Posted on April 4, 2010.
At dusk, Ivory Coast, Odienne Encounter at dusk, the forest Odienne border with Guinea
The Renault truck was loaded at the top with more room to spare. 30 tons of goods consisting of packaging materials and other goods had crossed Gonokrom, Ghana to the Ivory Coast, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agnibilekrou Agnibiledkrou. The first night they slept at the border to complete the formalities for obtaining transit documents, a complex case.
They had made friends with the customs officers at border points to facilitate the process faster. The wife of the head of border customs invited them to dinner, consisting of Fufu (pounded cassava mortar, plantain and yams), and the delicious stew peanut butter.
The days that followed were the opposite of that, passing the truck Ivory Coast from north to south, only 150 km from Abidjan before, then turn right towards Yamoussoukro. It took three days before the Yamoussoukro has been reached, and heavy rains poured down on them in the center of the metropolis built by Houphouet Boigny, the former president. http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/people/A0824299.html
They slept the night in their vehicle, the crew of four and the woman in charge of the goods. It was cramped, uncomfortable and sticky hot, but they managed throughout their journey, the conditions were similar.
The fact an attempt to appeal to inform their whereabouts, but no telephone line is available to communicate with those waiting for news.
The next morning, the truck north to the regional capital of Odienne http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9056764/Odienne and the driver took the decision to go to the rainforest in Guinea, without knowing the road and its condition.
Being on the road in Africa is a danger in itself, with vehicles parked in broken condition during the night, blocking roads, and without a warning triangle as the standard. Many people lose their lives this way, plowing into cars these trucks on the road. Thousands of people die as a result, but nothing is done to change the situation. No government for 50 years has never been able to control the number one cause of road accidents.
The road through the forest is not paved, a stretch of 50 miles of green jungle impenetrable to expect, only interrupted by a narrow laterite road which serves as the main road leading to the border with Guinea. If the path is narrow that two vehicles would be able to pass each other they would meet. In some areas the road is wider, and this is the only way to allow two trucks to pass side, leaving only inches of room.
The truck could not travel more than 10-15 mph because of the bad road condition. In the afternoon the torrents pour more water on them, the jungle to become a quagmire.
Visibility is reduced to a few meters. The driver did his best to continue, it is aware of the dangers that lurk in many of this thickness, the green hell. They must go to the border post. The rain was still gushing over them, he crossed a river overflows its banks. Floods are dark on the floor of the rainforest, and the driver can not see the rock poses in the middle of it. Everything he sees as a heavy jolt on his truck, and it forces the car to exit the creek to stop the other side and the inspection of his vehicle. He had damaged his knowledge, any radiator traffic on a huge boulder and rock barely noticeable due to poor visibility and flooding dark brown.
Despair overcomes them when they see the damage. No way could they continue until the water tank have been repaired. They decide to stay the night and remove the tank, the next morning.
It was near morning when they had crossed the creek flooded. The tropical rains is that ordinary men.
