Day 65: Wild camp before and after the border at Farafenni

Crazy. December already.

We slept well and for a long time and Wolle didn't miss the earplugs that were left behind in Dakar. Annoying because expensive, much loved and also the first loss of this trip! But: Nothing will take us back to Dakar.

In the morning we have to devote a little more time to the car. Re-glue an LED rear light, test whether we can calm down the hectic turn signal (unfortunately not), blow out the compressor or fan in the refrigerator (it's too hot too) and after a month connecting the Adblue pump again for half an hour drive.

At around 11 we set off towards the border – quite busy, but also quite well organized. Have your passport stamped and fingerprinted again. Basically export the car again. That's it. On the Gambian side the same entry procedure. All in all, less than half an hour.

Buying SIM cards: This is becoming our personal pattern of failure. You can never check what you're getting and once again – even if it's for little money – we only have a mini balance that's immediately gone. So we have to go again tomorrow.

In the afternoon we need about as much time for driving as we do for chatting with police officers at a total of three checkpoints over a distance of around 100 km. Because it's Friday and we're in a Muslim country it's not more of them.

With the others we have the feeling that the police officers are totally bored. We exchange WhatsApp contacts with the first and he dreams about to swap his hut for our car.

The second really wants to know everything about our car and when realizing that we sleep in it, he is asking if we are married. He isn't married yet because he has not much money. Well, the question “Do you have something for me?” is always hidden somewhere.

On the third occasion we can fend off the invitation to tea by saying that we still want to see the stone circles of Wassu and that friends are waiting for us and it is already late.

The stone circles are great and can definitely be compared to the Meghaliths in Brittany or Stonehenge, even if they are not as old. Amazingly, the stone is made of iron and aluminum and looks somehow volcanic.

Unfortunately, Cairo Garden (lodge with pitches) is completely overcrowded and so we are looking for a wild camp site again without having met Cathrine and Ian on site.

The area is densely populated, it is a little more difficult to find a place and there is a lot of traffic around. A boy drives a herd of cattle right past us and completely loses sight of the animals because of his fascination with the car. Until we chase him away after about half an hour with “Bye, bye, Mama is waiting”.

Even today it's time to go to bed shortly after dusk, the mosquitoes are at least driving Brigitte inside.