What is overland travel through West Africa really like? — featuring Expedition Overland

0:05 on there really good. Gaps, you know, from the >> I think that looks right at home on there. There are dealerships that do a worse job, like a lot techs that go putting them on a brand new car. I at least centered it. There's that. That doesn't always happen. If you're

0:30 new to Exoverland, you're probably wondering who the heck is this guy. Well, this is Kurt Williams. Kurt has been around here for a long time. We met on an expedition in Russia with E7 16 years ago, and he's joined us on our Central and South America expeditions, as well as the Great Pursuit and Nordic

0:48 series. Early this morning, we picked him up from the airport, and he showed up in the best way possible with a much needed resupply. going pretty smooth all things considered with my >> gypsy bag of luggage here. >> With the team back at full strength, there's no time to slow down.

1:10 >> Looks great. >> Over the next few days, we will need to secure our visas for Guinea and get our car stamped so the trucks can cross borders. >> Success. >> Great success. With the marathon of trying to obtain visas underway, we are still waiting on some of them to enter into nine other countries along our

1:29 route. Something that is no small feat in this part of the world. Kurt has pulled off a big win by getting a matching spare tire into the country. This allows us to swap out the X3 and standardize all of our spares. We're also knocking out some lastminute chores as well. Adding front license

1:49 plates so we don't get pulled over as much. cleaning air filters and topping off fuel and water. >> Well, we've had how many days in Sagal now? >> Five. Five days in Sagal and we've got Kurt. We've picked him up and with all of our chores done, we couldn't not bring him to the Western Point.

2:08 >> This is rad. I love the signpost with all the miles to other destinations. That's just cool. >> That puts it in perspective. >> Yeah. As we take in the westernmost point of Africa one last time, some long-awaited news finally comes through. All of our visas for Guinea have been

2:27 approved. Now, after 5 days of waiting in Dhakar, the uncertainty lifts. The route ahead is open and the expedition can finally move forward. >> Look at that. >> Buckle up because this episode will take place over the next 27 days. The Exoverland Bilestones [music] Global Expedition is presented by General Tire

2:56 and is sponsored [music] by Mobile One. Expedition Apparel is provided by Fjall Raven and in association with Overland Journal and Expedition Portal. [music] Join us as we embark on a 25,000mi journey across the world. >> [music]

3:28 >> Good morning from Sagal. We have pushed a big day from Dhakar to here. About 10 hours of driving yesterday and we've landed ourselves in this really kind of old Jurassic Park apocalyptic camp. And I'm looking at the charts. We're so under the gun to get from where we are right now to the bottom of Africa.

3:49 Originally, under our our assumed schedule, we were going to be home December 10th. And now we got to keep pushing otherwise we're not going to make it home by Christmas. All right, guys. We are in mode push. Let's get to the border in about the next 3 hours or so. Drive [music] well, guys. All right,

4:06 we've got our GPS >> pointed towards uh Conquery, which is >> down in Guinea. 15 hours of drive time. So, we're definitely not getting there today. That's going to be a couple [music] days out. First step is going to be just heading down to the Guinea border and let's start heading south.

4:22 >> Sagal [music] is the country that we've stayed the longest in since Germany and it's been good to us, but we're ready to move again. Our next stop is in Konukree in Guinea, where we need to visit the Cordivoir embassy. The problem is timing. It's Friday and Conukree is a long hall. By the time we get there, the

4:42 embassy will be closed for the weekend. So instead of pushing hard for no reason, we make the call to slow down and be travelers. Welcome to Guinea, everybody. Richard's starting to look at camp locations. Anything on the top of that cliff over there on the right? There is a wild camp at the base of it. That's

5:05 pretty neat looking. Richard's still digging. Oh, this is all awesome. Anywhere we choose up here is going to be amazing. >> There are [music] herds of kids coming our way. Beautiful smiling, laughing kids. It's awesome. >> This is a good heard of coming. It's >> a good intro to >> Oh, there are

5:22 >> I'm going to say 50 plus, man. [laughter] >> Just talking to few guys here asking if it's okay to camp and everybody says it's not a problem whatsoever. Yeah, absolutely beautiful. Nice to be in Guinea. >> [cheering]

5:47 >> How cool is this? This is like the best part of Africa. They've given us permission to stay here. >> Gave him a soccer ball, which is like big time. That was big time. That's fun stuff. >> I tend to take my role as the group entertainer pretty seriously. So, when the crowd gathers, I pull out my best

6:06 trick. >> [laughter] >> Judging by the looks on their faces here, it's safe to say they haven't seen that one before. >> I don't think we could have had a better intro. Better welcome to Guinea. Parked here in this beautiful spot. This mountain in the background. And within about 17 seconds, we had 43 people from

6:30 the village show up. They just ran down the road, welcomed us. Lots of high fives, lots of handshakes. Perfect night for our first night in Guinea. >> Thank you. >> Thank you very much. >> Eventually, the crowd drifts off, allowing our day to wind down.

6:55 >> Fire up some extra lights, circle up, and call it a night with a hot meal. I'd say it was a near-perfect first day in Guinea. The only downside is my visa to Togo has just been denied. >> Guinea is just the start of the jungled

7:21 areas of West Africa. The thickest jungle will be in Cameroon and the Republic of Congo. >> Came over the border last night and found ourselves here. That's right. >> One inch in 10 days. >> Yeah. >> According to the map, we've only got about 1 inch in 10 days. >> A lot of inches left to go.

7:37 >> Me, too. >> Yeah. >> It's going to take us another, you know, 3 days or so, 2 or 3 days to get out of Guinea and into Kodavo. And Acra is where we're going to get the u the visa for Ghana. And so that's to let us get into the next country. We should by the time we get there already have an e visa for

7:59 Togo, Benin and Nigeria. >> All right, >> let's get packed up and adios. >> Yeah, let's do it. >> As we start packing up, the village kids have gathered around us again. Someone starts playing music and before I know it, I'm pulled into the moment. When in Africa, you have to dance with

8:20 the kids. Though my few moves probably won't age well on camera. >> That's all I have. >> Bye. >> Bye. >> Bye. >> Bye. >> I think we've got a group of people hanging off the back of this truck.

8:45 >> Yeah, that'll happen a lot. [laughter] >> So, yeah. They're not going to jump off. A few of the kids hop onto the back of the trucks, laughing as we carry them back to the village. [music] From here on out, though, it's all business. [music] We need to travel across Guinea to the coast over the next 2 days if

9:09 we're going to be at the embassy [music] first thing Monday morning. But we're not going to make any of those miles if we can't [music] find fuel. >> How are we doing for time today? We're about 3 hours to uh labe and I think it was probably about 3 hours past that. So I'm going [music] to call it 6

9:27 hours all in which get us there kind of just about dusk again similar as last night but we'll get you an update on that. >> The biggest objective of the day is to find fuel. >> One of these gas stations will have essence for us. >> I hope so. Kind of need it. >> Just pulling here. I don't see any green

9:47 pump. No, >> no, here as well. No, >> is we trying to fuel up. We're all at about a half a tank or under half a tank. We've still got about 2 and 1/2 hours to go and uh we've been going from gas station to gas station and been striking out. Bummer. Well, we just struck out again.

10:11 >> Nine gas stations. That's right. >> Time. How much time that wait for fuel? >> 5 1 hour. >> Oh, >> okay. >> 1 hours. >> Okay. >> She gives me this. And I don't mean I don't think I've been a bad boy. I think she needs no. >> The roads keep getting worse. The pavement gives way to broken asphalt,

10:38 then to dirt, then something that most of us would barely qualify as a primary road at all. Progress is at a crawl. The trucks are taking a beating. And with this kind of surface, [music] every mile is adding wear, and we still have a long way to go. We're only a couple kilome from camp

10:59 when we make one last stop for fuel here. And [music] somehow looks like we might have gotten lucky. Action, man. >> Sort of. Bonjour. Essence. We >> no thank you. >> That is the 11-year-old kid. >> According to the 11year-old, they have it. We'll see. [laughter] >> Essence.

11:24 >> Huh? >> Essence. >> Fame. >> Oh, it's closed. >> Pame. It's closed for the night. >> Well, we are close to our camp. >> Yeah, but we're close to camp. And he seemed to say they have essence. With our good news on fuel, we know we can come back to here in the morning. >> So, we're kind of just thinking this

11:42 spot right to the right of us. We kind of just back into the grass there, guys, and get them leveled up so we don't block this road. >> And about anywhere in here where you start to feel like you're getting level and you're going to turn hard passenger right now. Looking good. Looking good.

11:58 Come on back. Come on back. Yeah, looks pretty good on the back levels. >> Well, it was a it was a big day. Really big day. These slow roads really took their toll on our time. We're going to sleep good. We're gonna get up, keep moving. Hopefully, we find fuel in the morning. That's the biggest thing. And

12:14 if everything goes right, we'll make it to Conree tomorrow and uh work on our visas. So, with that, good night. The humidity of the jungle is kicking in. The morning dew is very slick. Just ask herd. >> Oh, Ted. [laughter]

12:41 >> I'm glad he survived. >> Now that it's slippery. Oh, it needs like a handle here or something as well. >> Knowing we have a fuel source down the road, we don't linger long in camp. We cut down the dirt road and back to the station, hoping it is open. >> All right, here's the gas station

13:01 arriving on the right. I do see folks filling up, so that could be a good sign. And a bunch of folks waiting, so feeling good on it. >> I think fuel is going to be an ongoing concern through this area. The fuel has to come from other countries. And with the road the way it is, fuel is slow to

13:18 be delivered. >> Found fuel the line. So we're kind of plugging up the line. Very popular place today. >> We only take what we need so others can get theirs. >> We got fuel, which was a miracle. after about 15 16 gas stations yesterday without essence which is the unleted we need. Uh the price is pretty fair. It's

13:37 about 525 a gallon in US which is about 2.9 million of theirs. So it's a lot of currency. So got to go pay. They're uh they're anxious to get their cash >> up. Spartans up. >> Romans up. Here we go. [music] We leave with a half tank as we know

14:03 Conree will have fuel being a port town and all, but it's a long way from here. >> Car coming. A little silver car. Clear. All clear. Come on around. >> That dude just passed on a full blind hill. >> I hang off a truck sometimes, but that's another level. Well, we're [music] in Connor Creek

14:28 proper now. I think we're in an area called Western Union. Just making our way another 7.4 clicks, which is 17 minutes. It's not hard to see why a short distance would take such a long time in the city. Busy, busy city. [music] How's Connor for driving? It's horrible. [laughter] The worst driving experience I think

14:50 I've ever had. >> Don't worry, Cyrus. You only have three more hours of traffic to our accommodations in Conigree. >> Hey guys, so slight change in plans. I found a an Airbnb, a villa, but it gets us quick access into the various embassies and groceries and has according to them secure parking for all

15:12 three vehicles. So, we're just going to head in there and we've got that locked in until we're done with everything. Left hand down lightly is left hand down. >> Look good over there. >> Yeah, you can. Yeah, just keep going. >> Yeah, you're good. Just Just stay on that light left hand turn for me. Just

15:37 light. Scott has secured a house for the next few days, which will allow us to move in and out of the consulate safely as we go on little strike missions to retrieve documents and visas. All right, we're at the Cordivar Embassy. We found a place to park. We're going to go in. We're going to see what

15:56 happens. We got to get this so that we can get out of this country. >> We are optimistic that we can get our visas back today, but we'll see. >> All right. So, we went in, did our visa stuff, and they said come back in 2 days. So, uh it's Monday now. They said come back. They'll be done by Wednesday

16:20 at 2 pm. >> We're on the move now and we're going to go make a plan on what to do over the next couple days. >> The next two days are really about paperwork. We are learning what it takes to get through the process and we're having to create documents, book refundable flights, provide bank account

16:40 information and proof of hotel reservations that we will cancel, etc. All of that is required to make our way through the wild range of requirements that each country demands for a visa. >> Not one of them is the same. >> And the process is tedious. It's also not easy being six guys holding two

17:00 separate nationalities. >> Waiting, waiting, waiting. I would like to say I'm getting better at it, but I don't think I am. I think I'm getting worse at it. No one other than me is waiting on their Togo visa. Everyone else has it because I made a small error in my application. I had to

17:20 resubmit it or make the change. So hopefully it's been made. I just got to log back in. >> It'll be okay, Clay. It's going to be okay. >> So talking big picture here. Just thinking through looking at a map. We've made it to We're in Guinea. We we feel really good about our cottoar

17:39 Ivory Coast cuz that's in process. I mean, we could show up there tomorrow and they say, "Hey, you all filled this out wrong." So, that could happen. But realistically, they looked it all over when we were there. It's feeling pretty good. We feel good about that one. 2 p.m. tomorrow, we'll have that. So, in

17:51 the big picture, it's kind of like it'll all fall into place once we get a couple of these to pump through. But, we still got to get Clay a Togo one, or that's a dude up past Togo, and that's kind of way up top here. It's only a week or two away. and all of us need a Ghana one before we even get to Togo. So, we still

18:07 got some milestones. >> That's right. >> So, it's this it's really this meaty center that we're fighting through. >> As the team buckles down on logistics and planning, a bit of a miracle comes our way. >> All right, as we've been sitting here waiting for everything, we did just get

18:24 really good news. Our passports and our visas for Ivory Coast are ready at the consulate. It's only 11:30 in the morning right now. So, we're going to make the move. We're just going to get in the truck. We're going to go down there and get them uh and see if we can even get out of here tonight. If that's

18:41 the case, we can buy ourselves a half a day today and a full day tomorrow. So, that's like >> we we got to move. That's awesome. >> Yeah. >> As long as your arms carry the >> Okay. An amazing day here in the city. This is our second time to this embassy. We all took a little bit of a risk and

19:00 went down to the embassy hoping it would be done an entirely day early and it was so amazing day. Now we're fighting the traffic. I'm gonna help Kurt get us out of here safely. [music] Traffic is intense. The chaos is at a peak within the cities and the predictability of traffic can be wild.

19:19 It's advisable [music] to stay out of the cities as much as possible. But when you have to be at the consulates for visas, you don't have a choice. >> All right. In preparations for leaving, we found an awesome little car wash down here right by the Airbnb here. So, this is a big win before we leave as well.

19:38 [music] Just had good beers. Props being washed. And I look over here and it looks like

20:03 it's a beauty parlor. So, I'm going to go over there and see if I can get a haircut. It's getting a little long. [music] [music] Not exactly like the picture. cut me a little short in the front here, but TIA works great with my hat on. >> He did a good job. [laughter]

20:35 >> It's time to crack a beer and prep for tomorrow's journey to the Ivory Coast border. So, good morning to day 82. I believe it is 5:30 in the morning and we are getting out of town. Instead of going out last night with this terrible traffic, we decided to sleep for a few

21:01 hours, get up and go. Uh, with a intention to get to the Ivory Coast border as fast as possible. If we do it well, if we drive well and make our miles, we could even gain a day that we're definitely going to need when we get further into Avaj. So, yeah. Here we go. Going to back out. We're going to

21:20 get out of Concrete. >> All right. Here we go, gentlemen. Let's roll. Got a right turn here at the T. All right, gentlemen. We are making good time. I think it would pay dividends to get out of town this morning like we did. We probably start looking at doing that a lot of mornings because we see

21:42 how much the traffic changes in just about an hour. We have a big drive to get into Abajan and of course >> at border as well. But we got about 1,700 kilometers to get to Abajan which is our next really big uh hard goal because we're going to do some visa applications and processing there.

21:59 Google at this moment is showing about 25 hours of drive time. probably going to be about three days of moving plus whatever the border takes us. >> That's like top of Montana to Mexico in hours wise. That's pretty far. >> Uh it sounds good though. It feels good to get moving though. It's full steam

22:18 ahead and our plan to leave early is paying off. But just as we have reached a cruising altitude, a tragedy from a village along the highway blocks us and every other vehicle from proceeding forward. All right. So, we have come up into some [music] traffic fully stopped on the side of the road and uh looks like

22:41 there's some sort of >> either a protest or >> you guys good >> political demonstration. >> The sad [music] reality is that two kids have been struck and killed by traffic last night. The driver was going too fast through town and they are protesting the speed limit. Their anger and frustration is

23:06 understandable and justifiable. Eventually, after 2 hours of waiting, the roadblock is cleared by police. Fantastic news. I see movement at the front. We've only gone about 90 kilometers in

23:32 call it close to 4 and a half hours now. That's rough travel. Rough travel. I think we're all feeling the weight of the day's agonizing journey. We hit terrain that feels like it hasn't been maintained in years. The going is slow as we limp our way into camp for the night. With yesterday's driving conditions

23:53 still reverberating through my bones, we look towards the new day ahead to get us back on track. >> Big pothole. Stay left. Got some coming here. Oncoming blown up road just ahead. Dead ahead. This dude's got six refrigerators and he's going the same speed we are. Potholes. >> Some dude just yelled at my window. So

24:19 American. >> [laughter] >> Leaving the chaos of potholes, crowds, and dirt roads, we finally hit pavement that leads us back to a cruising speed. Bit of a relief that gets us back on pace so we can make our miles and cross the border tomorrow. Long day. Spent 12 hours on the road and

24:46 400 km is not very fast. So, we're going to go to bed early. Gonna wake up early. We're going to drive slowly to the border and then aim for the capital city of Aden. Not Azerban. >> I couldn't have said it better myself. >> Exactly how you pronounce it.

25:11 >> After 14 hours yesterday, Richard has found us a crazy camp. It's a gold mine. Literally a gold mine. >> [music] >> across the river. You can see a dredge set up. So, it's got a slle box up top there. And we haven't seen any panning happening yet, but they're kind of just getting things spooled up. So, super

25:32 friendly about us camping in the middle of their gold mine. After we get done admiring the operation, we put down the coffee and lift off from our camp, ready to move on from our current spot here in Guinea and onto our next chapter, the Ivory Coast. I'm feeling pretty good about getting

25:51 here. You know, think back. How how many days have we been in Guinea now? Seven, eight. You know, going to Conry, get our visas, get all that put together, make the miles over here, deal with the tough roads. It's been uh it's been quite the country. >> Yeah, we've been here a while.

26:12 >> We pull over to tidy up the trucks before getting to the border. We all know that this needs to go well and this is part of our standard operating procedure that we developed at the ranch earlier this year and it has paid off big. >> No photos. >> So one of one of our real obstacles

26:32 right now and it could actually be uh a pause to the entire trip if we don't get it sorted out but uh Cameroon just held elections. Um those elections were highly contested. So anytime those kinds of political tensions reach that kind of a boiling point, uh we have to be very mindful of do we want to be in the

26:51 country when something like that kicks off. Um and it also may be a big influence into why we've not heard back on our Cameroon visas. So we're keeping a very close eye on Cameroon. It's our only way through. We cannot get around it um other than by shipping. Um so we would we would not be able to drive

27:08 around it. Um so that could be the end of the trick if we can't get that solved. As we approach the Guinea and Ivory Coast border, we go dark on all cameras, knowing that we need to keep things out of sight [music] as tensions are boiling and any misinterpreted nature of our intentions can get us denied.

27:35 >> He's waving us now, so let's roll. Uh rolling into Ivory Coast, separated by a pretty small river, but the roads at least so far [music] have immediately improved. >> Oh, look. Instantly better. >> Instantly pavement. I was saying, "Love the view so far and I already like the road to make up some

28:01 good ground." It's it's uh it's kind of what we need at this point. Isn't that the truth? It'll allow us to get into Ajon at a really reasonable time tomorrow. >> We celebrate the win of getting into the Ivory Coast, but there are still some major hurdles to clear. We need to check

28:18 up on the status of some visas we've requested while also applying for new ones. And while we do all that, remember to keep an eye on the political turmoil that has just been stirred in the region. Just as an FYI, that guy in the parking lot that came over, but just said like, "We shouldn't be in the country right

28:37 now. Not safe for Americans," he said. >> We stopped very little to keep on pace with our plan to get to Abajan. >> All right, guys. I want you to just sneak on up here. This is cool. This will work. Bring him in right here. We get the trucks pulled into the spot, excited to set up camp for the night and

29:02 celebrate making it to the Ivory Coast. >> Ready to have a beer or two and eat some dinner and go to sleep. And then tomorrow, Abjan add >> Go to this the city. >> The city the city >> the city to the city >> to the city. >> Back to another city. All right, let's take a look at the map.

29:26 All right, we've made some good ground. We found ourselves in the Ivory Coast Cortevois. Ivory Coast has just gone through a few riots and uh protests and stuff. So, we're making even some travel considerations today on which way we should go, though they all seem to be simmered down. But the next big one, uh

29:46 we got to get into into Ghana. That's a very hard visa to get. And then Nigeria right now is going through a bunch of stuff. And we have also been learning that people are getting their visas denied. So we have a pretty robust political problem that's happening that could ultimately shut the expedition

30:07 down. Worst case scenario, >> my opinion is we just got to keep moving, pushing towards the goal because it's all changing every day. I'm trying not to get out ahead of my skis and take too much risk. Uh but also trying to manage as many opportunities as we can to solve the problem. all being aware of

30:24 the fact that things could change an hour from now. [music] >> Well, with this whole situation, it's interesting for me to think about because I feel the same. I think everything's going to go well. To me, my mindset is just that of I would rather be not be optimistic with it. I'm going

30:39 to think of worst case scenario, prep for that ahead of time. So, expect the worst and hope for the best. >> Heard lots of people getting denied lately, [music] and by lately, I mean in the last 24 hours. But it's all changing so fast that making any long-term plans based on what we're reading is [music]

30:54 happening 2 3 weeks away isn't going to do us much good other than maybe slow down our progress of just pushing [music] forward. So I think we got to keep moving. If the political situation worsens, [music] we are possibly entering into the first expedition shutdown scenario. We may just have to

31:11 park the trucks and go home. >> That's the beauty of a good team. We need a wide range of perspectives and risk val evaluations and things. That's what makes us powerful and it makes it challenges like this really fun to go through. We just need to make the next best decision and I think this team's

31:28 doing a good job doing that. >> Just barely. >> Update on Cameroon Nigeria convoy. Didn't go yesterday because of more riots. The military told me to expect more riots. But again, that's Cameroon two weeks away. We don't >> That's an eternity in politics. >> Oh yeah. The best thing to do is to keep

31:45 moving and be in the best position possible to get through the countries on our terms. And that means securing the next round of visas. We motor hard over 2 days working through Starlink to keep our visa options as open as possible. We are all experiencing a wide variety of success.

32:05 Some of us will get a visa and the others will not and will have to reapply. None of it makes logical sense, which adds to the westerners mental tension. >> Operation Embassy, Ivory Coast. This uh is a big day. We're going to go visit multiple embassies and hopefully just clean up our visa scenario.

32:28 So, we got some great news. Uh we just picked up our Ghana visas and we also got good news on my Nigeria e visa today which had been delayed for days and days and days. So now we are actually clear all the way to Nigeria, the whole group.

32:53 We've been in Abjan for 6 days running around to every embassy trying to lock down the correct stamps and visas and it's taking its toll on me. We've just picked up the Cameroon visas and although we are excited, there's one hurdle that will make or break this trip and our progress going forward. The

33:11 inside this group of passports is a very significant page. It is uh Mr. Brady's page, which is this one. And inside, Brady, you have a We will find out if you have an extra visa page or no extra visa page, which could impact our travels in a big way because they need to put them in here.

33:35 We have not checked. Here you go. You check. Did they get it put on the right page? >> I got to do it here. >> I'm going to know here very soon. >> You had a ghost stamp. >> They did it. They did it. Yes. [laughter] >> Big win. That stamp location or that sticker location is a big win.

33:55 >> Big win. >> With all visas stamped and passports in hand, the road to Ghana is now wide open. >> Tomorrow we will cross the border and pick up on our journey towards Cape Town. >> Thunder's backed up, ready for you to come on out. >> Coming back. Not merely yards from our hotel, we

34:17 noticed something hanging off of Roman's back axle, and it doesn't look good. >> Uh Roman's rear driver shock is missing a bolt. >> All right. Well, that was We were close to leaving, but noticed as the trucks were going by that the rear passenger shock on Tundra completely disconnected

34:37 at the axle. So, bolt fell out somewhere. There's a bag that's marked hardware. Like compressing going to be a chore. Almost easier to jack the vehicle up. >> Yeah. >> They may need a third board. Oh, wow. >> With the rear of the truck off the

35:02 ground, Kurt now doesn't need to compress the shock, making it much easier to bolt it back together. >> It's safe to lower down. >> Yes, sir. You know, the cops are great. >> With the shock back on the axle, we finally get a move on to the border. >> Get another car out of our way.

35:25 >> Well, we've just left. We've been stamped out. Carese and passports. >> Welcome to Ghana, everybody. >> New country. >> Crossing the river. I think once we're at the halfway point. So, about now we're officially [music] in the new country. Welcome back to making ground, gents.

35:45 Feels good to be moving, eh? >> All right, right turn. >> Triple one, two. >> Left turn at the top of the hill. Solid. >> Right. He's turning. >> So, this is a floating house basically very South African style floating above the water here in Ghana. It's really beautiful.

36:12 Every night we take the time together to war game the next day. And I don't think we ever had one day in the last week where the plan survived the day. >> Got a solid crack in the windshield from that truck. >> Boo. >> But who are we to think that this should be a smooth sailing? This is exactly

36:33 what we expected. I guess you always kind of hope it goes better. And frankly, now that we are here, we can see how it could be much worse. >> What a dirty dog. [music] [music] So, we are working hard to stay optimistic and keeping our heads high.

37:00 Without Starlink, this would all be a week or more behind already. on the move. Hold on tight. >> It has also been told to us that the best visa to get for the DRC, many countries away, is actually here in Acra and we need to go to the consulate to get that.

37:27 >> Ready, Kurt? >> Right. And so the interesting thing about this is that right at the very last minute when we were leaving the consulate this this afternoon, uh Kurt and I were like, "So, just so you know, we're trying to leave by 5:00 a.m. tomorrow morning." He goes, "Oh, oh, oh, 5:00 a.m., yeah,

37:45 yeah, well, you can pay an expedited fee." And now we're meeting him at a mall. Is this ideal? Certainly not. However, we've been teased with the prospect of leaving a day early. And since [music] committing, we've gotten ourselves into maybe a bit of a quagmire. All passports, all of our identities are

38:03 all held by one man at a mall in the middle of downtown Acra at night. >> We're rolling into the mall right now. We're going to be picking up our passports with hopefully our [music] visas into the Congo from a man named Mr. Coffee. Try and pick our own spot and have him come to us.

38:26 >> Where you want to be? >> Like somewhere right here on the right. Yeah, this looks good. >> And Brady, if this works out well, we'll just have you step forward in front of the hood. >> Yep. I'll take care of it. >> Cuz this is our man. Here he is.

38:55 >> See passports. The quick glance at our passports allows me to chill out a bit. Now Scott must confirm that all passports have been stamped and documented correctly before we can call this a real win. Especially since Scott's passport is nearly full. One wrong stamp placement will have

39:13 downstream consequences that could end his trip. >> We'll see. We'll see if we got it. That'll be the the last big win. >> Did you get it on the right bait? Oh, he didn't use that bait. So, >> well, there we go. There's probably probably one in there. >> He used it somewhere else.

39:32 >> He did. He just put it right on the one that it was supposed to go on. >> Perfect. >> Yes. >> Great. >> We got a 2-year visa, which is pretty amazing. >> It's nice. >> Feeling like the weight of the world has just been lifted off of us, there are smiles all around as we are now fully

39:48 stamped for our next set of countries. >> Ghana is the best. [laughter] Next stop, Togo and Benin. The goal is to push through Togo in a single day, really within a 10-hour window. And this will buy us another day in the schedule and keep our home for Christmas goal alive.

40:16 We are getting close to the border with Togo. It feels so good to have all of the visas, all this big bureaucracy push that we've had over the last couple weeks done and we got nothing but green lights all the way to [music] Cape Town. >> With optimism at full strength, we work our way to the Ghana and Togo border.

40:38 Ready to see all that hard work for the appropriate stamps to pay off. >> Thanks, bud. >> Great. >> Well, we've been stamped in. We're now officially in Togo, which is pretty neat. >> Look at the stamp that they give you in Togo. It's not hard to find because it's an entire page. [music]

41:01 Our >> experience of Togo gets to be a nice lunch stop and then off to Benin already. We were in this country [music] for about 45 minutes. >> All right, everybody put your hands on your passport forwards. Sure you got them. As fast as we came in, we have come out already at the next borders

41:18 into Benine. The smooth roads and sunny weather have us feeling high on our travels. >> See if we can't roll. He's letting us in. I bet all of us can go. Go, go, go. >> We have roughly 240 km [music] to camp. And if we keep on track, it should put us there just before dusk so we can

41:35 enjoy a sunset on the beach. >> Right. Birds in the air. We have an 11 minute flight time. So far, I'm enjoying Benini. Beautiful beaches off the right here. Ahead and make [music] our way towards the ocean. >> Hey, we're going to tuck in right here on the left.

42:12 Setting up a proper overland camp for the night has us all excited. Nice to be out of the cities. Get a camp set up. Feels so good to be like in a camp camp. I'm going to get the lights going and the palm trees and the sand and the beach and there's lightning. Done. That does look good out there.

42:48 Kurt is preparing our gourmet ravioli for the night. Working with Africa's finest canned pasta. Fresh ravioli. M. And Scott has taken on his role as bartender. >> All right. All right. So, we were going to do gin and tonics, but we only have one tonic. So, we're going to try orange

43:09 and tonic. Oh, no. See how this tastes. I think everyone will forgive me for the generous pour. >> Jin and China for you. Woohoo. All right. >> To Nigeria. >> Nigeria >> and beyond. >> And beyond. Absolutely. Cheers. >> I could drink that like in a straight go.

43:34 It's been quite a few days since we were last at the map table. It was before Ajan and we are in Ajan for many days. I can't even quite remember right now. So, we were there to here and then we rotated over into Ghana and then now we're all the way in Benin. And then, man, this today's accomplishment is

43:55 amazing. It's the big one. The end of the what I was calling the visa dark ages is over. Now we're going into something very big which is Nigeria and Cameroon. >> It's early on day 97. We have reached another mileage sample interval for the

44:20 trucks. 20,000 m. And it's time to take some samples. 4 ounces are withdrawn and sent back to the lab and four new ounces are replaced. Well, we're doing our oil sample 6:00 in the morning trying to get it done today. We don't want to do this in Nigeria. The engines so far, I mean, we

44:44 can't tell. They're running perfect. They're running like the day we started them. Uh, which is really encouraging this far in. And it's crazy to think that our next sample will be the very bottom. We're getting close. >> With the oil samples complete, it's time to pack up and begin our journey into

45:03 Nigeria. >> This part of the trip has been anticipated for months as Nigeria has had political unrest and a multitude of uncertainties within its borders. This leaves us eager yet cautious knowing our preparation and planning is key to a smooth journey. >> But I do not. >> Yeah. This part of Nigeria is we'll ease

45:22 into it >> as we move towards Cameroon. >> Let's go. It >> cannot be understated how crucial this part of the trip is. This is an area many people have warned us about because of kidnappings, terrorism, and currently there are threats of US action on militant groups in the north. All adding

45:44 to the uncertainty of the country. >> Game on Nigeria. Here we go. Today, Nigeria this morning suffered the largest uh Nigerian stock market decline in its history. The Nigerian situation with the Christians being killed and and I think all of it is just made a fear factor that's happening. So, we'll see

46:09 how at least Americans are received. This is going to be one grand experiment. >> Let's roll up in front of that parked car if that works. Now, at the first police stop, they have us all get out and take pictures with us. Is it because they love the trucks, or is it because they want us

46:27 documented? Who knows? >> Today, we've had it all. We've had wind, rain, traffic, people running across the road, animals. Crazy. We find ourselves slightly off the highway roads and after detouring

46:53 through the village, we get back to the highway. The only problem is there is no on-ramp to get us back onto the road. So, we make our own. So, we got to get up this ledge right over here. And I think on the other side of that white truck, [laughter] we need some max tracks to make sure that this is going

47:10 to go the way it should. This is awesome. Now, straighten out a little bit. Yeah, you're going to just go straight out into the road and then come up. With daylight to spare, we get the truck secured inside the walls of our home for

47:36 the night. Some of our trucks, however, prove to be a bit more of a nuisance than others. >> One of the challenges with making really big cool trucks is that they're really big, cool trucks, so they don't always fit.

48:02 It's day 98 and we have a problem. >> We need a special authorized sticker that will allow us to travel through Cameroon and is only provided in one town here in Nigeria. That town, however, is 14 hours away and is closed Friday at 3 p.m. >> through the weekend. It's Thursday and that means we need to

48:23 motor hard to get there so we don't miss our window of opportunity and have to wait 3 days until the next available opening. >> Great job getting out of there everybody. I mean, what a win. 524 and we are on the road. We're going to move left around this truck. >> Wherever you go, Peter, I will follow.

48:43 >> We're going to use this left lane, but just be aware that we might have to dodge right with these oncoming buses and trucks. We got a checkpoint actually at Narrow. So, slow up. >> We stopped at a checkpoint. It's definitely not like a formal checkpoint. Got one AK, lots of sticks, no uniforms,

49:02 flashlight, and a guy walking around like he owns a place. >> Hello. >> All right, we out. >> Like we have a checkpoint up here. >> This guy's got a beret on one AK. Another checkpoint. >> Day two in Nigeria. It's checkpoint 31. This is what [music] it looks like inside the car at checkpoint 36. Ah,

49:29 >> pointing smiling. He looks very chill. >> Hello, my friend. Hello. Just keep driving. My props. We're >> keeping track on a pack of smokes. I don't smoke. Mom, I don't smoke. >> Got another checkpoint complete. [music] Oh, that would be 52. >> It's 76. >> You guys are ready. I need something.

49:55 >> Okay. >> No. Yes. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> We're on Nigerian roads and it's pretty crazy. >> Got the best load of bananas and one car on the strip. >> Hey, there's a local

50:21 Looks like rain's picking up up here, FYI. traffic is stopped.

50:53 >> Is it like this every day? >> Not us. >> Oh, good. >> Is there a reason we can't move down the right side here? >> Yep. There's a two or three foot deep like culvert there. Okay, that's straight. You can straighten out. Yep. You got lots of room. Lots of room. All right, so we're trying just trying

51:16 to make it to the house tonight. And the rain came in, the chaos came in, lightning everywhere, rain, and a traffic jam. Beyond traffic jams. Well, >> if you should get through, we could go. >> What we've got here, my friends, is a Nigerian traffic jam. It's Oh, go stay. >> Oh my goodness.

51:40 >> Is pretty deep. That is why nobody is doing what we're doing. >> Three. Make sure you stay left out of that hole. And it is just gridlock here. It's crazy. I don't know about you guys, but I the water came up over the headlights once. I mean, it like headlights went out like dark. Road went dark cuz we were under

52:01 the water. about 2 km out from our place here. >> Good. Copy. >> It's going to be pretty tight for the Tundra. I think it's doable. >> A regular on the rain. Maybe. That's wild. >> This is crazy. >> Insane. The survey is taken from the road.

52:27 That's all normal. [music] That kind of rain is normal. Those roads flood like that all the time. Those people's houses flood like that all the time. Crazy. After the relentless maze of twists and turns, waiting through fender high water, we find our Airbnb and pull the vehicles into slightly higher ground for

52:50 the night. Still amazed we got through all of that. >> Everybody did awesome. We are now within striking distance of the ROC consulate, but an electric problem is slowing our progress this morning. The red AR go that keeps our food cool is not turning on. After a quick read of the manual, it

53:15 just needs a hard reset. The thing has been running at the max for over 3 weeks straight. Check point 162. >> As we get closer to Cameroon, the border security is [music] getting tighter. >> You hear the big boss up on the right going, "Let him go."

53:40 >> Yeah, I heard that. >> Goal here this morning. We're about halfway to Calibar where we've got to go visit the Cameroon consulate to get that sticker, that visa sticker. We required to get the sticker before we go up to the uh I call [music] border. Still have anywhere between a 6 and 7 hour drive.

53:57 Could even flex a little bit up or down hopefully up to the border where we spend the night. That's our game plan for the day is tackle all of that. >> But alas, we forgot about African roads. The warning on I Overlander describes this road as an absolute nightmare. Featuring massive potholes, deep mud

54:18 pits, relentless truck congestion, extreme heat, aggressive driving, correct checkpoint. Love it. So far, [music] we've been having a good experience, though. >> This is the craziest driving I think we've actually encountered. Nigeria has taken the cake for it. We make it to Calibar where we present

54:41 our documentation [music] and retrieve the long-awaited sticker that is much debated amongst overlanders if you need it or not. But we think we do and that will grant us access into Cameroon through the particular border that we want to get through. With the final piece of our logistical

55:00 puzzle in hand, it should be smooth sailing to the border. >> Got a choked up, stopped up traffic ahead. Yikes. >> There's just one more thing. [music] Something I have yet to see in all my years of traveling. It has us in a gridlock. >> Okay, guys. So, we're rolling up on a tanker that is tipped over. And that is

55:22 a fuel tanker right there. >> There's actually two rolled trucks that we have to drive in between. One rolled on each side of the road. >> Good thing Kurt's not a smoker. Boy, that was crazy. >> The traffic yet again kills our timeline, forcing us [music] to drive into the night. But we still think we

55:47 can get through the border if we hurry. This is our last checkpoint before we reach the border. We've hit 182 checkpoints inside of Nigeria, around 60 more than we estimated. There is relief that those are past us, but we still have Cameroon to get into. It's late and this building doesn't have

56:13 any lights. So, naturally, we offer our lamp to speed up the process and get us to the border, which is taking about 2 hours. The last thing we want to do is camp in no man's land between these two borders. So, we need to rush to cross it. However, it's still better to be out of Nigeria to ensure a fast entrance to

56:35 Cameroon tomorrow to meet up with the military convoy that will take us through the red zone along the border. >> Yeah. >> Well, there's a guy. >> We go right to the first one cuz there's somebody there. >> There's two dudes asleep right here. >> Yeah, >> they're asleep asleep. >> How do we wake them up? I don't know.

56:56 >> Um, these guards are asleep. Hello. >> Good evening. >> Please, we are blocked. >> Okay. So, we can go into Cameroon and join the convoy tomorrow. >> Yes. Yes. Tomorrow morning. >> Okay. Tomorrow morning. What time? Okay. What time does the border open? >> 5:00. >> 5 5:00 a.m.

57:13 >> Yes. Yes. >> Okay. To shut down a 20our day. >> Yeah. >> We reached our goal almost. The biggest thing is we didn't get into Cameroon. And the convoy that we need to be on is in Cameroon. >> Cross those gates over there. straight up >> and if there's some problem in the morning with the border, we could miss

57:34 our convoy, which means we would be here until Wednesday. >> Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. It' be a 4-day delay. We can't have that. Try rolling up that. >> After chatting as a team about our gut checks, we decide that camping here in no man's land between the two borders is

57:53 actually safer than going back to a nearby town on the Nigerian side. It's a bit of a gamble, but it's the best decision we can make with what we have. Camping close to the border also eliminates friction that could potentially hold us up [music] and cause us to miss the military convoy in the

58:12 morning. And with the political unrest affecting our next phase of the trip, we will be entering deeper into the unknown. So, we need to sleep with one eye open for just a little longer. But that story will happen in episode 9. And that's where we're going to leave this one [music] in a place that needs

58:33 to be continued.

59:20 Cocon. [music] [music]