Seikel T5 in Africa.
We left Montpellier on 19 November to join Claude Madrias and his friend Denis at the Spanish border. Claude will be our attentive guide through out the trip, because he knows the tracks we go. He leaves with a Toyota equipped with a roof tent and we with Bill, the Seikel T5 restored in Germany (armor, modified suspension, wheels and gearbox changed). I will relate you the highlights of the trip and the reactions of Bill before the trials ahead.
Through Morocco without problems. In the small border usual hassles. We arrive at camp Nouakchott beautiful Olivia and we find there thetraveler little world boiling : three Spaniards were kidnapped yesterday, a couple who was just behind at the material time heard the shots !
Do not panic ! The next day we take the Road of Hope, MALI direction. Our only caution is not to drive at night and sleep if possible away from the road. Halfway we will make a detour to Moudjéria to discover the beautiful Pass Acheft and guelta where crocodiles sleep. Back on the road, whitch tar is often "spoiled" as they say in Africa.
Mali border: we learn that French was removed NE Mali, Timbuktu Gao sector is currently prohibited. Still not panic ! We will join the Dogon out by small tourist tracks and up the left bank of the Niger to Markala circuit. Then Macina and Djenne, villages strung and children surprised with us shouting "Toobaboo, Toobaboo". This is when we learn that two Italians were removed just before the border, where we passed three days earlier. This is the routine !
We arrive in Djenne, the beautiful mud mosque has suffered the ravages of the recent rains and an entire side has melted but the reconstruction is already underway and all will be repaired before the next rain. City tour, a thought in front of the house where lived René Caillé.
Then MOPTI: Mopti beautiful, Mopti filthy ... It is a festival of colors, sounds and smells. There, all ethnic groups meet, come together, trade, gesticulate and bustle along the docks where s' Moor heavy pinasses bound for the Inner Niger Delta, Timbuktu, Gao. Mopti seduces us, stunned but we look forward to seeing the quiet of the bush.
In Sévaré, we are at the doors of the Dogon Country. We sleep in the Mission, where Denis had left them to return the Syncro look a year later and make the return journey with Claude. Bandiagara after we go to Songho easily accessible and the village converted to Islam but he did not care less fetishes, forbidden and the sacred cave where initiations and circumcisions held every three years. We admire the Togouna and distribute many cola nuts to old people who discuss there.
The difficulties begin to join Sangha: 40 km track very degraded. We advance at low speed, it is very hot and we are relieved to reach the village overlooking the cliffs of Bandiagara. On the square, show masks for a group of tourists. It is with such "dogonneries" as one minister said that the country risks losing its soul. Marcel Griaule resided here, he became a father figure for all people, it is true that brought them their three sources of wealth: the water through dams, onions and tourism.
We begin the descent of the cliff, the view is great, and the track was once cemented but rains ripped all and stones stand up beneath our wheels. Caution! , we are down, the villages are staged in the rubble, barely disguishable from rocks. The Dogon arrived there 700 years ago to escape islamization.
They have kept their customs and traditions in a society not as idyllic as was portrayed by Griaule. We visit the most beautiful villages in climbing the rocks (38 ° C) under the guidance of a guide not to violate taboos. Suddenly the track is cut by lava sand must climb the dunes on our left and down further. Here Bill to the test. Claude has deflated and shows us the way with the Toyota, Jacques who has not had time to deflate rushes. T5 swallows the long climb without force or weaken. Congratulations Bill ! We drove a while on the shelf where the view on the cliff in the light of late afternoon is splendid. We descend , but too early and must immediately go back, this time the present dune halfway slight ledge that cuts momentum. Never mind, the T5 does not sniffling and over the obstacle . Sand certification is deserved! ......
On the road to Bamako, Segou stop is for me the most beautiful city in Mali, nostalgic for its rich colonial past, it extends with grace and nonchalance on the banks of the Niger. In Bamako, rest in luxury and comfort in friends Claude : it changes us from the life we lead ascetic month ! We leave Denis on the plane and leave with Isabelle, Claude sympathetic companion , Burkina direction. We will stand the test of 100 km of corrugated iron, a living hell in the clouds laterite raised by countless trucks. Bill will lose his canopy ripped off by shaking ! Burkina "land of honest men". We drive in the savanna, slopes are gentle shaded by large trees. We spend Christmas near Lake Tangrela: champagne and foie gras on the menu, it changes daily box sardines ! night in serenade given by hippos.
Bobo-Dioulasso beautiful city with its traditional colonial buildings, the station who dreams of its former splendor, the Post Office, the Court and the Covered Market ..... We descend to Gaoua, explore the Lobi and surprising boxes fortresses. The country is Christianized but animism is still present, is worshiped ancestors and sacrifices to the spirits. Two precautions are better than one! The tracks do not present difficulties which is very challenging is corrugated and laterite which invades and transforms us as Indians. We go due north to return to Mali. We spend Christmas Eve December 31 Bankass at the foot of the cliff of Bandiagara, on our return to Mali, safe decibels generated by the local nightclub.
Return to Bamako, rest, then due west to the border management, but before other harsh steps ahead of us. We follow the Bafing that by joining the Bakoye form the Senegal River. Problem: Mahina before there is nothing to cross the river ! must cross on the bridge of the railway. We step over a rail and let the wheels on the bottom left side, right wheels on the cross, it looks, it rumbles, it is very, very long and pray to God that no vehicle or train undertakes in opposite direction . Good! it passes. Further, to Bafoulabé, we reach the Senegal that we will cross on a ferry. Problem: The engine is down! After huffing we cross the strength of poles and it is a magical moment in silence and peace of the evening with the birds and canoes. The other strong point promised by Claude: reach the Gouina falls on Senegal by a track not very long but very rocky at times it feels to ride in the bed of a dry torrent ! . The view of the falls is a great reward ! They are both powerful and peaceful and the show is for ourselves ! We take the time to visit Fort Medina where illustrations Faidherbe, then we cross the Senegal which will give us the opportunity to review with emotion places, cities so full of memories for us.
It was strongly advised us not to take the Road of Hope in Mauritania, but through Senegal, to shorten the time in this country. Back smoothly in the first week of February. 16,3OO kms on the clock.
Thanks to Claude we made an unusual and wonderful journey, he is thanked. The T5 has not betrayed our hopes, he returned with a few scratches but it is with ease that he has broken down barriers.
Congratulations Bill! Dany Peyrin Photos of Claude Madrias and Dany PEYRIN A T5 in Africa C. Madrias Full screen
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