Book Reviews

This is the story of an amazingly courageous woman who traveled from Europe to Zimbabwe on her own, and what a story it is!This book reall...
Alice
Dot Bekker…my favourite person. I feel like I know but I don’t. I’ve read your book describing your amazing journey about going home to Zimbabwe...
Adele
What an amazing read,what a brave woman!!!I just cant put the book down, shes such a good writer ❤️ (Facebook)
Thoko
This book was an answered prayer, a daily entertainment and a true inspiration. I feel like I know Dot personally after reading this book....
Michelle
I found “Going Home to Africa” a gripping, authentic, informative and humorous book! Gripping…in the countless unpredictable travel/r...
Gerald
From the first chapter I was hooked and followed Dot's adventures down the coast of West Africa with awe. I bought the book because I too am con...
Jordan
Dot took me on the journey of a lifetime. I witnessed the challenges, frustrations, joys and overwhelming beauty of Africa from the comfort of m...
Wendy
I had the pleasure of meeting Dot when she was living in Solsona and have followed her adventures on Going Home to Africa on IG. I have been so ...
Ruth
This is a brilliant story of a lovely lady driving solo from Northern Africa through many countries to go home to Zimbabwe. This touches my hear...
Dallas
Going home to Africa is an honest, humble and uplifting account of an incredible adventure and Dot’s fighting spirit and firm belief in the univ...
Fiona
Absolutely Compelling I could not put this book down and I am not an avid reader, getting bored quickly. I loved every moment of her jou...
Antoinette
FANTASTIC BOOK! I LOVED every page of this book and didn't want it to end. I have read many travelogues and this was by far my favourite...
Kevin
My first impression was just: Wow! Hats off! What an impressive book... I can already now say that it is, along with Doris Kearns Goodwin's Pulitze...
Susanne
Dot is one of the most amazing "road" friends we made while overlanding through Africa, and whatever we were doing she brought a tremendous sense o...
Laurie
I absolutely love travelling so this story really spoke to me. Having followed Dot in real time on her epic journey, I’m now absolutely loving the ...
Catherine
I think the fact that you share ALL of your experiences, good and bad, and do NOT leave out the huge challenges and obstacles you had to face on a ...
Susanne
I’ve just been spending the whole evening with your book. I feel so fascinated by your story and I love the way you’re describing both breathtaking...
Alexandra
Absolutely loved it. Very inspiring and Dot I would love to meet you one day when I visit Zimbabwe again. Thank you for sharing this amazing story....
Justyna
I have just finished reading Going Home to Africa and I really enjoyed it. I enjoyed it more as the journey went on... Her experiences become more ...
Nicola

Going Home to Africa

One Woman's quest to return home, driving from Europe to Zimbabwe.

The Good and the Bad

IMG_20190425_114330 The Plateau, Nigeria

I’m regularly asked which country was the worst, the best, the most beautiful, the most friendly, etc. I’m not a person who does best, bestest, I believe that everything has good and bad, but as people are curious here is a headline of my thoughts, notably these are my opinions based on what I saw and experienced …

First to clarify that the countries I drove through were, in order of travel, Morocco, Mauritania, Senegal, The Gambia, Guinea (Conakry), Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Cameroon, Gabon, Republic of Congo, Cabinda (Angola), Democratic Republic of Congo, Angola, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe.

Culturally interesting – based on what I experienced, certainly not an exclusive list … Morocco is a must for culture where, unlike sub-Saharan Africa, they have retained much of their culture, traditions and crafts. In Nigeria I visited the Benin Kingdom and in Cameroon the Bamoun Kingdom and these gave an insight into great history of the continent. I firmly believe that revitalising the pre-colonial history of Africa would be of immense benefit and interest.

Poverty – notably the poorest country was Mauritania, with no agriculture to speak of it looked like a hard place to live. Guinea and The Gambia were the next countries that I felt belonged in this category.

Landscape – The Atlas Mountains was an exciting visit for me, never, when I was sitting learning about them in geography in high school did I imagine that I would one day actually see them. Guinea had stunning mountains in the East and the rain forest intensified, the mangroves of The Gambia was entirely new to me, the Plateau in Nigeria en route to Cameroon was one of the most pristine landscapes I have ever seen, the rain forests of Gabon were incredible to see.

People – top of my list are the Nigerians, most people think I’m joking but they were friendly, helpful, humourous, generous and kind, I loved my time there. I also very much enjoyed the people of Guinea who were always very excited to hear I was from Zimbabwe there seemed to have been some link with Mugabe and most weren’t aware that he had been ousted. In fairness I enjoyed the people of all the countries, perhaps less so in Senegal, Cameroon and Gabon where the Anglophobia was annoying.

Best infrastructure – regrettably several West African countries were struggling to maintain or improve their infrastructure, a scary thing when one considers that the African population will double in the next 30 years. Almost all countries had issues with maintaining delivery of electricity, enerators were widely used, which is odd as solar would be a much cleaner source in the long term. Namibia had good infrastructure as did the small amount of Botswana that I traversed. Morocco too has to be admired for the improvements it is making.

Roads - are a part of the infrastructure but I gained intimate knowledge of these during my time, of course my view is biased and I can really only comment on the roads that I drove. The worst country was Mauritania, there was only a section entering Nouakchott which I could judge to be in good condition, the rest was mostly shockingly bad diversions on sections of shockingly bad road. The worst section was no-mans-land from Morocco where there was no road just a sand track that ran over rough sections of rock and one couldn’t divert too far from the track or you stood the chance of being blown up in what remained of a landmine field. Guinea and Nigeria probably draw for second worst. In Guinea my view was affected by 2 days on red dirt road which was in the worst condition with deep ruts with every imaginable surface type and condition. The capital Conakry was an introduction to how bad city roads can get if they haven’t been resurfaced for decades. My introduction to Nigeria was on the road from Benin into Lagos where I encountered conditions that are difficult to describe, suffice to say that the dual carriageway was frequently reduced to one lane in each direction (on the same side) as the conditions on the opposite direction were impassable. When I hear people complaining about potholes I am frequently reduced to laughter as I recall the potholes that looked more like pools, with no knowledge of how deep these were only knowing that it wasn’t worth disappearing into, never to be seen again, much like a SciFi movie.

Weather – I would say that on my route Morocco was the only place that the weather was different, traversing from the North where winter was setting in and it was cooler with more rain which became less prevalent as I drove South. In the region of sub-Saharan Africa which lies in the northern hemisphere it was winter (dry season) but practically there was only one climate until I got to Angola and that was hot and humid. Apparently in summer it remains so with the addition of rain. However, when it did rain I found that it considerably cooled things down with the exception of the build up to the rain which made it even more intensely stifling and humid.

There are truly so many observations and stories to tell, I tried to explain more of these in my book, so if you are interested be sure to sign up or buy a copy.

 

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Wednesday, 09 October 2024

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About Dot

Dot is Zimbabwean born and raised and after having lived in Europe for 20 years she decided to return home but uniquely she decided to drive  through Africa to get there.

She achieved her dream by driving 20,000kms through 18 West African countries over 8.5 months on her own for most of the journey.  Her book of the same title will soon be launched,and you can find out more about Dot or subscribe to the Blog for more.

 

Kusasa Scholarship Fund

Alongside my journey I've decided to raise funds for scholarships for girl's education in Zimbabwe, find out more about that here, to contribute to the Scholarship Fund please do so here.