Mole National Park

We got to the national park and reported in. There were safari's by foot of vehicle available, one of the safari vehicles setting out into the park to see some big game.

We set up camp and the wildlife came to us, a warthog, one of a pair and four piglets that wandered through the camp.

A close up of daddy warthog.

Rather than the vehicle safari, I wanted to get up close and went for a foot safari with our armed guide,Sadie with a Lee Enfield so worn that it was probably left over from the First World War

Around a watering hole we found elephant tracks. They make a big mess wherever they go and churn up the ground around every watering hole.

One of the many crocodiles that live in the water.

A vulture.

A grey headed kingfisher...I know this one so Mike can't correct me later...but some of the other birds I may need help to identify correctly.

At last, some big game, a couple of young elephants.

A baboon crossing the road.

A deer, I forget which type.

And another deer or antelope with distinctive horns but again I forget which type.

A monkey...and he is not smoking but regrettably there is a red flower out of focus just to the right of his face so a poor photo but it gives you an idea of the wildlife all around us.

 Another elephant, an old solitary male.

 Another kingfisher.

Our bush camp for the next night was in a government cocoa seed development centre. They grow the best kinds of seeds and give small plants away free to local farmers. It ensures that the cocoa crop is the best in the world. Some cocoa pods. They also export some cocoa themselves.

 The white milky seed inside the pod.

 Mr Charles took us around the centre in person. These are one month old plants.

A photo to show the size of a pod.

 Another photo to show both this years yellow pod ready for harvest and the small green pod growing to be next years crop.

 The boxes where the seeds are fermented so that they can be sold into international markets.

The drying process.

 Nothing goes to waste and the husks are composted for fertiliser and some are taken to be made into soap.

 A mature cocoa plant with a full crop.

Ivory Coast

I spent several days on the beach relaxing and enjoying it so much that I only took one photo as I was leaving, a picture of the car park in front of the hotel.

Then it was off to the border and heading north to get to the Mole National Park in neighbouring Ivory Coast. It was a long drive and we passed through several villages. This was a common sight outside Christian villages.

This is a cashew nut tree growing amongst a field of maize.

This is the actual fruit, a yellow fleshy part with the nut inside a smooth green case that grows out from underneath the fruit.

We stopped en route at the Kintampo Waterfalls. The first stage is a small fall where the water disappears into some large boulders to flow underground.

It emerges further down the valley from beneath a rock.

But the really impressive bit is where the water tumbles 70m down a steep cliff.

And to give an idea of scale, there is a photo of me.

And a close up just to be sure that it really is me.

 A common sight all over Africa is of a woman carrying loads on their heads. She stopped to watch aus pack our tents away after breakfast.

And then we got to Mole National Park.

Guinea to Ivory Coast

Some more photos of termite hills the mushroom variety.

And another with a double roof.

And a f=general view of some mounds that have survived a fire next to a path.

It is dry season and there are plenty of burnt patches plus some fires that are still burning. The heat is intense and there is a loud sound of crackling as the grasses and twigs literally burst into flame.

And she of the damage dowe to the jungle after a fire has passed.

 A view of one of the overladen trucks and taxis that ply the routes between cities. Its not a good photo but it does convey the meaning of a full taxi. And yes that is a person sitting on the top.

 Another hazard on African roads. If you are not sure how deep a ford is you let someone else try it first.

 This isn't a photo of a construction site to show that some of the roads are being improved but it shows how red the ground is.

A typical seen where ever we stop. We are a constant source of entertainment for the locals who will just come over and line up and watch us.

A rubber plantation where we had a bush camp.

 We had crossed the border into Ivory coast and stopped at the capital, Yamoussoukro and an extravagant project to glorify the president but it is an interesting cathedral.

And lastly a colourful view of Abidjan and a taxi rank where the cars just stop rather than park in a line.

Sierra Leone to Guinea

I left Freetown and stopped en route to see one of the original settlements established by freed slaves at York. A centenary monument in the village.

A couldn't resist a look at the cemetery although it had been overgrown and subject to a recent bush fire.

But the beaches all along the coast are fine white sand and the Bounty adverts were filmed just up the coast.

 One of the more up market restaurants on the beach which served fish and I had barracuda which is a wonderful meaty fish and I will be looking out for it again.

There are road hazards. We had crossed this bridge a few days before but now there the wrecks of two lorries. One had come around the bend on the slope down to the bridge and hadn't braked in time and run another lorry off the edge of the bridge and there was debris on the bank and in the river.

 Ans several of the vehicles were overloaded and subject to toppling over on steep cambers.

Over hazards were weak bridges and culverts which gave way under heavy vehicles. We managed to get out of this hole with just a bit of shaking rather than getting stuck. We were heading NE out of Sierra Leone back to Guinea.

 But the roads are being improved even if the temporary road is still a dirt track. A partially completed covert.

Some of the tracks were just tracks through the jungle.

 But in places they too were steep and bumpy ruts.

Sierra Leone

And yet another border and we were into Sierra Leone. But there was a problem near the border with a long tail back of vehicles. A lorry had broken down in the middle of the road and an overladen taxi had tried to get past on the camber at the side of the road and had fallen over onto its side so only cars could pass. In our overloading vehicle, we bumped across some farmers tracks and got past that way.

And a reminder that the country was hit hard by Ebola not long ago.

  It is presidential election time in Sierra Leone and there are promotion posters every where.
                                      

 We ran parallel to a railway track for a while but I didn't see any trains.

 But this northern part of the country has wide rivers...

 separating a mixture of savannah and jungle.

 I left the track on the beach and headed into Freetown for a few days but actually took few photos as chiefs are very active and I often went out with any camera of ruck sack to make sure I didn't lose anything. Here is the Cotton Tree in the centre of the city which was allegedly here when the first freed slave were relocated here from the Caribbean in 1769.

 I couldn't resist a photo of this building in downtown Freetown.

 And the view from my hotel room...it looks misty but it is in fact dust and smoke from forest fires.

Yellow School Bus and Crossing Russia on the Trans Siberian

Just before Christmas my publishers released the next two books, copies of the covers are below. Get on to Amazon.co.uk, enter my name and you will see all five books. The 'e' versions of these two new books will be available in the next fortnight.

I won't spoil the stories but you can read the first few pages on line.

And I would be grateful if you were to write a review as reviews give people the confidence to buy the book and I get to sell more copies.