In the past six days we had two major brake failures while touring across West Africa. The problem started in Togo. It turned out to be Herbie’s master brake cylinder.

The owners of “Chez Alice” in Lomé, Togo, who are by the way from Switzerland, helped us finding a mechanic. He replaced the seals of the master brake cylinder.

But something went wrong! The mechanic apparently damaged the plug for the brake fluid, when he reassembled the cylinder. We lost all the fluid within a day.

Suddenly, while driving in Onitsha, a bigger town in central Nigeria, the brakes failed a second time. We stopped at a gas station, asking for help and a parking spot.

Thanks to some police men and security officers as well as others, we were able to get hold of a used plug for our leaking master brake cylinder. Back on the road again!

Meanwhile we crossed the border to Cameroon and are resting in a town called Bamenda. The sad news are, we’re still loosing brake fluid. Hopefully we’ll find out why!