One Road One World

Blog

  • Ecowas Brown Card Insurance, West Africa Traffic Insurance

    Ecowas Brown Card Insurance, West Africa Traffic Insurance

    Original name is Assurance Carte Brune Cedeao but  Everybody knows ECOWAS, brown card insurance, which is West Africa traffic insurance.  17 countries accept Ecowas in Western Africa;

    • Benin
    • Burkina Faso
    • Cameroon
    • Congo Brazzaville
    • Gabon
    • Ivory Coast
    • Gambia
    • Ghana
    • Guinea Bissau
    • Guinea Conakry
    • Liberia
    • Mali
    • Niger
    • Nigeria
    • Senegal
    • Sierra Leone
    • Togo

    We get ours brown card motorcycle insurance in Senegal. We passed to Senegal border without Ecowas and get it in St. Lous.  We had 4 months for 17.375 cfa (26 euro).  Our friends paid 15.000 cfa for 3 months. The office is nearby a bank (GPS coordinates 16.026701, -16.505271) in St. Louis.  (The owners of the Zebrabar camping told us where to go).

    Don’t buy this at the border!! Because most of then is fake! When we arrived to Senegal border a lot of people came to us and they show their official card, which is show that they work with Ecowas company. It was look like totally fine for us which photo we saw on internet and what we read about it. But we always so careful these kind of things therefor we took one of the insurance paper and went inside. We found chief  from the border to asked  if the insurance documents fine; he told us not to buy it. Ecowas paper’s looks really good but it’s not! Because you need a stamp on your ECOWAS and you need to carry the bill with you as a prove of the payment. People are walking on the border with documents and nobody has a stamp to put on it or give you a bill to show payment.

    From Senegal to Congo (Brazzaville), we passed total 12 countries and only once in Guinea Bissau they asked for our traffic insurance.

    ECOWAS is two pages one is writing those 14 countries. Other one writes Cameroon, Gabon and Congo (Brazzaville). We have used it in all those countries. Some people said that we can not use in Congo we have to have an other document to cover Congo. But our Ecowas was writing include Congo. SO, we entered and exit from it without any problem with Ecowas.

    If you have a plan to travel Africa by motorcycle or car you can check border crossing and bribes in West Africa also West African countries visa details.

    FS

  • Visa applications in West Africa

    Visa applications in West Africa

    Visa applications in West Africa countries to road trip;

    Most important thing in West Africa that You need to know which countries visa where you can easily apply and get it? I will try to write up all our visa application around Africa. I will split them up in 3 parts, West Africa, South Africa and East Africa.

    I will write our experiences, this is on a Dutch and a Turkish passport. I will write down as well if I have the information about other countries passports.

    Our countries we visit in West Africa will be Morocco, Western Sahara, Mauritania, Senegal, The Gambia, Guinea Bissau, Guinea (Conakry), Mali, Burkina Faso, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Cameroon, Gabon, Republic Congo, Democratic Republic Congo and Angola.

    Morocco 

    Visa on arrival and it’s free for both of us. Also free for other European passports, also for Australian passport it’s free.

    Western Sahara

    The visa for Morocco is valid here as the Western Sahara is under control by Morocco you won’t even pass a real border.

    Mauritania

    Visa on arrival, the price is 55 euro. Make sure you have euro’s, they will give you a really bad rate if you pay in dollars or dirham. We only had dollars and ended up paying 70 dollar each. If you don’t have euro’s make sure you exchange them somewhere in the Western Sahara

    Senegal

    Visa on arrival, the visa is free for most of the passports. It is free for the Dutch, Turkish, English and Australia.

    The Gambia

    Visa on arrival, the visa is free for a lot of passports. It is free for Dutch, Turkish and English.

    Guinea Bissau

    Visa apply in Ziguinchor at the Guinea Bissau embassy, it takes about 5 minutes to get it. He’s just writing it in front of you. The price is 20.000 cfa (30 euro) for a Dutch, Turkish and English passport.

    Guinea (Conakry)

    We got our visa in Dakar, apply at the Guinea embassy. Costs 50.000 cfa (76 euro) for a single entrée valid for 30 days. If you want 2 entrees the price is 80.000 cfa (122 euro) the visa is valid for 60 days. It takes 1 working day. You need to bring in copy of your passport, 2 passport photo’s. All goes very easy. Better to do! Get it in Bissau, the costs there are 30.000 cfa (46 euro) you also need copy of your passport and 2 passport photo’s. This is all for a Dutch, Turkish and English passport. I don’t know about the multiple entrée in Bissau.

    Mali

    We got our Mali visa in Nouackott (Mauritania). This goes a little bit strange but easy to apply, you need to give your border crossing for us this was Kouremale as we will enter from Guinea. A single entrée visa valid for 1 month costs 6.500 um (17 euro), your entrée date needs to start within 1 month from the date you apply, otherwise you get a double entrée and visa that’s 2 months valid. The price will then be 10.000 um (26 euro). You need 2 passport photo’s and a copy of your passport. If you apply in the morning you can pick it up in the afternoon.

    Burkina Faso

    We got ours in Bamako (Mali). Easy to apply, costs 24.000 cfa (36 euro) for a single entrée visa that is valid for 90 days. You need 2 passport photo’s, copy passport and a copy of your vehicle papers. Apply in the morning pick up in the afternoon. This is for all passports
    Better to do! (see VTE Visa).

    Togo

    Visa on arrival, costs 10.000 cfa (15 euro). Valid for 7 days, easy to extend it in Lome for 2.000 cfa (3 euro). This is for all passports

    Better to do! (see VTE Visa).

    Benin

    We got our visa in Bamako (Mali). The lady there is not very friendly, you need 2 passport photo’s, copy from the first page of your passport, copy of your passpot, copy from vehicle papers and a copy of a reservation from a hotel in Benin. Costs of the visa is 12.200 cfa (18.5 euro), it takes 2 working days to get it. This is for all passports

    Better to do! (see VTE Visa).

    Nigeria

    We got ours in Bamako (Mali). Easy to apply, costs are various. Dutch, Australian and German passport 60.000 cfa (92 euro), Turkish passport 65.000 cfa (99 euro) and English passport 90.000 cfa (137 euro). You need 2 passport photo’s, copy of your passport and a copy from your vehicle papers. First you pay 20.000 cfa (included the price I write above) to their bank account at the bank next door. This is one of the only places to get the visa for Nigeria.

    Cameroon

    We got ours in Calabar (Nigeria). Easy to apply takes about 45 minutes to get it. The price is 51.000 cfa (78 euro).

    Gabon

    We got ours in Lome (Togo). They wanted a lot of paperwork, luckily we knew everything we needed to take with us. The costs are 50.000 cfa (76 euro) for all passports. You need 2 passport photo’s, copy of your passport, copy yellow fever, copy carnet de passage, hotel reservation, copy of a credit card, copy of motorcycle papers If you have them all ready it only takes 10 minutes. Pick-up is the next day after 3 pm.

    Congo (Brazzaville)

    We got ours in Lome (Togo). First of all this was just in a flat building, it looked nothing like a embassy, but other overlanders got it here as well and entered Congo, so it must be ok. The price is the highest one we paid so far 90.000 cfa (137 euro) each. You need copies of 3 other West African visas and 2 passport photo’s. Visa is done in 20 minutes.

    Congo (Kinshasa, DRC)

    We got ours in Cotonou (Benin). Nice embassy, nice and helpful people here. The price is 50.000 cfa (76 euro) for all passports. You need 2 passport photo’s and they make the copies from your passport. It takes about 1,5 hours to get your visa ready.

    Angola

    We got ours in Point Noire (Congo Brazzaville). This is one of the hardest visa’s to get in West Africa. You can apply for the visa on Tuesday and Thursday between 9 and 11 am. You need to put 2000 cfa on their bank account before applying the visa at the Bank of Congo. We had a invitation letter from a friend of us who lives in Angola, copy passport, copy Congo visa, copy DRC visa, 2 passport photo’s and a big smile on our face when we applied. The woman working there only wants to speak French, not even Portuguese what they speak in Angola and she’s not helpful at all. We got a paper to fill in what only is in Portuguese, luckily there is a guard around who do helps people with their application form so we filled it all in and went to the woman at the desk, handover all papers and she straight away gave the invitation letter back, she didn’t want to have it! Instead we needed a letter why we wanted a visa for Angola in Portuguese, off course she pointed us out to where we can get it, it just costs another 2000 cfa extra per person. We got the letter and handed over all papers again and it looked she was satisfied. Now we needed to wait for a phone call, next day we got one around 2 pm. They only speak French again and the only thing I understood is they wanted a reservation, this must be a hotel reservation we thought. We made a quick booking online and printed it at a shop and run to the embassy to hand it over, they accepted and told us to wait for a phone call again. The next day we received the phone call at 2:30 pm, we run to the bank to make the deposit of 75.000 cfa each took the receipt and run to the embassy, we arrived at 3:05 and got send away, tomorrow we open again. When walking away they shout at us to come back and did give us the visa. What a relief! We had a multiple entrée visa in 48 hours.

    What about border crossing and bribe in Western Africa?

     

    We made a short video for our Africa journey, roads, life… We hope that you like to watch :

    FS

  • Visa Touristique Entente-VTE, West Africa Visa

    Visa Touristique Entente-VTE, West Africa Visa

    Visa Touristique Entente-VTE, West Africa Visa

    This is a visa what is hard to get! It is a West Africa visa that is valid in Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, Niger, Togo and Benin.

    It is hard to get it when you are in Africa but you can get it in Barcelona at the Benin embassy. The costs for it are 100 euro, it’s valid in 90 days to stay 60 days. And you can enter each countries one time.  We didn’t get it so I don’t know what you all need to apply for it.

    If you want to have in West Africa You need to go Ivory Coast or Burkina Faso. Of course, first you need their countries visa to enter. After that you can apply. The cost is around 55 Euro in one of the countries. Some people told us when apply to VTE in Burkina Faso They look your Burkina visa and They want to you have  3 months Burkina visa.

    LAST UPDATE : We just learned more details about VTE- West Africa Visa more. (January 2020) They are not giving more in Barcelona. Also it is not easy to get any where else.  Looks like visa is official exist but They don’ t want to give or they don’t have visa paper to put on the passport.

    You can check all Western African countries visa detail on our website:

    VISA APPLICATIONS IN WEST AFRICA

    We spent 9 months west of Africa. You never know what can happen or what is waiting for you but on the other hand it is amazing experience.
    Also, if you have a plan to travel around West of Africa with vehicles also you can read our articles about  border crossing and bribes :

    AFRICA VISAS, BORDER

    We hope you like to watch our short video for Travel Around Africa by Motorcycle :

    FS

  • Border Crossing and Bribery for Mali, Burkina Faso, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Cameroon, Gabon, Congo (Brazzaville), Congo (Kinshasa) DRC, Angola

    Border Crossing and Bribery for Mali, Burkina Faso, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Cameroon, Gabon, Congo (Brazzaville), Congo (Kinshasa) DRC, Angola

    You can also check border crossing and bribes other Western countries; Senegal, Gambia, Guinea Bissau and Guinea Conakry  or Morocco and Marutania

    Mali 

    We entered Mali from the Kouremale border.

    Passport – We arrived at the border 3 days before our visa started, a bit tricky of course but we where ready to enter, I don’t think anyone ever looked at our visas as they where signed extremely fast. She went to the office, gave the passports to a woman and she went in front of all the people waiting and stamped our passports.

    Import Vehicle – We used our Carnet de Passage (see our blog about this).

    Vehicle insurance – ECOWAS insurance valid here.

    Bribery – No money or gifts where asked for.

    Leaving Mali 

    We left Mali from the Sikasso border.

    Passport – We got our passport stamped out easy nothing asked for

    Export Vehicle – We used our Carnet de Passage .

    Bribery – No money or gifts where asked for.

    Burkina Faso 

    We entered Burkina Faso from Sikasso (Mali).

    Passport – They asked a lot of questions, just to have a conversation but stamped the passports easy

    Import Vehicle – We used our Carnet de Passage (see our blog about this).

    Vehicle insurance – ECOWAS insurance valid here.

    Bribery – No money or gifts where asked for.

    Leaving Burkina Faso 

    We left Burkina Faso from the Bitou border.

    Passport – Got stamped out easy nothing asked for

    Export Vehicle – We used our Carnet de Passage. I needed to explain the guy what he needed to do for several times, he probably still doesn’t know but he stamped the Carnet the Passage so I was satisfied.

    Bribery – No money or gifts where asked for.

    Togo 

    We entered Togo at the Dapaong border.

    Passport – We got our visa here at the border (see our blog about that).

    Import Vehicle – We used our Carnet de Passage. I needed to walk into a office and ask for it to stamp it, they don’t really care about it.

    Vehicle insurance – ECOWAS insurance valid here.

    Bribery – No money or gifts where asked for.

    Leaving Togo 

    We left Togo at the coastline at the Grand Popo border

    Passport – Our passports got stamped easy, nothing asked for.

    Export Vehicle – We used our Carnet de Passage.

    Bribery – No money or gifts where asked for.

    Benin 

    We entered Benin at the Grand Popo border.

    Passport – Our passports got stamped easy, nothing asked for.

    Import Vehicle – We used our Carnet de Passage .

    Vehicle insurance – ECOWAS insurance valid here.

    Bribery – No money or gifts where asked for.

    Leaving Benin 

    We left Benin through a small border near Idi Iroko.

     Passport – Our passports got stamped easy, nothing asked for.

    Export Vehicle – We used our Carnet de Passage .

    Bribery – No money or gifts where asked for.

    Nigeria 

    We entered Nigeria through a small border at Idi Iroko. The main border is down the coastline but this is pretty corrupt one so we decided to make a few extra kilometers and cross more easy.

    Passport – This took a long, long time but eventually our passports got stamped easy and nothing was asked for. We spent around 3 hours at the border talking to everyone and showing our documents

    Import Vehicle – We used our Carnet de Passage .

    Vehicle insurance – ECOWAS insurance valid here.

    Bribery – No money or gifts where asked for.

    Leaving Nigeria 

    We left Nigeria through the border nearby Calabar called Ekok to Cameroon. This is a small border you pass over the river by bridge, it´s pretty crowded around and the bridge is not very wide. If you include the sidewalk 2 cars just fit.

    Passport – This took a long time, she went in with both our passports. The guy asked a lot of questions where we have been what we have been doing. After half an hour he asked her to leave and wanted me to come in, same questions asked and he wanted a form from the border where we entered. I never received something there so I had no idea what he was talking about, he understood this and stamped my passport and send me out to send her back in again. He stamped her passport as well and we where passing through.

    Export Vehicle – We used our Carnet de Passage .

    Bribery – No money or gifts where asked for.

    Cameroon

    We entered Cameroon from the border in Ekok.

    Passport – In this border you pass several checkpoints who all take long time they write down all your information by hand, the first checkpoint did this even twice. No passport stamped yet. Next checkpoint writing everything again and the passports got stamped. You will have 2 more checkpoints where they write down the same information.

    Import Vehicle – We used our Carnet de Passage .

    Vehicle insurance – ECOWAS insurance valid here.

    Bribery – No money or gifts where asked for.

    Leaving Cameroon 

    We left Cameroon at the border Minkoko, everything is straightforward and there are not a lot of people around.

    Passport – They like to write down everything 3 times or so we got used to this, it takes time but everything goes very friendly.

    Export Vehicle – We used our Carnet de Passage .

    Bribery – No money or gifts where asked for.

    Gabon

    We entered Gabon from the border in Mikoko. A border not used by a lot of people.

    Passport – In this border you pass several checkpoints what all take a long time they write down all your information by hand. They love the paperwork, the first one called his boss told our story and write a letter that we needed to give to the immigration office in Bitam. Here they wanted copies from everything, our Passport, Gabon visa, Cameroon visa and exit stamp from Cameroon. Of course there was a copy shop at the other side of the street what asked a fortune for a copy 100 cfa each. If you walk 100 meters to the right they do copies for 25 cfa.

    Import Vehicle – We used our Carnet de Passage .

    Vehicle insurance – ECOWAS insurance valid here.

    Bribery – No money or gifts where asked for.

    Leaving Gabon

    We left Gabon from the border in N´dende, this is one of the few borders to the Republic Congo. It´s a 280 km long dirt road what is not recommended to ride after a lot of rain as it will be pretty muddy, we where lucky it was dry a few days before we got here.

    Passport – You need to stamp your passport in the last city N´dende, the office opens at 8 in the morning. From here it´s approximately 50 km´s to the Congo border. You will stop before exiting Gabon again on the road to write down all your information and they will stamp your Carnet here as well.

    Export Vehicle – We used our Carnet de Passage .

    Bribery – No money or gifts where asked for.

    Famous N’dende to Dolisie challenge road video :

    Congo (Brazzaville)

    We entered the Republic Congo from the border in N´dende – Dolisie. A long dirt road needs to be passed for this. The total distance is 280 km and it´s not recommended doing this after a lot of rain and especially not on a rainy day.

    Passport – You come to a little place with 4 offices what is the border, again they all love to write down your information so it takes some time. They know what they are doing so it all goes pretty smooth, they ask your route through the country and stamp the passports.

    Import Vehicle – We used our Carnet de Passage.

    Vehicle insurance – ECOWAS insurance valid here.

    Bribery – No money or gifts where asked for.

    Leaving Congo (Brazzaville)

    We left the Republic Congo from the border to Cabinda, there is only 1 border here. It´s pretty crowded but all goes pretty fast.

    Passport – Passport is stamped easily, just the writing information takes a bit of time.

    Export Vehicle – We used our Carnet de Passage.

    Bribery – No money or gifts where asked for.

    Angola (Cabinda)

    We entered the Cabinda from the border in 36 km down from Point Noire. It´s pretty crowded but all straight forward and they have real official offices and clothes.

    Passport – You enter the first building and need to fill in a form for both about your personal details and where you will stay before they stamp your passport. All people are very helpful and will help you with the translation, all is in Portuguese. Also you need a photo copy from your passport and your Angola visa.

    Import Vehicle – Since a long time we are not able to use our Carnet de Passage, Angola is not part of it and they know about this. They will stamp it if you want but still you need to buy temporary importation. The price for motorcycles is 3.166 Kwanza. You can exchange at the border but in Cabinda you will get a better rate, at the moment the black market rates are 2,5 times as much as what the bank will give you for your dollars or euro´s. My advice will be to exchange 20 or 30 dollars at the border and then in Cabinda for a better rate. The importation of the vehicle is 30 days valid.

    Vehicle insurance – This is the first country the ECOWAS insurance is not valid anymore. The vehicle importation is directly an insurance as well so you we didn´t buy a new one.

    Bribery – No money or gifts where asked for.

    Leaving Angola (Cabinda)

    We left the Cabinda the border south at Tchinganga.

    Passport – Passport is stamped easily, takes a bit of time as you go to multiple offices.

    Export Vehicle – They took a look at our importation papers and it was all ok.

    Bribery – No money or gifts where asked for.

    Congo (Kinshasa) DRC

    We entered the Democratic Republic Congo from Cabinda to Moanda. The road in DRC are not as bad as you expect, a lot of people told us we needed to go from the Luwozi border crossing. For that border you need to ride a long trail what is all mud. Instead taking this border (you need a multiple entrée visa for Angola to take this border). The road from the border to Moanda is a bit sandy but not too bad to ride, distance is about 30 km. From Moanda you head towards Boma this is a good dirt road with a distance about 100 km. After Boma you will find a good tar road!

    Passport – It´s a little bit chaotic but all works fine, it´s easy if you have a copy from your passport and visa makes it a little bit more fast. They will take a photo from you as well and ask where you going to.

    Import Vehicle – We used our Carnet de Passage (see our blog about this).

    Vehicle insurance – We didn´t buy any insurance for DRC.

    Bribery – No money or gifts where asked for at the border. About 10 km from the border is the first road tax barricade you will find. Just say you are not willing to pay and they will let you pass, at least they did for us as with a motorcycle this is easier. You can avoid this road tax point pretty easy as well like other people with a 4×4 did. Just go to the coast straight after the border to Moanda, it´s a small detour. You will find one more on the road where they let you pass easier.

    Leaving Congo (Kinshasa) DRC

    We left the DRC from the border at Songolo. This is a really crowded border but the people are very friendly and willing to help you, the officials wearing clothes to recognize them. First you need to pass a road tax office again, this might be a hard one especially for the 4×4´s. If you have a motorcycle just tell them motorcycles don´t pay and wait till a local motorcycle passes, he will open the gate with a smile.

    Passport – Passport is stamped easily, they take you in a nice office with AC.

    Export Vehicle – We used our Carnet de Passage (see our blog about this).

    Bribery – No money or gifts where asked for at the border itself.

    Angola

    We entered Angola from the border at Songolo, this is a big border crossing and very crowded but has all official offices so you know where you need to go.

    Passport – You enter the first building and need to fill in a form for both about your personal details and where you will stay before they stamp your passport. Also you need a photocopy from your passport and your Angola visa.

    Import Vehicle – See Angola (Cabinda) part for this. They want to see the paper again and will stamp it again so you have the 30 days again same is for your visa if you have multiple entrée.

    Vehicle insurance – This is the first country the ECOWAS insurance is not valid anymore. The vehicle importation is directly an insurance as well so you we didn´t buy a new one.

    Bribery – No money or gifts where asked for.

    Leaving Angola

    We left Angola to Namibia passing the border at Santa Clara, this is the main border between these countries. It’s not that crowded, there are a few guys hanging around who want to exchange money with you and give you advice where to go, all goes friendly we just said no to everything.

    Passport – Passport is stamped after going through all your details and where you have been, and then they take a photo from you.

    Export Vehicle – You need to show your importation papers, they keep one of them and off you go.

    Bribery – No money or gifts where asked for at the border itself.

    FS

  • The Gambia Time

    The Gambia Time

    Our plan changed a lot on the road for The Gambia. We were planning to stay a place around 10-15 days and get rest. But when they had some politic problem and they closed the door for tourists. Everything got ok in 4-5 days. So, we could enter Gambia.

    We took the ferry to go to Banjul. He went to the ticket office and didn’t say anything, he gave 2.000 CFA and bought our ticket. The ferry is so busy but for motorcycles there is always place. Actually, the river is not so long but water level is so low. Therefore the ferry is so slow.

    Gambia ferry crossingWe stayed two days in Sukuta camping. They didn’t had electricity and wifi most of the time when we were there but they did charge us for that. That’s why we didn’t want to stay longer. We ride to the south of Gambia to find a nice bungalow to stay. We asked a lot of hotels which are expensive or bad or we didn’t like it. We couldn’t find anything what we were looking for. We decided to ride Kartong and look for the small border. They said it is for local people. We saw a little sign says a hotel. Let’s go to check. ( GPS:13.068632, -16.747039)  lovely place next to the river. We stayed two days and so much enjoy. The place is called Stala lodge, when you throw a rock across the river its in Senegal 🙂

    where can you stay in Gambia, africaAnd we wanted to follow our road because we couldn’t find a house to stay 10 days and feel we are like in a home. We ride east of Gambia and went to wild camping closed to Soma. People were so friendly and curios what we were doing. It was nice for us to communicate with local people. Because we can’t speak French but can speak English. 😉 Next day, we passed to Senegal again. (Click for border crossing and bribery)

    (Click a photo to slide show)

    [Best_Wordpress_Gallery id=”17″ gal_title=”The Gambia”]

    GS

  • Our Mauritania Journey

    Our Mauritania Journey

    We travel in Mauritania two week, we went to Nouadhibou, Nouakchott, Atar, Chinquetti and Terjit in Mauritania.

    First of all, we had a problem to cross the border. We arrived at the border around noon and we left almost 8:30 pm. The border was so busy as there was a German rally crossing as well and the visa office had a problem with their Internet. We waited a lot for that and than fight with fixer. (click more detail and border crossing details)

    Before start to read all details of  Mauritania  you can watch a short movie where we could make video about the journey;

    The bad thing was we needed to ride in the dark, we never want to ride in the dark in Africa and we needed in Mauritania, a new country where a lot of people talking about that it’s not safe. When we left the border we had about 50 km to ride to Nouadhibou, there are a lot of police-military checkpoints and hard to see them in the dark, they don’t have any lights at the road so I needed to stop pretty fast sometimes. Other thing, we were thinking They were really police or somebody trying to stop us. In Mauritania you need a ‘fiche’ (this is a paper with all your passport details and where you coming from, motorcycle plates etc.) we didn’t had it yet so each stop took us a while wait. We arrived there around 10 pm, opened our tent and had a good night sleep, well deserved! The bad thing is, this was her birthday, well she had better ones I can imagine on the other hand we will always remember this one. Hopefully, next year we will make it a nice day. 🙂

    Mauritania Journey

    The next day we met 2 other motorcyclists who stayed at the same place, a Italian guy who was on a 3 week holiday enjoying riding in the dessert of Mauritania and James who came from England. We traveled with him a little in Mauritania also, we met a lot of countries again with James.

    We wanted to go to Atar from Nouadhibou, there is dessert road next to the train rail. A total from approx. 500 km, and no road you need flow train rail. After serach and told some people who did before, we understood that no option to do that for us. Our motorcycles were fully packed. No petrol station and we need to carry extra petrol also food and water. 🙁 The train is still working which is calling ‘’Iron Ore’’ and one of the longest trains in the world.

    Iron Ore, longest train in africaWe started search for how we put the motorcycle on the Iron Ore train and how much the price. The train leaves every afternoon from Nouadhibou to Fderik. ‘‘Iron Ore’’ carries iron so it is a cargo train. If you want to travel with the train you can just jump in. It is free. And the train is empty when go to Fderik so you cant black from iron. And They tols us if you can put your motorcycle to wagon It is also free but no way to do that. They have a platform which you can carry your motorcycle on it. And the platform price is 500 Euros. The price was high for us therefore we skipped it. If you have more people with you, share the price. We didn’t do that but we learned for other rider, who took the train; he shared the price and paid 50 Euros. But he said that the road was terrible from Fderik to main road for Atar. Actually, They have one stop before Fderik, which is called Choum. But Iron Ore doesn’t stop there. Just gets slow down for local people get of.

    If you don’t want to ride on the desert and cant put your motorcycle to the train You have only one option to go Atar, ride from main road. So, we needed to ride all the way to Nouakchott and then up to Atar, which is 900 km!

    Road trip in Africa

    As the fuel is not a thing they sell a lot in Mauritania. Super gasoline is in the block market. They use diesel for their car and almost no motorcycle in Mauritania. Our tank is 7.7 liters, approx. 230 km. We filled up our rotopax, 11 liters. We took extra 8 liters of water bottles to make it to the next petrol station.

    women rider, west africa tripThe first day went ok, We ride around 300 km after that we found a nice spot for camping next to the road. We were planning go to a national park and camp there. The road, which we choose, was so sand. After James fell down She didn’t want to keep continue.

    wild camping in west africa

    Next day we passed through Nouakchott. We found a petrol station, We filled up all bottles and the rotopax to make it for the last 450 km to Atar. We went wild camp again somewhere in the middle of nowhere!

    Next day, halfway the road there was a city we hoped we can get some fuel for our motorcycles. Unfortunately there was no fuel 🙁 We decided to ride a bit slower to save some petrol so we hopefully we can make towards Atar. We didn’t! My motorcycle was empty about 20 km before Atar, luckily James was with us and he still had fuel.

    Discover Africa by motorcycleHe went to Atar to fill up a 5 liter bottle and would return to us with that so we can make it as well, darkness started to fall when he came back. So we went in a rush towards the camping, arrived there all 3 totally broken and extremely tired! But we made it. To see the next day it was a lovely place Bab Sahara, a Dutch guy called Justus owns this amazing place. Unfortunately there are not a lot of people coming anymore as the government says Mauritania is not safe to travel.

    Traditional food in MAurataniaAtar, itself is nothing really special. We went there because we wanted to see Chingetti and than Terjit. After get rest 2 days in Atar we went to Chingetti which is a beautiful small town at the border of the dessert, the ride is 80 km over a dirt road which is not too bad but so much bumpy.

    Chingetti road, maurataniaAnd last 10-15 km, is a little sandy road, depend on the wind. If the wind is so strong a lot of sand comes to the road.

    Chingetti trip by motorcycleWe passed through some nice mountains and the ride was fun to do, we stayed 2 days in Chingetti walked around in the dessert took some really nice photo’s. This was a lovely place to see, this is where the dessert starts and you can see oases. Also, they have old library to visit and old town center, which is in UNESCO list.

    After stayed 2 days in Chinquetti we went to a big Oasis called Terjit, this was 30 km south of Atar on the way to Nouakchott, the place was really cool to see. Just what we expected from a oasis. In the beginning the road and landscape was really nice. When we turn to Terjit we ride in the sand and couldn’t go to inside to oasis with motorcycle because too much sandy. So, we stayed in the village and walked to the oasis.

    sand road riders, maurataniaNow it was time to ride all the way back to Nouakchott, we did this in 1 day it was a long ride of 440 km but we made it! This time we took a extra 25 liters petrol with us. And we survived the crazy traffic. We met James again here as well, who applied for a Mali visa, we said 2 things before we left Europe. We are passing Mauritania as fast as possible and we are not going in Mali. So the first one failed and second one also failed. we got our Mali visa here as well. This is a cheap visa so we wouldn’t loose a lot if we don’t go. They said that we could get Nigeria visa easily in Mali. If we can’t get anywhere we can enter Mali, we have visa. 🙂

    Camping and Motorcycle LifeWe leaved Nouakchott and stayed one night closed to the border of Senegal. Next they it was horrible border crossing! (click for the border crossing info)

    For our experiences you don’t have to be scared of Mauritania, you can safely travel in the west part and go to Chinquetti, at that moment.

    (Click a photo for slide show)

    Chingetti

    [Best_Wordpress_Gallery id=”15″ gal_title=”Chingetti, Mauratania”]

    Terjit

    [Best_Wordpress_Gallery id=”16″ gal_title=”Terjit,Mauratania”]

    And Mauratania

    [Best_Wordpress_Gallery id=”18″ gal_title=”Mauratania”]

    FS

  • Mali, Burkina Faso, Togo and Benin

    Mali, Burkina Faso, Togo and Benin

    This are 4 countries we basically passed through, so I will write them together in one article.

    Mali

    This country is at moment just not safe enough to travel through, it’s ok to go to the capital Bamako and pass through the south. But the nice things to see are up north, we would have love to go to Timbuktu and Mopti but it’s just not safe enough. So we entered from Guinea into Mali early in the morning to make it to Bamako in 1 day.

    highway mali motorcycleWe stayed at the Sleeping Camel, a highly recommended place for over landers. We did some visa hunting there (Nigeria, Benin and Burkina Faso). When we arrived we met another motorcyclists traveling around West Africa (Luca from Germany) it’s always nice to meet other riders. The next day Nicholas arrived, another motorcyclists this time from Australia he’s already 5 years away from home and has a lot of experience, he taught us some things form the motorcycle as well for the maintenance. He’s definitely a guy we can trust for this! Luca left after a couple of days but showed up new riders, William from French, Ricardo from Argentina, Daniel and Josephine from Germany and of course our friend James 🙂 This must be something really unique in West Africa 8 motorcycles together, 4 individuals and 2 couples. Time for a photo 🙂

    motorcylegroup riders mali
    Left to right : William, Daniel, Josephine, Ricardo, Nicholas, I and Gulcin, James. Behind: Laura and Cemil

    We also met 2 over landing Dutch couples traveling by truck and a German couple in a 4×4 (Laura and Cemil), great place to stay a little and get strong again. We stayed 12 days at The Sleeping Camel it was really a pleasure staying there.

    (Click a photo to slide show)

    [Best_Wordpress_Gallery id=”12″ gal_title=”From Mali”]

    Burkina Faso 

    After a nice break in Bamako it was time to hit the road again and we did, we ride all the way to Burkina Faso in 1 day we did 470 km including a border crossing! Next day, we just ride 70 km and we stayed in a nice city called Bobo, we only stayed 1 night but it would have been worth staying a bit longer.

    locallife bobo brukina fasoThe road conditions where better in Burkina Faso so the day after we had a nice ride, took a long break to make some lunch. Because the weather was so hot and we couldn’t ride motorcycle middle of the day. Asphalt was burning which I could feel from my shoes and when we stopped we couldn’t touch our tires were burning as well.

    helinox chair brukina fasoIn the night we finally went wild camping again, we missed this after staying 13 days in a room. We found a great spot in a dry river; the night was nice and cold what is really nice as the temperature gets up to 40+ degrees Celsius during the day. The landscape in Burkina Faso is nice to seen the people are really friendly again, everywhere we stop they come to say hello with a big smile also big smiles when we passing villages.

    wildcamping burkina fasoWe went to the capital city Ouagadouga, this was nothing special just another big West African city. We stayed two days there and hit to road again to Togo. The border is around 300 kilometers far from the capital city. Therefore we went to wild camping again before pass the border. It was so hot in the night. Suddenly started to rain a little and than wind. Funny thing was we put tent under the trees and no wind and it was still hot. In the morning we left quickly towards Togo.

    Togo

    This is a long country but only 50 km wide. The road conditions where only getting better and no speed bumps every 5 kilometres 🙂 Some roads were closed we needed to go a little dirty and sand road. It was easy to ride if we didn’t have like tornados.

    tornado storm togo higwayWe passed a lot of traditional houses and wanted to go to a small Unesco village (Koutammakou) to see some more. They wanted 13.000 cfa from us to go there. And pay extra 6.000 CFA to the guide motorcycle for petrol. He rides only 30 km total how can be like that. They changed price in 30 minutes a lot and his behavior was strange. So, we skipped it. Anyway, we saw similar a lot from the road as well..

    local house togoWe continued our road towards Lome, getting some more visa’s here (Congo Brazzaville and Gabon). Apart from that we didn’t do a lot, just chilling out. We stayed Chez Alice and saw our friend Nicholas here as well. Also, we met an other rider from Belgium who is Olaf. When we were living to Lome our dear friend James arrived. West Africa so small, isn’t it? 🙂

    motorcyclegroup yamaha bmw honda lome togo

    If you have plan to ride motorcycle in Burkina or Togo you should start early to ride and give a little break yourself on noon.

    (Click a photo to slide show)

    [Best_Wordpress_Gallery id=”13″ gal_title=”From Togo”]

    Benin

    We went straight from Lome to Cotonou, finally we did some off road riding again. We went through the sand along the beach to nice place to stay called Chez Rada, we ate the best food in West Africa so far here and the had a swimming pool :).

    Nice beach on BeninIn the meantime we got our Congo Kinshasa (DRC) visa as well. We did some more practice with riding in the sand on our motorcycles. I like it more and more, she said she didn’t but I saw her eyes and smile seems she liked as well. I can see that she has been getting better and better to ride on the sand.

    beach cotonou benin offroad

    (Click a photo to slide show)

    [Best_Wordpress_Gallery id=”14″ gal_title=”From Benin”]

    FS

  • Guinea (Conakry)

    Guinea (Conakry)

    Our Guinea experience! First of all, the people are amazing. They are so welcoming open and smiling, the first night we camped wild on our challenging road from Bissau . There passed a few people on a motorcycle waving us, few on foot. After a while 2 men on foot passed us, I put my hand in the air and said ‘bonjour’ I suppose they got interested, 2 ‘white’ people, 2 motorcycles and a tent. I told her there are 2 men coming to say hello, when they come close I see they where carrying a gun…. A bit different for us, we did see some people walking on the road already with guns, they are all for hunting but it’s still a bit weird to see. We shake their hands and we all smiled had a little conversation and everything was fine, they even invited us in their village to camp but for us this was fine we didn’t want to pack the tent and all other stuff again. When they left she told me she put her pepper spray in her pocket and her knife not realizing both men where carrying a gun with them. We laughed a lot about this haha. I regret we didn’t take a photo with them… We had a good and quiet night and got some energy to ride again for the next day.

    ***Before keep  continue to read place to place all detail of our Guinea journey you can watch little video.  Also you can check border crossing and bribery or visa detail in our website.

    Second night we camped wild again but didn’t see anyone around.

    Wild camping guinea conakryThe third night was very interesting again, we decided we really need a bath so we needed a river next to our camping spot James was with us again from that day. I took a look on the map and found some small road to a river not to far away from the main road to Conakry (the capital of Guinea). When we got to the point there was a village, I told her to put the motorcycle down and we go together to ask permission to camp next to their village. We just stepped off the motorcycle and one woman came already walking towards us 2 men next to her with machetes (this is all normal around here to carry). We walked towards them said hello and smiled the women told the men quietly to put the machetes behind there back we where talking to the woman who was definitely in charge above them. She was very welcoming and we needed to go to say hello to her father who was chief of the village. We walked with her sit down with the chief, this was a old men with big Rayban sunglasses 🙂 we shook hands smiled and talked a little he was happy to let us stay next to his village.

    local village guinea conakry

    So now it was time to put up our tent of course everyone from the village wanted to see us and we got a whole crowd to put up our tents, pretty funny but on the other side especially for her a bit bad to change clothes you can imagine that it’s not so nice to wear your motorcycle clothes when it’s 40 degrees Celsius. But we managed and after that it was time for our well-deserved bath in the river, we went together and James stayed with the motorcycles. Wow we where so happy with this bath, it was so refreshing after 3 days struggling on the road without a bath.

    bathing river wild camping guinea conakry

    We had a really good night again and in the morning we had a crowd again to watch us packing the tent.

    wild camping village guinea conakry

    Today we try to go to Conakry, we had contact with a guy from Sierra Leone who was living in Conakry for his study through couch surfing, we could stay at his place and he wanted to show us around Conakry. When we got close to the city we phoned him and asked for his address, he told us it was not safe to enter Conakry today as there where riots going on in the city. This must have been the reason why the military on the road where a bit jumpy on the checkpoints so we needed a plan 2. We looked at ioverlander application and found a place next to the river for camping, our 4th day of wild camping but again we where able to take a nice bath and we washed our clothes here as well.

    washing river wild camping guinea conakry

    We took some time to search about the situation in Conakry and learned it was pretty serious, there where 7 people killed during the riots so we decided not to go to Conakry anymore this is not worth the risk for us. We called John (the local guy) the next day to tell him we where not coming anymore, he was a bit disappointed but could understand us. We moved towards Kindia, there was a camping site next to a waterfall, that sounded really good! We started the engine and went for it the roads in Guinea are not the best roads in the world and that’s a polite way to say haha. The road was just horrible to get there. The campsite had not a lot to offer, no shower, and no shadow so we took a look around and asked if we could put our tent up in the restaurant area what was full of shadow and they allowed us to. Ole!!

    camping kindia guinea conakry

    We had a good spot paying 5 euro per night and of course we had a waterfall next to us as well, we stayed here 3 nights to get a little rest. James was still with us, after Kindia he went North and we followed our way to the East.

    waterfall kindia camping

    The road was horrible again, the locals say the government is promising for 7 years now to rebuild the road but they don’t! She was feeling a bit sick so around mid-day we decided we can look for a hotel to stay with air-condition to get better, we found a place for 15 euro per night what looked really good, unfortunately the electricity wasn’t working to much so the night was pretty bad, not nice when you’re feeling sick. So we decided to leave in the moring.

    hotel tinkisso guinea conakry

    We ride about 1 hour when she got worse and needed to throw up this was when we decided to take a malaria test (next time we will do it more soon), you can’t be careful enough with this so we went to a pharmacy took the test what was negative that was good we both could smile after that. We bought some paracetamol and stomach pills and got on our motorcycles to find a place to open the tent, this is just more nice because you have fresh air all night as it cools down a bit in the night.

    hammock wild camping guinea conakry

    We found a lot cashew trees together, opened our hammock and she passed out straight away, slept for a couple of hours while I was preparing dinner for us. In Guinea there is not a lot of choice but we had pasta, eggplant, tomato sauce, onions and garlic. It wasn’t the best meal ever but we ate it. At the end of the afternoon some children spotted us and where waving at us, we waved back and they came a little more close, the oldest one around 11 years old with a motorcycle! They looked a bit from far away so I said hello and asked their names but they where to scared to come any closer. Eventually they where shouting and trying to show something, we didn’t understand too much what they where meaning so I got out of the hammock and went to them, they had a bucket full of cashew fruits. Normally we love to pick our own fruits and eat them but this time I decided we can buy some off them, so we both got happy 🙂 the cashew fruits are giving a lot of juice so they are nice to eat.

    guinea franc miljonair guinea conakry

    When darkness came we opened our tent and went inside to protect ourselves from the mosquitoes. We still had a lot Guinean Francs with us and decided to count how much we had and take some funny photos, the biggest notes they have are 20.000 what is 2 euro. We only had notes of 5.000 and just changed a 100 euro so you can imagine how big the stack was. When we where taking the photos we hear some noise outside first I thought it where cows or goats but when listening better it sounded more like somebody was walking. So I opened the tent and said hello and shined with our flashlight we got response so I went out, the landowner just showed up after he see some light in the dark to look what was going on, we showed our motorcycles and tent and asked if it was ok to stay for the night, he gave us a big smile and was happy to let us camp on his land. It always feels a bit weird when someone comes in the night because it gets really dark here, there is no electricity so no lights around especially when there is no moon. We where happy to sleep in the tent again with the fresh air and had a good night.

    local family guinea conakry

    We found some energy again and happy for us the road got better as well. We passed a lot of small villages, they all have cute little houses what interest us as well. After a while we stopped to take a photo, I told her go inside smile and ask if you can take a photo? She did and the house owner welcomed her with open arms and was truly happy we stopped at his house, he had some small land around as well, 5 children running around. They where eating peanuts, of course they offered her straight away as well, she ate them with a smile and send the children to me (I waited with the motorcycles) they came with a hand full of peanuts, so nice. I had some cookies in my tankbag and started to give them to the kids. I received some big big smiles here J The house owner came with a big bag of peanuts for us, he gave it with a huge smile on his face, I just love human behavior!

    happy local kids guinea conakry

    We had decided after she felt sick we want to go straight to Bamako and leave Guinea as soon as possible. Nothing bad about Guinea and I really would like to go back there 1 day during or at the end of the rain season. The country looks amazing but it’s bloody hard to travel by motorcycle, the roads are bad, the food is pretty minimum when you are not around Conakry, we just can’t live from bread, eggs, rice, onions and potatoes. And she was still not feeling good so we try to ride as far as possible every day early in the morning. The next day we made it to Kankan we found a (to expensive) nice hotel, the food they served was pretty good and they had electricity all night!

    good food guinea conakry kankan

    Good we found some energy for ourselves again, the next day we tried to get close to the border with Mali. We found a quiet place to camp and had a good night. In the morning we went towards the border. Our only problem was that our Mali visa didn’t start yet we supposed to enter after 5 days. But we decided to give it a shot and see what happens, we left Guinea pretty easy only got asked once if we had something for a custom officer who was hungry, I told him so am I. And I said I have a handshake for you, he smiled and let us go. I can’t blame the people for trying like this, if 1 out of 10 gives something they get happy. Now it was time to enter Mali, we talked a lot about what could happen as we don’t have a visa for Guinea anymore (this was only 1 enter) worst case would been we need to survive 3 nights between the border. The good thing is that there are a lot of shops so we can always buy something, we had 4 euro local money left what gave us to opportunity to buy water and bread to survive. Another decision we made that she was going to get our passports stamped, normally I always do that but maybe her smile was a better solution this time. She walked up to office what was really crowded but as always there are some officials sitting outside as well, here was one woman who looked at her, they crossed eyes, said hello and she gave her our passports. She went in, straight forward in the line and got them stamped in a second. I don’t think they looked at all to our visas. When she was waiting the other officials told her after stamp just go! Ole we made it into Mali before our visas started. Up to Bamako 🙂

    FS

  • Western Sahara

    Western Sahara

    No border crossing, No visa. Western Sahara border just 40 km far from Tarafa on the coast road. If you follow the main road you are on the good asphalt until Mauritania border. Unfortunately, It is a little boring road because nothing to see that much. Sometimes, possible to see wild camels, some sand hills and salt… Only, I can tell that Dakhla road was pretty nice. We had really nice time for camping and interesting experience. I would like to road about them.

    If you like you can watch it before start to read about Western Sahara: 

    ***We wanted to stay in Tarafaya before sunset. We saw one camping area on the road, they wanted 10 USD for nothing. Inside were fully little sand hills. It wasn’t easy to open tent, shower were bad, no Wi-Fi. Also, I am not sure electricity was working well. So, it was too much to pay. We decided to leave from main road and ride 40-50 km. on the coastline and look for wild camping. We saw everywhere has a fisherman houses and no way to find a place nobody can see you.

    Where can you stay in western sahara
    Our fisherman house

    We ride to the beach and saw some families were living. We asked them to open tent next to the their house for a night. They said ok. We opened to the tent and got ready to cook before dark. A soldier came and said that we can’t camp here. We must turn back Tarafaya and stay in a camping area. Almost dark! It could take time to collect everything L We told him to allow us to stay one night, we don’t want to ride in the dark. He was telling us but we couldn’t understand with our French. Only we understood that he was going to call his commander and ask. He came back and said that no camping here but we would like to help us. But how? He took our passport and said to Ferry that Ferry needs to walk with him. They got disappear in the dark. I didn’t have any idea what I need to do. After 15 minutes later a car came next to me and started to speak Spanish directly which is great I can speak. Somebody told him that we want to stay here. I explained to him why we wanted to stay here. He said no problem wait here and he also went where Ferry went. 30 minutes later Ferry came finally… We were tourist there and they don’t want to something happing us. Who came with a car next house, which we open the tent, called him. And he came to talk the soldier for gave a fisherman house key which is empty next to the soldier place. So, we collect everything and went to the fisherman house. We put motorcycles next to the soldiers. Soldiers were really so helpful. They carried us clean water to drink also for shower. They wanted to give mattress and blanket. We were surprise. When they told us ‘Tourist cant camping here’ we really scare where we can go in the dark. In the morning, the soldier invited us their place for breakfast including the lovely Moroccan tea, he is big fan of that. When we hit the road again he gave us nice Moroccan olives oil to eat on the road.

    (Click a photo to slide show)

    [Best_Wordpress_Gallery id=”7″ gal_title=”Fisherman House”]

     ***Where we stayed it was so closed to capital city, Laayoune, of Western Sahara. We just passed and went to Boujdour. It is nice city to see Western Sahara life. After Morrocco I can say that a lot of thing is different especially for women. When you go there you can see what I mean. 🙂 We stayed in Boujdour 2 nights after that we followed to our road.

    market bouydour western sahara***175 km. before Dakhla, we saw a place which says ‘Bivouac Libre’ (GPS: 24.698337,-14.884035) We went to there to see. It is really nice place. We stayed there two days.

    camping sunset motorcycle beach western saharaIt is really amazing spot. Sunset, sunrise, moon, view…etc.You can eat fresh fish, which you can buy from fisherman. We didn’t buy eat because they gave us a lot when we were trying to take photo from them. They came to us said that they are for us.The place is 5 km far from the main road. Therefore, you can easily go to a market to buy bread and water. Also some basic food.

    (Click a photo to slide show)

    [Best_Wordpress_Gallery id=”4″ gal_title=”Camping Side in Western Sahara”]

    ***Our next stop was Dakhla. First we went to the camping place. But we stayed one night. You need to pay for shower extra, no Wi-Fi and electricity comes in the night only. Why do I need pay a camping side just for open a tent if I am not in a dangerous place?

    tent life30 km. before Dakhla it has sign which writes Camper side and free. Go there to camp a couple of days. Before leave to camping side we went to shopping. I was sitting Ferry’s back and we had a little accident: Maybe the taxi suddenly stopped middle of the road to take customer but it was our fault because we crashed the taxi from back. Anyway, they were really friendly. They wanted to be sure first we are ok after that motorcycle. The driver asked we need a police to the report because he wants to go. I was surprise because we crashed him and he had a little damage on his taxi but he was thinking about us.

    Ferry said his chest was hurting a little. So we went to the camper side to camp. It was good idea to wait 4-5 days to Ferry ok or not. If something happened we could go to a big hospital in Dakhla. He felt better in a week but we stayed the camper side 3 weeks. J We learned Mauritania visa price, which was 120 Euro and would be 55 Euro, would have changed in New Year. We were staying free next to the beach and we had water to shower or wash stuff. Also, Tito was there, who came from Luxemburg and has a lot of solar on his car to help us, to free electricity. It was good opportunity for us to stay longer a place in the tent to get use to it more and more tent life. Also, learn how we can work together with less trouble. We have learned really a lot there.

    (Click a photo to slide show)

    [Best_Wordpress_Gallery id=”5″ gal_title=”Dakhla, Western Sahara”]

    ***3 week later on 5th of January we leaved from Dakhla to go to Mauritania. I wanted to be on the border on my birthday. The border is 380 km far from Dakhla. We went to wild camping just before the border. He made nice breakfast in the morning to say happy birthday. 🙂 We were on the border 11.30 am in the morning.

    honda 250l and big agnes tentGS

  • Old Capital City Bolama and Guinea Bissau

    Old Capital City Bolama and Guinea Bissau

    ‘Living amazing people out there. Maybe they don’t have money but they have gorgeous heart. They are so much welcome people we never see before.’

    Very short video from the village before start to read about Guinea Bissau journey;

    We decided last minute to go to Guinea Bissau. In the beginning we wanted to go Valera. They said it really nice place. We stayed 4-5 days in Casamace region, Senegal. They are similar. Therefore We ride directly to capital city, Bissau. After search a little we wanted to go Bolama but we couldn’t find that much info to where we can stay and what we can do. We took our camping stuff and some food with us. We leaved motorcycle in Bissau. We wanted to use local transportation and see more things.

    We went to port of Bissau to some info about Bolama canoe. You have to option to go Bolama. First option; they have direct canoe to the island on Tuesday and turn back on Friday. We paid 5.000 CFA for it both of us. Other option is go to Enxude by ferry and than take a truck to Sao Joao. After that take a little canoe to Bolama.

    We went to the canoe Tuesday morning. One soldier and another man came. He started to read our names and the soldier gave us life jacket and made sure tied. Most Local people don’t know how they can swim. If it is so wave people can drop down to the sea and die. After a big accident they started to do that.

    They carry everything in the canoe that is so big and so deep. All stuff and people go in but most people sit around the canoe. 3 hours journey and to WC. They were selling some drinks and cookies. They were talking, laughing, eating and helping each other and also trying to talk with us. They can speak Portuguese and I can speak a little Spanish. Of course, they were so curios because we were the only tourists in the canoe. J When I was talking with Ferry to what we will do there one person started to English who name is Sana. We were surprise. He said that He went to Spain 16 years ago and couldn’t come back again to visit his family until now. After told a while He invited us to his village.

    backpacker in west Africa

    We arrived to Bolama but we didn’t sure that we should go with him or look a place. When we looked around we figure out very fast that not easy to find a spot to wild camping or a hotel stay in. At the same time we know some kind of guesthouse They have. If we ask we could find it. At this moment Sana came next to us and said that lets go! Ok, Lets go, we can camp next to village and if we don’t like we can turn back. When we were walking together he was showing us old Portuguese houses and explain what they were. He was also talking almost every body on the road.

    Bolama CityWhen we arrived to the village He explain something about us who we are and why we want to see Bolama. (They were so much welcome. I just want to give a tip: we are calling it a village but they are big family. Grandmother and father went there made a house. After that their kids got married and most of them stayed there and have family. Therefore in the village everybody knows each other. They are brother, sister, cousin, brother-law…etc. Most village stories is same in West Africa. ) They were talking each other where we can stay. We said that we have our tent with us So, we can open the tent anywhere. They really got upset for that. Sana’s middle brother who is a Portuguese teacher, He said please stayed with us. They gave a room and room key.

    where can you stay in Guinea Bissau Everybody was coming to the home to say hello and welcome to their village. We asked to WC where we can go. Nobody wanted to talk. We already know that African toilets so, we needed only privacy. They said sorry and show a place, which is around close, and they have a hole in the ground. We just smile and said thank you. We saw their face was already getting relaxed.

    Bolama villageThey decided cut a chicken for us to dinner for welcome. We already so much appreciate what were doing. Just we can eat what they will eat. But no way! This is for guest and we are guests. They cooked it and put all of them in our room. What was going on? Sana said that all for guests just to say welcome. We wanted to eat together how they are eating everyday. Finally, They were agreeing with us. Sat to the ground with your hand. It was amazing feeling to do that.

    Africa tripNext day morning, we woke up 5 am to see fisherman coming home, Sana’s brother include with all fresh fish.

    Africa journey by motorcyclesSana introduced us them. After that they wanted to give us some fish to welcome. They are unbelievable friendly people. We waited them to see how they collect fishnet.

    Africa dream by motorcycleWe started to walk back to the village. First we went to see cashew. We never had seen before. They showed us cashew fruits and how we can eat it.

    Cashew fruitsAlso when we went to village they cooked cashew for us. Normally, I don’t like cashew but I understood fresh one is so nice. 🙂

    How make cashewWe were so tired. So, we wanted to get rest. We didn’t close to door If they need something They can take easily. I suppose that we faint in the bed. We didn’t hear any noise when we were sleeping. When we woke up we saw a lot of food on the table. Almost how many house they have in the village they cooked something for us. I tried to keep tears on my eyes. They don’t have money but they have a heart, which you never compare with money or something else. All was fish and rice. But it didn’t important. What they were doing it was incredible. How could we eat all? We said Sana to wanted to share everybody. He said first we needed to eat a little from each pan after that we could share because all food came for to say welcome.

    West African foodAfternoon we walked around the island a little more. Went to some markets. We wanted to buy something for house. You can’t be surprise the answer: No! If we need something they can buy or cook for us. Ok, can we buy something for kids? We like the answer: Yes! We bought a lot of cookies, candies and gave to Sana. We didn’t want to call kids in front of us and give it. Sana distributed kids in the village. We didn’t know that he said from us because kids came to us and said thank you.

    World trip couple

    The weather was so hot. Therefore in the afternoon chill out time for them. Ferry went with the man to sit under the big mango trees.

    West africa tripI went to a house with woman. Good thing is body language works very well. 🙂

    DCIM100GOPROGOPR8390.
    DCIM100GOPROGOPR8390.

    In the village, only one house has television and generator. It was a football match on the TV. A lot of people came to the house to watch.

    Discover AfricaAlso people were coming in the night to charge their phone. All kids were playing in front of the house because they have light only here.

    West africa journey by motorcyclesWe stayed there two nights. When we were leaving we were thinking totally different about life and culture. It was amazing to know that we have people like that in the world somewhere. They walked with us until begin of the village and said bye to us.

    West africa friendsIt was Thursday. So, we didn’t have direct canoe to Bissau. We wanted to take long road to see more things around. We went to the port of Bolama and waited a little canoe to pass Sao Joao. If the canoe has enough people they can leave at the same time. We paid 700 CFA to two. We asked how we could go to Enxude. They told us that a truck is coming to pick up people soon. We wait 10 minutes and the truck show up. Which is 1.000 CFA each. In the beginning it was ok because less people. We need to go 30 kilometers which is almost 2,5 hours. The road was really bad and they have a lot of little village or houses on the road. They wanted to get on the truck because only one truck was going to Enxude to catch the boat for Bissau. The truck could take maximum 20 people but almost 30 people and some of them were trying to stand. Also has a lot of stuff. It was so hard journey for us. But it was amazing experience to see people behavior. The truck was full and more people wanted to go on. They were helping each other to carry stuff or kids. Who was standing they were trying to give more space for them and keeping their hand to didn’t fall down.

    Travel west africa with backpack

    We arrived to Enxude 15 minutes earlier than the ferry. Actually, we were thinking that other canoe was coming like Bolama canoe. It wasn’t. It is a big ferry which you can carry your motorcycle as well. Unfortunately, you can’t do that because the tide is too much. Sea level is so low in Bissau and Ferry arriving or living next to other ferry. Therefore you need to carry your motorcycle ferry to ferry in Bissau. One way ticket is 1.500 CFA for a person.

    Backpacker in West Africa

    After all day trip, we turned back to Bissau. We were so tired. We just took 5 minutes canoe, 30 kilometers truck journey and 2 hours ferry. 🙂 We got rest in Bissau one day more and than leaved from Bissau to Guinea Conakry. And we choose a road, which is a big challenge.

    Would you like to watch all Bolama, Guniea Bissau experience in the video?

    FS-GS