East Londoners Odyssey through Africa in 2011
It was rather cold at wake up time in Kimberley and team Lipstick decided to have breakfast on the road and head straight towards Bloemfontein on the way to home. In Bloemfontein it was decided that due to the cold
Ready to move from Ai Ais towards the South African Border the team discovered that Lipsticks right hand back tyre is flat and all attempts to pump it up fail. The spare tyre cannot be retrieved as the hole to
Team Lipstick went straight to Diaz point which is about 22 km South of Luederitz .Way back in 1448 Diaz must have discovered the bays of Luederitz and to claim his stake he did put a cross on a rock
Team Lipstick decided to skip breakfast and have brunch on this long drive to Luederitz and a nice roadside Wimpy was found just outside Marienthal. Never on the trip before did Lipstick experience such long straight roads and Keetmanshoop was
Polished and shiny Lipstick left Swakopmund driving along the coast towards Walvis Bay along the coastal road when Lipstick passed the 200000km mark – Happy birthday Lipstick! On route team Lipstick saw Tourists riding on Camels and about halfway towards
Quick breakfast and of to Toyota in Ojiwarango hoping that they can solve Lipstick’s fuel diet and get it up to speed again. Very friendly staff immediately attended to the problem and after a test drive by the chief mechanic
Armed with the map drawn the previous night by Teo (he also gave the team the name of the man in charge of the park – Mr Boas Eric)team lipstick went off towards the Etosha national park of Namibia. Leaving
The team left Namibe early morning and climbed up the mountain passes to reach Lubango again and from there the final stretch through southern Angola took place on beautiful long tar roads some of them being straight for about 5km.
Namibe is the most southern big town on the Atlantic coast of Angola and the team decide to check this out before heading south to Namibia. This proofed to be a good decision as the drive led Lipstick though some
At 7.30 and after a good breakfast team Lipstick was eagerly awaiting the local mechanic to arrive and without fail soon thereafter he was present with tools and an assistance. Lipstick was moved to a level gravel area inside the
Well rested team Lipstick set off to proceed to the southern parts of Angola possibly reaching Lubango today and then the following day further on to Namibe on the coast. The traffic was very dense and it took Lipstick about
As the B&B in Nzeto actually was only a B without the &B the team took off without breakfast on a nice tar road towards Luanda. Now Lipstick could prove again its true power achieveing speeds of over 150km/h on
After a good solid sleep team Lipstick proceeded to the border crossing between DR Congo and Angola which is about 4km south of Matadie. The procedures on both sides of the border went very well and 1 hour later Lipstick
It is 8.30am and team Lipstick waits at the office of the barge operator to arrive in order to proceed to the crossing of the Congo River. Patience is not the strength of team Lipstick and the red wine of
Shortly after 5am with a glimps of daylight appearing over the African sky Lipstick was put back into driving mode by packing away Cushions and changing seats from Sleep to Sit position. By that time some 20trucks behind Lipstick and
Last night the team met 2 South Africans at a restaurant who are busy mapping the IndianOcean around Pointe de Noir on a ship. This is in preparation for other crews to search for gas and oil. It was quiet
Point de Noir is the second biggest city in Congo and lies on the Atlantic coast and the team decided to drive there (some 160km) as they were told that it is fully tarred. The road was fully tarred indeed
After breakfast (today with real croissants) the team visited the Albert Schweitzer hospital which most probably is the most famous hospital in the part of the world. Wikipedia quote: The Albert Schweitzer Hospital was established in 1913 by Albert Schweitzer
First thing in the morning off to the Toyota garage for the brake repairs. To the disappointment of team Lipstick the garage could not offer any assistance as they were fully booked with other cares but they guided the team
The team decided to leave early and have breakfast on the road towards Libreville which would be a distance of 600km. This day saw Lipstick driving through very dense forest areas but on fairly good tar road winding itself through
13 & 14 July 2014 The morning after a world cup win is by nature a rather tired one and in true German style had to be started with a good bottle of beer in order to boot up team
It is 8.30 am Sunday morning in Douala and team Lipstick eagerly awaits the arrival of the 2 automotive engineers in Cameroun… A little while later both arrive on a motorbike willingly wanting to take Lipstick to an unknown place
Before heading down to the coast team Lipstick decided to visit the palace of the FON in close by Bafut. Wikipedia quote: The Fon of Bafut is the fon or Mfor (traditional ruler) of the town of Bafut and its
Heavy mist covered the mountain on which the Cattle Ranch resort is situated and the temperature was a cool 22 degrees when Lipstick started this morning on the journey to Cameroun As the bottom of the mountain was reached the
10th July 2014 After a late wake up (due to soccer celebrations) the team decided to proceed to the Cameroon border and stay over in the mountains at the ObutuLodge.There was not too much traffic on the road but
A real rainy day today with the forecasts for the next days also showing a lot of wet weather but the team got off to a good start after saying goodbye to their newly found friends from South Africa. A
For the second time Lipstick could not be started due to empty batteries but with the help of jumperleads,battery charger and the assistance of hotel staff the problem was solved within an hour and thereafter the team went straight off
A late wakeup after yesterday’s horrendous drive was called for and after a good breakfast the team decided to visit the nearby Shoprite shopping complex. On the way to the complex the team enquired with the taxi driver about a
Knowing that some 700km lay ahead of team Lipstick today the team was ready to take off by 6.30 in the morning and was again surprised by Nigerian friendliness when they found out that the security guards must have given
To avoid having to go through the chaotic Lagos border control team Lipstick decided to go up the borderline between Benin and Nigeria and enter Nigeria close to the Benin town Ketou. The trip out of town in Cotonou went
After the horrendous drive the day before the team decided to have a rest today and explore the local area and especially the Ganvie lake village which is in close vicinity to Cotonou. This village is often referred to as
By taxi team Lipstick arrived at the Gabon embassy at 8.45h in order to obtain their visa for Gabon. By Taxi to the Gabon embassy All cell phones had to be handed over to security at the entrance and
Click, click that was all one could hear when turning the key to Lipstick to start the engine and this was a clear sign of a totally empty battery system. The cause of this was most probably the fridge which
Late breakfast for team Lipstick as they only need to drive some 140km from Cape Coast to Accra. Nice road along the coastal area of Ghana and very little traffic until about 30km before Accra when the traffic again became
Early start today as the team needs to meet up with Marius to receive their second passports (They were couriered from SA to his office) Marius and his wife and 2 children live in Akumadan where he is part of
Early traffic in these bigger towns of Africa is really chaotic as everyone on bike,car,truck, donkey cart and scooter want to go from A to B at the same time. There is an endless sound of hooting and traffic rules
It was a bit of a battle to get through the traffic and out of Bamako towards Burkina Faso but after almost an hour later Team Lipstick was on the right road toward Burkina Faso. The prolonged stay in a
Team Lipstick decided for a rest and admin day today in Bamako. The visa for Burkina Faso only allows entry as from 29th June so the task was to enquire from the Burkina embassy whether it would be possible to
After a nice continental breakfast (Andre missed his omelettes) team Lipstick took off toward the Mali border on most probably the only main road connecting Senegal and Mali. This could be seen by the massive amounts of trucks which were
As arranged on Saturday Team Lipstick was ready to arrive by taxi at the customs department on the place of Independence in the middle of Dakar Our friendly car guard duly wearing his Claas hat for ease of recognising was
Due to the fact that the team has to wait for customs clearing in Dakar on Monday morning a welcome rest day in Dakar came in handy to update the web page and to clean up Lipstick (it is amazing
A short distance trip (about280km) lay ahead today for team Lipstick taking them down the coast from St Louis to Dakar. Compared to Mauretania there were quite a few more cars of the road with the road itself in a
The task for today was to cross the border from Mauretania to Senegal so an early start at 7.30 was taken with the route planned to get Lipstick to Rosso from where a ferry would take the team over the
Today again saw team Lipstick driving through the dry lands of the Western Sahara – although on the Mauritanian side. As previously mentioned it becomes a bit boring after w while and the only highlights are the police stops
18th June 2014 Team Lipstick had an early start at 8am as the task was to get as close to Mauretania as possible. Driving through the Western Sahara becomes a little bit monotones after a while as the landscape stays
Team lipstick bit farewell to David who needed to fly back to Dubai – it was really great for David to come over to start with team Lipstick’s 2014 trip especially so that he also was there when Lipstick went
Team lipstick with Andre’s son David on board left Casablanca early morning on 16th June to drive through to Marrakech. The road taken was a beautiful highway and again it was decided to stick behind a recently speedy car so
5th June 2014 Today marks the arrival of Andre and David from Dubai at around 2pm so Willy decided to use the morning to explore the mosque and Rick’s Café in Casablanca. Rick’s Café is a rebuild of the original
Lipstick was ready to board the ferry in the harbour of Algeciras by 9am but had to wait before being allowed on board. Quick and highly efficient passport control but no customs officials available to stamp the carnet de passage
From Freudenstadt( Germany) to Lloret de Mar ( Spain ) On the 11th June at 7.45am Lipstick left Freudenstadt in early morning sunshine and proceeded through the mountains of the black forest which was a slow process due to
3 years have passed since team Lipstick went up north along the East Coast of Africa through Europe to Germany. During our return to East London the idea to completethe return trip from Europe down south along the west coast