Europe to Mali - without Mauritania...
 

Hi, folks.

I'm trying very hard to find excuses not to head off to Mali for a couple of events in January - yes, the ubiquitous Festival of course, but there's also a 2cv event the following week in Bamako. (Courage ! on y va ! : Rassemblement 2CV Bamako 01/2010)

We did the Plymouth-Dakar a few years back (in a Saab - gotta love heated seats in the Sahara), so have a reasonable idea of the kind of thing we can expect - but that's also brought the biggest planning headache. That long trawl down through Western Sahara's not exactly thrilling - and we've got absolutely no desire to go back to Mauritania again. Ever. Thanks.

So - any alternative routes? We'll be taking a 2cv - :stupid: - so 2wd, but perfectly capable of coping with corrugations and "light-to-medium" dirt. Think of the capabilities of a "soft-roader" 4x4, and you won't be far wrong.

Is Algeria feasible? Or would we be daft to even think about it...? Unfortunately, time will not be as generous as we'd want (is it ever?) - ideally not much more than a couple of weeks each way.

Cheers,
Adrian.

Hi
We are planing a trip Coté d Ivoire and also want to go through Algeria and Mali. (also done the atlantic road in the past)
How is safty, etc?

I've had a PM asking what's wrong with Mauritania - but can't send a PM yet, since I've not posted much. To be fair, it's largely a case of "Been there, done that" - when we did the Dakar, we went that exact way as far as Nouakchott - and whilst the stretch of "road" along the beach is amazing, the rest of Mauritania really isn't one of the highpoints of the world. I think the woman issuing Visas in the London embassy summed it up best with "I've never been there (she was Algerian) and I have no desire to." Also, the road down Western Sahara is _superb_ as a road - but lousy as a "travel experience" - and there's really not very much along the way to make up for that. If we're going back, we want to see more - different - elsewhere. After all, isn't that precisely why we all do these kind of daft trips?

If you have any concerns over safety, go the Atlantic route.

In a worst case scenario, going down Algeria you could arrive in a situation where the Niger border is closed and northern Mali very volatile, even if the border is open.
You would then have to turn back north, as the borders to Libya and Morocoo are definitely closed.
Of course, if you belong to the truly adventurous, this shouldn't stop you, just add to the excitement...

Hi
Algeria is feasible but tough in a 2wd. I did the Algeria route Dec07-Jan08 in a 2wd (Peugeot 505).
Tunisia-Algeria-Mali-Burkina Faso-Benin-Nigeria.
From Djanet we headed for Tamanrasset, the initial plan was to go from Tamanrasset into Niger via Assamaka, but we had to make changes and from Tamanrasset head for Bordj Mökhtar, and then into Mali via Tessalit and onward to Gao. Although we stayed on the so call main piste as must as possible, there were still times between Djanet and Gao that I wished I had a 4x4 and enough ground clearance. (I swore I’ll never do it again in 505, which I doubt)

From Gao we headed for the Niger border (Labbezanga) but go turned back, refused to issue visas at the border, although we were informed that we could get our visa at the border, as the only person Authorised to issue visa at the Niger Consulate in Tamanrasset was away on vacation. So went via Burkina Faso – Benin to get to Nigeria.

What is wrong with Mauritania?