Hi... I'm confused and need some concrete help undertanding visa requiremets. I'm travelling from London to Morocco, into Mauritania, on to Mali and then to Daker, Senegal and shipping my bike back from there.

Does anybody haev recent knowledge of;

a) Visa requiremets (what's needed, where do I get them)
b) Insurance issues (how to insure me and the bike for this trip)
c) Mandatory vacciinations needed

I know there are lots of threads on here already about this sort of stuff but I can't make out what is current and what is out of date.
Any help very much appreciated,

cheers,

Simon

Hi,

I suggest you get your Mali visum in Rabat (there are co-ordinates on this forum somewhere, use them cause nobody knows where the embassy is).

Get your Mauri visum in Casablanca, and for Senegal I don't think you'll need a visum, and if you do, somebody will correct me here I guess.

Have fun,

Rob

OK .. I ll go .

(Assuming you are a EU national ) You need visas for Mauritanie , and Mali only .
You can get Mauri visa at Casablanca 3h, or at the border .
You can get Mali visa at Nouathchokk 2-3h

Insurance :

If you get a green card @ home , then that's valid in Morocco . If not , you can buy insurence in the border @ Ceuta. In mauriania you must buy local insurance (Nouadhdibou or at the border) . Insurance for Mali and SEnegal is the same .. and can be bought at either border.

Vehicle importation.
MOROCCO is ok as long as you have a grey card.
MAURITANIA is ok .., they write the vehicle's detail in your passport , so you can not leave the country without it .
MALI , ok .. Local "passavant" issued at the border , they dont write details in passport ,
SENEGAL (If entered from Mali , apparently ) issue local "passavant" , and -depending on the officer- write or not vehicle details in the passport. (Note that in the north border there are restrictions to vehicles older than 5 y.o. , but not in the border with Mali.)

Shipping vehicle back to EU seems to be easier from Gambia ( www.pabloshipping.com ) than in Senegal , as Gambia dont write any vehicle details in the passport , hence-is possible to leave country without the vehicle. Also , there are some really cheap flights out of gambia.

Route is definitely doable in most vehicles , and should take a absolute minimum of -say- 10 days .
Depending on the mood of the officers , you may be required to show a yellow fever vacitination certificate.For Senegal & Gambia should take some sort of anti-malarial protection.

Enjoy your trip..
Javier.

thanks very very much guys.
Now I kow what to do !

What a great website this is eh ?
Simon

Hi,

You may all ready have this vaccine info but here it is any way.

Yellow Fever is compulsory you will need a certificate to prove you have been imunised against it as well. the vaccine costs about £40.
it is also recomended that you have the following
Hep A and Typhiod - usually combined often free
Hep B a course of three injections in 2 months and 1 12 months later this protects ypu for either 10 years of life.
meningitious a and c.
polio
TB
diptheria
tetnus

rabies is optional, you can either have three injections before you go and if you get bitten you have 24 hours to get medical help and then recieve a further 2 injections, or you do nothing and if you get bit then you have 24 hours to get medical help and then have 5 injections then.

the choice is yours on that one. I'm having them only becaus ethe rest of the people i'm traveling with are other wise i wouldn't bother . . . .

also don't for get to checkif you need maleria pills, the most recomended for long trips are doxycycline as some of the others have really bad side affects including delusions, depression, mood swings.

For shipping from The Gambia to UK I've twice used Redcoat at Banjul Airport Telephone 472405. I believe they are based in the UK or at least have a UK office.

In March 2001 I got a Mali visa from the embassy in Rabat. Coordinates N33deg 58.7' W006deg 50.0', give or take a few metres. Be aware the embassy might not be there anymore.

For what it's worth I also had a rabies vaccination to be on the safe side. I'd also get a Yellow fever vaccination certificate as I've been asked for this on arrival in Mali by air, but not on land. You never know...

Malaria prophylaxis: Now I just take chloroquine, reccommended to me by doctors in Mali after at least twice (third time unconfirmed) catching malaria, once in Niger and once in The Gambia.

Cheers,

Ian.

Do have a carent as veicles over a certain age (5years???) where not being let into Senegal with out one (May 04)
cheers