An early start today with collection by the handler at 0530Z.
We were out at the aircraft by 0550Z and then had to taxi it to a new parking position for refuelling. Flight planning and aircraft preflighting was then done (in the dark as sunrise was not until 0740Z) as we waited for fuel to arrive. We were promised a bowser but in the end two drums of avgas came instead so it was out with our pump and hose. All this took some time to complete so once all paperwork was complete, we were 45 minutes late being airborne at 0825.
Normally at this time of year, a 15/20 kt headwind is expected for the first long leg to Ouagadougou but luckily for us, a light headwind at the beginning turned into a light tailwind by the end so the forecast journey time was usefully reduced. We were on top of a haze layer above the inversion so could not see much of the ground; what we could see was scrubby trees in the hinterland but a fair number of lakes and rivers.
Phil flew this leg and had to demonstrate his holding ability at the end as the President of Burkina Faso was arriving back from somewhere which delayed our landing for a while. We touched down in a dust haze with a temperature of 30ºC and dew point of -6ºC, so very dry air.
Originally the plan was to stay overnight at Ouagadougou but following the recent troubles there, we decided to press on and overnight at Accra. Formalities and fuel were achieved relatively quickly and we were airborne again within about an hour and 45 minutes. I flew this leg at FL90 and as the sun set, the haze thickened and you felt like you were travelling along in a thick soup. We lost ATC contact for a while but a helpful CAT aircraft relayed for us before a night landing at Accra. What a contrast in humidity: Accra reported 28ºC on landing with a dew point of 24ºC.
We worked out that we have now done about 57% of the outbound mileage to Cape Town.
Dakar to Ouagadougou: 952 nm in 6hr 24 min
Ouagadougou to Accra: 414 nm in 2hr 40 min