The plan is to ride from Northampton, UK to South Africa following the West Coast route. The East Coast route is currently a non starter due to war in Sudan and problems in Ethiopia. The journey started in March 2023. I'll try and post as much information on border formalities, visas and other paperwork issues as possible.

This is my second attempt at riding Africa, North to South. Started in Northampton, UK on 20 March 2023. Last year I rode solo down to Dakar and back (October 2022) so for me the first part of the journey is something I've already done. This year I've joined up with my fellow traveller Richard and the whole route is new to him. We're hoping to make it to South Africa. Learning from last year, there are a few things we are doing differently this year. First up is visas. The Ghana and Nigeria visas are very difficult to get so we set ourselves the target of getting them before leaving the UK. It's not easy and required lots of form filling, online applications, hundreds of pounds in fees and personal visits to consulate offices in London. Anyway, we managed to get the Ghana and Nigerian visas and then the trip was on. Richard decided to do a tour of Morocco which I wasn't interested in as I'd done it last year so we agreed to meet in Agadir before starting our ride South together.

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The ride to Agadir is straight forward, through France and Spain. Ferry from Algeciras to Tanger Port. Moroccan border procedures are easy. Just turn up. Immigration is done on the ferry. Customs on exiting the port. Customs just need the registration document and issue a Temporary Import Permit (TIP) which takes the form of a credit card sized piece of paper. On exiting the port there are cash machines and an insurance office. Just buy your Moroccan insurance and you're good to go. From memory it was about 65 Euro for 10 days insurance. The roads in Morocco are fine, there are plenty of hotels and frequent fuel stations, just like riding in Europe. I stopped in Rabat and next day continued down to Agadir to meet Richard

Next day we rode down to Laayoune. Laayoune is a real gem. Nice city centre hotel surrounded by clean streets, banks, shops etc. Even a McDonald's. Laayoune is in Western Sahara. It's politically sensitive but suffice to say the Moroccans control it and for all intents and purposes you're in Morocco so no border formalities. Next day we rode down to Dakhla which is a well known Kite surfing hangout. It's a fantastic ride, the roads are good with desert and ocean views. Next day we went to Bir Gandouz. There is nothing there but a fairly run down hotel which didn't have flushing toilets or AC. The staff are friendly and let us park the bikes inside the courtyard for the night. It's a good staging post for entering Mauritania. The plan was to avoid going to Nouadhibou. I went there last year and found it's a place best avoided. Instead we planned to cross the border and go straight to Nouakchott.

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The border crossing is ok, you just clear out of Morocco then ride across No Mans land to Mauritania. There you need to see Immigration, police, customs, money changers and insurance people. If you don't speak French or Arabic it may be worth using a fixer. The ride from the border to Nouakchott is fine. The road has had significant improvement work done since last year and most of it is fine. Nouakchott itself is a revelation and quite chaotic. Africa effectively starts in Mauritania! We arrived late in the evening and the hotel we planned on staying at was full. It took a while to find another and we were worn out by the time we checked in.

A lesson from last year, don't book a hotel based on the online photos and don't pre pay as some of the advertised hotels are derelict and the hotel booking sites won't refund even though the booking is fraudulent. After check in we went to fill up with fuel and get the bikes ready for an early start the next day.

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Next day we were up early, hoping to get out of town before it got too busy and hot. We didn't really succeed on either of those but eventually we were on the open road. The ride to the border was tough, just because of the heat. It got up to 43'c and there was just no escape from the sun beating down. We chose the Diama border based on the reports of corruption and scams at Rosso. I went through Diama last year and it's a mess but manageable. Last year the dirt road to Diama was in a bad state and progress was slow. This year I was surprised to find the road has been repaired. It is still dirt but at times were managing 60mph with no problems. On the way you enter a national park where a guard collects 200 ouguiya. This is legitimate and he issues a receipt. The border is not far away. At the border you go into the Mauritanian offices and clear out of Mauritania then ride across the bridge over the river. First thing you have to do is pay the bridge fee in CFA so you need a money changer. You don't need to find one, they will find you! The exchange rate isn't the best but they are at the border and offer a great service making life easier for travellers so I have no problem with that. They are a friendly bunch and quite helpful too. Once the bridge fee is paid you go on to immigration for passport stamp then customs and insurance. You can get Brown Card insurance which covers lots of West African countries. Can't remember how much it should be. I'm pretty sure we were done by a fixer but that's the life of an overlander I suppose. Once all that is done you're on your way into Senegal. Of course all of this has been done in the baking heat and slow working due to Ramadan. Photo of the road to Diama and approaching the Diama border crossing on the Mauritanian side.

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Canucklr. No, you only need one (a carnet or a TIP). Last year I didn't have a carnet, I just got the TIP at the border. Problem is that they only issue the TIP for 5 days at the border. If you want longer you have to go to an office in Dakar to get it extended. I did that last year. This year I had a carnet. Problem is they won't stamp it at the border! They give you a 5 day TIP and you have to go to customs in Dakar to get the carnet stamped. Either way if you're in Senegal for more than 5 days you'll have to go into Dakar. In our case we needed to get visas in Dakar and it covered a weekend so we needed more than 5 days in Senegal.

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Well that took a turn, I have no idea what I’d do in that situation! Well done for pressing on, hope you manage to complete the trip without the documents.

No chance of that tjmouse.........

Danane to Daloa

The previous day was still fresh in our minds but there were some things to do. First was to find an ATM. Not easy in Danane. While in the back streets a guy stepped out and stopped us. He was just friendly and soon his friends had come over to see us. They wanted photos standing with the bikes. We found the ATM after riding around town and asking various locals. Never would have found the bank as it was down some back roads in amongst shacks but the bank itself was all modern and fresh. Money in hand we could buy sim cards, fuel, food and water. We then set off for Daloa. The ride was fine but I was just waiting for the inevitable roadblocks. There were a few but the police weren't really interested in us and a few of them just waved us through. Others were friendly and checked passport or licence, all stuff I had. The further from the border we got, the less likely we were to get stopped by customs. We made it to Daloa and found a quaint hotel for the night.

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Daloa to Abidjan

The ride to Abidjan was uneventful. generally good roads but I was still worried about the loss of documents. We found a hotel and headed straight for it. It didn't have much curb appeal but was a real little Oasis inside. Major bonus was that it had big steel gates we could hide the bikes behind. I parked my bike inside the grounds and decided that it would stay there until I had sorted the document problems out. I would need a Carnet to get it into Ghana and I didn't have one any more. It was in Cote d'ivoire in what I'd say was a state of limbo.
First thing to do was to replace the lost documents. I spoke to the Carnet office but they said that unfortunately there is a lot of procedural stuff to do so it would take a week plus shipping time to replace the Carnet. At best that would be 9 days.
I requested a replacement V5 from the DVLA. Back in the UK, Belinda rushed off to get my yellow fever card re issued, passport photos reprinted and some UK stickers. They are a requirement in some countries and mine was on a lost pannier. With all that together Belinda DHL'ed it to Abidjan.
While waiting we used the down time to get our Cameroon visas. What an effort that was. Although we requested expedited service on the form, they took our passports and said come back in 8 days at 4pm.
We used taxis to get around Abidjan as I wasn't going to risk riding my bike. We went all over trying to find chain lube. Seems it is an alien concept in Abidjan. Even Yamaha said they didn't sell it but we could ask the maintenance dept. if they had any.
The DHL folders arrived and we collected the new documents and Carnet. The hold up now was due to the Cameroon visa. We went back at 1pm on the 8th day and they said come back at 4pm, it's not ready yet. Went back at 4pm and still no action. About eight people all hanging around waiting for their passports. After 6pm we finally got the passports with visas. That was all we needed, next morning we were keen to get going. On our way to Ghana.

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Sounds like situation rescued / resolved. Enjoying the report

I read your report while thinking to myself "How could they not notice the change in handling once their panniers fell off?" Then I remembered the time I was bicycling back from the grocery store, both panniers stuffed full of Trader Joe's goodies, and one fell off a mile from home. It wasn't until I got off the bike and got ready to carry my groceries indoors that I noticed. Fortunately Bellingham is a sleepy little town, and I found it right where it landed.

So if that could escape my notice on a bicycle, where a pair of loaded panniers probably outweighs the bike itself, I can see where you might not immediately notice on a motorbike. But another issue concerns how we attach stuff which might inadvertently become detached in normal operation. On motorcycles, I habitually go with two means of attachment for each bit of luggage, just because sometimes one will fail (or I'll forget, or buckle/lock/hook/tie it wrong). My panniers are through-bolted twice apiece; same with my top box, and that dry bag on the back seat is both strapped and bungied into place. When I take shortcuts sometimes I lose stuff, although this is limited to water bottles, sunglasses, and the occasional flipflop.

Hope you're enjoying Ghana, a relatively low-stress place featuring history, culture, nightlife, and excellent beaches!

Mark

Markharf: Thanks. Yes, the panniers were big and bulky but full of lightweight stuff, particularly the big left side one, so not overloaded. It was a paved road so no real handling to highlight the loss.

Yes, Chris, it is plausible that the panniers were tempered with although the remaining racks don't look damaged.

We're in Douala and will be for a while. Had new brake pads and fork seals sent out, but now we're waiting for the Congo visa. I'll update the blog again once we get moving. Expecting to be on the road again on Wednesday.

To all those reading, thanks for the support.

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