Rubbish roads

Public transport is a subject I have already given you a flavour of so the dereliction of its vehicles will come as no surprise but I feel obliged to cover some organisational issues with bus services. To most of us it would seem logical, when providing a regular coach service, to relate ticket sales to the quantity of seats on a coach and the departure times, but Cote d’Ivoire in particular has other ideas. Lets say the basic plan is…

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Good vibes in The Gambia

I have come to learn that public transport offers an enlightening, microcosmic view of society in many countries, the first bus journey I and my friend Steve take in the Gambia being a case in point. Our weather beaten, crumpled carriage finally clanged and grumbled into life on the 5th attempt when several of the passengers had got out to help push starting;  amiable locals chatted away in a melange of languages typical of the region (I have heard four…

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Burundi – Where?

Burundi may not seem to you an obvious destination for a beach holiday, in fact many people’s response to the name will probably be “where?” In case you need to know its to the south of Rwanda on the NE shore of Lake Tanganyika    – a vast body of water by which we have been sunning ourselves on the goldenish sands. Sunday was hardly heaving like Brighton beach on a bank holiday but on monday we shared the beach…

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