Senegal

On Feb 11 we leave St. Louis in Senegal and cross the border to MAURITANIA. While in Senegal we traveled in a van, in Mauritania there are three 4WD’s pick-up trucks prepared for us. First stop is in the Diawling Nat. Park. Night in town Tiguent. Following day across the sand dunes of the desert near Atlantic Ocean to the Mauritanian capital, Nouakchott. Almost all cars in Mauritania are German Mercedes-Bens. Mostly there are second hand and question is how they were acquired.
In the next 8 days we visit places deep in the heart of Mauritanian desert like Atar, Chinguitty (7th holy city of Islam), a meteorite crater Guelb Richat (called Africas Eye), Ouadane, Azoughi (the ancient capital of the Almoravids – warrior Muslim monks) and Terjit the most beautiful oasis in Mauritania.
On Feb 20 already back in the capital Nouakchott there is a visit to a National Museum with nicely exhibited expositions. We leave on a plane for Paris at midnight, where early in the morning on Feb 21. Next plane takes me from Paris to Los Angeles. Landing in LAX early in the afternoon. I pick-up a car at AVIS and I drive home to Vista.

Travel office: Spiekermann Travel Service
Who took part: 7 American tourists, a tour director Mohamed, local guides and drivers

After night sailing we find ourselves in Banjul, capital of GAMBIA, in the morning on Dec 11. This narrow country is wedged inside Senegal. During the day trip we visit “Abuko Nature Reserve,” “Makasutu Forest” and a museum in Banjul.
Another day on the ocean. On Dec 13, Freetown, a capital of SIERRA LEONE. This was the first place where Blacks from America were brought back to Africa. There is a sightseeing trip of the capital. Our bus is escorted by 2 motorcycle policemen. When out of this 1 million people city the road goes past beautiful but empty beaches. At one we stop for refreshment. Pleasant music and interesting dances performed by a local group. For lunch we are in a nice hotel while getting an interesting speech of American ambassador to Sierra Leone. On the end of the tour is a visit to “National Rail Museum.”
The following day afternoon we should visit Monrovia in Liberia. Our ship is waiting several hours for a Liberian pilot to take our ship into the harbor, but nobody shows up, so we leave for our next destination. It is a disappointment. Next almost 2 days Corinthian II. rounds Africa to Gulf of Guinea.
At noon on Dec 16 we land in Takoradi, GHANA. In the afternoon there is a bus trip through towns Takoradi and Sekondi. Next day another trip from Takoradi on the main highway along the coast east visiting local villages and an impressive fortress, “Cape Coast Castle,” started 1652 by Swedes and finish by British. Served for slaves to be sent to Americas and the British ruled Gold Coast from here until 1876 when they moved the capital to Accra. After lunch we see the “Emina Castle” and its “St. Jago” fort. At night Corinthian II. sailed to another Ghana harbor, Tema. In the morning on Dec 18 a bus tour to sightsee the 3 mil. people capital Accra. Among other places we stop at the extensive “Memorial Park” of the first president Kwame Nkrumah. The following 2 days in Tema we make a visit to “Shai Game Reserve” to see animals, later to a beads factory and the second day to a “Aburi Botanical Gardens” and “Mompong Center” for herbal medicine.
On Dec 21 morning our ship is moored at a pier in Lome, TOGO. Next two days we are in this on the map skinny country. There are 2 armed policemen in our bus. First visit is to a royal palace where we hear speech of the local king then a local school. In the afternoon there is a sightseeing of the capital Lome including a woodoo market. Next day morning a visit to a village with another king. In the afternoon a voodoo village s voodoo ceremony.
On Dec 23 morning our ship moves to the next country BENIN. We are in the harbor of its largest city Cotonou. There is a trip to the capital of Benin, Porto Novo, on the border with Nigeria. Again we have 2 armed policemen in each bus. One has a machine gun. The buses are escoted by motorcycle policemen. We visit an ethnographic museum in Porto Novo. Later we stop at Honme Museum, where the kings used to live. Afternoon trip is to Ganvie a village built on stilts in a large lake. We get there on a local boats. I have been here 9 years ago coming from Mali through Burkina Faso in a 4WD car.
Then we spend a day on the Gulf of Guinea, a day filled with lectures as always when on the ocean. On Dec 25 Corinthian II. put anchor at Limbe in CAMEROON. This is an English speaking part of this country which joined the French speaking one during the decolonization. The rest of the British Cameroon joined Nigeria. In the morning a visit to oil palm plantations and then we stop at a tea plantation and see the processing of tea leaves. Later on we see a palace, where a German governor had a seat, when Cameroon belonged to Germany before WWI. In the afternoon there is a stop at lava flow from 1999 when Mt. Cameroon erupted. The volcano is in the clouds above us. We also visit a collection of apes and monkeys in a zoo.
On Dec 26 morning we get to shore on zodiacs. Our ship anchors in Kribi in the French part of Cameroon. The countryside is covered by a rain forest. First on buses then on Lobe River we board boats of local pygmies a go to visit their village deep in the forest. There are not as small I thought the pygmies might be. They are hunters and gatherers and their children don’t go to school. In the afternoon we visit waterfalls on Lobe River. They fall practically into the ocean.
Our next visited place is an island country SAO TOME & PRINCIPE in the Gulf of Guinea. It used to be a Portugal colony. Originally uninhabited islands were used by the Portuguese over 500 years for coffee and cacao plantations. The work force was brought from Africa. The revolution in Portugal in 1975 withdraw that country from its colonies and the whole system collapsed. On Dec 27 we come to the Island of Principe. Again using zodiacs we get on the island. Four vans take us around the island. The following day a visit to the bigger Sao Tome Island where 160 thousand out of 200 thousand people of the country live. A tour around the island. High humidity and temperature. A stop at a waterfalls. We learn about the coffee production. Local women dancing in the street. A visit to a museum in an old Portuguese fort and local villages.
On Dec 29 we are back at the African continent in Libreville, GABON, practically on the Equator. In the morning there is a sightseeing of Libreville. At noon a lunch break some 40 km outside Libreville. Here we have an interesting talk with 7 employees of American embassy about their work in this country. In the afternoon, a visit of Monday Forest.
Another day on Atlantic Ocean with several lectures. On Dec 31 in Pointe-Noire, REPUBLIC of CONGO. This used to be a major French colony. Its capital is Brazzaville. Our bus goes through Pointe-Noire on its main drag, Blvd. De Gaulle, bordered by important buildings. We see a soccer stadium built by Chinese. Out of the city our bus follows the highway to Gabon. At noon, some 25 km from Pointe-Noire, we leave the bus and enter Diosso Gorge reminding Badlands in So. Dakota. Close by we see a museum which used to be a residence of Loando kings. Interesting was the royal succession: from the king to his nephew. After lunch in a beach hotel back to our ship.
Originally we were to enter the Congo River, but that was cancelled due to possible pirates on the river. Then there were to be 2 stops in Angola (Luanda and Lobito), but according to the information those harbors do not work around the first of the year. So we have now 3 days on the ocean going south to Namibia.
At noon on Jan 4, 2011 Corinthian II. lands at Walvis Bay in NAMIBIA. Until WWI it was a German colony, then it was run by South Africa and from 1990 it is an independent country. There is a bus tour to Swakopmund in the afternoon. Until quite recently the streets of this city carried names from the German era. The main street was “Kaiser Wilhelm Strasse.” Now it is “Sam Nujoma Avenue,” named after a Swapo member. There are high sand dunes near Walvis Bay. We have a dinner in a large tent under “Dune #7,” which is with its 800 m the highest. Next morning a trip in 4WD’s south to salt ponds, the coast and making runs among dunes. After lunch a visit to a township.
On Jan 6 we leave our ship and fly from Walvis Bay to Cape Town in SOUTH AFRICA. Our accommodation is in a 5* hotel “Mount Nelson.” The following day we take a cable car to the Table Mountain, visit the Peninsula with the Cape Point and the Cape of Good Hope. Later a visit to the famous Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens. The last day morning a wine tasting in Stellenbosch wine area outside Cape Town.
Early in the morning on Jan 9 I am taking a KLM plane from Cape Town to Amsterdam, NETHERLANDS, where in the afternoon. Due to 2.5 hour delay at departure I missed my plane to Los Angeles. On account of KLM I am spending a night in a hotel here. In the evening I take a train from the airport to downtown Amsterdam for a little sightseeing there. Next day, Jan 10, before noon I fly from Amsterdam to Los Angeles. Here I rent a car and drive home to Vista where just after 5 PM the same day after 42 days traveling.

Travel office: “Destinations & Adventures” and “Travel Dynamics International”
Who took part: Nov 30 through Dec 19 there were 59 passengers in 49 cabins, in addition there were 2 lecturers with wives and 4 people from Travel Dynamics who directed the trip. On Dec 19 some passengers and people from Travel Dynamic left and new came on board.
Corinthian II: The ship had 57 cabins each could take 2 passengers (so max 114 passengers). Gross Tonnage: 4,200; Length: 297 ft. (90 m); Beam: 50 ft. (15 m).

In the morning on Dec 26 “Callisto” docks in Banjul harbor in GAMBIA. Soon we go by a coach for a sightseeing tour. There is a stop at the goat market. Little later at “Abuko Park” which is one of the best birding area. I know I have been here twice before. We have lunch in a private resort “Makasutu.” There are baboons everywhere. On our drive back, we visit museum in Banjul.
At night and following morning, our ship sails against the current of the Gambia River about 100 km to Tendaba. Here we get on a bed of a truck to drive around the countryside. In the afternoon, a ride on a local piragua birding on an arm of the river.
Next 1.5 days are on the Atlantic Ocean. There are frequent lectures on the ship. But in the afternoon on Dec 29 our ship is at a pier in the harbor of Bissau in the country GUINEA-BISSAU. There is a bus tour of the city. During which we visit a fish market. Then I take pictures of important places from the bus. Last stop is at a woodcarving center. Then past a stone fortress back to ship.
In the afternoon on Dec 30 “Callisto” anchors at the “Bijagos Archipelago” part of Guinea-Bissau. By an island barge to shore. Local people carry us to the beach, so we don’t get wet. A dune-baggy takes me to a village, while others go on foot. We walk around the village of mud houses. One house belongs to the 85-year old local king. Then back to our ship.
Next two days there were to be more sightseeing tours to islands of the archipelago. One shortened took place, but I did not go. For large waves, the other was called off and “Callisto” starts sailing back to Dakar.
Our ship docks in Dakar on Jan 2 afternoon. The rest of the day is sightseeing of this city. After a stop in an artisans’ village, we take pictures of a gigantic statue “Monument de la Renaissance Africaine” built by North Koreans for 30 million euros. Next stop is at the Presidential Palace. Then we return to our ship.
The following morning there is a ferry trip to the “Goree Island.” From here Africans were carried by ships to Americas to work on plantations as slaves. This is my third visit to this island. We have a local guide for the walk around. We return to Dakar at noon. Then we are taken to our “Pullman Teranga Hotel.” Here in our individual day rooms we are waiting for transportation to the airport before midnight.
Very early in the morning I fly with Air Nigeria from Dakar (Senegal) to Lagos (Nigeria). There I change to another Air Nigeria plane for flight to Accra (Ghana). In Accra, I switch to a Delta Airlines plane to Monrovia (Liberia) my destination. I am in Monrovia, LIBERIA after 5PM. A hotel car takes me from the airport to my “Cape Hotel” (some 60km) in Monrovia the country capital.
I have arranged a sightseeing trip of Monrovia in a hotel car. First, we pass an American Embassy with a big sign “No Photography,” then a stop at a “Masonic Temple,” followed by a “Waterfront Market.” From there to the center of the city. We drive the Broad Street, where most of the shops and businesses are located. On the Government Hill, there are government buildings. Next, I see the “City Hall” and the 4 months old power plant built by Americans, little later a brewery. The connecting road is a long market. The last stop is at “Ducor Palace Hotel” which was ransacked during the recent civil war and never repaired.
Afternoon on Jan 6 I get by a hotel car to the airport. On an evening flight with Delta Airlines I fly from Monrovia to Accra in Ghana. On the same plane, I leave Accra an hour before midnight for a 12.5-hour flight to Atlanta where in the morning on Jan 7. I leave Atlanta at 8:30AM. During boarding I was put into the Business Class. Great. After 4.5 hours, the plane lands in Los Angeles in midmorning PST. I pick-up a Hertz car and drive home to Vista where early in the afternoon.

Travel office: “Travel Dynamics” through “Destination & Adventures”
Who took part: 19 passengers on the ship “Callisto,” an English expedition leader, a naturalist from South Africa plus 16 members of the crew including the captain and house director both from Greece. I traveled alone in Liberia.