Hello all.

Assuming one has factored in the cost of equipment and visas around how much money would you need to go from West Africa to South Africa?

I am ony really looking for rough figures here. For context I'd be looking to stay in hotels/b&bs when available although nothing fancy just whatever is cheap and cheerful

Hi (again).

I did not keep a tally of what I spent. However my costs were in a few distinct categories:

Petrol: you can estimate this by looking at your planned distances and local costs of petrol via Google.

Accommodation: I am too old to camp so found local lodgings but frequently used Book8ng.com. So you could scour Booking.com for the locations you plan to visit, and/or look at iOverlander which often gives details of lodg8ngs and prices

Food: usually made my lunch from the leftovers of any breakfast or a cheap snack at a roadside stall…so only real cost was soft drinks and dinner each day plus some bottled water. Say 25€.

Border crossings: as I didn’t use a carnet, I needed to get a TIP at each border, usually costing 10€ (3 years ago) or thereabouts. Never needed to grease any palms or pay any fines.

Insurance: can be expensive for some countries depending on size of bike (my Ghana insurance was 90€ for a year, but I was on an 1150 which blew their minds) so factor in some money for that…again, Google and iOverlander are your friends on this. (And some countries share insurance so you don’t need to buy at each border).

Prices vary by country, with Morocco one of the cheapest and Angola one of the most expensive.

Depending on how you get across the Congo river you may need to budget a pirogue crossing for the bike (can’t remember but say €75) and a short flight for yourself…was USD30 from memory.

Someone more knowledgeable than me will be along presently to share their detailed cost ledgers with you, no doubt

Am in Leenane weekend of 3 September at the GSer meeting, if you find yourself near there and want a chat.

Regards

Simon

Cheers Simon.

I'll do some research with the fuel and hotels as that should be easy enough.

Do you think it's better to get a carnet or just get a TIP everywhere you go? Does the carnet take time or is it just more costly in general?

I was thinking of budgeting about 10k all in. Do you think that would sustain me from Senegal to South Africa?

Unfortunately won't be able to make it to Galway but enjoy!

The original question was a bit vague - from Nigeria to RSA is a lot closer than Mauretania to RSA - however I guess it's from Senegal based on the subsequent post?

You have to consider costs/km and costs/day - if you take 6 months then your costs for food and accommodation are twice what they'd be for a 3 month trip, whereas the fuel cost will be similar (although if you take longer you're probably going to wander more and cover more distance).

The way we travel we'd take around 3 months for this distance.

Note: I don't know West Africa however know Gabon, Congo, Angola, and RSA well.

It is like the budget of a worldtrip : up2you

Because the food is very cheap - the timeframe has a minimal impact on the required budget, as long as you do wildcamping.

At 2012 my (required) expences for a transafrica was the following order

- Fuel 3500$
- Visas per person 1500$
- National Park entrys
- Carnet fees
- Food below 100$, even with buying nutella in congo for 9$

As my vehicle has a value of 180k usd, I did add a all risk insurance for 7`000$ for two months who covers africa including nigeria and both congos, including theft, burning, accident. That let me travel very relaxed with a valuable car, let me drive as is there no limit. From dune bashing till reading the water level on the front screen - I did always know that my insurance will kick in, if something goes wrong. Let me travel with less care, less worrys.

As I say - the budget is up2you.

So if your trip will last 6 weeks or 6 months, the costs dont will be very different, as long you didnt stay extended in Hotels or Nationalparks.

Surfy

__________________
About Overlanding, Travelogues, Equipment
Trans-Africa over the west coast

You ask about carnets.

This is a much discussed subject so I recommend you do your own research as there are many views and strong opinions (not all correct!).

Carnets cost money to get (say 400 euro+-) and you deposit a lump of cash, varying according to your vehicle value, which you get back when your moto returns to its home country. in theory they ease border crossings as all customs officer has to do is stamp the carnet.

I did NOT get a carnet as:

1. I never intended to ride as far as I did.
2. My bike was old and worth less than £2,000
3. I wanted the freedom to abandon the bike if it (or I) broke down....and indeed i did try to abandon it in Gambia, Cameroon and Congo.

People will tell you (as they did me, repeatedly) you need a carnet to enter Nigeria or Ghana. That was not me experience.

Any way good luck with your homework....

Is this a misprint of some sort? Did you spend under US$100 for food on an extended trip involving US$1500 worth of visas? Seems improbable.

Sounds like a good diet plan to me