Day: October 16, 2003

Today, attack from the ”cram-cram” on the calves of Serge. The cram-cram is a very common thorn-bush short plant in the savannahs of Sahel. Its small flowers in roughcast balls of fine needles areaggrippent with all that moves and disturbs them, shoes, socks, legs… On the increasingly narrowed track, Serge have now no more means of avoiding them. Already constrained to pack its shoes yesterday in ribbon tapes to prevent the sand dust from penetrating it, it needs now to wear back trousers and to add a pair of gaiters to protect his legs from the thousands of micro-punctures of this underhand cram-cram. Adding the permanent sand dust, it was definitely written that nothing would be saved for the running ”toubabou” (white man) across Africa. On our side inside the vehicles, it is time for us to familiarize to GPS and Iridium telephones allowing us to communicate our positions for the track is dispersing in multiple ramifications, without the least signpost, should it be specified? Some among you require of us in their emails (sergegirard@wanadoo.fr) which kind of animals we met since our departure. To tell the truth, except the insects (mainly locusts and grasshoppers), very few mammals to date, only some groups of monkeys around a water point. The large mammals which we watch for in wide savannah will be for later, we hope. For the moment, birds with new forms and incredible colors which could have been drawn only by a celestial hand tear off our greater astonishments. The Sahel however has its own fauna Mr Mallé Camara will explain it to us but after a strong dryness, the animals are done rarer for some times. We gave a 10 kilometers lift to Mallé and had no choice to stop for a local breakfast in his village.In our series ”the crew of TransAfrica”, after Ludo, Rémy and JB, here is the turn to present Stéphan . Stéphan, Born near Caen and resident in Geneva he is a long time friend of Serge. After grinds trades, it works today in video reports and this his his job on TransAfrica. He already realized in 1999 Serge’s TransAustralia movie. Hobbies: the biodiversity, Spiruline, Antarctique… For hiss misfortune, it likes the cold more than the heat and at camp he often tells us about his reports on the frozen continent. His coming baldness worth to him some ”Zidane” from children, football fans here like elsewhere.