1,200 km separate Abidjan and Bamako. Given the nonsense that goes on with overland travel in Africa, this journey was practically interstellar. In the station, veiled Mauritanian women, bearded men reading the Koran, children adorned with beads in their hair. Most...
Month: September 2010
I got my Visa to Mali in 15 Minutes?
Sun-scorched, 80-90% humidity, if you are sensitive to heat you might find West Africa to be a giant torture chamber. The rainy season provides a few months of relief, and right now it lives on in Abidjan. Moderate humidity, cloud cover more often than not,...
Open the Borders: on the Radio in Abidjan
The radio show to listen to in Abidjan is Dj Saturday Night. Two hours of the most popular tunes in the Francophone world, frenetically mixed, no commercials. This post is in the same vein. Ouvrer les frontieres - Tiken Jah Facoly by lionsinthetiles This first track...
Where The Lagoon Meets the Ocean: Staying in a Village in Cote d’Ivoire
Faty, one of my couchsurfing hosts, invited me to a village two and a half hours west of Abidjan. Getting there involved the standard components of overland travel in Africa: poor driving, absurd delays, ten too many police checkpoints, and several different forms of...
Ivorians and Their Baguettes: a Few Observations and Some Pictures
Previously on Philintheblank: Twenty four hours of violent diarrhea and vomiting followed by eleven hours in a bus stairwell. Arrived in Abidjan exhausted, dirty, sunburnt, and bacteria-ridden. One night of revival at a posh hotel turned into six when I became trapped...
Again Slow Travel Wins Out
If you asked me two days ago what I thought of Abidjan, I would have said it's a city of idle soldiers on cratered sidewalks telling market women to give them peanuts for free. I was not feeling it. Behold the power of incredible Couchsurfing hosts. Faty, her...
A Sonic Tour of Mali: 8 Amazing Videos, Songs, and Artists
Economically speaking, Mali is one of the poorest countries on earth. Culturally, it is one of the richest. Bluesy, hypnotic guitar, soaring vocals, mind-bending melodies - Malian music is some of the most powerful in the world. Here are a few extraordinary songs and...
Me and the Ivorian in the Stairwell
My last post ended with a shared taxi on the way back to Takoradi. A British volunteer, an American journalist probing oil companies in Takoradi, and myself. Before getting in the car I had one of those unpleasant near vomit burps that scorched my esophagus. Things...
The Best Beach in Ghana
Leaving Takoradi, I took a tro-tro to Agona Junction, a traffic circle that has become a small village. From there I needed to find a car to Akwidaa, the fishing village closest to where I was headed. The tro-tro (there is only one that goes to Akwidaa) had left...
Couchsurfing Takoradi and Some Leftover Accra Pics
Blazing out of Accra, red earth, two story termite mounds, and green everything else. On the bus to Takoradi, I was pleasantly hypnotized by the scene outside my window when the driver decided to let a pastor on board. The pastor yelled into our ears for two hours....
Join My Email List
If you enjoy the site, you can join my email list, which I update less frequently than the blog but possibly with more juicy content that I wouldn’t dare share in public.
Scoot West Africa
Want to travel with me in West Africa? A friend and I run scooter trips in the region. scootwestafrica.com.
Postcards from Timbuktu
Send a postcard from Timbuktu to anywhere in the world with just a few clicks on a website. Support former tourist guides and artisans in the process.
Things I write about
The Great Jakarta Tour of Far West Africa Part 1: Bamako to Dakar
That time I got married in Mali
Bamako to Abidjan by bus: a chance to get intimate with the hot season
You Bring the Yam, I’ll Bring the Fire
Drawing Camels with 100 Different People in Bamako in 24 Hours
A photo essay: Bamako taxi interiors
A Cocktail Shaker and 10 meters of Fabric in Adjame Market
My sheep, sail boats on the Niger, dance contests and other photos from Mali