What a fortnight!! Just when we thought that nothing could top the experiences of C.A.R, along came Chad. But even before we hit the desert dunes of this unforgettable country, we spent almost a week in the highlands of northern Cameroon. In itself a highlinght of central Africa… We crossed into northern Cameroon while on the way to Garoua. The transition was incredible! In a matter of 20km, the lanscape changed from lush and dense tropical forests to the dry and sandy plains that typify areas just south of the Sahel. Donkeys replaced stray dogs, round mud huts with pointy straw roofs replaced sqaure tin sheds and the people were visibly more ‘arabic’ in appearance. Oh yeah, and the muslim ‘call to prayer’ has replaced the morning gongs of church bells Garoua has somewhat of a novelty. A habituated hippo! You won’t find it in any tourist brochure or Loney Planet guide, but if you ask the locals they can direct you to a group of hippos living in and around the river. One of them, named ‘Africa’, has been fed by humans since birth and is now considered safe to approach. We found it’s ‘handlers’, negotiated a small fee and got to feed ‘Africa’ ourselves. Very cool!!

In Garoua we teamed up with Marcus, a fellow RTW motorcyclist, for the ride north and around Lake Chad. He left his homeland (USA) a year ago and is now heading west (on his BMW) towards Morocco. Like us Marcus prefers to take the side roads, so we left the asphalt and rode north into the Mandara Mountains. The architecture got more and more impressive…

… and the people more colourful…

We finally arrived at the Chad border (Bongor) and crossed without hassle. Chad is seldom visited by tourists due to security concerns, so the attention we received was not surprising…

Yet, we saw or felt no hostility towards us at all and were made welcome by everyone. Even the capital N’Djamena had a smaller than expected military presence. Even so, we didn’t linger and left for Lake Chad soon after obtaining our Niger visas (US$40 each and issued on the spot). The Lake Chad section of the trip was one we were looking forward to for a while now. It’s reputed for its remoteness and the difficult terrain. It lived up to that reputation in full! 150km out of N’Djamena, what was left of the asphalt ended and the hard stuff began… The track slowly degraded in quality from a hardened, rutted and potholed sandy piste, to an unrideable single lane sand trap. There was simply no way to get momentum in the powder soft sand carved out by passing trucks. We had no option but to literally go ‘off-road’ and ride next to the track.

This added a whole new element to our riding. We now had to navigate around bushes, dunes, rocks and camels while at the same time staying within sight of the main track (which tended to split, criss-cross and rejoin sometime later). This all had to be done at speed, because as soon as we slowed down we’d get stuck in the sand. The biggest challenge however was staying cool in the intense heat. We’d start early (around 5am) and try to ride until noon. Then it simply became too hot to function. We had no choice but stop, find a cool place (preferably with access to water) and wait it out. By about 3pm we could start again and continue until sunset. We did this for four straight days, covering just under 450km. So why would we put ourselves through this? Well apart from the sheer challenge of it all, we were rewarded with some of the most incredible scenery and experiences thus far. The remoteness of the place means you don’t see another soul for hours. Your only companions the eagles, camels and endless kilometers of dunes. An indescribeable feeling of freedom!

Then, when you finally come upon a village, you meet the masters of this inhospitable place. How they survive and manage to culivate anything at all is beyond our comprehension. Yet they’ll never fleece you out of your money. Instead they’ll offer a place to rest, something to eat and drink. The water (usually straight from a well) is often murky and full of sulphur. In these conditions however, it’s priceless…

Once over the border into Niger the track improved and we made relatively good time to Nguigmi and the tarmac (well sort of). It started, stopped and was in all sorts of ??? for the next 600km to Zinder (where we find oursleves). We’ll take a couple of days rest and continue on to Agadez - the gateway to the Sahara and the Air Mountains.