Originally Posted by pjmancktelow

I'll update a bit now I'm through Sierra Leone and Liberia for completeness on this excellent thread. Both are pricey. Moee expensive than Conakary

Sierra Leone was pleasant enough. Black market rate is way above the official rate. For all currencies. I was carrying CFA as my hard currency. Not a great deal to see and do but the beaches of freetown are spectacular. The roads are greay whe* good as their new. And atrocious wheb they are not new. The road around the Freetown peninsular is nearly complete and will be a fantastic ride in a year or two.

To Bo, the road is paved and good. South to Zimmi and the Liberia border gets worse and worse. Dry season for me a s was the worst road I've seen. Even the locals said terrible road

Liberia has equally not much to see. Monrovia is expensive with few if any camping. Its a bit unsafe after dark too. Still. I liked Monrovias vibe. Spent 6 days there over NYE. US dollar is the currency,* Liberian dollar serves as change of $1. 100 liberian dollars for $1. Bonus of this is you can withdraw US dollar from ATMs should you be in short supply of them

The road from the border through Monrovia to Ganta are excellent. After that. Piste to Cote D'Ivoire. Bad road. But not as bad as Sierra Leone.

In both countries people arw generally very friendly. Sierra Leone officials chanced their arm for money. Ofte* harmlessly. Except immigration on the way out

Liberia never asked for anything once. Refreshing!

As for Carnets. Sierra Leone didnt need one. I was with another biker. They asked for my carnet and stamped it. But aftet some talking they let him through with nothing. We split in Sierra Leone.

In Liberia I had them stamp my carnet but probably shouldn't have bothered. You get the vehicle permit with the visa. The customs did talk about a pass. But said as less than a week they'll not bother. I wasnt clear on what he was on about. I think he didn't understand the point of the carnet. But summary is you can do both without a carnet

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