Afrikisurf – A surf trip to West Africa

369 WAYS

(filmed around the world in 369 days n’ ways… produced, filmed, and edited, by Marc Lo Porto… twelvth digital video project by MLProductions… original language from each place…)

This flip was poorly filmed for about a year… it does not show all the amazing people MLP met during his travels nor all the unique places visited… 369 ways takes you into a local pig roast in Venice beach, California… picking grappes in a castle in the wine region of Bordeaux, France… and finally drives you thru some of the most remote and untouched countries of west africa… including Morroco… Mauritania… Senegal… Mali… Guinee Conakry… Sierra Leone… and Liberia… this video is just another year to share and remember… a window into places that have never be filmed before and will never be seen like that again… once again the journey is the destination… buckle your seat belts… watch for potholes… pay attention to details… you stamped in…

http://flip.zenzela.com/

for those who are interested in the Africa-Part, it starts at 25min40sec till the end…
thanks Marc, some unforgettable memories in that flip!!!

Mark and me are out of Africa before it gets too wet, Mark is home in Spain and soon on the way to the states again. I’m enjoying a swiss summer with modest to freezing temperatures, snow on the alps and friends and family around. Over the last days in Liberia we had some great moments with friends in Monrovia and Duala, cruising around just for fun on a selfbuilt “Barque” (great work boys, cheers!) on the St. Paul River, many great BBQ’s and a Kayaktrip through the rivermouth out into the sea with a view to the beach where everyone takes a dump. Countless feasts at different friends places with pure hospitality, exactly what we needed after living cheap and eating similar things every day, for months. Almost 20′000km this time, unforgettable impressions of some touristic and many virgin places, lots of shitty surf and a few incredible waves in between, from zero to fifty degrees air temperature, from fourteen to thirty degrees water temperature, hot and dry, cold and wet, hot and humid, comfortable and uncomfortable times, great and fun moments, gnarly and difficult situations, people smiling, laughing, crying, shouting, ignoring you or going crazy just because some white dumbs show up, bored or up and ready for anything…

Stay tuned, a few more days will bring some more pics on the page…

Thanks for checking out this page, take care on your travels and let us know if there’s any news in the surf or on the roads in West-Africa

Took me a while to get back on track,  have had a low-grade Malaria-attack and pneumonia, so the first week was basically not very great. Once that was all over I was ready to surf again with Marc and the two Aussie guys Brad & Rob whom we had met in Freetown already. The group of surfers got smaller and bigger with people leaving and coming, eventually it was mostly Marc and myself with two spanish guys, Aitor & Miguel, sharing the waves with the locals and the Monrovia-Surfcrew.

Other than surfing we haven’t done much. I sold a few things but the van is still unsold, I’m trying hard by now and got ten people looking around for a potential buyer for it as well as posting it online. Since days I’m calling everyone i know, drive around the city forever. The problem is that prices went down a lot as the UN started to sell some of their vans, pick-ups and landies for very little money. That means you can get a decent car without mechanical problems for just a few thousand dollars. Not much luck for me so far..

Had a relaxing time though, was great to stay in the same place for some time, having our own room, a good shelter from the occasional heavy rain. Probably the most impressive thing in the last days is a poor chimp, living in a cage at a friends place. He somehow got it from someone and arranged everything to move it to a Chimpanzee Rehab in South Africa, paperwork and flight was all done. Shortly before the flight, the Rehab shut down, it didn’t work out and the poor chimp has to wait again. Anyway, beeing around him is amazing, it is the closest thing to human beeings for sure. You can shake hands, can see expressions on his face, he knows what you are doing and if you are feeling good or not. You can play with him and and he starts kind of laughing. The craziest thing is this: After his lunch there was food left on the bottom of the cage, lizards would come closer and try to get a piece of it so he chases them away. There was a few around when he wasn’t looking so I pointed at them, but looked at him. Immediately he looked where i pointed at and chased them away. I pointed in the tree, still looking in his eyes and not up in the tree, and he would look up there to see what’s there. No other animal would do that i guess! In Africa, Monkeys are either shot and eaten or kept as a pet. Some people would feed them cookies, give them beer and cigarettes and all kind of shit until they die, much younger than they normally would of course. It is sad to see that, and there’s nothing you can do about it as you cannot change everyone’s mind.

Spent about two weeks in this beautiful country, although didn’t see much else than the Freetown Peninsula. Pascal decided to stay and leave from here, so we split up when Marc and I made our way south towards Liberia.

It’s a bit sad, we’ve been pretty much in the same places as last year, but they are so nice that you d0n’t want to leave anymore. West Africa’s finest beaches, white sand and clean water, fringed by palmtrees and spectacular hills, streams and jungle everywhere. Met a lot of friends again, all of them well and happy to see us too. Went out in Freetown and met a lot of crazy people. Talked to Jamaican and local dealers, prostitutes and former prisoners which are amongst the ordinary people. Most of the time we’ve spent at the beaches, surfing and relaxing from all that driving inland. Tried to snorkel and speerfish a bit, but visibility is poor and Marc only has a very shitty gun. He got so mad, giant snappers around him and just no way to get them.

I also discovered how quick people can turn into monsters here. After a big daytime-easterparty at one of the beaches i was ready for bed, about to step in the car. Screaming and yelling started, a wild mob of 10 people kicking and hitting one man towards the bush. Went to see what’s going on, people told he is a thief, he stole a girls cellphone and money. He was bleeding already, but still standing. I went in between to calm them down, sent for the village chief and also a friend of mine who’s got some power here. The mob moved, i could convince them not to hit him anymore, but there was always other people coming and hit him, sticks re-appeared again and again. We all moved through the village, eventually after an hour of beating the village chief showed up. Kicked him right in the face first, then talked. We went inside, discussing it all. My solution was, after we couldn’t get hold of any police in the area, to take a taxi and bring him to the checkpoint closeby. If they wouldn’t take him, continue to the next town and drop him at the station. In the meantime I’ve learned, that the last thief they caught here was brought up to the soccerfield, reached it in a bad condition already. He got undressed, they smashed his balls and pulled out his penis, alive. By the time the village chief arrived, he was almost dead, he died on the way to the hospital. That is what they to here with thieves, all over the country. In Freetown they kill them and drop the bodies in front of the jail or court. As for this night, we went up to the taxistand, the crowd yelling and spitting at him. We found some space in a cab, he sat in the back, four guys watching him. There was two kids and some girls in there, as well as another man too. I wanted to get in, got pushed away all of a sudden and the taxi was off, one guy yelling at me “fuck off white motherfucker!”. He never made it to the checkpoint or the policestation, they had no reports and knew nothing about it, he disappeared on the way, on these five kilometers.

I couldn’t take the easter party anymore after that, the following day it would have been the biggest thing but Marc and I left to spend a night on a quite beach closeby. After that, a hell of a drive down towards the border. I was sick already in the morning, something was wrong. Malaria? A flu? Something else? It got worse throughout the day, but we kept going, wasn’t too bad. On the way we took a women with us, broken leg and food, motorbike accident as the drivers are just too stupid and go superfast on the dirttracks. She was in deep pain, every hole and bump made it worse. We brought her to a healer, a herbalist who is famous all over Salone apparently. We explained the case and that we have nothing to do with it, first question was “who pays for it?”. Couldn’t believe it, the healer wasn’t even there yet, she was crying and in pretty bad condition, and all one could think of was the money. She knew the one that was driving her, he should show up later and take the responsibility. We left her there, in good care as it seemed. Stopped somewhere in the Gola-hills, just before dark. A terrible night, heavy rain. Had to close all the windows, it got so hot and sticky. I got up sick, but we had to leave the country as we were stamped out for today already from the main checkpoint some thirty kilometers from the border. We made our way and crossed it, Marc did most of the stuff luckily. And we arrived in Liberia!

This is not good, we are stamped into Guinée, all official and good. But not stamped out in Mali. In my passport, as for the car,  there’s no such thing saying “seen at the border, left the country then and then with this vehicle..”, it still says that my car is in Mali. I guess I would need a new passport if I would ever go back to Mali. Even then it could be troubles..
Roads are rough and dusty, up and down little hills, sharp turns, rocks, potholes and branches of trees on the piste. No cars, every hour a motorbike. This is for sure not a border that people pass through often. Had to cross a river too, the ferry is broken and luckily some guys built a ferry, two pirogues attached together, some wood on top of it to put a car sideways on it. Well, no other choice unless we want to go back to Mali.
Looked for a place to spend the night and ended up staying a couple of days in a little village called Akassa, twenty kilometers from Kankan. As usual, we are the main attraction and everyone wants to see us. Unfortunately we also had to dance one night, one by one, to the fast beats of the Tam-Tam, one bonfire and several hundred people laughing with us. The next day, after some more Tam-Tam, all the woman and many kids as well as a few men from Akassa and the surrounding villages headed out towards two ponds which still have some water left from the last raining season. Once a year they gather to empty the ponds with nets and hooks, taking out all the fish that got bigger over the months. Most of it is tiny and weird, five to ten centimeters and with some spines sticking out. Occasionally they catch a bigger one, after two hours it’s done and all the people go back home to cook.
People are very nice and have a great way to tell stories, typical african french-accent and word-combinations that make one laugh all the time. One old man was telling us about the national park around Mount Nimba, in the very south of Guinée, towards the border of Liberia. There is still some elephants and other animals to see, but what he told was a lot more interesting: He’d seen some “Grenouilles” there, huge frogs, taller than a man but not dangerous. They jump around and do the same as normal frogs, but they are taller than a man, very tall. It was hard to believe, but it was one of the best stories we’ve ever heard! Or two brothers, the Camara’s, both fishermen-Nomads going up and down the rivers with their families, staying a few days here, a week there. They move around in the pirogues and sell the fish in the cities. One got stung by a scorpion right at were we stayed, they were just laughing at this and saying this is no problem, it doesn’t hurt. They told us about fishing where there’s Hippos and Crocodiles, snakes and showed us their scars when they got bitten by bigger fish. Our lives are miserable compared to what they go through every day.
In Kankan we got in trouble with the gendarmerie; drove into a one-way street and I had to get out of the car. I wasn’t wearing shoes as we are always driving barefoot, so I got another penalty. 25′000 Francs Guinée could get us away without having to go to the poste de gendarmerie, it’s about three Euros. We changed all our CFA’s in Kankan, since there is a new law it is illegal to change foreign currencies in Guinée, even for the banks. So you have to do it on the blackmarket, in some backstreets or backyards out of sight. For a couple of hundred thousand CFA’s in bills of 10′000 we got several million Francs Guinée in very old and dirty bills of 5′000, half a backpack full of money. Always a funny feeling to carry that much money around.
Made our way though the country, stopped here and there for a night. Roads are moslty terrible, more holes than anything else. It gets a bit cooler and more humid in the heartland of the hills of the Fouta Djalon, more tropical and hotter towards Conakry. The condition of the van is getting worse after thousands of kilometers on shitty roads or pistes, there is more noises and you can tell it’s been used. Dakar-Tambacounda-Kayes-Bamako-Mopti-Sikasso-Kankan-Mamou-Conakry was 4′500 tiring kilometers in three weeks, about half of it was either piste or shitty paved road, half of it was pretty good.

This part of Mali is not more inhabited than what we’ve seen so far, the main difference lies in a few main tourist attractions and the river Niger, flowing gently towards Timbouctou, towards the desert and further. And this river is, altough not much current and pretty dirty after passing many towns and villages, simply magic. It is the main watersource for whole areas, feeding plantations and used for laundry, car-wash and shower as well as for fishing and trading. As for all the rivers we’ve been swimming in so far, we are still not sure what to expect. Hippos or Crocodiles? Diseases and worms? F*ck it, after another day of driving in 44 degrees temperatures we just want to cool down. One night was a bit scary as there were Hippos on the other side of the Niger, roaring angrily and we camped only two meters away from the water. For Pascal and me it’s one thing in the car, for Marc in the tent it’s already a little different. We’ve never seen as many insects as here, attracted by our spotlight we’re using for cooking. Millions of bugs going crazy around our place. Got up in the morning, about twenty people made their way through the plantations towards us, singing and all in one line. It was all boys between 10 and 13 years, lead by an old man. They wore all the same blue costumes, the same we’ve seen standing along the road over the last days, swinging some kind of wooden instrument and asking for money. Soon enough they were naked, cleaning themselves in the Niger. Then they were all together and it got quiet. They got circumcised, with a blade, some Betadine and a piece of cotton, right there at the edge of the Niger, one by one. This happens every three years in March, and from then on they are one step closer to be a man. You can see how it hurts, but they can’t show it as it would be a sign of weakness. Don’t even think what happens to the girls here, it makes you vomit and angry..
The famous mosque at Djenné is nice, the whole little town is impressive, built up of mud and with very weird architecture. But it is not nice to be here, the muddy stuff stinks, and too many people want to get some of your money. Made our way to the Dogon country, only stayed for two nights though. Far too many tourists came through here, almost none nowadays because of the crisis in Europe, the problems in northern Africa and the french attacking Lybia and getting hated for it by many Malians who support Ghadaffi. This means that occasionally someone freaks out a bit, showing his anger to the french also towards us. “If there is a french amongst you i will cut his throat” was a statement of one guy going mad at us. Marc is french.
It also means all the guides have no income, as well as the hotels, shops and everyone around them. So it is more pressure on travellers like us, getting hasseled seriously from guides or kids begging for all they can see. The Dogon culture is very interesting, the whole way of living and their believes are hard to understand as we didn’t spend much time here. The oldest man of every village becomes the Ougon, the Chef du village. He is not allowed to leave his home anymore, except for very special ceremonies. Problems and discussions are held under a low-built and open wooden construction with a meter of “Mile” on it, the local wheat. In case someone gets angry at the discussions and gets up too quick he will hit his head and calm down again. Some people’s bodies are still brought up to the cave-like houses in the walls of the Falaise de Bandiagara, a long cliff where the Dogon have built there villages along it. Woman who have their cycle leave their families for five days and stay together in a special place; before they go back they shower intensely and their whole body gets treated with a special oil. All this is one thing, the whole believe in animism is something different. We had no idea how it works but it is unique and it rules their day to day life. The whole area is very impressive, basically it is a cliff with a drop of about 150m. The lowlands are mainly sandy, the top of the cliff is rocky, with some bigger single rocks sticking out here and there, allowing good views over the area (if it’s not too dusty as in this time of the year).
From the Dogon we headed back west, all the way down to the border of western Burkina Faso where we planned to stay for ten days. Well, on the Malian side we got told something important before we got stamped out. The visa for Burkina isn’t 10′000 CFA anymore, now it costs 94′000 CFA. We called the embassy and they confimred. For the car we don’t even know, we turned around as we were not ready to pay 140 Euro each plus the car for just a couple of days. So we’ve spent some more days in southern Mali, which doesn’t see any tourists at all, not just because it’s close to the Ivory Coast but more because there isn’t that much to do here. The closer we came towards Guinée, the greener it got. Trees got bigger too, the road almost all the way either sealed or good piste. Except the last couple of kilometers where it got pretty bad, split up in many paths, all looking the same. All looked like there’s not many cars passing by. And that is the case; on the Malian side there wasn’t even a border-post, no checkpoint, nothing except a Douanier who took our Laisser-Passer for the car about fifteen kilometers before the border. Welcome to Guinée Conakry!

Got up early and sat down at a foodstall for an omelette, not sure what I wanted to do today. Wait for the others to wake up? Try to see some markets? Check out the river Niger and see what people do on it? Staying at home because it’s already hot at seven in the morning? Got into a conversation with Salif Bah while eating, turned out he was getting ready for the day as a friend of him marries. And there we go, I was invited right away. Got picked up half an hour later, cruising through the empty roads of Bamako in a fast BMW with Hip-Hop grooves, not sure if it’s better with more traffic or less. Less traffic is less dangerous, but means driving faster and more overtaking is possible. Joined the couple, named Sidi&Kadia and some friends and family at a nice spot for taking pictures, most of the women had this crazy make-up on the face, feet and hands traditionally and beautifully painted. From there on it got kind of out of control, more and more people joined and at the end we were about ten cars and fifty to seventy motorbikes, all packed. Went from one place to the other, greeting grandma and family-members here and there. Went to the “Mairie” to make the wedding official, the place where everyone has to go. A sunday in Bamako means lots of weddings, you can see them everywhere and tents and music are set up. So at the Mairie it was just crazy, many people and no way through. And somehow people where fighting every time when a couple came out, mostly it was a money thing as some family members wanted to claim some money back (if i understood that right) right there. Saw four couples coming out, every time it ended up in a fight. The biggest one was ours, some serious beating and shouting, the woman tried to calm it down. After this we drove to a nightclub they’ve rented for the afternoon, driving there was for sure the most dangerous thing i’ve ever seen. All the cars and bikes were like bees on a highway, trying to overtake, driving to the left and right like it’s done to warm up the tires before a race. We did hit some of our other cars and bikes a bit, the more the better as it seemed. People stood up on the bikes, did wheelies at highspeed, some guys managed to climb out of the windows and held on to whatever on top of the cars, at 80km/h. And this was just our wedding, all the others did the same. I saw accidents, and I am glad nothing happened to us, to me.
The nightclub was ridiculous, by then we were about three hundred and people started to drink already at noon and the music was way too loud. Luckily i could stay outside in the yard under the trees, in there it was for sure more than fifty degrees. Mid-afternoon i couldn’t take it anymore, went back to rest a bit and in the evening I took Pascal and Marc to the wedding too, another spot again. Eating and drinking, then on to the area we stayed. School-holydays, some kids of the neighbourhood organised a DJ, girls and boys danced in the middle of the road, with a ring of a couple of hundred kids around it. We had to sit right in the inside, luckily we never had to dance, altough they always wanted us to get into the middle and dance. After that we went on to a club closeby, got to see one of Mali’s most famous singer and storyteller, Saramba Kauyate. As we don’t speak a single word of Bambara we had no clue what she said, but everyone was fascinated. The music was alright, but Mali would have some better stuff to offer. For example Amadou & Mariam: Le Dimanche à Bamako, c’est le jour de mariage.

A long journey, 1500km from one capital city to the next one. Crossing the Senegal via Tambacounda wasn’t very spectacular, the landscape remained similar and it just got hotter and hotter the further we came. Leaving the Senegal was the easiest thing ever, no problems at all with our stack of papers. Until this point we were still not sure wether it will work out or if we need to call some people at the customs in Dakar again. Entering Mali was even easier, all in all it took less than one and a half hours for the crossing including getting the Visas and Laisser-Passer for Mali.
It was still all the same, huge Baobabs everywhere, dusty and hot with temperatures around 42 degrees. Passed Kayes and decided to take a route that most people wouldn’t take, shorter than the regular one but we ended up driving four hundred km of piste which took us a couple of days driving. We discovered what we would never have expected, a beautiful trip along the river Senegal, driving from one amazing spot to the next one. Waterfalls and rapids, rocks to jump off and warm water. Where the piste is close to the river it’s all green and people grow a lot of vegetables and fruits, cheap and good. Huge Mangotrees with Mangos about to be ripe, papayas and bananas everywhere. This is one of the dustiest pistes so far, similar to the north of Guinea. It gets everywhere, skin and hair are red after some time, everything in the car is covered in dust and after every drive we needed to clean the inside of the car. But this didn’t really matter, several times a day we jumped into the rivers, only had to make sure there’s no crocodiles, hippos or snakes in the water. Great people all over, somehow Malians are funnier than other people and their way of greeting and having fun is truly inspiring. Now we know why most overlanders go to Mali and Burkina Faso, it’s all easy and without hassles and problems, just how it should be for a traveller.
Temperatures were still rising, 44 degrees when we arrived in Bamako. Came here a bit late, had to find a place to stay when it was dark already, not the best start to arrive in a big city. Only stayed two nights, it is just too hot here and the dust and pollution do not really make it any better. But again, the Malians are nice and we found the right spot to stay, a place run by nuns and very quiet for beeing right in the centre. You step out of the gate and you are right in the middle of day-to-day life, with good food everywhere. Kids run around, traffic is crazy and during the day most of the people try to find some shade. For us it is time to move on, towards the east to Ségou, then south of it to the very west of Burkina Faso for some days. Isn’t that the best name ever for a country? It’s gotta be good after all the things we heard from there…

Eventually we are allowed to drive around in the Senegal (and hopefully to leave it without troubles as well)!!!
Went back to the customs in Dakar, again with Marks friend Ali who used to be a defender in the Equipe Nationale of Senegal for some five years back in the days. He is still known very well and got some influence, so we showed up and all was good this time; no extra papers, no customs-agent who has to come with us to the border, and no money to pay. So glad if finally happened! Other people we met at the border still can’t get their car into the country, so I guess we were kind of successful and lucky to know someone with influence who can arrange things for us.

Got an CEDEAO-Insurance for all West-Africa for the next few months, so this is done too. Got the Visa for Guinée Conakry which was the easiest thing ever. The Ambassador (called “His Excellence” by the Portier) was friendly and did it right away, within ten minutes we were out again. Got the “Laisser-Passer” for the car too, a paper for the car you need to pick up in each country. So this time we should have an easier time in Guinée as we got all the correct papers. Compared with last year when we sneaked through Bissau and Guinée with an unofficial Senegalese Laisser-Passer: Got some problems around Conakry and then at the border to Sierra Leone again, had to bribe as we knew we were not very legally in the country..

So as for now we can take it pretty easy here and get some waves and relax. Soon we’ll be inland towards Mali for some weeks, hot and dusty but still plenty of water as we will cross the river Gambia on the way, then try to find some springs and head to the river Niger. After that through the green and lush Fouta Djalon into Guinée……..

It’s been a while since the last post.. Surfed a bit every now and then, but nothing great due to many missed days (because of the car-trouble, too much wind, sickness, sidetrips..) but it’s been alright. Staying in N’Gor village since the beginning and rented different places, all overpriced compared to what locals pay. And it can be superloud here, so far three people died in the neighbourhood since we are here and this means endless ceremonies with singing, talking, cooking and noise throughout the night, every time for three days. Haven’t done much but enjoying holidays with my girlfriend Astrid; she came to see me for some two weeks which was fantastic! Unfortunately both of us got sick a lot, never-ending stomach-troubles for two entire weeks, both of us. It was so nice to discover all the things with Astrid, it’s the first time for her in Africa and she got used to wait, to be in tight taxis or to eat whatever there is (whick led to the stomach problems..). We had the funniest rides ever, one cabdriver almost ruined his car because he was mad with me as he didn’t knew where we wanted to go and I had no clue either. So he got nervous, asked around but never seemed to understand what people told him, pulled over where there was no way and the whole car shook and jumped around.. Anyway, went to see a few things (she also spent more than one day with us at the customs, very exciting no?) and did a great trip by ferry down into the Casamance. Learned a few things about travelling again; by now I am used having my own car and all that, without that it is a whole different thing. Had to get tickets, only pullman-seats available which was a trip to hell for a whole night.We tried to sleep in the gangways or other places but we were not allowed. And on deck it was very windy and wet, so no option. The seats were right in front of a TV, airconditioned and not enough clothes (stupid me..), noise and a sore body after the first hour. Arrived in Ziguinchor the next morning, tired as hell. Straight to Cap Skirring where we took whatever room they showed us and got mad on it later on as for this price you should get the whole hotel.. Anyway, the following day we moved to a friends place out in the bush and right at the sea with kind of a private beach as there is no one else, and this was the time to relax for us, finally. Spent some lovely days down there, ate huge dishes of shrimps and fish and just enjoyed not doing much except a little walk here, or a swim in warm water, just in boardies. It is already a whole lot different down in the Casamance, people are very nice and there is a lot of fruits and tropical stuff around. It’s green and a lot warmer (but still colder as last year, it seems to be way colder all in all). On the way back we managed to get two places in a cabin and slept like babies, what a great night on the ferry compared to the other one! So if you plan to take the ferry, book in advance and take food and drinks on it, it is superexpensive.

Now we are back in Dakar, in N’Gor Village again. Astrid just left back to Vienna, back to the cold and fog. For me it’s time to team up with Marc again and move together with my good friend Pascal (traveled together on the last trip) who arrived a week ago. Will rent a place together at the far end of the village, right at the sea and away from the noise. Hope to get some surf the next days; today we will go to the customs again and try to sort out the car-disaster. Once this is done we have to get some visas and then head towards Bamako, Mali in about ten days or so..