Backpacking in Africa Jonny Blair
“It really really really could happen” – Damon Albarn. Niger’s mainstay, Niamey is a lesser ventured capital city. I didn’t know a lot about it before my visit. We heard that boating on the Niger River and heading out to a giraffe zone would be the highlights and the normal things for backpackers to do Read more about Backpacking In Niger🇳🇪: Top 9 Sights In Niamey, The Capital City[…]
“I want to be wild because my life is so tame” – Noel Gallagher. I thought I’d do a different post on Niger, as opposed to my usual textbook top 7 sights posts. So here I’ll share my top 17 memories from my time backpacking in Niamey. Niamey is the capital city of Niger, and Read more about Backpacking in Niger 🇳🇪: Top 17 Memories of Niamey, The Capital City[…]
This edition of Friday’s Featured Food will take us back from Ivory Coast in December 2024 to Cameroon 9 months prior via a visa quest for the Central African Republic. In March 2024 when backpacking in Douala, Cameroon, I asked my guide Mebah Markdonald (of Discover Cameroon Tours) if I could attend a top division Read more about Friday’s Featured Food: Beef🥩Pepper🌶️Onion🧅Rolls🥖At Breakfast At Eto’o Food Restaurant in Abidjan, Ivory Coast 🇨🇮[…]
“Go West, life is peaceful there” – Pet Shop Boys. In December 2024, Marek Bladowski and I had a wild dream to backpack to the western most point of Saharan Africa. What even is that? Is there even a point where such a place exists and publicises itself? We dream up the wild things. Life Read more about Backpacking Simultaneously In Mauritania🇲🇷and Spanish🇪🇸Sahara🇪🇭: Visiting Cap Blanc, The Most Western Point Of Saharan🏜️Africa[…]
“Love’s a hide and hate display” – Nicky Wire. I never expected to visit 5 bars in the CAR, nevermind double figure it, but here we are, there we were. In my previous few countries – Niger I drinkpacked only 5 bars and in Burkina Faso just the 9, with Mauritania limited to 5 non-alcoholic Read more about Thirsty Thursdays: My Top 10 And Bottom 2 Bars In Central African Republic 🇨🇫[…]
“They can come true yeah. They can come true” – Gabrielle (Dreams). Before you read this, look at the above photo and watch Omam Biyick’s legendary header below. I watched it live after school in June 1990 in Marlo in Bangor, Northern Ireland. I wanted Cameroon to win. I loved it. I love it. I Read more about Living My 1990 Football⚽Dream In Cameroon🇨🇲: Watching The Top Division Play-Offs And Meeting Samuel Eto’o In Douala!![…]
“Don’t you want me baby? Don’t you want me oooh?” – Mandy Smith. What a city name this one really is. Ouagadougou – Wow! Pronounced phonetically in Northern Irish as “WAGA DOO GOO” so it is, so till spake. Long before I even backpacked this joint, it was a dot on my globe that fascinated Read more about Backpacking In Burkina Faso 🇧🇫: My Top 8 Sights in Ouagadougou[…]
“Another year over; a new one just begun” – John Lennon. I found myself back in Ivory Coast at the end of 2024, and this is where Marek and I celebrated New Year’s Eve 2024 and New Year’s Day 2025. I had backpacked through Abidjan and Grand Bassam before, back in 2018. On that trip, Read more about Friday’s Featured Food: Rabbit 🐇On New Year’s Eve At Chez Laetitia in Abidjan, Ivory Coast 🇨🇮[…]
“Down the waterfall wherever it may take me” – Robbie Williams. On a hot Sunday, in the heart of Africa, in the centre of Africa and in the middle of Africa, we visited the Boali Falls. Welcome to the centre of the entire continent, if not the world. Central African Republic is a breath thefter. Read more about Backpacking In Central African Republic🇨🇫: Charmigation At The Beautiful Boali Falls🏞️🌊💦In The Heart Of Africa[…]
“Here is a sunrise. Ain’t that enough?” – Teenage Fanclub. First things first here – don’t even consider sleeping anywhere else in Bangui. Gust Hotel is your place to sleep in the capital city of Bangui, Central African Republic. This was my home, Marek’s home and should be your home in the enigmatic chaos that Read more about Backpacking in Central African Republic🇨🇫: The ONLY Place To Stay Is The Fantastic Gust Hotel, Bangui[…]