After a relaxing few days in Niamey we decided to bid farewell to Niger and head over to Burkina Faso. None of the guidebooks really praised Burkina Faso that much so it was initially to be a stepping stone to Ghana, and a place to purchase the Ghanaian Visa’s.
The days drive was to be long, but without any obvious obstructions except the border crossings, at which we are getting reasonably proficient. We know what is necessary anyway, what needs to be stamped and signed and by who. This was done with the minimum of fuss and over we went. This sounds strange, but the first thing we look out for now when we enter a new african country is the type of trees and plants around. This stems (not a pun) from a conversation we had with an english guy in Senegal when we stated how different certain countries looked to each other. Apparently due to different forestry and farming laws, fascinating I know and one of those things best kept to ourselves.
Anyway, the road was good up until about 40kms out of Ouagadougou, where it deteriorated due to roadworks to a dusty track. Not only this but it was getting dark. There are two options to driving in the dark on a track in Africa. Follow someone close enough so that the dust they produce goes under and around your car and hope they know which route to take. Or drop back and pick out the track for yourself, knowing full well that if you decrease speed to under 60km/h a car or lorry will be up behind you and attempting an overtake at speed leaving you quite literally in their dust. I attempted a bit of both along with some head out of window, face pressed against windscreen stuff aswell.
Needless to say we arrived on the outskirts of the city. Tired, sweaty, and ridiculously dusty it was not surprising that we stopped at the first place we saw with a sign which claimed ‘camping 24hour’. On closer inspection and after a meeting with the obviously mad owner, it was clear that camping meant something different than in the Peak District. We were led around a number of shed like buildings with strange erotic cartoons painted on them, some containing animals (the sheds!). This was a kind of petting zoo with a dangerous and bizarre twist. We were instructed to pitch the tent in an enclosure full of guinea fowl and chickens, living among the ruins of a holiday camp. A strong desire for a beer and some food pursuaded us to stay anyway! But just for one night!
The next morning we were woken by the security guard telling us the sun was rising, still too early for me! Then I realised where we were and off we went towards the centre of town. On our way in we stopped off at the Ghanaian Embassy excited about speaking english to someone. After filling out the four identical forms including names and addresses of bank managers, shoe size, blood group etc. we handed them in to an extremely stern looking lady. Unsure of whether it is possible to write the wrong answers to the test we had just undertaken I folded the 30,000 Cfa into the sheets and held my breath. On seeing the notes she barked that due to an unlisted public holiday on the Monday, the Visas would be ready on the Tuesday. A partial success, one step closer to Ghana for Christmas
