Africa, here I come …
Welcome to my blog on my trip to West Africa.
This first entry is being written during one of Reykjavík’s most beautiful days of the year: windows are open, pools are packed, and T-shirts have been dug out of closet corners. But this sunny 18C (well, maybe 20C) is positively chilly compared to what I will enjoy in less than one month’s time.
Here are the basics:
Dates: Monday 2 October to Monday 20 November. Exactly seven weeks.
Countries: Senegal; Gambia; Mali; Burkina Faso; Benin; Togo; Ghana. (What are these places like? Visit www.fco.gov.uk to get advice by country. Swallow with salt.) I trust you can find an atlas to locate the countries.
Shots acquired: Yellow fever; Hepatitis A&B; Meningitis; Typhoid; Polio; Diptheria; Tetatus; Cholera (only because it also protects against e.coli which apparently causes over 50% of the diarrhoea in Africa); Malaria tablets
So far all I have is an open ticket with Al Italia to whisk me to Dakar, Senegal (via Milan) and ship me home from Accra, Ghana (via Milan). I have no other visas or tickets, but I do have one kind offer of accommodation for when I first arrive in Senegal.
Why am I going? Mostly because I have always wanted to visit this region. Also, now that I have one commission under my belt for publishing a series of articles about the trip, I think there are some tax breaks. But the more commissions the better, so any leads appreciated. And it will be more exciting that watching the darkness of an Icelandic winter creep in.
Please feel free to post comments (only encouraging and complimentary ones, obviously) or questions and then I’ll feel that entering the world of the blog has been worthwhile.
I’m looking into prettying up the look of this site with some exciting Africa motif. Stay tuned.
Eliza
