A Curious Tale of African Cycling: March 2013

Fete Des Masque, Man, Ivory Coast

Hanging out at cascading waterfalls, hiking up tropical peaks, lying naked in cold mountain streams, sleepful star gazing to nocturnal forest sounds - nourishment of the soul doesn't get much better than this.

Washing the bikes in Monrovia revealed the surprise of severely cracked wheel rims. So, avoiding the treasure hunt for new wheels we naively ventured on to a plethora of punctures along the way. The border between Liberia and Ivory Coast was closed, due to bandit activity, so we had to detour back into Guinea to lots of UN and military checkpoints along the way.

The Kpatkwee waterfall in northern Liberia was amazing. So also was the declining response we received from an old man when we requested to camp outside his house; 'the devil is in the bushes'. People on occasion, especially in the countryside, get freaked out at the sight of a white man and sometimes run in the other direction.

A severe case of the shits while camping outside someones house left a trail of suprises for the owner the following morning but thankfully the hens had cleaned up a bit!

Re-entering Guinea highlighted how much Liberia had lost of its African identity and also reminded how bad the Guinean roads were - but once again the forest scenery compensated :) It was also a lot cheaper as we had 'chopped a lot of money' in Liberia. (Liberian English very hard to understand but thats one term I got)

We also met up with a long lost friend called 'Rain' and witnessed the mushing of the local roads. Starting to rain a little every second day or so even though the rain season is officially a month away.

Hiking up Mount Nimba in South Guinea was cool and with Yves persuasion we chose the scenic/piste route through northern Ivory Coast. It paid off encountering cocoa, coffee, cashew, pineapple plantations and also getting to sample a local delicacy of 'Agouti' - big rodent! as well as encountering preparations for an annual Fete Des Masque in one of the villages.

My wheel became impossible to true anymore but I just about made it to a big town called Man to find a supercharged Chinese replacement for a whopping 3 Euros! Ollie also was cycling with a spot weld on his axle.

The Ivorian people are the most relaxed nation so far, with little shouting or screaming at us, and its no surprise to learn that they are the most developed country in West Africa. Quite a distinct divide between the Muslim north and Christian south but the tensions here are more political than religious.

We swung by a city called Yamoussoukro, an unnatural political capital with an amazingly impressive Basilica - rivaling that in Rome but completed in just 3 years for an undisclosed price - a gift to God from the Ivorian president, stolen from the Ivorian people.

Then onto the real capital of Abidjan, a huge modern city rivaling any in the west. skyscrapers, spiraling 6 lane highways and the rest and most important of all a cheap Catholic Mission to stay at, notion to mention some booty shakin to observe https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZI34NyNpjXg

9,868km on the clock. Ghana next and then a direct flight to South Africa – my African curiosity has been satisfied enough to detour over Central Africa :)