Anaconda - roughly what route did you take? I'm looking at the FCO travel advisories, and can't figure out a viable route up and down.

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WineAndWater. RTW - Raising money for Wine to Water, supporting clean water projects in 15 countries.

Just don't look too closely at those advisories and you'll be fine.

Haha, I'm just getting underway myself. In Dahkla now and about to head down Mauritania, Senegal, Guinea and most of the rest of the countries on my way south.

Which advisories seem to be hampering your plan?

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My Travel Page

Those travel advices always made me nerveus, and afterwards I always have to conclude that they are formulated to general and not quite to inform independent travellers fully and correctly.

I encountered no problems at all with regard to safety/security during my travels. And I'm not a navy-seal-kinda-guy.

It's quite difficult to provide you with my exact route, but I crossed these countries from March 2012 - March 2013: (Turkey-->) Egypt-Sudan-Ethiopia-Kenya-Uganda-Rwanda-Burundi-Tanzania-Mozambique-Malawi-Zambia-Zimbabwe-Zambia-Botswana-South-Africa(+Swaziland&Lesotho)-Namibia-Angola-DRC-Congo-Gabon-Cameroon-Nigeria-Benin-Togo-Ghana-Burkina Faso-Ivory Coast-Guinea-Senegal-Gambia-Senegal-Mauritania-Western Sahara-Morocco (-->Spain)

It's Mauritania and Sudan that "block" me going around at the moment. According to the FCO website, they are both no go zones.

From your list: Burundi is also essentially a no go area, based on the FCO site.

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WineAndWater. RTW - Raising money for Wine to Water, supporting clean water projects in 15 countries.

Everyone has to decide for him-/herself, but as far as I am concerned, these countries aren't entirely no go zones, to say the least.

In Mauritania you can just drive along the coast via the coastal highway, like many many other tourists did last month when I was there (and do every day). If you go there, you will - among others - see 100+ seniors per day touring with their camper van.

In Burundi I did not notice a situation which should cause any concern and also there I met quite some tourists/expats (I think the travel advice is based on sporadic rebel activity - it's highly unlikely that you will meet these rebels in the areas where you would be); nevertheless Burundi is not necessary to visit, you can easily drive just from Rwanda to Tanzania.

And then Sudan... Many people ask me about the safety of Sudan. Why? Because of Darfur or because of the troubled past with South Sudan? You won't notice anything from the war in Darfur and most likely the same applies to the trouble with South Sudan. Look on the map again; the country is huge. When we were there, we only met very friendly people, drove on beautiful tarmac highways through stunning landscapes (including many pyramids) and enjoyed the capital Khartoum, a not too busy place without hassle. At that time, I read on internet about the tensions between Sudan and South Sudan and the negative effects thereof on the daily life in Khartoum. Huh? That was so much not what I experienced. Probably written by a journalist from Reuters in Nairobi, based on ...? If you really wanted to, you can cross Sudan in just a few days, but I bet you don't once you are there. It took us about 8 days.

I also checked the travel advice for "my" country, the Netherlands. I couldn't believe my eyes; it turned out that I also live in danger out here . So far for the credibility of these travel advices.

You should be worried about traffic in Africa in stead of the undefined dangers mentioned in the travel advices; that is without doubt the largest safety problem for tourists (and locals - during peace time).