A word about overlanding, Day 185

Los Angeles to Accra, Ghana, Day 183 ... Cape Coast Castle, Ghana, Day 186

A word about overlanding, Day 185

Overlanding is not for people who like their creature comforts such as a bed, good food, and hot showers, or for those people with hygiene phobias. But if you have a burning desire to explore remote areas off the beaten track, no money, and a willingness to muck in then overlanding might just be for you. Having said that, overlanding can be challenging. And this is nothing to do with the camping and the inevitable rough traveling, but the group of unknown individuals that accompany you on the journey. Considering that I have pined ad nauseam for luxury throughout this blog, you might be surprised to find Christi and I even contemplating this type of journey. And it’s not that we’re particularly enamored of overlanding, but it is about the cheapest and fastest way of exploring a remote area and the one thing that Christi and I are desperately short of is greenbacks. Now if we truly had stuck to our budget we would be in good shape, but time and again we’ve been seduced by luxury rooms and first class bus rides, which is the main reason we’re stuck overlanding again. Yes, folks, Christi and I are old hands when it comes to overlanding in Africa, having driven and camped all the way from Cape Town to Cairo (although we had to fly over the Sudan for safety reasons) on a previous 6-month journey. Which is why I know the main issue will be our traveling companions.

Dragoman is probably the preeminent overlanding company in the world. They are headquartered in rural England, but run trips on reconfigured Mercedes-Benz trucks that are painted bright orange across the globe, including South America (although clearly Christi and I avoided them there). Fortunately Dragoman do trips through West Africa, which is a very challenging destination. Public transport is rare to non-existent, especially during the wet season when roads can be washed out, while the temperature in these Sahel / desert environs can easily top 120oF in the dry season. Hiring a private 4WD vehicle and driver would be prohibitively expensive for Christi and I so the only way that we can explore the region in a reasonable time frame without breaking the bank is to overland.

And this is the way that it works: Dragoman supply the truck, camping equipment, cooking equipment, two drivers / tour leaders…and not much else, because the passengers do most of the work. We cook, we clean, we buy food, we put up the tents and take them down – everything. In fact each passenger (and there are a maximum of about 20 per trip) is assigned a job, such as loading / unloading the luggage from the rear storage locker, laying out chairs, cleaning the truck, monitoring the staple items so we don’t run out of rice or tea etc. In addition, in teams of two (and not with your traveling companion) you are required to cook breakfast, lunch, and dinner on a rotating basis. For example with 20 people aboard, that’s ten teams of two and with a 30 day trip that means you and your partner will cook three times. And if you have never cooked for 22 people before (including the two drivers) on two burners, well now is your chance to learn!

Our joining meeting is at 10 am when the two drivers, Luca and Darren, go over the basics I’ve just described. They also mention that we, the passengers, will get the most out of this trip if we work together. Luca and Darren also assert that they are not the United Nations and that we, the passengers, are all adults, so unless World War III breaks out we are expected to solve all our own squabbles. There are 18 passengers and we eye each other suspiciously. Most turn out to be British, which may or may not be a good thing. Jobs are handed out and I along with two others are given the dreaded task of loading and unloading the luggage. Damn. This job is by far the most grueling. Christi gets the easy job of ensuring we don’t run out of staple items. Typically, young, poor backpackers do overlanding trips and the partying can go on long into the night with lots of sleep walking if you catch my drift. Our group is much older and I learn later many are ardent independent travelers who came to the same conclusion as Christi and I that it was more cost-effective to explore West Africa by overland truck than by any other means. The trouble with independent travelers (myself and Christi included) is that we are also independent thinkers, which means gaining consensus on any decision could be challenging. Young backpackers, on the other hand, are generally happy as long as there is the prospect of sex and beer at the end of each day.

One final point before we start chugging around West Africa: the kitty. If you want to go overlanding you have to pay twice. The upfront payment to Dragoman HQ is for the use of the truck and camping equipment, the driver’s wages, Dragoman profit etc. Then there is the kitty, which is paid locally to the drivers. This covers the cost of the food, gas, camping fees, organized activities (such as national park entrance, mosque entrance) etc. and needs to be paid in cash. The kitty is a guess: we may spend more in which case we all have to chip in a little extra or we may get a little refund. This Dragoman trip through West Africa is 5 weeks and the kitty is €510 each. Ouch – West Africa truly is an expensive destination. Actually Christi and I had hoped to be aboard the truck for 10 weeks, but the second leg of the trip through Mauritania and Morocco has been cancelled (and refunds issued) because of political unrest in Mauritania (read kidnapping of aid workers).

Over the next five weeks, therefore, we will explore Ghana, Burkina Faso, Mali, and Senegal. OK…let’s go!

Our particular orange truck, which goes by the name of Tortuga, lacks air-conditioning and it is bloody hot in Accra. There is a fridge on board to keep food cold and a large tank of purified water in case we’re out in the wilds for days at a time. Seating is fairly basic coach style, although there is one table on each side of the aisle surrounded by 4 seats (like on a train). And hush…hush there is a safe hidden in the truck for all our valuables. The safe even has its own secret code just in case the locals realize that there is quite a bit of money on board. So rather than say I need to get into the safe, you say I need to get into the zebra?’ Real cunning, don’t you think!