The night was rough for me. The two mattresses on top of each other that were supposed to be my bed, turned both out to be completely worn out. You lay on them and within minutes you sank to the bottom and were engulfed in mattress. The worst mattress I have ever slept on. After about an hour I decided it would be better to sleep on the tiled floor than on this foam of horror. I folded the blanked double on the floor next to the mattresses and put my pillow at its head. With the mosquito net above me, I finally had a stable although somewhat hard bed for the night. To my surprise I slept, considering the circumstances, reasonably well, until I got woken up by the workers who started at the first rays of sun at 6 a.m. to my dismay.
Alex slept a bit better, he told me later.

After a quick cold bucket shower, some breakfast at the car, although I wasn’t that hungry after the good dinner from last night was still filling my stomach. I also put the kettle on to make some coffee. Before I had even finished my coffee, the guide came and said “Let’s go!”. It was shortly after eight o’clock, that we set out. Alex in shorts and with the most inappropriate shoes, for which he had already been warned about by the guide, the guide in rubber boots and long trousers and rucksack and me with longs sleeves, long trousers and hiking boots as well as a drinking flask of water, that would come in handy later on.
We marched down the path leading to the border post with Liberia just a few kilometres away and then turned into the thick bush. The guide in front cutting away branches with a good pair of garden scissors and us following him. Alex soon slowed down as the ground became more and more slippery, due to last night’s rain, and his shoes were, of course, not really suitable for this kind of track. We stood still a couple of times to listen and the guide was in frequent mobile phone contact with his colleague who had been scouting the chimpanzees since the early hours.
We went deeper and deeper into the Bossou forest, climbing a pretty steep hill. We had difficulty remaining on our feet and not slipping back down. Alex was struggling hard and crawling up on all four, pulling himself up on lianes and young trees.

At a certain point, we stood still again to listen and take our bearing where they could be. Alex had the misfortune to step into a red ants nest and was immediately attacked by these beasts. Jumping about like touching hot coals in the middle of the jungle was quite a funny sight. Soon we walked on, just to find ourselves at a spot where the guide told us to sit down and wait. They had an idea where they could be, but it was a bit difficult to locate them exactly. Yesterday’s evening rain makes them lazy in the morning and then it is very hard to locate them if they don’t move and just snooze somewhere high up in the canopy.

By telephone we received the sign to get going again as they seem to have found. We had only been walking for about an hour but we looked like we had done a whole cross country run, dirty and sweaty!
Soon after, we heard them calling in the canopy not far from us. The guide cut a new way for us through the thick bush and we followed into unknown territory, stumbling across various roots and small bushes, we made our way to the location, where we had heard the chimpanzees. Soon we met the second guide who had been tracking the chimps since the early hours.

And there they were. Two of the four Bossou chimpanzees. Difficult to see at first, high up in the canopy, making their way with a certain grace across the many branches. One, the male one, lay down in a branch fork for a chilly moment. We tried to snap as many pictures of them as we could. No idea what happened next. As they moved we moved with them to catch a glimpse of them. All of a sudden, all kinds of items, leaves, broken branches, etc from the male chimp came rustling down to the forest floor where we were. Whether they got launched deliberately by the chimp or not, Alex looked up while taking pictures and videos, and something hit him straight in the face. It must have been something like a rotten piece of wood that disintegrated upon impact on his face. Nevertheless, his eyes immediately started hurting and he asked for water. I have him my water bottle, that came in handy now, and he could rinse his face and especially his eyes. After a few minutes, he was better, although his face was still blackish. We tried to snap a few more good pictures of them, but it was difficult, as they were high up and we had lots of other branches and leaves between us. Then suddenly they moved on.

Descending from their high position to the ground. We followed in pursuit, but had to cut through a small valley with a boggy middle. We were slipping and sliding all over the place. Our feet couldn’t find much hard ground to step on. The guides advanced and crawled up the banks on the other side.
Then, we had found them again. Now they were lying on the forest floor almost next to each other, chilling. We got closer and the guides started to cut away small branches and leaves for a better view. We got incredible footage. These two adult chimpanzees were maybe 3 meters away from us chilling on the ground. You could smell them and see every detail of their hands, feet and face. The about 20 year old male was lying closest to us. Once in a while he moved his head slightly and stared at us. Absolutely fantastic! There was no fear or uncertainty in the air. Just calmness. We stood there many minutes, watching them and taking photos and videos. What a privilege to watch these magnificent creatures in the wild so close! An absolute highlight of this expedition and worth every meter we struggled to get there.

Euphoric, we retreated. The walk back to camp was much easier as we could use a path that divides the plantations (palm and coffee) from the nature reserve. We walked through the village and got a glimpse of daily life in Bossou.
Back at the institute, we took off our filthy and completely sweat-soaked clothes, had a quick wash to not smell too bad, when we get to border later. We paid the guides and said our farewells.
The drive back to the main road and then to the border was marked by us recapitulating our experience just now.

The various border stations were in different villages along the route. The road went from well maintained, nice and wide between the villages, to a dirt path inside the villages, with deep washed out ruts where all vehicles (buses, trucks and cars) that wished to cross the border had to manoeuvre through. Why, no one knows.
Miscommunication between the Guinean customs officers caused me sitting in their office for a while for nothing. The emigration police, in the middle of nowhere, stamped us out of the country. We were lucky. It was Friday prayer time and the chef de poste swiftly signed off on our exit stamps before disappearing on a motorbike for prayers and lunch. We could have sat there and waited for his return a long time!
In the next village, exactly at the border, the gendarmerie recorded us and the vehicle leaving the country in big books again. Everywhere a bit of small talk, usually about Alex nationality, being white and yet an African.
The final Guinean rope across the road dropped and we crossed the river, that separates the two countries.

On the Ivorian side, we were received very friendly. First a check and record of our yellow fever vaccination, fortunately they processed us in between the touring car full of people who all had to go through the same procedure.
Then the immigration police. Here came the tricky part for me. My Ivorian visa had expired before I left the country in October and with an invitation letter from the government I presented myself to the officers today. They were very friendly and processed our passports quickly and without problems. With the chef de poste, we had a chat about his education, work and where he came from as well as football, the number one Ivorian sport and the upcoming African championship in Côte d’Ivoire.

After a short visit to customs, we were back in the country where I started from nine weeks ago. Easy and efficient. As we drove closer to Danané, the next town, the clouds became darker and we had our first real rain of the expedition while driving. Quickly wound up our windows, with the result that our windscreen started to fog up. Unfortunately, still no air conditioning in Eeyore. We arrived in Man, where we filled up Eeyore with a lot of much cheaper Diesel.

At the hotel for the night, we treated ourselves to a climatised room for 2,000 cfa (~3€) more. When Alex saw the room, although small and simple, he ecstatically shouted that it feels like staying at the Hilton! Hot and cold running water, a functional toilet, 24/7 electricity and everything clean. All this for less than we paid in the neighbouring country. Pure luxury, you learn to cherish when travelling, especially through Guinea.
We thoroughly enjoyed our warm shower and got ready for dinner just outside the gate from our hotel. A local maquis with good freshly prepared food that was not expensive.
Tomorrow, the final leg of this incredible expedition! The last 580 or so kilometres home!