Flat tire

This certainly a week of 1st's for me!

First 1st was driving cross border from Burkina Faso to Niger - a distance of some 360 odd km covered in 6hrs including stops for breakfast, border controls and toll gates.

1st number two was changing a flat tire in Niger - I've changed punctured tires before, just never did it in Niger till yesterday

Number three was a ride in a pirogue along the Niger River... paddle by a boatman who promised me hippos.

Returned home this afternoon, feeling rather pleased with myself and the fact that the car survived the trip too. That I drove there and back again, navigated the streets of a new city and managed not to get copped (well I did, twice but talked my way out of it)

And best of all two photographs I've been wanting to take for quite sometime - a Baobab tree at dawn and the border between Niger and Burkina Faso.

The two countries maintain their respective cross points about 10km apart, each one well withing the borders of their country. Perhaps its got to do with advance warning if an army invades I don't know.

Towards the center though are two boards, one welcoming you to Niger and the other to Burkina - and yet they are far apart.

The real point as far as I am concerned is the road. The two surfaces are discernible to the eye! www.flickr.com/photos/sigmadelta/3065879217/

Take a look, to the right is Burkina and the left is Niger