30 septembre 2006

Senegal

I spent around 10 days in Senegal.

First stop in Saint Louis, where the aviation pionneers stopped on their way to Buenos Aires and South America. This is a colonial city, surrounded by water, I really liked it.

Then, I stopped in Thiès, at 70 km from Dakar. I was welcomed by the friends of the guy who gave me a lift, from Layoun ( Morroco) to Senegal. They accepted as a member of their family and really appreciated the time I spent over there.

Aftewards, I reached Dakar. I went to the "slave island" (Goree Island), which is really beautiful. Them I started to carry out research to find a boat to reach Brazil. I tried with sailing ship and huge tankers but nothing worked. Sailors are waiting the Alysées in January to cross the Atlantic and it is really complicated to board on container ship...

I finally took the plane from Dakar to Rio de Janeiro, via Lisbon and Porto.

19 septembre 2006

Mauritania...

The crossing of the Morroco and Mauritanian border was far from being easy. There is a no man's land of 3 kilometers, without any real road. We got lost and we got sanded up in the first sand dune. After one hour of efforts, we finally reached the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, exhausted.

I discovered for the first time sand dunes and we met four german guys, skiing on these dunes. We spent two days together, including one night in the ugly Nouakchott, capital of Mauritania.

Then, we went south to enter Senegal. It was one more time really difficult because we wanted to enter the territory with an old car, which is not allowed any more. We finally managed to change the French plates of the car into Mauritanian ones. We did that operation in the middle of nowhere, at 20 kilometer from Diama.

10 septembre 2006

Crossing the Sahara

After Agadir, in Morroco, I left the "civilisation" to enter the Sahara desert. Hitch-hiking is getting harder and harder because the there are fewer cars and they are often heavily loaded.

After a night in Guelmin, I managed to reach Tan-Tan and Layoun, the capital of this region. The mood here is really special : the police are everywhere, because of the independant movement Sahraouie, and the tourists are not really welcomed.

Then, I did the rest of the trip with a French guy who is going to settle in Thiès, Sénégal, to start a new life.

05 septembre 2006

Arrival in Africa

After crossing Spain and Portugual, I finally set foot in Africa, in Morrocco. My first days here were a bit difficult - I was stolen my bag in Algeciras and mugged in Tetouan - but everything is going better now.

Hitch-hiking is working pretty well here and I don't wait so much to get a lift. Sometimes, people are asking money for the trip, I have to negociate before getting in.

I visited Chefchaouen, in the North of Morroco, which is is a little jewel. Afterwards, I went to Meknes and Casablanca, in order to meet a friend over there. Then direction Marrakech, where I spent two days, visiting the medina, the coranic school etc.

15 août 2006

About to leave...

I finally set my departure on August, 25th 2006 from Paris. I'm going to the south, with Spain and Portugal as a foretaste of my world trip.

This date should let me enough time to buy what I need and to say goodbye to all my family and friends.

I'm currently in Paris, spending my time at the doctor's, dentist's or eye specialist's. I'm also surfing on the web, trying to catch as many tips as possible for my journey or checking the road maps in order to know where I should go or not.

21 juillet 2006

Let's go !

This is the English version of my original website : http://tdmthomas.canalblog.com

As I don't want to spend all my life on the web, uploading pictures or writing mails, you will find much more information on the original French version of the site. All the pics will be especially on the French website.

I'm sorry for that.