A side street view

The crafts market as it was opening

Apparently, The Gambia is a well know fashion center

Found a nice coffee house for a break mid-morning

The Convention Center

Kaddy

Sarjo

My hotel ... only 7 rooms ... great rooftop

Balla

Finally ... getting rid of 20 days of grime

The view from the rooftop of the hotel

Day 19 - Off The African Deep End

After an early breakfast at the hotel, getting out of Dakar on Monday morning traffic was an interesting experience. Traffic is almost as bad as in Guatemala.  A motorcycle in these parts always helps to wiggle through but a little bumping is sometimes also needed.

Once I reached the "Autobahn" that goes out of Dakar, things started moving fast ... and then the road was empty ... I guess everybody was gong to Dakar an not out.  

Uneventful riding for a while ... the highway ended ... a 2-lane rural road followed going through chaotic and busy towns as always ... lots of Baobab trees ... and monkeys!

Eventually, I had the option to go through the Saloum Delta, a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve or keep going straight ... I had to ask if the Delta road was dirt or pavement and was reassured it was paved so I went for it.

What an incredible region ... wetlands as far as the eye can see ... this is the dry season so there are many dry areas too ... lots of birds ... a great new impressive bridge to go over the main part of the river ... a fishing village ... very cool.

Finally, made it to the Senegal-Gambia border ... decided to not get a fixer this time because I heard this is an easy border ... and it was.  Simple, straight forward ... but Americans need a visa (oops)  to enter The Gambia so I had to go through the process of getting one there.  I was through both borders in about an hour.  A record for this trip.

And now, on to the ferry to cross The Gambia River into Bajul and Serrekunda, my final destination for the night.

One of the 2 ferry's operating this route broke down so there was 3 hour delay ... I was having flashbacks of my crossing in Suriname-Guyana were we had to wait for 4 days for the ferry to get fixed. 

Once the ferry showed up, it was a stampede to try to get on it ... cars, people, motorcycles ... nobody wanted to no get on ... the ferry was packed to the tilt ... all of sudden, African boat disasters came to mind ... and now they made sense ...hundreds and hundreds of people, all packed tightly, on top of each other ... and nobody knows how to swim!

The boat was so heavy that instead of a 30 minute crossing, it took 1.5 hours. A very African experience.

Made a lot of friends on the boat ... Mamadou, a chef that spoke a little Spanish he learned in school ... a couple from Banjul ... Europeans from Netherlands, Sweden, Brussels.

I definitely felt I had arrived ... I was finally off the deep end in the heart of Africa ... felt a bit like Malawi ... basic, simple, chaotic, crowded, friendly, dirty, unique .... nice!

After we landed in Banjul, rode for 15 kms to my hotel for the night ... a great find in a chaotic place ... the hotel is run by a Swede that arrived in Gambia in 1969 ... after dinner at a simple restaurant across the street, went to bed ... a very long day!

Tomorrow is a no-ride day to check out the beaches around here and to learn more about what else The Gambia is all about.

Entering the Saloum Delta (Dry Season) ... a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve ... 2 hours south from Dakar

The new Foundiougne Bridge over the main part of the Saloum Delta ... also known as the Nelson Mandela bridge 

The fishing town of Foundiougne at the end of the bridge

The road right before the Senegal-Gambia border

Made it to the border

Processing paperwork - visa, immigration, customs, police

Waiting for the ferry in Barra, The Gambia

The ferry broke down and they say the next one is 3 hours out ... time for lunch then ... fried fish pies!

People having a break waiting for the ferry

Finally, people disembarking from the ferry that just arrived from Banjul

Loading the ferry ... a crazy experience, even for African standards ... everybody trying to make it on board before it filled up in any way possible

Not an inch to spare on the ferry

Had to hold the motorcycle in place ... everybody pushing around it ... no space even to stand up

My friend Mamadou standing next to me on the ferry ... he is a chef ... and spoke a it of Spanish

Off the deep end now ... deep deep in Africa

Made it to Banjul on the other side of The Gambia River

And finally to my hotel for the night ... a nice surprise ... run by a Swede that moved here in 1969

Day 18 - The African Renaissance

At breakfast, Chris and I said our goodbyes. Reminisced a little about our great motorcycle adventure and the amazing places we saw.  He flew out of Dakar to Paris and then Boston this afternoon.  

After breakfast, I headed to the Port of Dakar to play tourist for the day.  A great ride, the city was empty because it was Sunday, and a lot of people were out jogging, exercising, and bicycling on the avenue that runs along the coast.  A great way to start the day.  All was good with the world.

The first stop was the Port of Dakar to catch a 30-minute ferry to the Ile of Goree, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, because of the pivotal role it played in the slave trade from the 1500s.

The town is beautiful and it has a feel of it having been pivotal to something.  It is in the process of slowly being renovated. Some parts are already in good shape and some are still in need of restoration.  

Lots of tourist from all over the world. A lot of street vendors selling art ... Baobab trees all over ... bought a small carved wooden one from an artist that showed me how he makes things. 

It is always sad to come to places like this. So much history, so much suffering.   

There was a timeline of slavery from the 1500 to late 1800s in the historical House of Slaves. It is interesting to think how large of an enterprise the slave trade was around the world and how many nations were complicit for so long ... and how slowly they abolished the trade and the idea of slavery. 

It is somewhat reassuring that when humanity deviates to dark places, it always finds its way to the good path the universe has traced for us. 

This should always be a source of hope when we as a whole go dark ... wars, violence, starvation eventually end; slavery ended; prejudice, discrimination, injustice will end. There will always be people, events, nature that will push us back to the good path.

It is also interesting that when taken in the context of humanity's history, the world with all its current troubles, is still the best it has ever been for the majority of people.  More people around the world have been pulled out of subsistence living, have food, have jobs, housing, education … and have cell phones!?!? ... than ever before. 

In the island, there is a boarding school that only admits the best girl students in the country.  Apparently, all children in Senegal get tested before entering 6th grade and the best are invited to come here.

Made the ferry back to Dakar ... had to run the last 100m and was the last one to board. Lucky! 

On the way back to the hotel, stopped at the African Renaissance Monument ... very impressive ... huge ... reminds me of the Genghis Khan monument in Ulaan Bator or the Alexander the Great monument in Skopje for their sheer size. This monument is awe inspiring.

After a nice dinner in my favorite ocean-side restaurant ... Harden, our waitress from Brazzaville, Congo, was there again today ... and a coffee at my favorite coffee house, went back to the hotel to plan my route and organize papers and money for tomorrow's trip to The Gambia.

Buying a ticket for the ferry to Ile de Goree at the Port

The wiring room at the maritime terminal

On the ferry ... people dancing and singing in the back ... people from all over the world ... next to me a couple from Andorra ?!?

Approaching the Ile de Goree

Our captain and crew

The Ile de Goree

Entering what used to be a point of no return for many African people

Art everywhere

The famous House of Slaves

A UNESCO World Heritage being slowly restored

Guns to defend the port of Dakar

Baobab trees all over the island

A wood carver ... a bough a Baobab tree carving from him

A view of the island from the top of the hill

Come parts still need work

Back in Dakar ... the African Reinassance Monument ... huge!

"A message to the youth of Africa and the diaspora -- if one day your steps lead you to the foot of this monument, think of those who sacrificed their freedom and their lives for the rebirth of Africa"

A view of Dakar from the top of the monument