Lake chad route on a bicycle
 

HEY!

I gonna start my bicycletrip in Marocco and cycle down to Ghana for sure, maybe all the way to cameroon or SA. If I do that I want to avoid Nigeria. Whatabout cycle the lake Chad route? Have anyone ever done this route on a bicycle? It seems that it is quite a few villages on the road so water is not a big problem, or? Many stone-throwing kids? Money-wanted soldiers to bribe? How many days? 7-10?

The Atlantic route is now seald. That is ofcourse boring for a adventures-seeking cyclist, so I thinking of take the route Nouadhibou-Atar, along the railway. I have the same questions about this route.

many thanks/Lars of Sweden

Is it no one who knows?

I have been there on a motorbike but I have no real insight in the limitations of bicycles. To Bol it’s mostly sandy tracks so I guess you have to push a lot, maybe 350km… How far can you push in deep sand in a day? Some of the villages are abandoned so you have to carry water for some days, or at least 150kms.
The people in Chad are not very friendly but it’s mostly sand to Bol so they will not find any stones until then ;-)

Prisons in Chad are bad… You should register in Ndjamena 3 days after entering the country; I guess that could be a problem?

There should be a car or two every day so if everything fails you can still hope for a ride.

Hi,

Nouadhibou-Atar: you can do it easily if you cycle along the railway line, right next to the train tracks. This is done also by 2WD because the terrain is harder.
Of course you'll have to be aware of trains, but in a bicycle that shouldn't be a problem.
There are some villages along the way, but even so you'll have to plan water consumption carefully.

Nice trip,
Cheers,
José

José & Alibaba Thanks!!

José: Do you know how many villages/wells it is along that route? ( nou-atar )

Just another question –*the water possibly found in villages in Mauretania, I suppose, must be cleaned also by brought-with equipment?

and one more –*I read somewhere of quite heavy mine-fields along the border Western Sahara (Morocco) and Mauretania, which would be somewhere not far from the railway. Is this not a problem by that route, or could it actually be?

Regards, Peder

Hi,


You'll be able to buy bottled water in some of the villages.

As for the minefields, just keep south of the railway line, no problems!

Cheers,
José