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i left yaounde after saying goodbye to muggie. i really hope that we will meet again somwhere in southern africa. we had a great time together!
the first 150 kilometers were really easy driving on a perfect tarmac, it wasn't raining and there was really no reason to be worried about anything. still i had a strange feeling in my stomach. the reputation of congo, dr. congo (zaire) and angola are certainly not very reassuring and driving through central africa during the rainy season might prove difficult on a motorbike.
after bertoua the tarmac ended and a beautiful piste led into dense vegetation. just about the same time the sun broke through the clouds and with the resulting beautiful light a feeling of happiness came over me. i was on the road again! i calculated that i should make it to yokaduma around sunset. there i wanted to meet ollie and corina who had left yaounde yesterday.
while i was driving i saw something that was lying on the road wich looked like a black stick. when i was already too close to break i realized that i was in fact a snake and, just as i drove by, the cobra took up an attack position, rising up its head and blowing up its neck. for the next couple of minutes i was driving in shock. i do wear strong boots and it would have been nearly impossible for the snake to do me any harm. but still, it was the first time in my life that i faced a cobra...
i passed a smalltown called batouri and, feeling a bit tired, considered spending the night here. but when i looked at the map i saw that i was only 100 km away from yokaduma and decided meet the germans at sunset. so i drove on. only much later i realized that i had done some wrong calculations and that the distance to yokaduma was in fact 200 km. the sun was already quite low and dark clouds were hanging heavily in the southern sky. the eventual sound of thunder didn't help to reassure me.
a slight drizzle started towards sunset and i stoped to put on my rainsuit. "just another 60 km" i thought, "no problems. i can do it!" and i drove on. then the rain really started and within a few minutes it was dark. i could hardly see the road and i began to worry how i was going to make it. the road became more and more slippery and at the point where both wheels started to slide on invisible mudpatches i started to get scared. it was pitchblack and i could only just feel the conditions of the road, which were getting worse by the minute. in a small village on the side of the road i nearly decided to stop and spend the night. but then i saw that i was only 30 km from my destination and i continued. i regretted my desicion very soon after nearly falling off the bike. i realized that i was completely exhausted and that i might not even have had the strenght to lift my bike in case of falling. i was really getting scared!
in the next village i stopped. "i'm going to stay here, finish and over!" i thought. then, just when i wanted to ask the locals where i could put up my tent, a car approached from the back and stoped right next to me. it was ollie and corina! they had decided to take it easy and spend the night in a village on the way. they were just about to start cooking when i drove by. "we couldn't believe our eyes," ollie told me later "that guy must be absolutely crazy, we said and followed you!". they were right, i had gone too far, i will never take such a risk again!
the people of the village were really nice and even gave me a room in a half finished building where i collapsed into deep sleep after only half a sandwich and a cup of tea.