Starting on my West African adventures

[mhoey]

Hi to all your great adventures out there...

I am about to finish my European leg, and head of for Africa.

I'm entering via Morocco, taking the west coast down to Gambia, Senegal

Anybody have information about the situations down there. The Danish ministry of foreign affairs tells me that if I go, I will come home without my head. For them Africa is a no go zone! It can't be that one should stay home and barricade the door!

Anybody travelled from Moroccco, taking the west coast down recently.

If someone has a route I would appreciate it...

I heard about a campsite in Mauritania at Atar, someone have the coordinates?

Any "No go zones" I should know about?

All documents are in house, carnet, vaccinatio etc...

Thanks for your help guys...

mhoey
Around the World Journey | mhoey

[dave ett]

Have you read this site:

Morocco and NW Africa - ::. UKGSer.com .::

[edteamslr]

If you would like some info on this route see..http://brighton2capetown.googlepages.comThere is a GPS page with some of the more useful waypoints you might want to know.Enjoy. The best thing I ever did..Ed

[Mike the Bike]

If you need help in Dakar let me know. You are also welcome to drop by my yard in Lagos and rest up. If you need engineering en-route, I recommend MJM in Oluyole Industrial Estate, Ibadan. The owner, George Haddad, used to fettle Syrian SAM ground equipment and has a fully equipped workshop. Rebore, gear cutting, welding etc. Let me know where to send you the contact details. In Africa, just smile a lot and ask about their families. Remember their threats are not personal, you just happen to be a passing opportunity to make some money. Mike.

[markharf]

Originally Posted by Mike the Bike

In Africa, just smile a lot and ask about their families. Remember their threats are not personal, you just happen to be a passing opportunity to make some money.

This is the best advice I've seen for travel in Africa in a long, long time (it works well in other places, too, although not so in North America).

Mark

[Mike the Bike]

Hi Mark,

The smile/family question seems to work OK in South America as they are very family oriented. Best to assess if they are drunk/doped first tho. I range from Georgetown to Buenos Aires from time to time and it seems to work as well as in Africa. I defer to your better knowledge of the North American psyche tho. The only time I used it there was when pulled over by a state trooper - he guessed straight away that I was a dumb Brit, so I told him to put his revolver away if he wanted to talk to me. He laughed at that.

Ride Safe.

[craigwake]

Hi

I came back from a 10 week tour of west africa on my F800GS in mid june.

I had no real issues and visited

Moroc, Mauritania, Mali, Burkina, Cote D'ivoire, Sierra Leone, both the Guinea's, Senegal, Gambia.

THe only 'issues' i had was at the border crossing into mauritanie from senegal on the way.

I do know that you will need to get your visa for mauritanie in rabat as they are not giving them out at the moroc exit any longer. Also, the visa for mauritanie on the way north you will get in Dakar as the same applies.

PM with me if you need any more info im happy to help and can give you some tips and contacts.

Craig

[Mike the Bike]

Craig,

A brilliant little cafe just east of Bobo Diolasso on the Ouaga road is the "Zoon Die" They cook fresh chicken to order and fridge the drinks. Not too far from the Dogon's, if you ever go there. The sugar cane grown in west Burkina feeds the Bobo distillery [in a muslim country !]. Their rum is just so smooth, as good as Guyanan. However, I mainly drink bitter lemon in Africa, as the quinine content builds up in the skin and puts the mozzies off.

Burkina is such a lovely place.

Mike.

[mhoey]

Hi guys

I finally get the time to read the post, been busy in Palma del Rio, Spain.

Thanks for all the ideas and advices you have given me. These days I'm staying at my girlsfriends place, during some things on the bike. Still awaiting for a new spare clutch from UK, long story.

I will leave for Gibraltar in the end of August, so I have plenty of time to fine tune the last things, while enjoying life here with my new Spanish family...

Look forward to see you out there...

All the best

Mick

[steve.lorimer]

We've just done the whole west coast of Africa (currently on the east coast, coming back up... sitting on the shores of Lake Malawi writing this!)

The west coast route, from Morocco to Benin, is a breeze. From Nigeria to Angola things can be a little tricky, and Namibia and South Africa are dead easy again.

For your route, in my experience you won't have any problems at all. Many people will attempt to extory money from you, but just be friendly, never loose your cool, and when they ask you for something, just say sorry, you don't have anything for them.

The only place you can definitely expect problems is the Mauritania/Senegal border. There are 2 possibilities, Rosso and Diama. Take Diama, it has far less hassle than Rosso, but that's relative! You will have to pay a fee to cross the bridge, a fee to have your passport stamped, a fee to have your carnet stamped etc... all of these are blatant extortion, but after 4 hours of discussions and attempts not to pay, we saw we were getting nowhere, and coughed up.

Good luck, hope this helps!
Steve
www.overafrica.org