Panjari to Tanguieta - Day 264

Date: May 9th, 2010
Distance: 47km
Country: Benin
Song of the Day: Mother - Pink Floyd

I had set my alarm for 5:30 this morning. I was supposed to go with the Safari crew at 6:00, so that would give me a bit of time to pack up the tent and everything. At 5:20 one of the guys from the Safari came by the tent to check in on me. He came back ten minutes later to say they were going. Fine by me, if they wanted to leave early, I wasn't going to bust my butt to chase after them. Then the guy running the Safari came by to say they were going. I told him that he had promised me six o'clock. He said yes, they were going now. I told him I still had half an hour. He said, no, it was time now. It turns out there is an hour time difference between Burkina and Benin. I didn't want to make them wait, so I said they could go without me.

I still got up and got packed. I wasn't quite sure what I was going to do. I still needed to get my change from the forestry post. So I was going to go back there and talk with them. I even though of maybe helping out the lady doing the lion study. It would be something to do for the day, and I could see if there was another truck leaving tomorrow. Just as I got all packed away, one of the staff from the hotel came by and brought me my change. I am not sure how that happened, but it saved me a trip out there.

I now found myself ready to go, and nothing but the bush to stop me for the next 75km. I decided I would go for it. So I filled up on water and headed off down the road. That was some hard cycling though. The road across the border from Parc D'Arly was bad, but I knew that nobody maintained it. This was bad, but clearly someone was taking care of it. Just not very well. Much of it was a coarse sand that is hard to cycle through. When the roadbed was more solid it was almost entirely washboarded. It also meant that I spent most of the time just watching the road. I know I was in a beautiful natural park, but after a few kilometers of savanna it gets boring. Still, I did want to keep a lookout for elephants or anything else dangerous. Mostly I had to concentrate on picking the best route. I set myself for a tough day ahead.

At one point I was passed by the two Safari trucks. They stopped to chat for a minute. They asked if I wanted to come along, but I felt like I had made it this far (about 20km) so the rest was no problem. Plus I didn't want to make them wait why the bike was somehow strapped to the back of one of the trucks. So I said goodbye and they drove off. After going 500 meters through more sand I did regret that decision.

I did have to stop at a four way intersection. It had a sign for the hotel, and for a lake, but not for Batia (the town I was heading to). I sat there for a bit, like Gandalf, pondering the correct direction to take. Finally I worked out that I should take a left. My compass said that was was south, and I knew the exit was directly south. Plus the sign for the hotel was placed to be seen from that direction. So I figured that is where the entrance to the park was.

I wasn't quite sure that I had got it right. I just couldn't hang out all day, so I kept going. After 10km I saw a bus come by. I tried to get it to stop so I could ask but it passed. Fortunately there was a second bus, and that stopped. I asked if I was going the right way for Batia, and the driver assured me I was. Good enough for me. I thanked them and the bus drove off for a bit. Then it stopped. Someone got out and asked me if I wanted a lift. I said yes. I had made it through over 40km of the bush and didn't get eaten by lions or trampled by elephants. I proved, at least to myself it could be done, and was now happy to sit back and relax a bit. Plus it was the hot part of the day, and who wants to cycle then? So my bike was loaded onto the empty rack on top, and we set off.

It turns out the bus was full of students from a university in Cotonou. The man who had offered me the ride was their professor. They were basically wildlife management students. He described it as "animal health and protection". It was nice to see that Benin is taking an interest in protecting their animals and habitat.

We stopped at Batia for a bit. I went to the Forestry office there and asked for my passport stamp. They said they didn't have one and I would have to go to the police station in Tanguieta. professor was nice enough to offer me a ride all the way to town though. So I rode along for a bit more.

Once in town I got dropped off and headed to the police station. They didn't have the stamp either. Urgh. I must remember to stop taking these back-woods border crossings. I would have to go 50km north to Porga. Then come back. So a 100km detour. Finally they said I could also go to the commissariat in Natitingou. So that is my first goal there.

I then found a nice cheap hotel to stay at. Then went to a cyber cafe. I e-mailed my mom to let her know that I was doing fine. I do sometimes open web pages to read offline. So it was later that night that I realized it was Mother's Day. Frankly I didn't even know it was Sunday. So sorry mom, happy Mother's Day.

-Dravis