Etosha, into the wild

Manu | 6 July 2013 | no comments
Etosha, into the wild

“This is where humanity kicked off – it ‘s about time you came home” (Lonely planet Africa). Humanly speaking, that was indeed the feeling I had when I entered not only Namibia but Etosha National Park, too. The door to it actually opens up a new world, the world that belongs to Africa in the […]

Unbelievable places: Tundavala Abyss

Manu | 30 June 2013 | no comments
Unbelievable places: Tundavala Abyss

One of the most glorious and unexpected corner of paradise came out of the blue in the middle of our busy time crossing Angola. We were overnighting for a couple of days outside Lobango, in the garden of a beautiful guest house surrounded by the most friendly cats and dogs ever met on this trip. […]

Back to the Savannah in Angola

Manu | 26 June 2013 | no comments
Back to the Savannah in Angola

In Angola we have sadly left the rainforest landscape to come back to the infinite and much more spoiled view of the Savannah. The landscape has slowly started to change since we entered the country, the weather got dryer, and the nights chillier. We are running through Angola fast, as our visa is only for […]

And finally on the bad roads of DRC

Manu | 23 June 2013 | no comments
And finally on the bad roads of DRC

  We had been talking about them since the beginning of the trip, fearing them, waiting for them, imagining them but I think none of us really thought they could really be as bad as the reality showed us: DRC bad roads. We left Congo to enter DRC on the top of the most beautiful […]

Brazzaville, capital of Congo River

Manu | 15 June 2013 | no comments
Brazzaville, capital of Congo River

  Not so European like Libreville, neither so modern or cosmopolitan, Brazzaville is a real African capital, with a mix of old and new, trying to get closer to the new world but holding up a lot of features that remind you where you are: in the capital of Congo. I couldn’t feel more in […]

My Congolese birthday

Manu | 12 June 2013 | 1 comment
My Congolese birthday

  It was in Congo, at the border with Gabon, in a small village called Mbie, that I celebrated the special edition of my birthday this year. You may wonder how it is having a birthday on a truck, while travelling across Africa, and I can tell you it was special, and not for the […]

Gabon, close to the sun

Manu | 10 June 2013 | no comments
Gabon, close to the sun

It was in Gabon where we passed the Equator, going literally on the other side of the world. Just like the Tropic of Cancer, the Equator sign is in the middle of nowhere, somewhere in the rainforest, were the only company you can get is the one of the trees and of the men who […]

Kribi, last relaxing paradise

Manu | 25 May 2013 | no comments
Kribi, last relaxing paradise

  Kribi is one of those places that have nothing special but that you keep loving for the rest of your life.   The day we arrived in the village it was public holiday in Cameorun, and since the early afternoon all the people were in the street, chatting, drinking and most of all dancing […]

Cameroun, African beauty in a nutshell

Manu | 20 May 2013 | no comments
Cameroun, African beauty in a nutshell

From the moment we passed the border, Cameroun has been an explosion of colours and shapes. At the border, where we slept the night we arrived, I had one of the most enjoyable nights of the entire trip, surrounded by local kids who were almost fighting to come to sit on my knees. Like everywhere […]

Nigeria, land of contraddictions #2

Manu | 17 May 2013 | no comments
Nigeria, land of contraddictions #2

After we left the Consolidated Brewery the real Nigeria finally started to appear. The Nigerian flag has green stripes, probably related to the main colour of the country, which is definitely green. That’s the first thing you notice when you start driving across its roads. The entire country is covered by a rich vegetation that […]

Nigeria, land of contraddictions #1

Manu | 15 May 2013 | 2 comments
Nigeria, land of contraddictions #1

At the border with Benin, where the borders are not properly identified and the two countries mix together in languages, people and cultures, it’s difficult to say if Nigeria is as scary as we have heard in the last few weeks, when everybody we met on our way suggested us to be careful as it […]

In Benin, where the sun gently shines

Manu | 3 May 2013 | no comments
In Benin, where the sun gently shines

Leaving Togo and its friendly charm was not much of a shock as we got to Benin, which is almost its continuation, both geographically and socially. In Cotonou we finally applied for the Nigeria visa, and with our great surprise, people at the Nigeria House were friendly and polite and we got it after few […]

Lomé and the smile of Togo

Manu | 27 April 2013 | no comments
Lomé and the smile of Togo

Even if it’s one of the smallest countries of Africa, Togo has been able to pleasantly surprise me and leave a trace in my heart. It’s certainly because of its amazing people, less lazy than the Ghanaian, and much more honest then the Benin ones, where I am currently. Lomé is an amazing town that […]

A day at the voodoo fetish market of Lomè

Manu | 17 April 2013 | 3 comments
A day at the voodoo fetish market of Lomè

There is a bit of everything at Lome voodoo fetish market; there is what you expect, like cows’ head bones or horses hair tails, and there is what you don’t expect, like dead cats’ heads, or even what you have never seen in life, like cobras’ or antelopes’ heads. Once you enter it, you enter […]

Shantaram, a book for travelling Africa

Manu | 15 April 2013 | 3 comments
Shantaram,  a book for travelling Africa

Before I left Italy, early in January, I was looking for a book to bring with me to Africa. I didn’t have a lot of space and I knew I could bring only one, so I had to choose the one, the book who would have enlight my Africa days of dreams. I spent almost […]

Elmina, lights and shadows of African history

Manu | 8 April 2013 | no comments
Elmina, lights and shadows of African history

It doesn’t seem possible that this tiny lovely fishermen village in the Southern coast of Ghana, in front of blue open ocean, with the most colourful harbour of the entire West Africa, has been the scenery of the darkest chapter of history of the entire Africa, of its people, of our history as well and […]

Ezile Bay, Ghana’s step to paradise

Manu | 3 April 2013 | no comments
Ezile Bay, Ghana’s step to paradise

After so many days in the jungle, without having a proper shower, sometimes without showering at all, and often without a lot of food, especially when we were in Guinea, it has been not only a relief but pure happiness to get to Ghana and rest on the peaceful and breathtaking shores of Ezile Bay. […]

A week in the mighty jungle: football and people (Part #2)

Manu | 27 March 2013 | no comments
A week in the mighty jungle: football and people (Part #2)

It has been in the jungle that I have finally watched a football game with the locals…and, apart for the fact that my team lost, it was an experience itself. Football in Africa is like daily food. The most common t-shirts guys wear in the street are football shirts, of all times and of all […]

A week in the mighty jungle (Part #1)

Manu | 25 March 2013 | no comments
A week in the mighty jungle (Part #1)

  Leaving the heat of Conakry and slowly approaching the jungle has been refreshing. I rejoined the truck in Coyah after a week in the Guinean capital and found out that Jen, the Candian girl, was gone and Britney the American one was still there but had messed up and confused a lot of people […]

Conakry, crazy capital of Guinea

Manu | 20 March 2013 | no comments
Conakry, crazy capital of Guinea

Conakry, the capital of Guinea, is so far the most African of all the places seen till now. In order to get to know a bit how everything works you need at least a week, as at the beginning you will be wrapped by its mess and confusion and finding a reason or a rule […]