One Road One World

Tag: Gambia

  • 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

  • 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

  • Border Crossing and Bribery for Senegal, Gambia, Guinea Bissau, Guinea

    Border Crossing and Bribery for Senegal, Gambia, Guinea Bissau, Guinea

    If you have a plan Western Africa trip you should check all border crossing and bribes in West Africa; Morocco to Mauritania and other countries until Namibia.

    Senegal 

    You pass a bridge from Mauritania what costs 4.000 cfa (6,50 euro), you need to pay this in cfa or he will charge you 10 euro each! After that he opens the gate for you.

    Passport – You hand over your passport, they give you a visa (stamp) upon arrival, no money or gift asked here.

     Import vehicle – You get a Pass Avant at the other side of the Street this costs 2.500 cfa (4 euro). You get 48 hours to extend this in Dakar (of you go on Fridays you get 96 hours).

     Vehicle insurance – Don’t buy this at the border!! It’s fake! Where can you get ECOWAS?

    Bribery – Here we only got asked 10 euro fort he Pass Avant by one of the guys, don’t pay him just pay the guy at the desk the 2.500 cfa and you have no problems. And just don’t buy the insurance!!

    Leaving Senegal 

    We left Senegal to The Gambia, we used the border crossing nearby Barra, no bribes asked and we got our smoothly.

    The Gambia 

    We entered The Gambia at the Barra border.

    Passport – All pretty smooth we got our visas and passport at the border for free, no money or gifts where asked.

    Import vehicle – We used our Carnet the Passage .

    They told us they would do in Dabbis, but that’s wrong. You need to go to

    Leaving The Gambia 

    We left The Gambia from the border near Soma

    Passport – easy and smooth they stamp you out in the last village before the border.

    Export vehicle – We used our Carnet the Passage .

    Bribery – No money or gifts where asked.

    Senegal (Casamance) – We entered from Soma and left from Zigounchor both really easy no money or gifts asked for.

    Guinea Bissau 

    We entered Guinea Bissau from Zigounchor.

    Passport – All really easy and smooth they stamp it fast.

    Import vehicle – We used our Carnet the Passage.

    Vehicle insurance – ECOWAS insurance valid here.

    Bribery – No money or gifts where asked

    Leaving Guinea Bissau 

    We left Guinea Bissau on a really small border not used a lot by overlanders from Contabane.

    Passport – Our passport got stamped out easy

    Export vehicle – We used our Carnet the Passage.

    Bribery – They asked what I have for them when we got write out of the country I told him a handshake, shake his hand and we both smiled and we where free to go.

    Guinea Conakry 

    We used a really small border to enter Guinea from Contabane to Dabbis.

    Passport – This was a problem, when we arrived at the border they told us they will stamp it in the next (bigger) village. Unfortunately they didn’t. They told us to go to Boke, the next city at the end of the road. We didn’t push anything and trusted them, our mistake! Push more at the first border crossing they need to stamp you in the country. Eventually we got into Boke riding around trying to find customs, this took a while but here are the GPS coordinates 10.930486, -14.291541 if you end up here as well to get your stamp in your passport. The chief here needed to call the minister of tourism who needed to give him permission to stamp us in the country. This all took a long time, we stayed a couple of hours waiting and waiting. The chief then wanted 100.000 GNF (10 euro) when he had the permission to stamp our passports as always we refused to pay and eventually he didn’t ask about it anymore. When we got our passports stamped and went back to our motorcycles his right hand came to us and asked us for a little money because he needed to use his mobile phone all the time, this time I gave him a little money because it is true he put in a lot of afford for us and made some phone calls, I gave him 10.000 GNF (1 euro).

    Import Vehicle – We used our Carnet de Passage.

    Vehicle insurance – ECOWAS insurance valid here.

    Bribery – The chief asked us in Boke 100.000 GNF we refused and got away with it, only paid 10.000 GNF for his phone costs and because he put a lot of afford into it.

    Leaving Guinea 

    We left Guinea from the Kouremale border to Mali.

    Passport – We got our passports stamped out easy nothing asked for.

    Export Vehicle – We used our Carnet de Passage.

    Bribery – They only asked a gift when exporting the vehicle, I offered him a handshake and he excepted it. 

    *** You can watch our Guinea motorcycle trip  adventure.

    ”Travel Guinea Conakry is trouble in protests time also no safe. Is true? :”

    FS