10 Month African Trails Epic Adventure: End of Part 2

Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Cameroon, Gabon, Congo, DRC, Angola, Namibia, South Africa

End of Part 2: Accra to Cape Town

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End of the Western Trans: Gibraltar to Cape Town

So this is it! We've finished the second segment of the journey, we're halfway through the entire trip and, most importantly, we've finished the entire Western Trans! And what an experience it has been. Things are going to be very different from now on. I mentioned earlier that the transit from Angola into Namibia effectively marked the spiritual end of the Western Trans so we've already gotten a taste of what East Africa will be like but now it's for real. As I said before, Summer and Gav had never done the west side before so they were still learning as they went along. But once they reached Namibia things were very different. Before it had felt like a bunch of people had chipped in some money, bought a cattle truck and seen how far they could make it through West Africa. Now we suddenly find ourselves with tour guides! Estimates for how long journeys might have taken were usually 'give or take a week' and now we find we're being given specific dates and times.

In West Africa the experience was all about the journey, the excitement of the unknown, the friendliness of the locals who had hardly ever seen white people before. It was about bush-camping in random places by the roadside and the solitude of being around a lone camp-fire. Yes there have still been some wonderful sights, such as the stunning Dogon walk, the Niger River cruise or the hike up Mount Cameroon. But most of the enjoyment has been from more unexpected sources: cold Fan Milk sold by street vendors, getting lost in the Gabonese jungle, the joy of watching a bulldozer pull us out a the hole after being stuck for 24 hours ebullient African children swarming around us, the satisfaction of coming across a cold drink after so many days of warm beer or fanta, helping reconstruct an entire road, tensing up as the wheels spin against the thick mud then cheering as they grip the road and wrench the truck forward, going out drinking on Saturday evening to a nightclub where we literally were the only white folk, watching Gav practice his hilariously bad French, being ushered along by AK-47 armed soldiers in Toyota pick-up trucks, wondering whether or not to give gin to the drunken nut-case with the AK-47, watching Kev unsuccessfully try to get rid of insistent hawkers with cheap wares, camping in car parks and petrol stations, watching the expressions of the faces of the very few tourists we meet when we tell them our itinerary, taking a wrong turn for the 100th time and backtracking, the satisfaction of having a shower after having not done so for two weeks, me dancing around in the rain in my undies like a chump, tree branches crashing through the sides and roof, Sarah getting hundreds of marriage proposals, the list goes on and on.

On to the 'Milk Run'

But from now on things will be different. We're on the 'Milk Run' now. Instead of being only one of two overland trucks on the entire half of the continent we would now be one of hundreds. We won't be bush-camping, we'll be at camp-sites, the locals won't pay attention to us because we're just another tourist vehicle and worst of all there is no Fan Milk! But it's not all bad; not by a long shot. East Africa is the Africa you've seen on TV. When most people think of Africa they think of the scenery, Mount Kilimanjaro or Mount Kenya, the wildlife of the Serengeti plains, Victoria Falls and so on. Whereas in West Africa the experience was about the journey, East Africa is all about the sights, and believe me there are plenty of them in store for us! In the coming trip we expect our senses to be overwhelmed by the onslaught of stunning attractions that stand ready to drain our bank balances.

So Namibia was just a warm up, now the Eastern Trans (or 'Milk Run') really begins!