update
I'm back in Lisbon after a few weeks in Africa.
Shortly after celebrating New Year's (which I spent in Marrakech with some friends), it was definitely time for some new adventures.
First up - 🇲🇷 Mauritania.
Wow, Mauritania, wow. This trip was an experience I'll never forget. It was remote, gorgeous, rough, peaceful and every word that could possibly describe a travel experience in a place where there are almost no other tourists and no travel infrastructure at all. 'Remarkable' doesn't even come close to doing it justice.
Every single day was full of surreal and magnificent nature - deserts, sand dunes, the bewilderingRichat structure(Eye of the Sahara), towering mountains, canyons, oases, caves and more. It was by far some of the most impressive and awe-inspiring nature I've seen anywhere on the planet. (Here's some photos of Mauritania I posted on Facebook:Mauritania - The Desert.)
This was also helped by the fact that there were only a handful of villages scattered around, and as a result, so few people. Over and over again I found it impossible to believe that we were standing in yet another of the most gorgeous locations on Earth and we were the only people there.
And when there were villages, they were small, ancient, isolated and seemingly unaffected by modern times. It was also common to suddenly come upon one or two people in the absolute middle of nowhere, walking with their herd of camels through the brutally inhospitable desert.
The trip was mostly without reliable internet, accommodations were very basic and each day involved hours of driving over dirt and rock tracks or across the bumpy, squishy sand. By the end of the trip, me and all of my possessions were covered in sand and dirt, my body was crying out for a chiropractor and masseuse and no matter how hard I tried, all I could dream about was camels (there are so many camels in Mauritania!!).
And with all that, this was, without a doubt, one of the most glorious and rewarding trips of my life!
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Next up - 🇸🇳 Senegal.
This part of the trip didn't go as smoothly. Despite the wonderful experience in Mauritania, the rough travel was still quite exhausting and hard on the body. So landing in Dakar, Senegal at midnight, having a quick 8 hour sleep and then heading out right away to begin this next stage of the travels was a little much. Without any time to rest and recover from Mauritania, it was difficult connecting with Senegal.
We had a good week here overall though, visiting Dakar,Goree Island, the coastal town of Somone and much of theSaloum Delta, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. But as I pulled my shoulder muscle trying to climb out of a small hole that led inside the largest baobab tree in the country, I knew it was time.
We changed our plan that night and decided to head straight to The Gambia a few days early.
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Finally - 🇬🇲 The Gambia.
Knowing very little about this tiny country of 2 million people, it proved to be quite interesting. First, it took a long drive, a $108 visa fee payment at the border and a very slow ferry crossing across the Gambia River until we reached the tiny capital of Banjul.
From here, we based ourselves at the nearby beaches of Serekunda which I was surprised to discover is a major tourist destination for Dutch people. Using the beach as a base, time was spent visiting nearby national parks, touring Banjul, interacting with a ton of super friendly Gambians, walking for hours along the limitless stretches of beach, wandering through laid-back markets, observing wild green and red monkeys, crocodiles and hyenas and dining on local cuisine.
It was a relaxed experience. The entire vibe of the country is very chill and life moves at a remarkably slow pace. There's no such thing as being in a rush or planning things in advance. You simply be, and see where it leads. This made for an ideal end to the trip.
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Now I'm back in Lisbon. It took 2 flights and 17 hours from Banjul to get here. Thanks to a cancelled flight by Royal Air Maroc, we were stuck in the Casablanca airport for 11.5 hours. But it all worked out and here I am, ready to stay in Lisbon for a couple of months.
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Become Nomad Podcast: I was recently invited as a repeat guest on the Become Nomad Podcast, hosted by my friend Eli David. The title of our chat is, quite fittingly, "When Are You Gonna Settle Down? with Wandering Earl".
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