Slave Trade; Pidgin and Jollof: My West Africa
I fell in love with West African cuisine during my days at University. I was in a circle of friends of different nationalities, most of them West African. They introduced me to Jollof; yam; plantain; shito; gari; waakye you name it. I made a decision in 2015 to take on a West African odyssey. I’d fly to Dakar; use public transport; crossing to Mali ending in Timbuktu for the Timbuktu manuscripts; fly to Benin and continue with public transport to Lagos. Why Lagos? My answer to that is why not? My plan fell through due to the current unrest in Mali, even the airport in Timbuktu is now closed. I pressed on to visit Dakar and Lagos nevertheless, I do not give up on things that matter you see? I booked my flights for solo travel as part of my birthday celebrations since nobody wanted to go to West Africa. A few weeks before travel date, my trusted fellow nomad sent an email telling me about having finished the Comrades marathon (yes, that show off finished Comrades mxm) and further ask