Titch gets £500!

Titch was auctioned a few days ago in Bamako for 500,000 Central African Francs - about £575. It all goes to local causes via the Rotary Club of Bamako.

Not bad for a car which was destined for the scrapheap when we got him, and a lot more than we spent on getting him roadworthy.

Meanwhile we've got to just under £1,800 for Water Aid - which will be more than £5,000 when Future and Arup have pitched in.

So that's it until our next journey. We have to go somewhere else after learning so much, and we're both itching for another buzz around the sand dunes.

...and one day I will finish editing all that video!

Follow our photo trail

You can now follow the photos of our journey in Google Earth or, if you don't have the software installed, via Google Maps

Tracks4Africa

Loading stuff onto Google Earth, I kept coming across something called Tracks4Africa. I finally had a look, and it's a group of (mostly) South African eco-tourists who are using Garmin GPS to create accurate maps of Africa for tourists. I'm not sure if my tracks will be any good, but it's another thing to remember if we do anything like this again - there are millions of miles of poorly-mapped road but growing legions of tourists travelling them with GPS devices.
Probably worth sharing with the rest of the group, too.

Where you been?

Sometimes it pays to do a little homework... A couple of days ago I discovered that our Garmin Nuvi 770 had been quietly recording our progress every time it was turned on. Unfortunately, it wasn't turned on very much in the early days of our trip, because I couldn't get the cigarette lighter I'd fitted to work reliably, and we had to save power. That's not a big problem, because Garmin's maps in Mapsource are good enough in Europe and Morrocco to create route maps for Google Earth.
When John of the Desert Prats solved our power problem in Mauritania, we were able to power up the Garmin full time, and use it for a handy idea of how far we'd gone each day. But it was also tracking our progress, so we've got extremely accurate routes for a part of the world where the electronic maps are frankly rubbish.
Now I've married up the Mapsource routes and Nuvi tracks into one huge map of where we've been - well, roughly. It includes key locations like our desert and beach camps in Mauritania, the bush camp in Mali, and the boat hotel in Segou. Sadly, it doesn't have a track for the Tiz-n-Test pass in Morrocco.
You can download the KMZ file for Google Earth by clicking on the picture above, but be warned: it's a big file that takes Google Earth about 10 minutes to process before you can browse it, so download it to your hard disc first, and don't worry if your computer doesn't do anything for a long time. I might do smaller chunks if I have time later.
The green lines are our GPS tracks, accurate to a few metres, while the purple tracks are my Mapsource estimates, accurate to anything from a few metres to a kilometre or more.

Segou...and we're coming home!

In a few hours we'll be heading for the airport, with a mixture of regret and relief. We've spent the last couple of days in the small-ish town of Segou at the Festival sur le Niger, getting under the skin of Mali in a new way. It shows how far we've come - literally and psychologically - that we thought nothing of driving over 100 miles upriver for a couple of nights.
The Sofitel was very comfortable, but it just felt like we were waiting for our flights home, so much so that we've moved them forwards to tonight (or 3.25am tomorrow morning). We couldn't really afford to stay much longer, but after a couple of nights in Segou, we started to wonder if we hadn't been a bit hasty, as other travellers we met waxed lyrical about the delights of Mali and it's people. Timbuktu may not be an option for a little 2WD like Titch, but the Dogon country and Djenne might be worth coming back for.
The opening night of the festival was as amusing for the comedy of disorganisation beforehand as for the entertainment itself, not to mention the hundreds of new 'friends', and the looks on their faces when they couldn't work out why Sylvia didn't understand either Bambara or French. "I'm from Laaahndan" soon sorted it out.
Anyway, it at least gave us the opportunity to say goodbye to the Saffas: Lisa, Trevor, Jonny and Andre, who are staying for the whole festival; and we're flying back with the Mongol Dragons, Dave and Jim, which might make the 12-hour journey via Casablanca a little more bearable. They made a brave bid to get their Vauxhall Carlton to Timbuktu, but had to turn back at Mopti, where the road takes a turn for the worse.
We've handed over Titch's papers to Sonny from the Mali Rotary Club, and he'll be auctioned off in a few days. He should get a few bidders - we've been getting offers since the moment we first stopped in Bamako, and compared to many cars here he's in stunning condition.
I've put some warm clothes near the top of the suitcase. Apparently it's been a little nippy in dear old England? Tonight in Bamako it must be at least 25C, and there's barely a breeze.

Slideshow

We've finally got the slideshow working with Picasa, and you should be able to click through for bigger versions of the images. It kicked both Flickr and Photoshop Album Starter Edition right out of the way. You can link to the album, and we'll start geotagging them in Google Earth soon. We've got loads of video, but for now it's mostly upside down, because it was filmed using our window mount. Didn't quite think that one through...

Day 19: Bamako

We made it to Bamako yesterday afternoon, where we've holed up in the very decent Sofitel, overlooking the River Niger, with the incredible West African Central Bank building to our west, and a delightful rubbish dump to the east. Getting into Bamako was the most insane driving experience so far, particularly after the quiet and mostly smooth road down through Mali from the bush camp (you'll be pleased to know we were undisturbed by jackals or angry tribesmen).
Today we're going to take some things with a couple of other teams, to a school for disabled (or possibly orphaned) children, and then catch up with all of our photos and video clips. We fly back on the 5th, so there should be time for more adventures with Titch Extreme before she's handed over to the organisers herein Bamako.

Day Seventeen: We've made it to Mali

This afternoon we crossed out of the hellhole that is Mauritania into Mali, which is still hot, but somehow a lot more pleasant and laid back. Evening brought us to Nioro du Sahel, a small town with only one hotel that looked frankly awful, so we've decided to bush camp. With six cars we should be safe, but just in case, our coordinates are N 15deg 9'18.3" W 9deg 29'10.2", elevation 304m.

We've had a busy couple of days, but the sat-link didn't work on the beach or in Nouakchott. When I finally got through to Inmarsat technical help from Eastern Mauritania, in true Tomorrow's World style it was working perfectly again!

Tomorrow we should make it all the way down to Bamako, via the Valley of the Serpents. Shan't be opening the doors there. We've made excellent time, so there should be a chance to get to Timbuktu for a day, and maybe the Festival au Segou. But first: beer, a bath and a long lie-in.

Day Thirteen: Off road and loving it

The Mauritanian border turned out to be quite easy; it was getting out of Morrocco which turned out to be a terrible chore. The sandstorm wasn't a good start, but the border must be a punishment posting for the police, army and customs officers who staff it, so they're mostly bad-tempered, corrupt, or both. It took over an hour to officially leave Morrocco, and the struggle started with a policeman demanding as a 'petit cadeaux' our game of travel Monopoly, which we'd only just started playing while we waited in line. I must remember to write to the king of Morrocco when I get back! By contrast, the Mauritanian border people worked from a set of ramshackle huts and old caravans, and if not friendly, were quite efficient and didn't rip us off.

We got our first off-road experience crossing No Man's Land, a 4km stretch of wasteland between Morrocco and Mauritania, with sand, rough rock and broken road conditions. Our guide, Sheikh (no, it's really on his passport), took us through, but we still managed to ding Titich's sump, so in Nouabidhou we found a mechanic to perform a little meatball surgery. He managed to jack up the front wheels by a few inches in exchange for 50 Euros and a set of overalls. Money well spent: meet Titch Extreme.

So at last we got to the off-roading. Sheikh took us around the Nouabidhou peninsula to the mainland, and into the desert for an exhilarating, exhausting day on all kinds of sandy and rocky terrain. Titch Extreme has variously bounced, danced, skipped and even flown through, getting stuck just the once while I got the hang of a very different driving style. I could hardly wipe the grin off my face for the first few hours! Tomorrow it's Sylvia's turn, so I hope I haven't whacked it too many times today.

Camp tonight is is in the desert under almost clear skies, with a barbecue of freshly-killed goat. Tasty!

Day Twelve: Beyond the law!

We're now in Nouackchott, the northern frontier town of Mauritania, in a secure compound. Apparently the nearest police are the ones we paid 'extra' at the border, but it seems like a friendly place. We've had Titch raised a few inches at the front by a meatball mechanic for 50Euros and a set of garage overalls. We've also had to say goodbye to some luggage after taking on 40L of petrol in jerry cans and enough water for a couple of nights in the desert. Still managed to find a decent Chinese restaurant, though.

More news from the desert tomorrow!