09-Oct-2007 -- Continued from 13N 6E.

Eventually we found the way through Sokoto and at 7.8 km from the Confluence 13N 5E we turned into the bush well off from the road and set up camp for the night. It was very hot and it only cooled off in the early morning hours. The next morning after breakfast we continued searching for the Confluence. First we found a trek which lead us to a water reservoir where the Fulanis bring their cattle for water. The next tracks we followed were not successful and ended in the middle of nowhere all around 5 km from the Confluence.

We were already convinced that we can not get to this Confluence when we found a promising track leading in the direction of the Confluence. We followed this track and in the vicinity of 5 km from the Confluence the track turned into a different direction, however we continued and found to our surprise a sparsely used track leading us in the direction of the Confluence. We reached a village on a dried out riverbed. The track ended at the entrance of the village and we got directed through the village from the local youth to the river bed. We crossed the riverbed and drove a couple of times up and down but could not find a way to get closer to the Confluence. We decided to park the vehicle next to a tree and walk the remaining 1.3 km.

It was here when Marian was trying to park that he approached this tree and hit a ditch and got to a sudden stop - unfortunate for one of the boys who were hanging onto the back of the vehicle and got his head smashed against the Hi-lift jack which resulted in an nasty cut above the eye, there was blood everywhere. He was running in circles for a while before someone handed him an old dirty rag which he used to wipe the wound and it stopped bleeding. Finally, after this episode we continued and walked the remaining 1.3 km through another village up the river embankment and found eventually the Confluence in middle of a millet field.

It was midday and very hot, the temperature was around 40°C. It was Udo and Marian's first confluence visit. As I mentioned before, it was a long way and it took many attempts, perseverance, and energy for us to finally successfully visit this virgin Confluence. It was the third day we were out in this heat and we were pretty much exhausted. After an extensive rest we headed for Birnin-Kebbi where we spent the night and tried to recover from the heat in an air-conditioned container home and made plans for the next day to visit the confluence 12N 5E.