Hi all,

I'm reluctant to post a question about fear and personal safety as it a sensitive, complex and political issue, and none of us likes to admit their true fears or failures in public. However, I have come to the point in my trip planning that I must confront and understand my own fears about travelling through West Africa.

Of course any non-traveller that I speak to in my day to day life says "you're crazy" or asks "do you want to die?" when I tell them of my plans, and of course I take their comments with a pinch of salt, but I'm hoping to get some help and advice with how to approach this aspect of the trip. How to be more informed about the true risks and separate what is scary from what is dangerous.

With my (Australian) government advising against travel to many of the countries I want to visit, how do I go about assessing and managing the risks that come with West African travel? I'm a fairly quiet, careful person and not generally one to flout authority (of the organised, modern, Western democratic kind at least).

I realise that the above statement on its own makes me sound like a complete rookie, seasoned travellers seem to scoff at "ridiculous" government travel advisories and appear to be able to take chaos in their stride, ambling into war-zones to party with the locals. But the truth is that I am a rookie, and I need help approaching this level-headedly.

I am not asking for someone to make the decision to go for me, but I do want to know from those more experienced than I what resources I should be looking for to help better understand what I'm getting myself into, and to at least know that I don't do anything really stupid.

How have others approached this aspect of a trip into the unknown, and in particular areas of the globe that are considered "no go" by everyone in your immediate circle.

I'm not really looking for "don't worry, be happy" type of reassurance (but I'll take it). There are plenty of ride reports out there that paint a positive picture, but ride reports tend to be written when one feels positive, and is the last thing on the list when things get tough.

In short: I'm scared. Should I be? And if not, what do I need to go and learn about to know that it's just fear of the unknown and nothing worse?

Truth is Africa is amazing, and part of the amazement is how different it is.
Being wary is a good thing, being paralyzed by fear is not.
You will probaby grow into it in a week or two. Find a companion when you start out.
I have never been robbed or seriously ill in Africa.
And never had a serious road accident, but that is the worst problem.
The rest can be handled with patience and common sense.

I would try and find an ex-pats forum that covers the area of concern and ask there, real on the spot information will be better than any government generalisations about a country.

Ease into it.

If headed for West Africa from Europe, Morocco will give you adequate preparation. If you don't like it, you'll know all you need to know long before you get to Lagos (or even Mauritania). If coming from the south, South Africa and Namibia will accomplish the same. Don't hurry--at least initially--and take note of your reactions and improvements in basic skills and comfort.

Hope that's helpful.

Mark

I rode the west Africa route this year, north to south and Lagos was one of the highlights
my advise -- make contact with the many local bikers there (not just the ex pats as advised above, but locals) and they will be the best hosts you ever meet. I will PM you some contacts if you wish
and go to the old sports stadium on sunday afternoon. many bikers turn up there and you will have the best time.

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Thanks @priffe, that's exactly the boundary that I want to find. I don't think there's any doubt that I will go at this point, but this particular aspect of the trip is one that's difficult to get to grips with remotely, or by reading ride reports and watching Youtube videos!

I like your suggestion of finding a companion or fellow traveller to hook up with for sections where I feel uncertain, which is what I was hoping to do.

Thanks Mark, that's also a good suggestion. I'll start doing that for countries that I'm going to visit. I'm also going to make an attempt to learn a bit of basic French in advance, which should make things feel less foreign when I hit the ground.

Thanks Mark, that is definitely helpful. I grew up in (rural) South Africa and travelled through Southern Africa when I was young (with my parents). But that was a long time ago and I don't know how much this relates to the rest of Africa, particularly Franchophile Africa.

Thanks Brian, it would be great to be in touch with you and your contacts in Lagos, too. The reason I chose Lagos in the title of my post wasn't just because it sounded good. It's a city that for some reason has intrigued me for a long time, and I'd love to visit it (despite being petrified!).

Thanks again to everyone for their input, looking forward to reading any further responses (if there are some).

Dave

Great advices were already given , after riding across many countries and continents , I understand the fear before the departure but to my opinion and experience, I find it s very difficult to do anything without getting over your fear and going forward. Using the fear to prep is useful but at the end only your view and reaction will dictate how things go . Trust but not blindly , ask listen and think before acting and take the time to understand any new culture you encounter.
We just finished our 8 month trip in Asia and tomorrow will be the day we are leaving from Britany in direction of West Africa ( 2 bikes my wife and I ).
I found on this site so many great help that I can only say that in case of need there is always someone somewhere ready to help.

anydavenow,

Of course, the Hunter S. Thomson reference grabbed my attention. A rare treat on this dirt and gravel path we ride.

I noted your post and have taken time to think about it and the advice that followed, here is my humble opinion.

The following has worked for me, and I hope you see it as some interesting scenery rather than a universal truth or even a cultural/religious philosophy for it is neither. It is just a piling on of observations from my life, and some excellent training.

I perceive we live in a dichotomous universe, the old hate/love, life/death, beauty/ugly, right/wrong, courage/fear O K I'll stop here.

Let's look at fear. I suggest the best definition of fear is the loss of being and the ability to own anything. Once the self is lost to the environment the body is at the effect of the environment. One begins to doubt reality and doubt the reality of others. A person in fear is only capable, of occasional displays of action but otherwise cowardly, this is usually accompanied by capriciousness and irresponsibility. A person chronically in fear is a liability to society and utterly careless of others. A person in fear listens little, talks very little, gossips and, without independent verification or individual research buys into the lies perpetrated daily by the mass media. A person in fear passes on lies and ingenious and vicious perversions of truth.

My response is not geocentric, but my suggested solution is. To allay fear, you have selected the right track. You are asking those who have been where you intend to ride and apparently are doing independent research. And know, truth instills courage and the more courageous you are, the more you can own and eventually you can own and be responsible for your own self, your body and your environment.

When I ride, I own my immediate environment and to do this I utilize a skill often referred to as situational awareness I am as aware of my surroundings as possible. I have avoided potentially violent confrontations by being aware and taking defensive and offensive actions that have kept me and others out of harms way.

We all can increase our awareness. Examples: we can enter a restaurant and note secondary exits, we can check out the truck that seems to be following by
dry cleaning oneself - turning down back streets etc. We can determine angry and potentially violent people by their behavior, but to do this we must be aware of everyone and everything in our environment.

Here I would like to share something that occurred at our Spy Bar. Recently we had guests Dimitri, his beautiful wife, teenage son and daughter from Moscow, Russia stay at our Airbnb ranch house while they toured northern Arizona. As is our custom we invited the Russian family for drinks and conversation at our Spy Bar located in the Noble Barn . First, Dimitri brought to the party all the fixings for Bloody Marys for he and his wife and bottled fruit drinks for the kids. This was good thinking - not knowing about water/ice etc he was keeping his family safe. Next he immediately noticed the locked and loaded semi automatic pistol I keep among the wine bottles at the bar. Without giving away the fact that he noticed it, he simply asked if he could join me behind the bar to make his drinks and sat himself on a bar stool behind the bar and between me and the pistol. Slick! Great situational awareness!

I complimented him on his "move" and later he invited me to visit Moscow.

This is going on longer than I wanted, I hope in some small way it is helpful to those who read here.

Eat, Drink, and Be Aware
xfiltrate

And, even after more thought I found this partial quote by "Hunter" S
"In a nation of frightened dullards there is a sorry shortage of outlaws, and those few who make the grade are always welcome: "

The Spy Bar - drinks are always on the house

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www.xfiltrate.com
Discover how to legally Buy, Tour and Sell a motorcycle in Argentina

Hey Mate,
I sent you a PM to see if you want to have a bit of a longer discussion with a fellow Aussie who lived in Ghana and rode down to SA and until recently was living in Zim (a country I (foolishly) avoided the first time a came to Africa)

Apologies for truncating such an eloquent response, xfiltrate, but just wanted you to be notified of my reply.

Thank you for taking the time to think about my question and reply in such detail with an intimate and intricate response. I really appreciate it, and your outlook. It makes sense to me, and is reassuring.

I feel like I do have pretty good situation awareness (useful paranoia) and especially empathetic awareness - an understanding of how one's behaviour, body language, etc. may be perceived by others of a different culture (or even sub-culture). Often this is probably just self-consciousness pretending to be useful. But I catch your drift and it's definitely helpful.

I remember the first time, after moving to Australia, that I was standing, waiting to cross the road, and suddenly realised that I was not aware of exactly who was standing near or around me. I was so used to having everyone within "threat radius" evaluated that the feeling that I'd taken my eye off the ball surprised me. It's now been about 15 years since I've had to worry about that, but hopefully my skills will be resharpened quickly.

Not that I think my trip should be a black ops exercise, but I take your point that a bit of additional situational awareness can go a long way in foreign environments.

Thanks again.

I think I know where you're coming from, going into a big scary void of 'unknowns' and 'what if's' ...

Part-time resident in the region (Cote d'Ivoire) and have known the sub-region for over 10 years. As a female, I usually travel alone on public transport, but drove down from Europe in December without a worry but because I know the terrority and had a goal of getting there quickly (10 days). I know Mali, I'm aware of the risks but did still take a sharp intake of breath when setting off from the border but again, I rang friends in Bamako to let them know of my arrival! Expats will usually only be found in the major cities ... and often don't know the interior if it's an area they're not working in!

It all sounds straight forward, but it isn't, I often get niggling worries prior to leaving (4 times a year) wondering might happen this time with a sense of bad karma about to hit me. Karma has been good to me, kept me out of accidents and never felt threatened anywhere across the region. People are great, welcoming, want to help (too much sometimes -grrr!) and you just need to go with the flow. If there's a new area I don't know I will ask around beforehand with locals before I head off ... get some perspective on the route and destination.

So head there, see how you feel, take it at YOUR pace and make friends en route (you'll soon work out who wants to be your friend just for money and who's genuine!) and enjoy the culture!!!

Bonne route

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http://www.west-african-views.blogspot.com

Hey Kira,

Thanks so much for the reply. I've spotted your posts around and was hoping you might pipe up!

Your perspective's really valuable, thank you, as is your advice. You're right about these feelings. They're a complicated mix of fear of the unknown (fuelled by anecdotal data points of hardship and horror) and a real, rational concern about how to move through new environments where your "normal" behaviour might not result in the experience you want.

I think (with no small thanks to a great chat with @ozranger) that the bribery, corruption and language issues have had their power taken from them now, and I know a bit more about what to expect.

My fears now are more about the day to day: how to simply get along, find food, fuel and somewhere to sleep. Not something I'd ever need to think twice about travelling in Aus, or even on a "normal" trip in Europe, the US or Asia, and probably not something I'll need to think twice about after 2 weeks on the road, but a fear nonetheless.

Thanks again for your response. I'm yet to check out your Blogspot but will do so. Hopefully I can pop in and say hello on my way through.

Cheers,

Dave

Hi there,

I haven't read all the other replies to your question so I will just say that I am riding my bike from Capetown to Paris, currently I am in Senegal and going north to Mauritanie.
I was apprehensive about RDC, Nigeria and Mali, it was all good with Mali my favourite of them all. Don't listen to the negative comments, you will be fine I am sure.
By the way I live in Melbourne and I travel solo.
Good luck.

Thanks for posting what is undoubtedly a question all us newbies have in our mind, so eloquently. And equally, Thanks for all the helpful, non judgmental replies.

I'm in the same boat. I've invested in the vehicle, bought the recovery gear and tracking system, entrusted my company to someone else to run, recently taken a fairly intense, in depth wilderness / first responder first aid course, feel that 25 years working in the Middle East has equipped me with the "I can cope with / deal with this situation" experience, and tried (not entirely successfully) to convince my wife that my traveling round Africa (to start with) without her is a good idea and yet......taking that first step is making me increasingly nervous. Not because I won't do it, but because I'm not going in blindly.

I know there will be serious problems, security situations, threats, medical problems etc., and yet......I'm determined to do it anyway. But still I'm scared. The only I advice I can give - remember, this is coming from someone who's not done it yet! - is that in speaking to my handful of friends who have, is - trust those who have, and trust your own instincts. We all want to do this - and come out the other side.

Everyone I know who has made a complete, or partial, RTW trip is a massively better / stronger / less judgmental / more complete person for it. Their experiences blow my mind, and they look back and laugh about situations which in the past would have scared the crap out of me - but which now just intrigue me. Which suggests to me, I might be almost ready :-)

Trust me, there is absolutely nothing to worry about. I can assure you that 99.5% of the population are incredibly and genuinely friendly, you will be surprised. Ok, they always ask for money at first but after that they are fine.
On top of that you will be able to speak with your wife most of the time.
I have been riding around the world much before internet which meant no contact with anyone for months. Now it's so easy.
Good luck.
You can check my Facebook page for more info on Didier Martin Melbourne or YouTube TransAfrica Didier Martin.
Good luck