i really don't know anything about west africa, never having been there. my trip was from cairo to capetown down the east side. have a trawl through the 'sahara' and the 'sub-sahara' forums. many of your questions have been covered in some way or another.
a cdp however would make a few things easier (except in egypt, where nothing is easy, no matter that paperwork you have/don't have  ) luckily for you, you're not heading there.
my personal piece of advice is to go to south america, where, once you're in, you need very few stupid pieces of paper. but i'm biased
good luck,
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