Day 62-66

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BKF 31st January - 4th Febuary 2007, Burkina Faso

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Day Sixty Two 31/1. Hotel OK Inn, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
12°20.12'N 1°30.84'W. Miles today 159, Total Miles 6798
Drove into Burkina Faso with no problems at Tiouro. No bribes, no taxes, just friendly smiles all round. With good tar under our tyres, we decided to push on through to the capital of Ougadougou (pronounced Wag-a-doo-goo) as we know of a cool place to camp for free. It's in the car park at the Hotel Ok Inn and you can camp, use the pool and the showers and loos all for free. Some say you have to eat in the restaurant but actually you don't have to spend any money. Maybe just buy a beer to keep the manager happy. We have heard that they do awesome bbq steaks though. As we drove in, we spotted a Landrover belonging to Ian and Jaqueline, a Dutch couple who's journey we had being following on the net. Unfortunately, Jaqueline was on her own, as Ian has malaria and was recovering in a nearby hospital. Hmm…note to self…must wear more jungle spray stuff. This hotel is great; there is also unofficial free wi-fi, if you can get close enough to reception without anyone noticing! Matt and Saf are off tomorrow to stay with their French hippy friends in Koudougou, so after some serious cleansing in the pool, we all went out for a very yummy and cheesy pizza.
Day Sixty Three 1/2. Hotel OK Inn, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
12°20.12'N 1°30.84'W. Miles today 11, Total Miles 6809
This is such a vibrant city. Everyone rides bicycles or scooters, each with their own set of road rules. They have embraced the modern world but are still hanging on to a fair amount of tradition. The woman will be wearing a traditionally printed wrap skirt but at the same time will sport a funky DKNY top. There are so many entrepreneurs around with every man and his dog selling something to someone. We waved goodbye to Matt and Saf (hoping to meet up with them again in the land of opportunity, Ghana) and went in search for the Ghana Embassy. What a treat to be greeted in English and to fill out our visa applications under the shade of a mango tree. You need 4 photos and 15 000CFA and you can collect it the next day. They also ask for 2 contact addresses in Ghana so it's worthwhile having a couple of campsite or hotel details on hand. After another swim, which has made a small lightening to our now dust-laden skin tones of orange, we wandered into town to explore. Well it had to be hadn't it….. We ended up at the odd "Happy Donald of Hamburger House" for an equally odd cheeseburger and chips and watched a football game with the locals.
Day Sixty Four 2/2. Hotel OK Inn, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
12°20.12'N 1°30.84'W. Miles today 11, Total Miles 6820
Decided to spend another day in the free car park while we wait for Ghanaian visas. Lots of swimming and a short visit to the nearby Marina market, which is excellent for cheap beer and has a good selection of groceries and meat. With our visa applications successful, we opted to try out the restaurant for their famous steaks. Wow, wow and more wow. Serving up almost half a cow, these steaks were amazing. And to be honest, at €6.50 each with potatoes, they are excellent value, especially when the last three night's accommodation has been free. (and we had to take a doggy bag, which meant another meal each)
Day Sixty Five 3/2. Camping La Kaicedar, Nr Boromo, Burkina Faso
11°45.06'N 2°55.69'W. Miles today 125, Total Miles 6945
With our Western food fix filled to the brim, we headed off on the tarred but tolled (40c) road to the Parc National des Deux Bales to hopefully see some elephants. On a recommendation, we took a dirt road towards La Kaceidra, which is a peaceful place right on the river where the elephants come to drink. At 3000 CFA pp (€4.50) for camping, it's well worth it, as the views over the river are amazing. With the whole place to ourselves and having sundowners on the wooden deck and playing with their kitty and dogs, we waited patiently for the elephants to arrive. But nothing. Back at the car, just as I was dishing up some chilli, I could hear splashing noises. We grabbed our dinner and ran to the edge of the river to look but it was pitch dark by now. The owner came running after us whispering, "Madame, madame, these elephants are warriors, please don't go so close, they will charge you in the dark." Excellent! We retreated to the safety of the wooden deck and listened to them playing in the water. Awesome! We fell asleep to the sounds of them wandering back off though the bush. Waiting for nelly

Its a cats life

Its a dogs life
Day Sixty Six 4/2. Bukina Faso-Ghana border
10°59.02'N 2°05.03'W. Miles today ?, Total Miles ???
We hung around a bit longer in the hope that the elephants would return but they had long gone. We decided to head for Ghana via a quick stop in the village of Sabou for some bread. After 170km of pretty nasty road, we left Burkino Faso via the border post of Leo and ventured into the "land of opportunity."
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