Claudio Mandrini, Paolo Stopping Alberto Zanada, and I left Italy on November 28 for Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso). From here we traveled almost entirely on dirt routes 380km to Daari, where we stayed at the campground run by Salvador Campillo and his wife, situated next to the Hand of Fatima. We climbed several established lines on the Hand, which provides a variety of routes. Then, after a couple of days scouting for a new rock wall, we discovered the northeast face of Mata, which was 40km from camp. It took us three days, December 4-6, to complete our route, which we named Akuna Mata- ta (320m, 7b). The route is bolted, but a good selection of cams and micro-Friends is essential. We were pleased with the rock throughout, and the quality of climbing. It’s an elegant line with a high degree of exposure; we couldn’t have asked for anything more.

Alberto Zucchetti, Italy