Solo trip. NYC-Casablanca-Dakhla, Western Sahara; then by land to Nouakchott (via Nouadhibou-Choum train and Adrar region); flight to Bamako; then overland through Mali to Burkina Faso (via Djenne, Mopti, Timbuktu); Burkina Faso to Niger (via Ouagadougou, Bani, Gorom Gorom and Dori); through Niger to Kano, Nigeria (via Tera, Niamey, Agadez and Zinder); flights to and stays in Lagos, Nigeria; Monrovia, Liberia; Freetown, Sierra Leone (and the peninsula); and Conakry, Guinea; overland to Guinea-Bissau (via Labe and Koundara); through Bissau and Ziguinchor, Senegal to Gambia; then Dakar, St. Louis and parts of Cape Verde. Great people, unfamiliar terrain and culture, and plenty to write home about.