20080429-Conakry
"How far you gonna go. Before you lose your way back home" - Tryin' To Throw Your Arms Around The World, Achtung Baby, U2.
This Fab Trek, a travel blog, photography and journey.
I am Manfred. On 22nd of July 2004 I set out for a journey. A voyage that may last all my life, a trek to discover planet Earth. Enjoy! I take you on this journey.
03 June 2009 - Vienna, Austria, after Frankfurt.
for my brother's wedding. I am missing the boys already, it is too cold here, I have a cold, another one, the same one. But I have a plan, for another journey, soon to start. So let me do the prep work and then let's go, get out of here.
20 May 2009 - Marrakech, Morocco.
7th May fly into Casablanca, train to Marrakech which is still a favorite. But so much has changed. My boys are so much older...
Take a 5 day solo trip with my boys to Essaouira. Windy freezing, we all come back with a cold.
02 May 2009 - Bamako, Mali.
Back in Bamako, after more then 3 months. The last journey with the Land Rover - maybe for a long time. Change written all over. Say good bye from Bamako.
29 Apr 2009 - Sevare, Mali.
Through Lake Volta Region, Ghana, into Togo at Badou, then down the coast again, Lome, its oceanside is a beauty but forgotten by everyone, after thousands of years of dictatorship, then Benin, some repairs in Cotonou, this country and its people deserves more credit then Ghana, finally the turning point on the legendary trip, up north it goes, from tropics, to drier climate, last rains in Banke, this is half-way up Benin, then through hundrets of kilometres of dirt roads, Banikoara, finally crossing Parc Nationl de W/Niger, ardouse hot, dusty, some deer, one shy cat, Malanville is the border town, this is Sunday, Niger and summer is hot beyond imagination, it is hard to drink enough, to fill up what you loose in sweat, at the end of the day you can hardly pee, all body liquids have simply evaporated, Niamey requires a hotel room and AC, Tuaregs and government are in peace negotiations, military convoys stopped to Agadez, some 4 hostages released just 5 days ago, seems all more normal, a window, Niamey to Gao is ardouse again, too hot to travel, Gao, the hustlers are being told off, the bill for drinks cut down to a half, what a nice colorful town then, the market to visit without a tail of wrong guides, wrong friends, but move on, move on, do not risk stay too long, the spies are watching from Bamako to Gao to Niamey, Hombori where I have been 3 month ago, Main Fatima hot nightly winds, food is bad and overpriced, just not the season, Douentza food is bad again, just not the season? Mopti finally, Djibou Djenn a delight at my favorit Senegales restaurant. But how do you deal with drunk hustlers when you are the only tourist in town? How do you cope with a beer bottle that has taken the same transport as a load of goats, has this fecal goats smell on it? Oh - this is easy, in this heat you drink it!
... And lots of updates soon.
April 14th, Still in Ghana, Accra.
Still in Ghana repairing the Land Rover.
And still in Accra, 18th. the engine made it back into the car. Will be on road soon.
Below some highlights. Images are linked to stories.
Plans for the future ... as always, vague and uncertain ...
I am back from Africa, ideally a journey to Asia next...
Photography and Journey.
The mind, when pondering at night has always asked those questions: What are you doing in corporate wonderland, banking, university, office, church? Who is the other animal asleep inside, thinker, punk, creative, vagabond, healer, anarchist, artist, writer, rebel, photographer, intellectual? Oh God dare you to think. YU?
So before checking out into the real world I was a financial markets derivatives trader, a cowboy trader, a clown, an anarchist, almost schizophrenic. But to get it right you need to be all of that. Read between lines to read the lies. Until you discover it's all statistics, gamble, manipulation and too many lies to see through, right what they thought back in university.
Knowing sure there be something I could do if walk out, I take the decision following the old old dream and leave on 22nd of July for a multi-year journey, intend to explore the world traveling overland. Leaving is easy, not special. Take on what comes.
I am father to twin boys Daniel and David.
As a photographer, writer - I have a long way to go.
The fab trek is ongoing. Enjoy. I take you on this journey.
The journal entries top right tell the story - or you start right where it started.
How to navigate?
The story is best understood reading from Prep time to 2008. Just jump in it when ever you feel like. Click on the Maps.
Left top Navigation bar (<--), look up "journey", you find continents and countries. Guinea, Africa.
Right top Journal bar (-->) lists pages as they appear online. The journey in chronological order. Also try the years pages: 2007.
Try the Galleries, e.g. Mali-Gallery.
Try Google ThisFabTrek (<--). Just under the Nav pane.
How to get most of it? Download the latest browser version, no matter which one. Firefox, Opera, IE7 Stop using the old crappy browsers. Don't know the Apples. Expand the browser window to maximum. Try hit the F11 key. Allow for iframes in Opera.
All images are clickable (open a 1536 x 1024 image). All links and images open in the same browser tab/window. Use the back button of your browser. To open links in a new tab hold down the Ctrl-key or right click.
Enjoy!
