And then there were two...

Holed up in Dakar, Senegal. Crazy town, both the most western point in Africa and the most Westernized city in West Africa.


Sammo jumped ship yesterday, riding out into the sunset on a South African Airways flight destined for New York. Reasons cited involved a monetary crunch, a far-flung lover and a dislike of warmer climes. That leaves our dynamic duo of Jeff and Zephir to continue this exploratory goodwill tour on their own.

After our trip through Mauritania, I can't say that I entirely blame Sammo for jumping ship - it was physically and mentally draining, if rewarding in that adventurous spirit kind of way... Our trip from Dakhla to Nouadihbou took about 8.5 hours (mostly paved roads), our trip from Nouadihbou to Nouakchott took 10 hours (60 percent tarmac, 40 percent dirt, sand and rocks), and our trip from Nouakchott to St. Louis took another 8 hours. The second two legs of the trip were done in temperatures that left the Jephir more than a bit parched and drained. Here are two handy maps, one of Western Sahara:

http://www.simplemaps.iofm.net/western-sahara.jpg

one of West Africa:

http://www.cpj.org/Briefings/2000/Bekoutou/africa_pol98.jpg

otherwise, there are some pictures from Marrakech on the Jephirpics weblog (check the sidebar) and we'll post more once we find a computer without this café software.
More to write, so much more, but never enough time...