Riding a Ghana registered bike to Europe
 

Hi,

Two weeks ago we bought two second-hand Transalps in Ghana, registered with Ghanaian plates. I am driving it back to the UK (hopefully!).
Have made it as far as Dakar with no carnet or laissez-passez. We bought ECOWAS insurance (covers all W.Africa except Morocco) in Accra but only had to show it once or twice in Liberia and Guinnea.

We can highly recommend going through Cote d'Ivoire, Liberia and Guinea- crazy dirt tracks but unbelievable scenery and friendly locals. The road from Mamou to Koundara was testing but incredibly rewarding. You finish up on the new EU highway going into Senegal which is the best feeling in the world.

Can anyone help me with whether I will be able to ride the bike into Morocco and Europe okay? Can I buy insurance on the border with Western Sahara?
Will a Ghana registered bike be allowed into Europe?

My friend is having to fly home and is selling his Transalp in Dakar tomorrow :( So if anyone is heading north through Mauritania it would be great to ride together.

Many thanks,

Alex

A bit late but you should have found out by now that the West Africa insurance does not cover Mauritania. You have to buy insurance at the border. It is tied to the number of days you will spend in Mauritania so specify just enough days to take you across

For Morocco, you will need the European green card insurance, that will also cover in the EU and UK. Lots of links on this site for getting the EU insurance, 3rd party or comprehensive.

You can also buy separate, non-green-card insurance entering Morocco. Sorry I can't help with the European end of things, but I'd sure be interested in hearing how it goes.

Mark

Hi

We made it into Europe with no issues. We never had to buy insurance for Mauritania, Morocco, or even Europe. The Spanish Customs didnt even look at our bike papers. We just waived bits of paper at the Mauritanians and the Moroccans till they got bored and let us through. The online Moroccan Temp. Import form went down well though.

So the bikes may be illegal but they have got us to Ibiza! If they make it back to UK think I will ship them back to Ghana as they will never pass their MOT in the UK!

Peace and Tigers

Alex

Video
 

If anyone is interested , we made a half hour video of our trip dressed as tigers from Ghana to Ibiza. It is available on Vimeo at Tears for Tigers- West Africa on Vimeo

Next year we are planning on doing Nepal to Glastonbury on Royal Enfields if we can get some funding. The money raised is for much need tiger conservation in Nepal.

All the best

Alex

Cheers for the update. My partner and I are planning to ride our Ghana registered bikes back to Ireland at the beginning of next year. My bike is actually still registered in Ireland so I was thinking of just swapping plates once in Europe as this would make paperwork (insurance) etc. easier I would imagine.

Looks like it's a lot more relaxed in Africa than I thought. Will nevertheless try and have the required documents sorted before the trip... At least it's not so much a worry now what happens if certain papers are missing or lost or whatever.

Can't access the video (probably because of poor internet connection). I had heard of you guys through one of the guys we're working with here in Ghana. Very comical, I'd imagine you got some strange reactions rocking up dressed in tiger costumes. Great stuff!! :)