Organizing tours through the Sahara - Possible?

[qwer1234]

Hi all,
I am thinking to set up a travel agency for tours of the Sahara in the future (for example: Starting in Tanger, driving through the moroccan Atlas, then down the Atlantic Route to Mauritania, with a trip to, for example, Chinguetti or Ouadane) and then to Mali and, maybe, Senegal or Niger...
I will be driving a 4WD and a group following me.
Of course, first I have to make some trips to the area in order to know it well.

The problem:
I phoned the moroccan tourist office in Madrid and they said me that I needed to hire a recieving moroccan tour company in Morocco, if a company was operating in Morocco. Maybe for Mauritania, Mali, Senegal... is the same.
Do you know how tour leaders manage to get around it, as there are several different countries? With cadeux? And what do they do at the borders? I can't lead it without being registered, as I have to give some guarantee to my clients.

[Yves]

Hi,
>Do you know how tour leaders manage to get around it,

find a partner agency in every country you wish to pass and hire the services of one of their guides. You will have to raise tour prices slightly but in reward you do a fair business in some of the poorest countries of the world (except Morocco).
In case of trouble the local guide will be of great help.

[qwer1234]

Thank you.

"find a partner agency in every country you wish to pass and hire the services of one of their guides. You will have to raise tour prices slightly but in reward you do a fair business in some of the poorest countries of the world (except Morocco).
In case of trouble the local guide will be of great help."

Well, but the main problem is Morocco, as you have to pass through there yes or yes.
I understand that if you are in trouble a local guide may be helpful, but he may be also unhelpful, if he is like a "friend" from Marrakech or Tanger.

There is also the problem about the laging bureaucracy, which can be a nightmare if you get through many countries.

[Yves]

Hi qwer1234,

I don't understand the problem may be. I did business with Algeria and friends in Morocco.
You make your plan, you find a serious tour operator in Morokko and fix your arrangement with him. It might be favorable to visit the country beforhand and establish personal contacts.
Then you arrive in Morocco - and relax.
Don't try the top down bureaucratic way, it will fail.

[qwer1234]

Well, but if you have to have a partner in Morocco, Mauritania, Mali, Senegal, the Gambia and lets say, Guinea Conakry, it will become very expensive (and also difficult to coordinate).

BTW, I know a friend who guides tours through Morocco (he takes the people in his own campvan), but he is not registered.

The only think that I am really afraid is that somebody may use my
car/minibus to pass drugs from Morocco into Spain.

[Yves]

Hi qwer1234,
the only hint I can give now is: do one of the trips by your own first - the procedure will look simpler and streight forward afterwards.

[qwer1234]

Yes, I went last winter to Morocco (also the desert) and it seems that you can do nearly all with a "cadeux"
Maybe sub-saharan Africa is even more "cadeux" going.

[Sam Rutherford]

If you are really that worried, have your tours start in Casablanca. Then your clients fly in directly (which saves them time) and you don't have to worry.

I use local guides, but organised directly with them - I'm not registered as a tour operator in any African country. If asked on trip, we're all friends (which hopefully is the actual case by then anyway!).

Sam.

[qwer1234]

Thank you Sam.

Yes, it seems that saying that we are friend is the best method, but it would be better, if you are a company at home (in order to find/buy clients through a travel agency).

[Sam Rutherford]

I have a UK company, and one of it's registered activities is travel agent, so I'm covered from the European side.

I've just avoided the, presumably endless (and perhaps not entirely necessary) bureaucracy of getting the same registration in the (10+?!) African countries we go to.

Sam.