What’s the first thing I learned on our 31st day on the road? Everyone in Sierra Leone calls Nigeria big brother. The history is deep.

madridguy:
What’s the first thing I learned on our 31st day on the road? Everyone in Sierra Leone calls Nigeria big brother. The history is deep.

brother

Greetings

aminho:
brother

Enjoy your trip. It's always been my desire to go on a tour like this to certain African countries.

This is not exactly what most people have in mind when they hear "Guinea-Bissau". These are photos from the hotel we are staying at.

Read the journal: http:///2CenbjD

You Know What Bissau Reminds Me of? Portugal



It’s worth mentioning that I’ve never been to Portugal, nor Europe for that matter. But I’ve read books, watched movies, and spent a considerable amount of time reading about the Schengen Visa.

So, why Portugal?

For starters, a lot of the buildings look like something you’d see while travelling across Europe, except this time, there’s a lot of dust and Jollof Rice. The Portuguese colonised this place for centuries.



Also, all the French I’ve been practising the past few weeks has gone to the gutters. Everyone here speaks Portuguese or something that loosely sounds like Portuguese.

Read the full gist and see more photos: https://jollofroad.zikoko.com/you-know-what-bissau-reminds-me-of-portugal/

Nice tread op. I want to ask some questions, can i pls pm you here or have an email i can write you. Thanks

harrison24:
Nice tread op. I want to ask some questions, can i pls pm you here or have an email i can write you. Thanks

You can send a PM

Three Countries In One Day But Our Shortest Trip Since Benin

A day before we left Bissau for the Gambia, captain informed us that the trip would take about 5 hours. I automatically doubled that and then added on a couple of hours. The last time we thought a trip would take a couple of hours, we ended up spending two days on the road. But this time, it took:

- 7 hours including getting stamped out of Guinea-Bissau,
- Getting stamped into Senegal and out of Senegal
- Dealing with anal officers at the Gambian border before getting stamped in

This has been our shortest trip since we left Nigeria for Benin Republic and the first time we are not arriving in a city after sunset. Here’s what made all the difference – good roads.

All the way from Bissau, through Senegal and into the Gambia is a stretch of gloriously tarred highways. There are some rough patches here and there, and a couple of potholes here and there, but for the most part it’s just good roads. So good that it felt odd not being thrown out of my seat as I had gotten accustomed to.

Why did we go through Senegal?
Because there’s no other way. Unlike the Liberian situation that found us going through Guinea first to get into Liberia because the only direct route was an unmotorable road, the only way to get into The Gambia by road, is to go through Senegal first. If you take a look at the map you’d see that the Gambia is a really tiny country nestled within the Senegal region. It’s no surprise since both countries used to be a single region before the whites struck. What’s really interesting though is how different they are.

While The Gambia is Anglophone, Senegal is Francophone. And while Senegal uses CFAs, Gambia uses their own currency – The Dalasis.

We are a serious country and you’ll treat us as such.
With a population of 2 million people, Gambia is the second smallest country we’ve been to with one of the youngest government’s in Africa. Guinea Bissau is the smallest we’ve been to so far.

With a total area of 11,295 km2, it’s literally the smallest country in Africa. But they are a country regardless and that’s a fact that the immigration officers at the border seemed to want to prove yesterday. For the first time since we got on the trip ( this trip had a lot of firsts) we had an immigration officer tell us to our faces that he was going to deny us entry into the country based off the fact that he didn’t trust our motives despite the fact that we had ECOWAS passports, the only document you need to travel through West Africa.



Since we didn’t get the names of the immigration officers, I’m going to give them the most descriptive names I can think of – Blinky and No Neck.

The hullabaloo started with Blinky. After taking a look at our passports and glancing at us with barely concealed disdain, he asked us our mission. We explained we were touring West Africa to which he replied for what purpose? “explore, see, take it all in” we replied. He eyed us, flicked through another passport and declared he wasn’t convinced.

Read the rest of the journal: https://jollofroad.zikoko.com/three-countries-in-one-day-but-our-shortest-trip-since-benin/

We're on our way to Senegal!

From tasting the Gambia jollof to playing with crocodiles, you can say that our stay in the Gambia was simply peaceful and intriguing, especially because of how incredibly small the country is, with 50% of its population being tourists and the other 50% being locals.

Read the journals chronicling our visit to the Gambia on https://jollofroad.com

Where should we visit in Senegal?

Good day op sent a pm already. Pls you have to respond to continue communication.

I Got Sexually Assaulted In Dakar

Today’s journal was supposed to be about many things. It was supposed to be about running into fellow travellers and creating new adventures with them. Wading in a pink lake and finding Fura de Nunu. Instead, it’s about how I got sexually assaulted by a taxi driver, his singular act eclipsing the rest of my day.

It was 9 pm and after a long day of traipsing around Dakar, I had shut down. The rest of the team, however, hadn’t. We were right by the Renaissance Monument and had just grabbed dinner. Someone suggested we go eat at the top and everyone was in consensus except me. I had gotten to the point of the day where my wig felt too tight and my makeup felt too heavy. We had spent most of the afternoon at Lac Rose and the itch I had developed on my legs after the saltwater had tried was starting to spread. The only activity I was interested in indulging in was a hot shower.

I decided to grab a cab to our Airbnb. Captain was insistent on dropping me off but I was more insistent on finding my way. It was just 20 minutes away and I was born and bred in a madhouse like Lagos. What could exist in a city like Dakar that I couldn’t handle? Which was the reason I let my guard down. I didn’t bother to note the plate number of the cab I was in or the make and model, and text it to the rest of the team. I just hopped into the first cab I saw communicating my destination with broken French, gestures and the Google Maps app.

The first 10 minutes of the ride was pleasant. The driver kept pointing things out on the road and telling me the word in French, then Wollof. I nodded along and repeated the words he taught me enthusiastically like I was a toddler who was just learning her alphabets. Then he pointed to himself and said the Wolof word for man pointed at me and said the Wolof word for girl. He did this repeatedly until I comprehended what he was trying to communicate. “Oui c’est bon” I said cheerfully when I finally understood. But he continued and pointed at himself again saying the Wolof word for man but when it was my turn instead of pointing at me again, he cupped my left breast in his palm and squeezed it as he said the Wolof word for woman. I froze.

It was hard for me to understand what had just happened at first. A part of my brain wanted to register it as a mistake — maybe he grazed my boob accidentally. But when I looked up at his wrinkled face, I saw a sly smile plastered on it. “Oui?” he said. I didn’t speak, I looked straight ahead, then at my map, my Airbnb was still 10 minutes away. My mind raced at a thousand thoughts per minute. I was alone in a moving vehicle in a foreign country where I didn’t speak the language with a foreign man who had just sexually assaulted me. The rest of my team only knew I was on my way back to the Airbnb, no one knew what he looked like. In fact, if I was asked to point him out in a line up right now, I couldn’t.

We were driving through near-empty side streets with no street lamps and I only had a vague sense of where I was. It was at that moment fear consumed me. There was no space for any other emotion. Not anger, or revulsion, they all took a backseat and I moved into fight or flight mode. The window beside me was rolled down. I could see the doors were locked but I didn’t want to alarm him by attempting to lift the lock. So I placed my arm on the window so that he didn’t suddenly roll it up.

I stayed perfectly still, using the map to direct him. I said a little thank you prayer every time he went in the direction I indicated instead of suddenly veering off track. Then I called a trusted friend and put the phone on speaker. I called a couple of times before it finally connected. By this time, I was five minutes away from my destination but it felt a lot longer. I told my friend that I had just been assaulted and I needed him to stay on the phone until I got to my Airbnb.

Read the rest of the journal: https://www.zikoko.com/jollof-road/i-got-sexually-assaulted-in-dakar/

This is a Lion Walk at Fathala Reserve in Senegal. There are 6 lions in total but we are confident that there will be an addition to the pride in a few months (see the photo to know what we mean ).

These lions were raised in captivity which seems sad until the guide told us that lions raised in captivity live longer than those in the wild. They aren’t maltreated at all and are fed every four days with dead animals which is why they weren’t tempted to snack on any of us.

The sticks you see us holding are supposedly a sign of authority. When the lions see them they know know not to harm you, but we think we would have been fine without them. Nobody dropped their sticks sha.

Would you sign up for this experience?

https://www.zikoko.com/jollof-road/heres-what-its-like-to-walk-with-lions/

@BigCabal

you are tempting me to plan next year's trip with you guys.....

We’ve been on the road for almost 80 days, stress levels are high, meaning everyone is a little more irritable, meaning the tendency to want to smack someone is higher.

We've made a list of a few things that have gone wrong on the trip so far. Things upsetting enough to change the trip status to "Enroute Nigeria".

From falling ill to Toke's incident and most recently, Tosin being physically assaulted by the security at a government office in Dakar.

Read yesterday's journal: https://jollofroad.zikoko.com/these-are-the-times-this-whole-thing-almost-went-south/

BigCabal:
We’ve been on the road for almost 80 days, stress levels are high, meaning everyone is a little more irritable, meaning the tendency to want to smack someone is higher.

We've made a list of a few things that have gone wrong on the trip so far. Things upsetting enough to change the trip status to "Enroute Nigeria".

From falling ill to Toke's incident and most recently, Tosin being physically assaulted by the security at a government office in Dakar.

Read yesterday's journal: https://jollofroad.zikoko.com/these-are-the-times-this-whole-thing-almost-went-south/

How much did this trip cost? How can one join on the next ofada road?

ebiboy2:

How much did this trip cost? How can one join on the next ofada road?

Hello, we have sponsors.
We are also looking towards planning a similar trip for interested parties. Information regarding that will be shared later.

BigCabal:

Hello, we have sponsors.
We are also looking towards planning a similar trip for interested parties. Information regarding that will be shared later.

Please keep us (me particularly) posted.
Welcome back from jollof road. Ofada road loading

ebiboy2:

Please keep us (me particularly) posted.
Welcome back from jollof road. Ofada road loading

We're still on the road. Today is Day 73

We Found Rice And Stew For the First Time In 60 Days

Rice is a staple in West Africa.

Beyond Jollof rice, West Africans consume rice in as many forms as we can. Plain old white rice with sauce or stew, fried rice not to be mistaken with fry rice which is a whole other thing, tuwo and masa, the list is endless. We’ve talked a lot about how similar our food is across the region.

But one thing we never come across is rice and stew. There’s a lot of rice and ‘sauce’ but no stew. The sauce is usually made with a lot of onions and spices with either fish or chicken but no tomatoes, no ata rodo (fresh pepper).

We had gotten so used to the onion sauce, the stew took us by surprise. There was still a lot of onion in it, cut in large chunks so you can’t miss it even if you tried, but there was tomato and pepper. And it came with a side of alloco which is exactly like dodo but so much better, and it was heaven.



There’s a great chance it wasn’t half as good as we thought, but after 66 days on the road, away from home, family and friends, the food also tasted nostalgic. We had rice and stew for breakfast again yesterday. We didn’t request it, we just ordered riz et poisson (rice and fish) and it came with stew. Which led me to believe that stew might be a staple here. I think it could be because we are getting closer to Nigeria, but Jollof is still Thieb here, so probably not.

Read the rest of the journal: https://www.zikoko.com/jollof-road/we-found-rice-and-stew-for-the-first-time-in-60-days/

It's currently Day 73 and we're in Niger.

We've gone through Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso and we're in the last country out of the 13 we've been to.

We have 7 days left on the trip and will be entering Nigeria through Sokoto, then visit Abuja, then Abeokuta before we return to Lagos.

We have been so caught up with the last days of the trip that we didn't update this thread. However, we have been writing the daily journals and making videos. You can see all daily journals from day 1 to present at https://jollofroad.com

BigCabal:

We're still on the road. Today is Day 73

Yeah! You are nearer home now.
Enjoy yourself and say hi to the team.

BigCabal:
How Similar Are Nigeria And Benin Republic

After a few days in Benin, we have concluded that Benin Republic and Nigeria are way too similar. Mention any local dish from pounded yam to fisherman pepper soup and they definitely have an equivalent.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdkCiATT0Xc

See http://jollofroad.com for more.

Please how would u rate their health care system? A friend want to visit due to health issue. Are their hospital better Dan Nigeria. please is urgent.