Today we will be driving towards Cameroon. After preparing breakfast (porridge, cereals and toast), we pack up the campsite and prepare to head out. A few of us walk ahead of the truck, in part to take a picture of the sign for the Yankari National Park.
We first stop in Bauchi in order to allow a couple of cook groups to do their shopping. We take the opportunity to go look for a card phone where we can try to call home - this will likely be the last place where we will be able to find a telephone before Christmas. We end up taking the long way around to get there, as the locals we asked did not give us the best directions (or we asked the wrong questions). Jacqui tried to call her mother, but she was not home. Lars was able to speak to his parents as it was still 5 or 6 AM in the morning for them - sorry to wake you up!!!
From Bauchi, we drove for the rest of the day, so not much to report. Just before 5 PM, we find a possible spot to pull off the road for a bush camp. We had driven by the spot, so we had to stop and turn around to get back to the dirt track that branched off the road. As we turned around, we noticed that there was a police check point just ahead.
As we were driving down the dirt track looking for a spot to stop for the night, we started to hear some frantic horn blowing behind us. It turns out to be a 4 WD full of, what turns out to be, National Security officers heavily armed with machine guns. They stop us and ask why we had turned around and where we were going. They seemed very surprised that we wanted to set up camp here in the bush. The reply was "You want to camp here in the bush?!?!". He then said that he thought we were afraid of them and that is why we had turned around. They were very friendly during the whole interchange and let us go with waves and smiles (they must be thinking - crazy tourists).
We set up camp (next to a mud brick production area) and took it easy for the rest of the evening. We had beef stew with rice for dinner. It was a great night sky. The moon is not up and it is a clear night and we can enjoy all the stars sparkling in the night sky.