28th March 08

Date: 28th March 08
Location: Big Milly’s, Ghana
Weather: Scattered clouds and blue skies, damn humid and hot, 37°c
Status: All – preparing for the mission ahead

Next step then…..visas and the huge hassles which there are trying to obtain them. Case, Matt and I headed into Accra to find the new location of the Nigerian embassy but after a hour of doing so with no luck we hired a taxi to drive us there while we followed behind…but shouldn’t have bothered as he didn’t have a clue either as we found out after 20mins of doing circles!

Asked around and after another 10 people’s opinions of where they thought it was including the usual African style directions of “just round the corner”, “at the end of the road” etc we finally found it!

Made our way into the smart air-conditioned reception area and were greeted by one of the embassy staff who sat us down and made us explain in full exactly what our intentions are, the places we’ll stay, how long we’ll be there, all about our vehicles, whether we have a letter of invitation, and of course the Nigerian driving licence – I’m now very pleased that I spent the £4 in the UK buying one! All appeared to go well and he asked us to take 2 forms each, complete them in full, photocopy virtually every document I have for both me and the car and bring them back in on Monday…..simple then!

As we left Matt asked if there was an Angolan embassy in Accra as we didn’t think there was but there is so we can finally try and organise THE most difficult visa needed to get to Cape Town! Drove straight to it and again another plush place but interviews for visas are only on Mondays and Tuesdays so back we come at the start of next week.

It could be a real sticking point for us the Angolan visa as very few are issued to overlanders, you can fly in no problem but taking the Colonel as hand luggage won’t work! So early night on Sunday, dress up as smart as I can and get the Afritrex story ready to throw at the official and play the charity card as much as possible…..and hope as much as possible between now and then.

Important times ahead.

End of day location: Big Milly’s, Ghana
Distance covered: 60kms