The vomit boat

10th February

The border opens at 8am, and we're the first car to reach it.
We get cleared into Senegal in 10 minutes, or, in African physics terms, the Senegalese border controls actually manage to exceed the speed of light.

Even the "Pass Avant" - the Senegalese customs form - gets written up for 10 days, so that we'll definitely have enough time to get the car onto the boat, with only a minimum of prompting. I have the 20 EUR it cost us at Rosso prepared, and would be happy with twice that much, as we got an extended permit.
He asks for 5000 CFA, or about 8 EUR.

Huh. So, the "helpful ladies" that "organized" and "expedited" the entry process by and for the rally when entering Senegal (read: 5h vs 10 minutes) took a... 100+% commission?

Nice. Let's not use them next year.

It's 8.15am, and we're 8km from Ziguinchor where a twice-weekly ferry leaving at 3pm but boarding cars until 1.30 can take us clear around Gambia and the killer roads into Dakar overnight.

We WILL be on it.

Of course, first we need to change some money on a Sunday - when banks are closed, and the ATMs that are inside the branches can't be accessed, and a nice gentleman offers us 39000 CFA for 100 EUR.

Do I look like I'm fresh off the boat? (I can't possibly, I smell bad, my hair is all over the place, and my clothes are a uniform savannah sand color). 65000 is the official rate, I'd have taken 60000, but your opening bid is an insult.

A nice dockworker (more flashlights given away) gets us the normal exchange rate in a different shop, we pay the ferry fees and get on the boat. Of course, they find tear gas on Mojca, which doesn't make them very happy (CS spray requiring a license in Senegal - who knew?), and then... Then they find my tear gas, the dagger around my neck and my swiss army knife. They promptly get confiscated until Dakar (I thought I'd never see them again, but I got them back!), and two flashlights solve the "fine for tear gas" problem - but they do take it away from us.

Having said that, the SECOND cans of tear gas in the backpacks get through the same checkpoint untouched, and the Swiss knife Mojca has goes past them unnoticed. Magnificent security you have going on here guys.

At this time (call it noon), the Slovenian Land Rovers call they also managed to reach the border, that the border cop is rather upset we got away from him, and that he's giving them the exact same spiel. Fortunately...

They make the ferry 2 hours later, with minutes to spare. They had no idea why they were suddenly let through, but I call the foreign ministry anyway, and let them know we're all out! Yay!

MEANWHILE IN BISSAU

By this point in time, all the cars - even the ones with no intention of selling - in Bissau have gotten impounded by the military on orders from the government for failure to pay a tax invented on the 3rd of February. Which is also the reason why we probably had issues with getting out of the country. The fact that we had our "Q1 temporary import duty permit" stamped, sealed and approved was, of course, beside the point.


Back in Ziguinchor, as the ferry departs, we notice a large number of black bags tied all over the place. After about 4 hours (call it 7pm), their utility becomes clear. By 10pm, 95% of the africans on the boat are projectile vomiting all over the place. (We really should have recorded it.)
There are people trying to do their evening prayers with a plastic bag in front of them. The doctor keeps getting paged, and motion sickness pills are being handed out like candy. The lady in the row in front of us has her head in a garbage can.

Then we hit some rough seas.

The 6 of us have a beer, some dinner and try to go to sleep, with the sounds of retching around us to calm us while the boat rocks us to sleep. Funnily enough, none of the whiteys (including a gaggle of actual Hippies we share the boat with) seem to be sick.

We hit Dakar two hours late at 8am, and depart the boat (by this time smelling - and looking - like a kindergarden on stomach flu week) for the fresh, or at least non-stomach-acid scented air of Dakar, and go in search of the hotel, before finding the shipping company.