Friday 22^nd September 2006 

With only a week to go before our departure, there is still a great deal to do,mainly packing but also some odd bits of paperwork. Considering our final decision to set out on this adventure was only made in late May, we have achieved a lot in a short space of time. Luckily we have not had to worry too much about the vehicle we would use for this trip, as we already have a Defender Td5, 110 Station Wagon, which has already had modified for overland travelling. Having travelled to Morocco on many occasions, in both our current Defender and a Discovery before that, we felt that we were reasonably well prepared. However we have installed a new Engel fridge/freezer and have arranged to have auxiliary fuel and water tanks fitted under the rear wheel arches in the UK; better than overloading the roof rack! We have our final appointment booked with the clinic to get our final jabs, hepatitis, tetanus and polio, expensive but necessary! Then it will be just a question of the final packing and we will be ready for the off. Initially we are going north not south as we plan to visit family in the UK, have a few last minute things done to “Jambo Mbili”, our Landy, then we will make our way across France and Spain heading for Algeciras and the ferry to Cueta in North Africa.

Tuesday 26^th September 2006 

The last few days have flown by, last minute packing, checking everything on the Landy and making last minute purchases. On Saturday we went out for dinner with friends, drank too much wine, is that possible? but had a great time. It’s strange, but up until then we had been so busy that the actual departure date seemed somehow way in the future and suddenly the realisation hit home that we only had five days to go. The house looks like a tip but hopefully everything will be ship shape by Friday morning when we set off.

Friday 29^th September 2006 

Our journey and our story begins.

Departure day at last, but not a good start! The washing machine has thrown a tantrum and flooded the kitchen, sitting and dining rooms - with our Landy packed, having said our “goodbyes” to the kids on their way out to their respective jobs, we are now mopping up the mess with bath towels. An hour later we finally lock the house up and are really now on our way to Africa for the six months that Alan has always dreamed about.

Our journey begins from Rome through northern Italy, Switzerland and France to England - to add a few essentials to “Jambo Mbili” our Land Rover Defender 110 Td5 Station Wagon - we then plan to take the ferry from Portsmouth to Bilbao then drive through Spain for the crossing into Morocco before touring around West Africa making our way to Mauritania, Senegal, The Gambia, Southern Senegal, Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso. We will then return via Senegal, Mauritania and Morocco before returning to Europe. All this depends on circumstances along the way but we shall do our best.

Having started this morning amongst buckets and rags, we then encountered road works and traffic through Italy. Crossing into Switzerland at 19.00hrs, large sign posts along the roadside warned us that the famous “Gottard” tunnel, once the longest road tunnel in Europe at 17kms in length, would be closing at 20.00hrs for maintenance work. A mad dash got us into the tunnel at 19.59! Wow! this is only the first day of our Safari, and we are already stressed! Finding a motel about 20kms into France, we finally hit the hay, ignoring the fact that at only € 32 for a double room with facilities, this was the local “knocking shop”, next to a busy airport and the “Makumba” disco. Planes and music droned in synchronization to which we found slumber due to exhaustion only! At 01.30hrs Vodaphone welcomes us to France with a succession of messages waking us with a start. Ahh we snuggle up again, turn the lights off drift off into dreamland and ..... the fire alarm blares out louder than the disco music and planes, it’s 03.30hrs! the police are on the premises within ten minutes and Alan shoots out of bed to check on the car.  It takes him longer to put his trousers on, than for the police to arrive, only to find he’s trying to put my jeans on in the rush, which arrive to his knees and are now stuck. I’m now up helping to pull them off him. 08:15 sees us up and off again towards England.

We catch the ferry in Calais at 19:15 & have a good crossing. By the time it docks in Dover it’s dark & knowing the towns poor reputation for street crime and car theft, decide to drive on towards Essex and Dagenham to find ourselves a motel. Well since we are both totally shattered & tired after our experience in one of Frances many salubrious hotels. We are now imagining the hot shower and clean sheets that we will find. Four hours later having asked just about every hotel and B&B if they have a room, at 00:15 we are finally given the only accomodation left. The smell of newly laid Vinyl flooring hits us in the nose, Who cares any more, who cares if we are literally sniffing glue all night long. After 48 hours of hardly any sleep it was bliss. We find out that the World Super Bike championship races are being held at the Brands Hatch Racing Circuit in Kent. No wonder “no vacancies” signs have been hanging from every hotel & motel. England could really do with the French system of Credit Card motels along the highways. As long as you don’t choose the ones near an airport or a “Makumba” disco, you might manage a few hours sleep - with earplugs to avoid hearing the hourly-rate visitors. After a few hours of much needed sleep,we head for my mums in Bedford.

The week with Mamma is trying. Jambo Mbili has a new roof rack fitted, awning, auxiliary fuel and water tanks added, rearwindow guards, rear anti-roll bar, fridge- freezer and duel battery system. We spent days up and down the expensive rail roads and congested English highways, getting last minute things done like International Driving licences, which only the AA were capable of doing, in Basingstoke. It took us a whole day just to get these licences as we had both left the paper part of our driving licences at home in Italy.

Tesco’s was the last stop before loading the Land Rover TD5 to the brim; Tesco’s cereals, pork pies, fruit, Pot Noodles (both Thai & English beef & tomato), brown sliced bread, cheddar cheese, croutons & cooked ham slices, in fact all the things we can’t buy in Italy. The food is for the ferry crossing to Bilbao from Portsmouth docks, two nights and a day - a mini cruise. Probably our last days of luxury living before driving through Spain to Algeciras where we will take the fast ferry to Cueta and the start of our real adventure, Morocco and West Africa.