Thanks Bernd, it's always good to know there are alternatives.

I think the problem visa for us will be Cote Divoire. I am hoping to get it in Conakry or Freetown, but it sounds very difficult if you are not a resident of that country. I'm hoping Ouattara will make it easier!

All info as of May 2010:

I got my Sierra Leonian and Ivorian visa in Conakry. The ATM situation was fine, several banks, no problems at all.

Sierra Leone wanted me to buy a laissez-passer for the bike, which I did. At the border (Conakry to Freetown), they wanted to stamp the carnet, even though mine did not cover Sierra Leone. I convinced them to stamp the laissez-passer. In hindsight, I should have just removed the carnet's backcover, where it lists the countries covered, and bluffed my way through customs, like I did from then on. (Note: At the Guinean border, coming from Bamako, this would not have worked. Customs guy checked whether I could use the carnet in Guinea. I could.)

Ivorian visa in Conakry no problem at all. Got a laissez-passer as well. I entered Ivory Coast from N'zékoré to Man, see attached GPS track. Ivorian border crossing up there is a rag tag bunch of thugs (Forces Nouvelles), who had me empty all my bags and made me pay the only bribe I every payed in Africa. They didn't care about the paperwork. In fact, since they were FN, they refused to stamp anything. I got a "Vu à passage" stamp in Douékoué, which was the first town controlled by the Gbagbo central gov't.
Of course, all this might have changed since Ouattara's take over.

The southern route Harper, Liberia to Ivory Coast is different. Bernd S wrote a good post about it in 2010. Just note that on my route in 2010 I was never asked for a Plaque Touristique and the Conakry embassy didn't even know what I meant by that. I got a LP.

Cheers,
Julian

Attached Files

Nzekore to Man.gpx (222.3 KB, 573 views)

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Where is Julian?

Dave, haven't you done the West Coast already in 2010? Back for more?

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Where is Julian?

I travelled in West Africa in 2003, and more extensively in 2007 and 2008. I am LONGING to go back out there! Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Cote Divoire will be new for me so Im doing lots of reserach in anticipation! I am looking very forward to my journey next year (2012).

Inyang said he travelled on the road between Nzerekore and Man last year. He said there were some suspect bridges. We will be driving a 10 tonne truck, so am a little concerned if we can go along this road or not? Were there any bits of this road which would be impassable in a truck?

Thanks you so much for the information, and for the GPS attachment, I sure appreciate it

The road is OK on the Guinean side. Boarder to Danané starts off pretty bad and gets progressively better. With a ten tonne truck... I don't know. With proper ground clearance and some bridge-building on your side... I'm a bad judge of that, I only know bikes.

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Where is Julian?

Dave,

we got the Ivory Coast visa after a bit of begging (again ;-)) within 2 hours in Monrovia.

I am afraid that your biggest problem will be the Ghana visa. According to traveller reports it looks like at the moment they issue just in the country of origin and the embassies follow the guideline. So start early to look for the visa or bring it from home if possible.

I just can recommend taking their requirements for hotel reservation e.g. serious. Expecting a fairly developed and touristy country we did not and where rejected in Monrovia. They are ultra clerks and just used to NGO travellers. The idea of independent tourism didn’t reach their embassy / mind yet.

Regards
Bernd

Ps: Did you find any recent reports / information about travelling through the Ivory Coast at the moment?

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www.afritracks.net

Bernd, We have been told that we can still get the Ghana visa in Bamako if we become resident of Mali (a one day procedure). But we are going to save the hassle and get the visa in London before we leave. We will probably get the Cote Divoire visa before we travel also.

Eljulian, thanks for the information on the road. We have very good clearance on our truck as we have swapped the axles and suspension to raise her up she now sits very high. But it all depends on how bad the bridges are.....do you have any photos of the road?

Thanks so much guys I sure appreciate the information.