Trans-Africa East or West route?
 

Dear fellow travellers,

My plan is to depart from Belgium and go al the way to South Africa and possibly back. I already read a lot about it (The adventure motorcycling book), so I learned a lot. I just wanted to hear you guys opnions; what's the safest route because I read most of the travel advices of the countries of both routes and that's seems not too invitating. Do you think the east route is still possible with all the terrorism lately in Egypt?

Thanks a lot.
Greetings Max

Hi there is no "safe" in Africa. Political situations can change very quickly. Right now East Coast is not possible because of the Syria conflict but to get all the Visa for the Westcoast is hard too. Specially Angola and Nigeria can become a nightmare and for the riding skills the westcoast is much harder: Adventure experience - motorcycle trip riding across Africa

I'm off on the East Coast route in October. Avoiding Syria by taking a boat from Turkey to Israel. I'm in contact with another Hubber who did the trip early this year and Egypt was fine in his opinion - saw a lot of military checkpoints as he crossed the Sinai and had police escort for some sections south of Cairo.

From what I know there are no more difficulties than usual on either route.
East is easier, especially after Ethiopia - west is more of a challenge with visas.

What terrorism there is in Egypt does not stop (or particularly target) overlanders, as far as I know.

Get stuck in!

I have got as far as Ghana, and to be honest it's been as easy as riding to Scotland (visa's to get through Yorkshire have been harder to come by). My concern now is should I go through Nigeria. My intention is to circumnavigate the continent. While I want to visit as many countries as possible, I don't want to put myself in unnecessary danger. I'm interested to hear form those that have traveled West Africa. My bike is still in Ghana, but I'm back in the UK at the moment.

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!

...

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 beer. 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

Hi!!

How long did it take to get the Angola visa? And what's so hard about getting it? Also were you able to get money from most of the ATMs?

Thanks !

Patrick, thanks that was really helpful.


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