Heading into the Sahara

We've made our way down the coast from Marrekech, first stopping off in Essaouira and now we are staying in Agadir. Both are beautiful coastal towns, though Essaouira still had a traditional Moroccan feel to it while Agadir feels more like a town anywhere on the European side of the Mediterranean.

We are making our preparations to start out across the Sahara. We are stocking up on fruits, vegetables, water and diesel for the crossing. The tough part is that we aren't sure how long it will take. We might get lucky and get through it in 3 days. We might get stuck every day and it could take over 3 weeks. With that in mind we need to prepare for the worst and ration food and water accordingly.

Once we do set out from Agadir, the trip will take an exciting turn. So far we have only bush camped (i.e. not stay at a camp ground) one time. From here until probably the end of February it will be pretty much all bush camps. That means no toilets, no showers, no laundry. Baby wipes become your only means get cleaner.

The intended path of the trip is different that originally planned. We are not going through Chad and Sudan into Ethiopia as originally planned. Instead, when we get to Cameroon we are going to head south through Congo, Gabon, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Zaire), Angola and into Namibia before heading north to Kenya via Zambia and Tanzania. And before we get to Cameroon in late January (probably, anyway) we will go through Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Togo, Benin and Nigeria (but not the really bad parts of Nigeria).

I'll update as we go, but I don't expect to have access to the internet too often, perhaps only once or twice a month.