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From Sierra Leone to France - Advice & suggestions welcome! From Sierra Leone to France - Advice & suggestions welcome!
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Route Planning Where to go, when, what are the interesting places to see
Photo by Hendi Kaf, in Cambodia

I haven't been everywhere...
but it's on my list!


Photo by Hendi Kaf,
in Cambodia



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  #16  
Old 26 Sep 2013
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Quote:
Originally Posted by McShizzle View Post
So you guys managed to go from Labe to Kedougou without going through Koundara?
I have to say my main source of information besides the Lonely Planet is Google Maps right now... I'll make sure to invest in the Rough Guide to West Africa ASAP!
As for paper maps, which one would you recommend?
Do you have a blog or a journal for your trip? I'd be most interested to read it!
Yes we did! It was a rough trip. I don't think we went through Maliville but I don't have my maps here (I'm in Canada right now and my truck and maps are in Germany).
We used Riese Know-How maps and ITBM maps.
Sorry, no blog or journal.
Looking at the passport it looks like the place we crossed was "Karang".
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  #17  
Old 27 Sep 2013
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I can't read my blurred passport stamps. The Michelin 741 shows two possible routes--via Maliville or a bit farther east. The map is basically too large a scale to be of much day-to-day use, but it's got so much information on it that I always bring it to any north or west Africa trip.

The whole Fouta Djallon was my favorite area of Guinea, so it's worth poking around a bit on any pretext you can think of.
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  #18  
Old 27 Sep 2013
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Thanks guys! I guess in the end I'll have to improvise a bit and probably turn back a few times myself...

As for the road through Mauritania, considering the situation and the fact that my friend and I don't have a lot of experience with sand riding (a few afternoons in the dunes in South-West France, that kind of stuff), is there any tracks that stray from the tarmac road just enough to connect some points of interest while keeping the possibility to rejoin the tarmac in a few hours if necessary? Something like GPS tracks, stuff like that?
I'd like to avoid the brain numbing 2000km straight line and zig-zagging taxis of death...
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  #19  
Old 27 Sep 2013
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The Michelin 741 map is basically a rough guide. I wouldn't use it for any route finding. You need something MUCH more detailed than that.

Did we go through Maliville?? I can't say yes or no, I don't have the maps here that have that sort of detail. I don't recall seeing a "Welcome to Maliville" sign anywhere but then that is no surprise as I wouldn't expect that anyways.

The best thing to do is to have a reasonably detailed map on hand, some reasonable idea of where you are and where you'd like to go and then ask locals when you have the opportunity.

For Mauritania, we just drove from Diama to the capital, spent the night and then on to Morocco. It was the time that France was battling the AQIM and Mauritania was probably the least "safe" of the countries we passed through. I'd like to spend more time there when we get the opportunity.
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  #20  
Old 1 Oct 2013
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Quote:
Originally Posted by McShizzle View Post
As for the road through Mauritania, considering the situation and the fact that my friend and I don't have a lot of experience with sand riding (a few afternoons in the dunes in South-West France, that kind of stuff), is there any tracks that stray from the tarmac road just enough to connect some points of interest while keeping the possibility to rejoin the tarmac in a few hours if necessary? Something like GPS tracks, stuff like that?
I'd like to avoid the brain numbing 2000km straight line and zig-zagging taxis of death...
The Banc d'Arguin National Park is having a fair amount of tracks with areas of not too high sand dunes. Had loads of fun there just a few days ago (4x4 though). There is a couple of different pistes leading to the coast from the tarmac road between Nouadibhou and Nouakchott. You can also drive most of the way between the towns inside the NP and join the tarmac a bit north of Nouakchott again after a beach run (check tides with locals). Permit costs around 3€/day and if you are here from November to February you will have around 2,5 million birds to see instead of the 2500 when we were there.

Bienvenue au Parc National du Banc d'Arguin (PNBA)
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  #21  
Old 3 Dec 2013
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Hello everyone!

I bring some sad news, well, sad for me. For personal reasons that shall not be put up on the interwebs, I had to cancel the Sierra Leone-France trip. I will be instead going down to Morocco with a few friends with the bikes and other vehicles that yet have to be identified, for about 3 weeks in March, which should still be a blast.

A huge THANK YOU to all of you guys for your help. I'm sorry I couldn't put it to good use, but I hope someone planning a similar trip will find it.

And I still really want to travel through West Africa on a bike, so who knows, one day I might have the occasion again !

As for now I will keep enjoying the pristine beaches of SL until my contract is over...

Au revoir!
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