Afrikisurf – A surf trip to West Africa

Check the pics from the last days, this time it was more sunny here and i was more lucky with waves. I’ve spent these days around Tarifa, El Palmar, Malaga and Granada mostly with my “Spanish/French/Italian/Moroccan/US or wherever he might be from, no one really knows”-friend Marc Lo Porto that i got to know in Indo and which now showed me the area, his family, the surfspots and some crazy nightlife. He lives all over and is very well travelled (for example a superlong trip in a VW-oldtimer-bus from the states all the way through Central America and nearly every country in South America). And now we are going to Africa together!!! Check out Marc’s page www.zenzela.com, you’ll love it!

Marc and I are about to leave Spain, just gathering our stuff together and we’ll be on the ferry to Morocco tomorrow morning, yeeehaaaaaaa!! We’ll go to Senegal together, probably even further… Pascal stayed a bit longer in Madagascar, doesn’t really want to see Morocco and Mauritania again anyway and wants to work a little in between, so he will come straight to Dakar by end of February. So that’s the plan for now… Stay tuned and wait for the next change of plans…

Too bad what happened over the last weeks in this wonderful country, seems like a civil war with riots, brutal acts and persecutions will take place very soon after new year. They say it could get worse than it was in Ruanda. Saying this ahead of it must mean, that the situation is very bad and that there is no way to avoid it anymore.

When we were there, in May 2010, we could already tell that the country is going down. What used to be one of the richest, best organized and wealthiest countries of West Africa was already crossing the border of the thin line to be just another very poor, unstable and futureless country. Half of the schools were closed. You could clearly see that roads used to be good, but there’s no money to maintain them anymore, so even most mainroads had huge potholes and it took ages to get to some places. Literally everyone was complaining about prices; apparantely the salaries remained the same as they used to be years ago, but prices for everything, even basic food, were rising up to double or triple. Less jobs than there used to be and less perspective which is already a rare thing anyway in Africa.

On this trip, let’s say around April or May 2011, we like to visit Ivory Coast again. But it seems like it won’t be possible anymore. I guess the only thing one can hope is that it won’t last too long and that it won’t spread out to neighbouring countries, which happens very often as it usually ends in a big mess, involving different tribes which are to be found on the other side of the borders as well. We hope that all our friends we got down there and as many others as possible will make it out of the country before civil war.

Just saw a list of 16 countries, that could turn into war in 2011. Ivory Coast is on top, Nigeria on 14 and Guinea on 15. Well, that could change our travel-route…

Things changed dramatically over the last weeks. Instead of going to Morocco before Christmas, Tobias and Patrick decided to take a break from the shitty weather and waves they had for weeks and booked some flights. Through Marc, a spanish friend who might even join for West-Africa, we could leave the car safe and secure in Tarifa for a while. After a shitty night on cold marble-floor at the airport of Malaga, we said goodbye to each other on december 12. We both had a good time together and some epic memories of that! And, also important, we are both happy with the decision to end the trip for us here in Tarifa, but we don’t know where it will lead us..

This is the end for Tobias’ travel on that trip, he went up to Santiago De Compostela again to see his love and then back home for Christmas; at home he discovered that his brandnew boardbag was ruined, kinda overrun by a car or bus which left some tyremarks and scratches, the zipper is totally ripped apart, the board is creased in the back and one can lift up the tail easily. No idea weather he will get any money for it or not, but he’s trying.

Patrick fell in love too, also complicated as his girl is living in Vienna, far off the route and the city is covered in snow. I flew to Bratislava, which is just next to Vienna and I’m glad that Astrid picked me up there, the rain just turned into snowfall and it was freezing. That day and the one before christmas were the only days with temperatures above zero, all the other days were between minus five and minus ten. I saw quite a lot of the city, also because of her dog I was walking with often in the morning when she was at work. This was also the main source of conversations with Austrians; never had a dog before so it’s surprising how nearly everyone with a dog starts chatting immediately. And mostly I didn’t unterstand them clearly, their dialect is pretty funny, lots of words that I’ve never heard before. Nice city with some great people, delicious  food and (not surprising for those who know me) fantastic desserts!

For christmas we both went back to our families, so I got a ride with Astrid close to Innsbruck, then took the train into Switzerland. Only spent three nights at home, and had two very busy but great days with seeing as many friends and familymembers as possible. For most of them it was a surprise, I didn’t tell too many people, so it made some weird and fun situations.

On the 26. back to Innsbruck and then Vienna, a whole day of travel once more. Enjoyed some more days before I left on the 29. from Bratislava again. Got back to Malaga, my spanish friend Marc picked me up, took me out for dinner and put me in a nice appartment belonging to his mother. That was exactly what I needed, a shower and a good night’s sleep in a lovely place. Went by bus to Tarifa again, found my car as a left it and now have plenty of time on my own to think about what wonderful lovestory just happened and happens.

It’s warm again, around fifteen degrees during the day, but soo windy and rainy, just the same as we left it.. So back to the same again, waiting and waiting to score some waves. I will head to Morocco shortly after new years eve and wait in the north of the country for Pascal to fly in by mid january. See you soon mon frère Inchah’allah

Such a beautiful part of the world, so many remote beaches and bays with all kind of waves and options in different wind and swell directions. For two entire weeks we were based around Sagres in the very southwest of the country, and discovered a lot of waves. Scored Arrifana, just a few waves though. I wouldn’t want to surf it any bigger, it was still too small for not worrying about the rocks sticking out just in front of where you surf. Not an easy wave… Surfed pretty much every wave in the area, and some of them as good as it gets. Offshore, good size, not many people out, rainbows, barrels, fish jumping around.. But most days were very windy or even stormy, an unusual amount of rain since we’ve been here. Good for the dry land but a bit ennoying if your towel, matress and blanket never get dry for days.

Too many surfcamps down here so it was a bit crowded every now and then. As usual the ability of catching a wave is not really an issue with beginners, it was the sheer number of people out there that made it difficult. Luckily it’s winter time and there’s decent sized swells, so on the few great days of surfing we were mostly just a handful of guys out.

The local people are fine and lovely. Got to know a shepard, he showed up with his thirty cows, goats and sheeps in company with four dogs. Most of his clothes were selfmade, a true man of nature. My portuguese is very poor, but we understood each other well. Unfortunately he just produces meat; it would have been really nice to buy some fresh milk and homemade cheese of him. At a bar were we used to watch football and rugby games we sat next to the staff once, they were about to get a serious seafood-dinner and had a great time. All of a sudden we had a plate of delicious spider-crab-legs on our table, how good is that?

Met some serious freaks down here; lots of Ex-pats living and enjoying the sun and warmer temperatures, mostly Germans and British and we had some fun meetings and got another view of Portugal as they would tell things you wouldn’t here from a local because it’s normal for them. Seems like there’s quite a bit of hash and cocaine smuggeling going on, there’s a few stories about fishermen who are not just catching fish. Or a shooting at one of the remote beaches the other night. Or drugdealers from Angola who rule places like Lagos and Faro…

After a few storms it seems like this is going to be a hard winter for the surfers here; people say if the autumn is that stormy, the winter won’t be good in terms of swell and wind..

Anyway, in between we had more than a week with sun and a few days with offshore. Caught some superb waves around Nazaré, Peniche, Ericeira and Lisboa. We’ve been out at some great spots and seen heavy barrels at Supertubos and Coxos, and a lot of amazing surfers went for them. If there wouln’t be the frequent and strong northerly wind, this country would have so many perfect surfing days!

We kept travelling with „the lads“ (check the last post; the convoy with Jarrah/Harry/Christophe) and hooked up with my swiss friend Lukas in Porto for a weekend. Good to see ya again bro!! Too bad we didn’t get to surf this time..

Spent quite some time in Ericeira due to a car problem, the spare parts for the 4WD were not available in the country and we had to wait more than a week for them. But Ericeira is not the worst place on earth to be stuck in.. The car is ready again and we are in Carcavelos, Lisboa and get treated well by my Brazilian friend Josafa, a well known shaper in Portugal and good surfer. He backed us up with all kind of Surf-Equipment, especially a perfect board-repair-kit that should last for the entire trip. And a brandnew Surfboard, always nice to purchase one $$$

By now we are familiar with Portuguese Saugados & Doces, it’s our daily highlight to get either a salty or sweet little snack at one of the many Bakeries or Cafés which are to be found at every corner. But it add’s up: less money, more belly…

Check out the Gallery, there’s some brandnew stuff from the first month of this travel…

So far we’ve spent nearly four weeks in northern Spain, mainly in Galicia. At the very beginning we were three in the van, Pasci the Basquie joined us for some two weeks from Switzerland to Gijon and slept on the frontseats. Unfortunately we had a lot of wind and rain and not so many waves to share but it was great to have him with us and we were all a bit sad by the time he stepped into the airport. Hooked up with a few swiss friends in Cantabria, thanks for having good times with you guys! At peak time we were three cars and eight people, got a little convoy and own campingspace wherever we showed up.

As for surfing it wasn’t that great so far except a few good days in Galicia; much more driving and wavehunting would have delievered way more sessions and better conditions, but we’re on a one-way trip and not so much into driving forth and back.

Instead we got lost in many spanish Cafés, Bars, Panaderias and Restaurants and tasted local food. Endless amounts of Tapas, Raciones, Sweets and Drinks, great times in places sheltered from rain and wind. Spanish food is amazing, some of the best seafood i ever had!

One night we had a fox checking out our van and trying to get some food out of the box. We could touch him, eventually he even jumped in the car and ran away with a spoon as it was the only thing left on the table. We checked out cape Finisterre, the end of the world. Wasn’t that special, the fact that many pilgrims of the Camino de Santiago end their hike there makes it interesting though. Santiago de Compostela was worth the visit too, beside the Cathedreal and the other attractions we had an unforgettable night out with galician live music and singing and dancing.

At one of the Galician beaches we got friends with Jarrah & Brendon, two Kiwi surfers living in Europe. Things turned out well and we spent a lot of time together, surfed with dolphins once and ended up travelling with two friends of them (Harry & Christophe, called „Harry Bird & The Rubber Wellies“) who are touring through Europe as a band. Got to see three gigs in different places, played games on the beach or collected mussles and had a feast whenever we got the stoves out. Check out WWW.MYSPACE.COM/HARRYBIRDSONGS for some great tunes! We were their roadies and got some free meals and drinks at the venues, it was really interesting to see them performing in bars we would have never found by ourselves. We also visited a friend of them up in the galician hills, at first it seemed like a place where threre’s nothing to do but after i fell off a horse, bumped into a cocaine deal in the forest and some swimming in a beautiful but freezy river it got quite interesting..

Only one week left until the next travel will take us there! Us will be Patrick (for the whole trip) and Tobias, a new friend of the Afriki-Crew coming through France/Spain/Portugal/Morocco for some three months with me. Once he leaves Morocco in January, Pascal will be part of this trip again. The route isn’t very clear yet, of course heading down through the Western Sahara and Mauretania until we reach Dakar in the Senegal, but after that? Maybe we will leave the coast and head inland through Mali and Burkina and see where we end up, then head from there to Liberia. Or from Dakar kind of the same trip again through Bissau/Guinée/Sierra Leone and then to Liberia in May or June…

Anyway, you can check it out as there will be loads of stories and pics on this site!

Now it’s time to prepare the car, do all the things that have to be done before a departure and move out of the appartment…

See you on the road “jusqu’àààààààààààààààààà Abidjan”

While surfing and sliding in Liberia, we got into interviews and stuff with CNN. Check it out, not everything true what they’re saying, but we are pretty much the first surfers coming down from europe by car (at the same time with our Aussie-friends Andrew & Richard: http://www.thirtythousand.com.au/ )

http://edition.cnn.com/video/#/video/international/2010/08/03/ia.surfing.pioneers.bk.c.cnn

enjoy our stupid rides and funny interviews, see ya soon………………