Think back on your most memorable road trip?
A road trip round West Africa
Nineteen seventy five
Setting out from Kano
The place I spent two years.
I went by public transport
Things like transit vans
Not exactly scheduled
You have to hang around.
The first lap up to Zinder
A city in Niger
Not sure where to stay there
But had amazing luck
I met a fellow traveller
Who took me to his home.
They treated me so kindly
The neighbours all came round
They all shared their food with me
A thing I can’t forget.
Then across to Niamey Niger’s capital.
From there to Ouagadougou.
Who else has been there?
I mostly stayed with Peace Corps
US volunteers.
A memorable experience
But there was more to come.
Down from Upper Volta
As Burkina Faso was back then
To Ghana and to Tamale
A north Ghanaian town.
From there to Takoradi
Cape Coast and its forts
Beautiful but a history
That’s sadly scandalous.
We slept in former slave forts
Beautiful but sad
And dined on fresh caught lobster
Prepared and served with rice.
Then Togo and Dahomey
On along the coast.
A journey through a rain storm
The wipers would not work.
I’m struggling not to sleep
Daren’t distract the driver
Or we’ll be off the road.
We get back to Nigeria
But the borders are all closed.
It’s goodbye General Gowan
There’d been a military coup.
There’s a blackboard at the border
I’m scared to photograph
‘All Nigerian Officers
Should collect new badges of rank.’
I can’t get back to Kano
My French is not too good
So I head off back to Ghana
Extend my stay back there.
I can eventually go back home
Ibadan, Jos, up North
Six weeks extended travelling
A trip I won’t forget.
Andrew Green's Poems 