Demobilization

Almost two years ago when this blog was started just before we purchased the beat-up 15+ year old Land Rover Defender for restoration we contemplated some of the possible options for disposal at the end (See Posts in Planning Category). Since that time the list of possible options has grown and evolved from  selling in Ghana, selling in Morocco, or shipping to Canada, and include shipping to South Africa to explore southern and eastern Africa, or retaining in Ghana, perhaps on a shared ownership basis,  for future use in the region.  At the time we wound up our trip  all of those options save the Morocco one were still on the table.  I had obtained quotes for shipping to South Africa and expressions of interest to purchase from within Ghana,   We had weighed all these for some time and each had its merits, and its downsides.  If we sent it to South Africa it would open up whole new horizons in southern and eastern Africa, but would carry a large financial cost associated with shipping and storage.   Selling it or retaining it in Ghana would provide an incentive to return to try to get to Mali and other West African locations like Cote d’Ivoire, Senegal, etc.

One week before leaving Ghana we decided to ship our Defender back to Canada.  This was not at all Continue reading “Demobilization”

West Africa Wander By the Numbers

 

This is a very delayed post, sent almost three weeks after we returned to Accra and concluded our overland trip.

Here is a summary of our overland trip in a 17 year old Land Rover Defender, quantitatively speaking:

Countries visited  4

Kilometres driven  5,500

Km on unpaved  roads, ranging from reasonably good laterite to downright poor donkey track:  About 1,000

Oil consumed  ½ litre

Breakdowns:  0

Number of times stuck:  0

Maintenance stops 3

Flat tires:  1

Nights: 30

Nights camped in organized establishments 17

Nights bush camping 4

Number of campsites  16

Nights in hotels:  9

Number of hotels 5

Per night Cost  of Camping  $10

Per night cost of hotels $80

Most expensive night:  $110

Least expensive night:  $0

Days of rain:  3

Restaurant meals: 20

Camp/Picnic  Meals 70

Border crossings: 6

Currencies:  2

Blog posts published 25 (including this one)

Guides Hired:  11

And this is where we went:

Our counter clockwise route from Accra, Ghana, into Togo and Benin, back into Togo from northrn Benin, returning to Benin, on to Burkina Faso and back into northern Ghana descending to Accra. Red x”s indicate stopover points.