Immunization, Part Deux

Since West Africa is predominantly French speaking, I will be throwing in bits in my dazzling French...lookout!!

If you go back to the May 17, 2005 entry from MacAfrica 1, you will find a funny story about Kim and needles. On Monday this week, we went to the clinic to get the low down on our requirements for MacAfrica 2. Kim had been doing some research to discover the likelihood that we would even require a shot. The only one we might need was for meningitis. To keep Kim calm on the ride up to the clinic I told her that I thought we probably wouldn't need any shot...known that we likely would - if you read about my previous experience with the woman and needles, you'd lie to!

A doctor friend of ours also said that drinking a V8 juice just before you go to get your shots will help you reduce your chances of fainting - also keep your quad muscles flexed. I don't think Kim has a problem keeping ALL her muscles flexed when she is going to get a shot. With my lying and the V8 juice in her system, Kim is at least looking calm.

When we get closer to the clinic she begins to get a bit tense. I have a feeling that if I had to stop at a red light or stop sign, she would definitely consider bolting - so I just keep cruising. We get to the clinic, with Kim in tow. Get settled into our chairs to wait for the doctor. I go to the washroom - leaving Kim unattended for a few minutes - knowing that I might come back to an empty chair. But Kim is there when I return...phew.

We go into see the doctor, she reviews our previous shots and everything is looking good. I can see Kim thinks she is just about in the clear. Then the dreaded map comes out. The meningitis countries map. It includes Senegal, Mali and Ghana - we need the shot. Kim goes white - I am thinking she might faint before we even see the needle this time. All is okay.

Next we sit in the "shot room". Kim assumes her position in the big lazy boy chair, we prop her feet up. The nurse comes in and within 15 seconds has the needle set up, in Kim's arm and ready to shot me - wow - she is good. Kim doesn't even have a chance to know it was coming. There was a bit of tenseness, but no fainting. What a trooper Kim is, but not nearly as entertaining as before. Sorry.

One more thing off the travel checklist...

Our First West African Friend

As I previously mentioned, we chose to use a tour company called Riverside Mali for our tour through Mali. You must remember that tourism in West Africa is a fledgling industry. Many countries in the area have been ravaged by civil war for much of the last 2 decades (or longer), which has kept the tourists at bay.

How we chose Riverside was very "2007" - we searched the internet and found them. Then of course we tried to find A review or two of Riverside. This is where our due diligence ran into difficulty. We couldn't find a review any where. That made us a little suspicious. Was Riverside a real company? Were they out to scam a couple poor Canadians?

Our next attempt to figure out who Riveside was included searching other tour companies we had found - did they have reviews. Nope. It appears no one has written a review of their travels through Mali. Fine. Let's try and find out who owns them. We had some success with this angle. The owners are a French couple who came up on various other websites in regards to Mali. The wife was behind the campaign to have Timbuktu placed on the new list of the 7 Wonders of the World.

Now with that info, we established contact with Riverside. First by email - Kim asked for some information on the tours available and pricing. A response came from Dicko - great! One of the things that Riverside "markets" on their website is tours of the Niger River on jet skis. Hooked me with that! Dicko says that the jet skis are not worth it. We find that kinda weird - the are a much more expensive option - perhaps Dicko is really working for us!

Now instead of email, Dicko figures a phone conversation would be easier. So Dicko calls Kim (who is THE French translator for MacAfrica 2007). They have a chat about Canada - Dicko hasn't had many Canadians visit him. He asks about our weather and is truly amazed that it gets as cold as it does here and we live through it!

Once we decide on the tour program we want, it is time to get some money to Riverside as a deposit. Once again a little tepid about wiring money to them. Kim gets on the phone with Riverside's bank - PNB Paribas in Toronto. No luck finding anything out. Then calls PNB Paribas in Paris. Once again no luck. Who cares at this point - let's fire some money to them.

With everything in place, we figure we won't hear from Dicko until we are in Bamako, Mali. Not so. Dicko calls Kim almost weekly. To chat. How's the weather? How else can I help? They exchange photos of Mali and Canada. Once again he can't believe that there is that much snow here (Kim sent a picture of her skiing!).

We aren't sure if Dicko is just super friendly or if we are big spenders from Canada so give'em the gold treatment or if it is part of the slickster scam?? One of our friends who spent time in West Africa told us that they are just really friendly and many of them get a phone number and just call to chat. No agenda, just saying hi. He recently called to wish us much happiness for the new year as Ramadan is near it's end and then they will be feasting!

We are very excited about spending 10 days with Dicko touring through Mali!! He is going to be great!!

Let the tale begin

Over the last 6 weeks, Kim and I have been spending more and more time planning our West African adventure. We had book the majority of our air travel on points back in January 2007. We knew that December was the best month to travel in West Africa since it is the dry season.



Let me take a step back first - why West Africa. Kim and I had really enjoyed our East and South Africa experience in 2005. We also enjoyed Egypt in 2007. So Africa was certainly a place we wanted to explore more of. Since Kim is fluent in French - although she thinks she isn't most of the time - we thought French West Africa would be fun. And who wasn't told when they were a kid that they were either going to get sent off to Timbuktu or they were going to drive their mother to Timbuktu!



We had booked our travel to start in Dakar, spend 3 weeks in West Africa and depart from Accra, Ghana back to Frankfurt where we had 5 "open" days. During these days we were planning to visit the Wrigglesworth's in Libya. You can imagine booking a trip almost a year in advance can be a bit anti-climatic. Get the tickets booked...and wait.



August 21st came around, by instinct (with 3 months to go) Kim and I started to get serious about booking "stuff". First we had to figure out what we wanted to do with our 3 weeks. After much consideration, we decided that after 3 days in Dakar, we would travel to a nature reserve south of Dakar for 5 days. We found an article in the New York Times profiling a couple of nature lodges. One was very expensive, the other not so much. Surprisingly, we choose the cheaper one - Le Lodge de Niassam. After this we are heading back to Dakar to fly to Bamako, the capital of Mali.



Mali is a country that Kim has really grown fond of. We planned to spend 10-12 days in Mali. I will tell the tale of picking a "tour" company in a later post. Our journey through Mali will consist of a flight to Timbuktu, driving to Mopti, camping on the banks of the Niger River, hiking in the Dogon country (sleeping under the stars, on a roof!), spending a day at the famous Djenne Market and finishing off with a couple days in Bamako. From there we fly to Accra, Ghana.

So far we haven't made firm plans for our 5 days in Ghana, but we think we'll travel to Cape Coast for a few days and then back to Accra for our flight back to Frankfurt.

From Frankfurt we are hoping to travel to Tripoli, Libya to see our friends who live in Benghazi. This part of the trip depends partly on travel visa's. Libya is trying to develop a tourism industry, but they don't have all the parts in place currently.

Mac Back to Africa

MacAfrica is going back to it's "homeland". Kim and I will be traveling through West and North Africa this Fall. We will be hitting Senegal, Mali and Ghana in West Africa and hoping to visit friends in Libya.

We head off on Nov 21 - so the plans are taking final shape...shots are on tap in a week or so (I hope to not have to repeat the scene from 2005!).

Keep watching for more regular posts as we get closer to launch date...