Hi Davey,

I did the West coast of Africa not long ago and found it easy too. I have to admit that I speak french, english, spanish and some portugese. I went there to have some action and returned on my appetite. I showed my original documents every time and was hoping that at least somebody would ask for some money at some point if I wanted my documents back but nothing. Beside the visa for Angola, my main problem in Africa was finding ATMs that would work with my cards and an ATM that stole me 500$. Ok, i met 2 thieves in Botswana: they got in a 4x4 that I rented because I forgot to close a window. They took my bread and my muffins and went back to their tree branch to eat the food in my face. Really bad Monkeys!

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Regarding Nigeria, if you stick to the main roads, the probability to get into trouble is very low. But if you take side roads, the risk goes higher quickly. Some friends went offroad and three guys on a motorcycle with a gun and knife tried to stop them. They got out of the situation ok.

If you take the road from Benin to Lagos directly, be prepared for a ton of check points. I took a road futher north, very easy crossing, no need for a Tip for the bike.

I was very well received in Nigeria. Got free food and . One night, i forgot my nice headlamp in restaurant. The next day I went back and they asked me how I took so long to come pick it up. Very nice people.

Everyone has different level of tolerance to risk and I respect that. If for any reason you are not comfortable crossing Nigeria on your own you may team up with another traveler or you may want to contact bikers in Nigeria. Many have sports bike. They can cross the crountry in no time. A starting point would be to go to the facebook page We.ABC It is the page for the annual biker's meeting in West Africa. They change country every year. They were in Togo in 2017. I missed them by a day because I had to leave Togo since my 3 months visa d'entente was expiring the same day as I entered in Benin.

Have fun,
Patrick