Visa to Mali at the border

[Terje]

Does anyone have advice on how to get visa to Mali at the borders. We thought we could get the visa in Gambia, which seems not to be the case. Hope to avoid going back up to Dakar.
Terje

[Kevin]

I did it a couple of times between Kidira and Kayes by saying that the embassy was closed and that they said it was possible to get it at the border. I know a lot of poeple who have done it like this too but the last time was well over a year ago.

Officially it is not allowed, everyone I met paid 5,000CFA for a permit to treavel to Bamako. The proper visa is then easily obtainable in Bamako but costs about 18,000CFA.

I know that Mali was talking about making this permanent to encourage tourism, but Im pretty sure it hasnt been made official yet.

On the other hand the police at the border may demand more than 5,000. After all if you calculate the fuel and time costs to return to Dakar to get the official visa they may think it is worth 20,000CFA.

Best of Luck anyway.

[Terje]

We went to the Malian consulate in Banjul and they said that it is now possible to get a visa at the Malian borders and have been so for the last two months. We do not yet know if we have to extend the visa in Bamako.
See more about our travel on www.tarasafari.com
Terje

Originally posted by Kevin:
I did it a couple of times between Kidira and Kayes by saying that the embassy was closed and that they said it was possible to get it at the border. I know a lot of poeple who have done it like this too but the last time was well over a year ago.

Officially it is not allowed, everyone I met paid 5,000CFA for a permit to treavel to Bamako. The proper visa is then easily obtainable in Bamako but costs about 18,000CFA.

I know that Mali was talking about making this permanent to encourage tourism, but Im pretty sure it hasnt been made official yet.

On the other hand the police at the border may demand more than 5,000. After all if you calculate the fuel and time costs to return to Dakar to get the official visa they may think it is worth 20,000CFA.

Best of Luck anyway.