5 Countries- 1Day!!

EA illegally in Mali. . .  ;))Whoohoo

On the 1May we had our flight out of Senegal to Niger. We had a transit flight into Mali and arrived late the evening thinking we'd just sleep in the waiting area and then get on our flight early the next morning. . .not so in Mali. Some of our team members passports were confiscated because we don't have visas and then we were told we couldn't be inside the airport because we don't have our passports. So there we were just outside the airport door, not allowed inside but not allowed to go out of the gate either. . .and true to our African roots we decided to make the best of our illegalism and pitch our tents right there in front of the Mali airport's entrance. At first the security was sort of unsure what to do and just stood watching us, then they decided that we couldn't pitch our tents on the right side of the door, we asked about the left side and they agreed, so we got all our stuff together and moved to the other side of the walkway and started pitching up again- just to be stopped-again. Apparently they had realized that whether we were on the left or right, we were still in front of the door. . .so we got moved 5m away, next to the designated area for the mosque. . .fitting don't you think? And that's where we stayed for the evening- not sleeping because of the searing heat, (it was 41 degrees at night!) but sitting in front of the airport next to the mosque with our tents, eating cookies and water for dinner, singing our hearts out with the guitar.

                First on the right. . .                                                            Then on the left

Thankfully, the next morning we received our passports without hassle and were able to get to our flight on time. And then we boldly did what no team has done before- we were in 5 countries in one day!!! From Mali we went to  Cote d'Ivoire, Burkina Faso,Togo, Benin, and then finally Niger. It truly was an awesome trip! Great aeroplane food  

         , lots of interesting airport personnel( Lord bless them), loads of fun and funny moments

    fantastic scenery from the aeroplane windows

                                             & nbsp;                                  

                                                                          , amazing airport perfume testers(even Hendriks joined us) to help you freshen up, new and interesting acquaintances  and. . . . we were illegally in a country without passports or visas!!!

We can't wait to see what happens next. . .!

Lots of love

EA