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Photo by Andy Miller, UK,
Taking a rest,
Jokulsarlon, Iceland



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  #1  
Old 24 Aug 2014
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Ebola borders
Just starting out on North to South through west Africa.
Haven't even left Europe and countries seem to be closing their borders rapidly due to Ebola.

Seriously considering East coast instead but appears ferry from Turkey has now stopped and Libya border closed.

Have been looking through all the threads for options.

Any thoughts or ideas?

Doesn't seem like the sanctions being imposed due to Ebola are going to be lifted anytime soon.

Richard
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  #2  
Old 25 Aug 2014
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Hi
have the same plans starting october....allthough I never planned to visit the ebola affected counntries....except Nigeria as it is on my way down.....and cameroun closed its border with Nigeria.
Many other countries are closing border for the 3 ebola countries...only Cameroun is also doing this for Nigeria.
So I'm tyring to find out if there are ways (water/air) to get from Benin to either cameroun or gabon.....
I cannot judge if there is a lot of overland trafic heading that way..otherwise I just assume benin people can do business with cameroun...in stead of nigeria.

I just follow this...and if there is really no option (in respect to timing and budget) ...I might have to redesign the entire trip and opt for shipment straight to South Africa and do all Southern countries (and look at Madagaskar)
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  #3  
Old 25 Aug 2014
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In 2011 we had no problems flying our bikes from Abuja to Joburgh. You can have have a fun ride through Morocco, Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso etc. and avoid the Ebola area.
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  #4  
Old 25 Aug 2014
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Simon, txs for the positive note..
In fact our way down is not a straighforward one..after cameroun we end op in congo where we would want to go east so fly into goma (due to rainy season and the 3 months we have I avoid doing the famous N1 from kinsasha to lumumbashi). One in Goma we can go Tanzania and due south.

But this is plan conceived with a EU background, where services are available and reliable.

I think in Africa a lot is possible if you have time and money.
What did you pay to have your bikes airshipped to Jborg (which I would not do...I would prefer Goma)

I know airshipment from Kinsasha to Goma (Congo) is possible allthough I have no details yet.

And yes my heart wants to do the actual route south driving...not flying my bike every few countries due to some issue
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  #5  
Old 26 Aug 2014
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YVES GSA,
we paid $4800 for the bikes and ourselves, which was $800 more than we wanted to. We worked out it would cost around $4000 to cover that distance in visas, fuel food accommodation etc. getting from Abuja to south africa.
We had been on the road for nearly a year having started in Tokyo and were needing to finish in six weeks or we would be facing lots of renewal costs such as travel insurance carnets expiring etc.
As it was after arriving in Joburgh we then managed to scoot around Mozambique, zimbabwe, namibia and south africa which was good value compared with just slogging through the mud of central africa for 6 weeks.
As you said it is a balance of time and money plus mental state and energy
Simon
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  #6  
Old 26 Aug 2014
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Another option is to take the ferry from Kinshasha to Kisangani. About 150 dollars....
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  #7  
Old 27 Aug 2014
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Will have a look at shipping options, but being in a land rover it will naturally be more expensive. Would also be a shame to miss out some of the route, but sometimes I guess not an option.

Has anybody seen any recent information on getting into Egypt as an east coast alternative?
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  #8  
Old 4 Sep 2014
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Hi, I'm leaving november 15th from Amsterdam to drive to SA in my Defender and am also planning to take the west route, however the various closed borders made me look at the west route. I found out there is a ferry service from Iskenderun, Turkey, to Damietta, Egypt.

Here you can read a report from a Swiss driver: Auf der Fähre: Iskendurun nach Damietta | Cruise The Planet

So far I'm still planning to take the east route because:
* I can skip Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia by driving trough Mali
* I'll be at the Cameroon border only in march 2015 and hope the ebola outbreak is under control at that time
* If the Cameroon border is still closed at that time I expect there to be some kind of ferry service or other workaround to be setup from Togo to Cameroon as I think the local African community als needs the do business
* I agreed to celebrate new year with friends in Marrakech

An other interesting site I found about the current state of the African borders:
Africa Border Monitor
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  #9  
Old 4 Sep 2014
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i was on that african border monitour website yesterday, im not so sure how acurate it is...im prity sure mali/mauri is open but the site says no and i think chad/camaroon is open aswell but the site says no...but its a intreasting looking site
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  #10  
Old 5 Sep 2014
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Looking at options! !
I'll be following this as im in the same position. Leaving London November/December. It's looking like Mali Nigeria is possible the only way through at this time?
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  #11  
Old 5 Sep 2014
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I've given the guys at African Border monitor some info over the past 2 years about what is and isn't open, they do sometimes take a while to update the map.

Chad/Cameroon I'm not sure.....I'm pretty sure Chad said no flights from affected countries, but land borders? Al Jazeera reckons Chad/Nigeria is closed:

African nations tighten Ebola travel bans - Africa - Al Jazeera English

I do believe the Mauris have closed the border with Mali, but that doesn't mean Mali has closed the border with Mauri (ie traffic can go south but not north)......but this is a long border I think you could find a way of crossing even if it is closed.
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  #12  
Old 5 Sep 2014
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It's proving a real struggle to find a ferry into Egypt.

West coast is not looking appealing in so far as, border issues aside, it's not much of a trip if we are spending most of the time on the alert avoiding close contact with people, raw foods etc etc. Then the additional hassles to enter/leave countries.

Problem is, do you wait out the epidemic only for something bigger to come along and make it even harder....
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  #13  
Old 6 Sep 2014
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Does anyone have any references regarding the mali - mauritania border? I'm in Ghana now and could be stuck if it really has been closed.
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