Onto Baghdad 2!
Another interesting day! I’m lying in “bed” (a foam mattress on a concrete slab) in Kiffa… a town in the far south-east of Mauritania along what’s known as the death road… a road considered reasonably dangerous, where 4 French tourists got shot not long ago…
The road, and indeed the town falls within a blob that according to the FCO has the same security rating as Helmand province… and just to make me feel safer, the town we just passed had a huge sign saying “Welcome to Baghdad 2”; and stores included “Epicerie Bin Laden”… needless to say, the large flag flapping behind my car has been long retired into the boot and the flags on the windows are also gone…
According to our road book, we shouldn’t take this road, and instead go through Senegal… oops… (Senegalese border guards seem to want a 200-euro bribe to allow our old cars to enter…) oh well, so far so good. Additionally, I plan on sleeping with a knife or two… not too mention I’ve boarded up the door to the room with the furniture from the room… My newfound team-mate “Peter” is long asleep, so he hasn’t yet seen the extent of my feng-shui…
Anyhow, we left Nouakchott a little late, but not too much so this morning. From there, we made a beeline for Kiffa on the scary boogie-man road. The road is actually in pretty good nick, with a few massive potholes; but otherwise almost all tarmac. Along the route, we suffered a few minor issues, these were:
– Front offside wheel on the merc was grinding… I feared the wheel bearing, but it turned out to be nothing important. All that happened was that one of the two bolts holding the brake calliper on had gotten lost (probably loosened when I changed the bearing and then fell off on the potholes). We found that the bolts from the wheels have the same thread, but are much longer… so a good few (6 iirc) washers and we were off.
– The Volvo hit a few potholes a little too fast… and promptly dented their rims. This was followed by their tyre bulging to the point beyond a blowout… but hanging on! All changed we moved on…
– Until the Fiat Brava dented their wheels… and then their clutch died… We (or shall I say they) ended up driving 300-400km without a clutch. The trick is, put the car in second gear while it’s off… get everyone else to push and start the car, then just change gears at the right RPM… the hundreds of gendarme checkpoints were very amused to see 6 toubabs pushing a banger to get it going each time… (only 800 more km tomorrow to do the same way!)
On that note, one of the three fiat guys has defected, and is now the honorary member of the merc team! Peter is the new team member, and he’s “well liked” – he keeps me fed while I drive :p
We stopped for the night at the Auberge Fare to Desert… a cross between a luxury hotel and a campsite… the room walls are clay/mud, covered in cement and painted pea green. But then the roof is that of a Bedouin tent. (and the shower is cold). But hey-ho, we’ve had worse!
A bit of cous-cous for dinner, and now off to bed for tomorrows early start!
Just one last note (but not least); a MASSIVE THANK YOU to Gianni M. who gave me a leatherman for my birthday a few years ago… it’s become my most used tool on this trip! (and amongst with the other knives has earned me the nickname “Rambo on Tour”). And one for “Flooky” who gave me a compass necklace… which is what told me we were going the wrong way through the minefield the other day! Couldn’t have done it without your help!
I miss you all, and am starting to look forward to coming back home (or more accurately, or seeing those close to me again).
M.