11th
December, Hugh has reached Malaga on the South Coast of
Spain after some wild storms delayed his leaving Kilkenny.
From here he will be crossing to Morocco and
the sparsely populated, disputed territory of
Western Sahara;
through the largely desert country of Mauritania; to
the first destination - the “forbidden city”
of Timbuktu in Mali, a
country of ancient empires going back to the fourth
century. The second stage is south through Dogon
territory, across the 'Sahel' of Burkina Faso and
Niger, two
of the poorest and most drought prone countries in the
world; into the Muslim north of Africa's most populous
country Nigeria;
then into Central Africa and the Cameroon,
"Africa in miniature" with its geographical and climatic
diversity; to prosperous Gabon noted
for efforts to preserve the natural environment with
what may be the largest area of protected national parks
in the world. The final stage south is through the lush
equatorial rain-forest (and 'challenging'
infrastructure) of the Congo (Brazzaville)
and Democratic Republic of
Congo;
Angola,
recovering from its recent long running civil war; the
massive sand dunes and empty spaces of
Namibia; and
finally to Cape Town in South Africa. This latter stage
is still a somewhat volatile region and as with all the
planned route, is based on the latest information about
political situations on the way.
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Self Help's Secure Online Donation page.
All KilkennyTo CapeTown donations acknowledged and
receipted.