Along the coast to Ghana, I drive a Land Rover. There are a few posts touching one country or the other, some are old though. Has anyone done this recently? I have been talking to a few people here in Bissau with knowledge, it seems this may be the slot in time to do it, before it is getting finally better or worse again. Route? Gosh! Entering SL at Pamela, Waterloo, Freetown, beaches south of Freetown, but then ...? Which border to Liberia, southwestern or northeastern? Do we have to/want to avoid Monrovia altogether? Exit to CI via Harper, the coast SanPiedro, Sassandra, Abidjan, to Ghana. All should be tranquille, avoid driving at night. One last: Rainy season is about to start? But from what month onwards will road conditions become really difficult?
Thanks for contributions, Manfred, in Bissau

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Manfred
www.thisfabtrek.com

I've done part of it using public transport. I have a friend who's done the whole route using public transport so I'll give my two cents worth.

SL - Via Forecariah in Guinea if you want to go via SL (visas are expensive!)

Along the coast to Liberia and down to Monrovia. But from there it gets tricky. The road down the coast to Harper doesn't really 'exist' it's a track and very sandy. The Liberians are apparently very 'backward' their English is primary school level and apparently most are used to the war so they are a little 'tight' ...

The other idea is to go from Kissoudougou in Guinea down to Voingama in Liberia, head south then east to Man in CI, this road is apparently a lot better; there's also more traffic. CI is relatively quiet although the Man border is still up for 'big' bribes. The 'zone' region that Man fell into during the war is 'OK' with a few rebels out there but generally quiet.

To give you an idea; Sassandra to Abidjan should take 5hrs on 'so-so' roads. Abidjan up to Noe (border) will take 3hrs maximum the road in January was good but between Samo and Noe there were 5 road blocks. You won't drive ANYWHERE after 12am due to police barrages, the barrage towards Grand Bassam has relaxed it's curfew to 12am recently where it used to be 10pm till 6am.

E-mail me if you need further info!

Kira