Hi All,
Having ridden Freetown, Monrovia, CDI, Accra in 2014 I'm wondering why they were refused entry. There were border closures during the Ebola crisis but both countries have been declared Ebola free a couple of times now. There is the option of trucking across the border but that won't help you if the reason why they couldn't enter was due to visa problems.

Also slightly off topic, there are major shipping companies who use Freetown Container Terminal which is now managed by Bolloré Logistics. I used to work at the port and can confirm that at least one roll on roll off ship arrives every couple of weeks delivering second hand cars all along the West African coast. Not recommended for the OP unless in a container.

Kenya Airways flys from Freetown to Nairobi via Accra. They may take a bike, but as PanEuropean says it depends on the equipment they use.

This is the first time I have heard of this happening and I lived in SL for 4 years. Unfortunately I left in December of last year so I can't offer more than my opinion at the moment. Please update us when you receive more info and I might be able to recommend something. There is a small bike community there in SL, but most people are expat workers like me and we tend to get contracts in other countries and disappear.

By the way, the easiest place to get a Nigerian visa is Abidjan (if you are a non resident) so I recommend to get across the border somehow rather than fly over CDI. If your buddies have not secured a Nigerian visa yet they may have mega-problems east of CDI. In my experience each embassy told me to get it in the next country which resulted in a dead-end. YMMV.
Cam.

The CI border with Liberia & Guinea is closed & will remain so for a while ...

Cam has beaten me to it with the KQ option, they usually operate it with a 738 so they could have room in the hold although I think they carry some cargo on sectors of this route out of NBO.

Personally I'd go the long way round, stunning route via Guinea, Mali & CI

Not only dependant on what equipment (aircraft) they use, it is also very dependant on whether KQ has fifth freedom rights on the Freetown to Accra sector. My guess is that they probably don't.

Michael

Michael

They do! Airline routes work in mysterious ways across Africa, if the Yamoussoukro Decision actually started working we'd see a lot more flights across the continent with the liberalisation of the skies ...

Hoping to hear back from the OP about their status!!

Any update on the reason they were denied entry?

If these overlanders have problems with COMS, and are back in Freetown, surely they must have access to the internet !

I was planning on heading this route same direction or vice verse.

Also, has anyone been held back to be quarantined ??

'Quaratined'? If you are referring to Ebola I am pretty certain this has got nothing to do with the situation for these particular travellers. See here:

WHO | Liberia and Guinea discharge final Ebola patients in latest flare-up and begin 42 days of heightened surveillance

I also speak from experience as we took a group of 17 across the border back in November 2015 and another group of 14 over the border in March 2016 both times without too much drama.

I was in Sierra Leone a few months back working with humanitarian NGOs. Post -ebola control measures are a bit of an obsession with the SL government at the moment. There have been isolated cases reported in Liberia since the outbreak ended and each time this occurs, the government reacts...and blames Liberia. I suspect the border closures are part of a diplomatic spat between the two.