Today we continue on our way to Yaounde. We are up early in order to get a good start and are on our way by 6:30 AM. We stop along the way to have a quick breakfast by the road side. Shortly after 9 AM, we come to the Garoua Boulai, a town on the border with the Central African Republic ("CAR"). The cook group goes into the market to see what they can find, so we also go for a wander in the market. Not too much in terms of food for sale. Lars plays in the fine powder dust that thickly coats the road - he would jump up and down and create huge dust clouds. The one thing we will always remember about Africa is the dust!!!
From there we head on - for a while, the dirt road gives way to a nice new road under construction which has some long newly paved stretches - we enjoy it while we can. There are a number of check points along the way - some are easy, others give us more hassle. At one check point, we give them some magazines to keep them happy (I think they were a bit bored out in the middle of no where). We have lunch on the truck as we drive along.
At 2:30 PM, we turn off the paved road and are back on dirt roads again - and they are not in good shape. Back to the bouncing and shaking. Late in the afternoon, the decision is made to push on to Yaounde, even though that means that we might arrive a bit late.
We stop for a stretch and pee stop and get some good views of the dust thrown up from the road in the setting sun.
It is amazing how much dust is thrown up by the passing cars and trucks. All the plants on the side of the road for quite a distance in have been turned a dirt red color - it is amazing how they can survive with so much dust. The setting sun turns the dust into a very deep red color.
Shortly before 7 PM, we come upon a traffic jam on the road - by now it is dark. We are not sure what is going on. After a while, the various trucks and cars sort themselves out on the narrow road and we are able to pass. One of the trucks had lost its load of lumber and it was blocking the road. But we were able to get by.
After a long drive, we finally arrive in Obala shortly before midnight - it has been a long day. Almost 800 kilometers have been driven in about 19 hours. A very long day for everyone. Obala is just north of Yaounde and we stay in the grounds of a hotel there. We get off the truck and we (Jacqui and Lars) prepare some instant noodles that we had picked up in Nigeria using the last of our Niara's. It was very nice and we were glad that we had them. We set up our tent and went to bed.