04-May-2008 -- This is the 25^th of a series of 83 confluence visits during our voyage from Nigeria to Europe and back to Nigeria around the entire African continent. It all started on 28 January at 11N 5E.

Story continues from 13N 14W.

It is 8:30 in the morning and we are leaving our camping site near the confluence 13N 14W and are heading towards Kolda. At Kolda we slowly find our way through the city searching for the road towards Soulabali. Eventually we find the road and continue. This road bypasses the Confluence by 6 km.

The first suitable turnoff brought us as close as 3 km to the Confluence. We searched for a path to lead us closer to the Confluence but no such luck. 3 km was the closest we got to the Confluence. The temperature was 43°C and there was no way that we would attempt to walk this distance to the Confluence in this heat.

We returned to the road to Soulabali and tried several times more to get closer to the Confluence, but all tracks ended around 4 km from the Confluence. The locals are busy cutting down the forest and turning it to charcoal. All the tracks we used to get close to the Confluence were only used by trucks to bring out this charcoal. In the years to come when they finally will have succeeded to cut the forest down, it should be easy to get to this Confluence.

Continued at 13N 16W.