Cut to Africa is back! From Dakar to The Gambia, advising us to choose the right guide book for travelling, climbing in Africa and many more adventures, he has returned.

His last few days being a nomad had ups and downs, such as the death defying transport they took in Cotonou:

“With huge backpacks on the handlebars in front of the drivers, and each of us clinging onto the back seats, we set off in an unorthodox convoy through back streets, across dual carriageways, through puddles of murky liquid and zooming across very busy junctions with no braking… At one point we cut across one lane of fast moving traffic, jumped up the kerb to the central reservation and hopped down the other side before cutting through another lane to the ’safety’ of the loose-sanded avenues. Terrifying!”

I’ll take your word for it…

The drama didn’t stop there, as Adam and his friends were nearly kidnapped by their floating tour guide in Ganvie:

“We couldn’t believe what was going on. Barney got up to stop the ‘gondolier’ at the back, who was still pushing us further out into the lake when we were asking to return. The ‘guide’ at the front wanted us to pay more and said we couldn’t go back. He eventually backed down after a lot of shouting and we headed off to the stilted village, not feeling particularly happy about the situation!”

But as a man after my own heart, he ended his epic travels lounging by the pool in the ‘poshest hotel in Benin’ before picking up some handmade suits. What a perfect end to an amazing trip.

Welcome home Adam, and welcome back to the grind…