Mauritania Visa and Carnet
 

Hi all,

I am a bit confused on this one. I have been in touch with the Maurtanian Embassy in London and A Visa Company. There are six of us going in January 2006 through Mauritania. We will then return in late March 2006 after being in Gambia working at a school.

Anyway the Maurtianian Embassy in London want to charge us £42 sterling each for a Visa and it will run out before we return so would have to get another Visa in Gambia or Senegal.

I have noticed it appears cheaper to get a Visa in Casablanca (about £20 each) and could we then use it to return in late March if it is a three month Visa.

Also the Visa Company were saying that I needed a Carnet now for Mauritania - is this true?

I have managed to get my Land Rover Insurance to cover me for Morocco, Mauritania, Senegal and Gambia. So I hope I wont have to get insurance as well in Senegal or Mauritania.

Yours

Andrew

1) It is possible to get a Mauri visum in Casablanca, however i don't know at what price.
There's said to be a waiting time of 1 to 2 days.
2) Every official agency will always encourage you to take a carnet. Anyway, you don't need it. (use the search function in this forum, and read the other posts)
3) Nice you worked out an arangement for your vehicle insurance, but don't rely to much on it. They might force you to buy a local one at the border. But it's worth a try!

Many thanks for your reply,

I had worked out that a Carnet would have been about £650 for just the insurance option and that seemed a lot of money. Even if I needed to pay a fee for entering a country then I don't think it would total that much.

I am concerned about Senegal and a Carnet as we want to go to Kaffrine and Koungheul and then enter Gambia via Georgetown and cross the river at that point. Not going via Banjul.

Yours

Andrew

P.S. I just got the new Lonely Planet Map of Morocco and it is superb.

You can get your visa in Casablanca on the same day. If I remember correctly you need to be there before noon. It's much cheaper but can't remember the price right now. Not sure if you now need a carnet for Mauritania. There were some changes over the New Year that made it mode difficult to sell car/bikes there... but I don't think you need a carnet.

[This message has been edited by scoobie (edited 23 May 2005).]

no .. you DONT need a carnet neither for Mauritania .

and you CAN get visa at the border for 50 Euros, with all the convenience of that .Just pop at the border , knock at the door , shellout the 60 Euros and get the Visa and the PassAvant in real-time.

TIP:

If for any reason you wouldnt like your car to be inspected / searched (and carriying lots of alcohol/beer would be a good one) .. then arrive at the border at dusk/night . They -litterally- don't have lamps/flashlights/lanterns and most of the time are too lazy to check your car at all.


Good Luck

Don't beleive that your car won't be searched just because you arrive late in the day!
We arrived about an hour before closing and a twit in another car was a bit cheeky to the border guards and we spend 22 hours waiting to get through. EVERY car was searched thoroughly.

NEVER, EVER chirp an imigartion official - they have all the time in the world and the thing YOU need the most - the stamp.

If you behave courteously (but don't kowtow) and don't give the impression that you are in a hurry, you will get through borders without hassles.

We bought some backdoor beers in Mautitania after going through the desert. $4 a can (330ml) - worth every cent.

I met one of the beer runners; a french guy in a transit. His bed loaded with Kronemburgs at 33 cents a tin. (For which he finds buyers at 4euros a tin) potentially lucrative!
All it needed was a big smile and an armful of not too old clothes...
I got the impression camper conversions get through customs without soliciting as much interest as 4x4s.
Mr douane didn't even come out of his hut for our 4x4 Iveco.