Transafrica - 2013
 

Hi,guys
I am planning to go from northern Spain to Cape Town, taking west route.
It'll go something like Morocco,western Sahara,Mauritania,Senegal, Malí, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Cameroon, Gabon, Congo, DRCongo, Angola, Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, and then route back Swaziland, Mozambique, Malawi, Tanzania, Kenya, Ethiopia, Sudan (Port Sudan- Suakin, boat to Jeddah) Jordan, Israel,ferry to Italy (Salerno),France,Spain.
Starting in mid november 2013,I have four months to the project.
I hope to share with you all the information and experiences, all your advice and opinions will be important, the bike KTM 640 Adventure (2004).
,contact me if you think we can meet/do some part of the road together. .


Esteban

Regards

A bunch of guys are aleady heading down the west coast now. Check out the Africa Anyone thread in this forum. They will be a bit a head of you, but you might be interested. In fact some might be in Spain now actually going south.
Cheers,
CJ.

Ey up. I left home a month ago today to do nearly the exact same route as the one you have. Apart from after DR Congo I'm planning to go up to Kenya and then back down the East coast to Cape Town. I'm in Spain at the moment though, currently trying to sort out this biometric visa that we now need for Senegal. Hopefully it will be sorted soon and then I should reach Morocco in a few weeks. Where about's are you now? I've just been reading border crossings between Mauritania and Senegal and the sound pretty horrific. Would be good to do the Diama one with a buddy. I am travelling on a wee Honda c90 though so I'm quite slow. But if you want to take your time I'd be happy teaming up for a bit.

Liam.

Liam and c90 around the World

[SIZE="<FONT _gt_drjx1h8k8edi="1"><FONT c="656" _gt_drjx1h8k8edi="1" closure_uid_896564520="927">3</FONT></FONT>"][/SIZE]Hi Liam
I also need biometric visa for Senegal , next week I will travel to Madrid (I live in Asturias Northern Spain ) for visas harder to get in the way , in my case . Senegal , Nigeria , Angola and DR Congo .
The border crossing between Mauritania and Senegal is a bit hard, you have two options, the first Diama is a path of about 80 km of mud and sometimes partially flooded , especially now that the rainy season in the west, the second Rosso , sounds pretty bad , want to take your money in any situation ( bribery , fines , documents, even invent new fees ) and try to lose your patience , they will always respond with a " C'est l' Afrique patron" .
In my opinion Diama is more quiet, but in this border , I read the blog of a traveler on a motorcycle, he spent over there in August , 2013 , does not have sufficient infrastructure to read the new biometric visa , had to turn back to Rosso and once there took 6 hours to pass to Senegal .

There is another possibility . - Nouakchott to Kiffa and Kiffa to Kayes ( Mali ) and from there to Bamako .
Anyway, I hope to start my route in four weeks , would be nice to share some stage teaming .
I was traveling in Morocco and Western Sahara sometimes

Cheers
Esteban

I did Kiffa-Kayes in November 2012 during our Transafrica.

It has long parts with deep sand, i don't know how you bikers handle that. For driving with a car it was a lot of fun!

The track is sometimes hard to find, because there are many small ones who vanish - but with an GPS you cant go lost - also when the "track" is NOT correct covered - also not in T4A.

I try to maintain a list of all travelers on the west route from 2012 upwards who have a website or write a Blog - maybe you can pickup some informations there:

Trans-Africa: Gerade Unterwegs...

If you want - add you website using the comment function when you start :-)

Enjoy your time on the roads and tracks - we guys at home will follow your progress envious bier

Surfy

Africa west coast slow movers
 

Myself and another guy, Jonathan, will head for Gibraltar tomorrow to take the ferry across to Tangier. Most of the Africa Anyone?? thread folks are ahead of us, but I will be stopping for some time in Morocco to surf, so you will surely catch up with me.

Hi Esteban.

Yeah, I agree, the Diama border does seem the best out of both of them. I really want to avoid Rosso if at all possible - it seems like it would be complete carnage. I think I will end up reaching Diama maybe late November, so by then the 'road' should be in a more stable condition. It sounds completely stupid though if you can't cross Diama with a biometric visa as then surely it would mean that that border is rendered useless? TIA.

I've been really thinking about going into Mali quite a lot today, I think it would be fun if Senegal isn't an option. I paid for my visa two days ago and haven't heard anything from them yet. Luckily I'm staying with a couchsurfer and the family don't mind me staying whilst I get all this sorted. I do hope to be in Morocco within a few weeks though. I'm giving Africa the best part of a year to do. How long are you planning to do it in?

And thanks for your advice guys, I'll check out those blogs. If anyone wants to get in touch and meet up along the way don't hesitate to get in touch

All the best,

Liam.

@ Esteban & Liam,
I will also be on the way down to West Africa, crossing Morocco in November with my VW van.I'm planning to do Kiffa - Kayes into Mali. It would be nice to meet up somewhere and have a drink, I will try to follow your progress.
Sierra Leone Project - YouTube
Tony

Tony you will have a lot of space, compared to you bike travels!

And it is a good car with much comfort for overlanding bier

Is it your first longterm trip by car?

Surfy

Another for Africa
 

Hi Guys,

I am leaving UK next Monday (21st) heading through France and Spain think I will be in Morocco by mid November, same basic route down, but undecided on way back!. Just read the comments about Senegal biometics required for visa, was planning to get it in Rabat but think I had better do a little better research...
Hope to catch you at some point.
Mike

Keen
 

Gday guys,

Seems like we're sharing a bit in common: I'm also in Northern Spain, keen to get to Africa and on a slow bike!

I kicked off the trip a few months back in the UK on my Royal Enfield and I've since made it slowly down to Spain.

For now, I'm "stuck" in Barcelona for a week and a half (poor me!) but then I'll be looking to head south along the coast and eventually get to Morocco. So mid-November is looking on the money to kick off Africa.

I've only really decided recently (very recently!) that Africa is next on the list as opposed to shipping to South America or braving a European winter. I'm afraid that that's all the thought that's gone into it so far! Lots of ducks to start getting into rows I'm sure, but I figured that I'd get in touch anyway to get the ball rolling.

Cheers,
Spook

Yes the first time on 4 wheels after always traveling with the bike for more than a decade. It will be different and there's a lot that I will have to learn.

So, to all other travelers: mid november; meeting up somewhere in the middle of Morocco? Just pick a place (Essaouira is nice and not too far from Marrakesh for those who want to visit)
It would be a strange mix, a 640 KTM, a c90, a VW van , a tenere and an Enfield.:D

Keen to hook up with you guys at some stage for crossing W. Sahara and Mauritania - I'll be just south of Agadir in Mid-November in Tagzhout village. I'll keep a watch on this thread - anyone feel free to PM me.

Gary

G'day guys,

Quick question: For a trip like this, how many pages would we need for a carnet? Sorry if it's an obvious question, but please indulge the new guy!

I'm not sure if it's like a passport where you can fit a bunch of ins/outs on a page or one per country import/export... 5, 10 or 25?

I tried a web search but no dice, which was surprising!

Thanks,
Spook

I'm actually doing Africa without a Carnet. I know of a few people and they got round completely fine... paying around $100 in temporary import permits for a round drip of down the West and then up the East. Seems fine... unless your going to Egypt. I think you need it for Egypt.

When I was looking in to getting a Carnet the RAC wanted £1500 off me for my little moped which cost me £450. I did some research, saw it was fine to do all of Africa without one, apart from Egypt and thought 'do I really want to go to Egypt that much?' So I changed my route.

Would be a different story for a car/4x4. But if you want to get one you would need a 25 page Carnet.

Check out he thread of people who went without one.

Cheers.

http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...0-tenere-64769