Mauritania to B Faso via Mali
 

Apologies if this belongs in the other forum.... How practical/easy is it ...coming down from the Atlantic route...to cross directly from Mauritania to Mali in the dry season...say December...? Worthwhile to avoid the costs/hassle of Senegal?

Worthwhile to avoid the costs/hassle of Senegal?

Haven't done so myself for many years, but from what I read here I would say yes. Unless you are an old hand at borders, Rosso border can be intimidating or expensive.

Ch

Hi,
It's been 3 years since I did it, but Ayoune to Nioro was a doddle of a crossing.
Hearing the music on the streets was certainly conformation we'd made it to Mali!
I'd highly recomend Segou as a place to unwind for a while if you can spare the time.
Happy travels
Sam

That border crossing into Mali should be straightforward. So is the Sikasso - Koloko crossing into Burkina Faso. People were nice, and although a little bribery might be expected at times it's a huge difference to Rosso. Bear in mind that BF is desperately poor and the borders are quieter, so the customs official who wants a little gift is probably living far below western poverty levels, whereas somebody on the west coast who thinks their uniform entitles them to some of your cash has probably said the same thing to a dozen other Europeans that day.

I was asked to give a valuation on a customs form for the vehicle when entering BF; I accidentally made a conversion error and left a zero off the number, at which point the customs official offered to buy the vehicle and reached into his drawer for some cash... The purpose of the customs form is undermined, as the form is not associated with anything in your passport, so if you sell the vehicle and leave by other means, the people at the exit point who look through your passport will have no way of knowing if you've evaded any import duties.

a nice alternative Kankossa to Kayes by a fast sandy piste or even Selibabi to Kayes by a slow dirt & dust piste
no probs at all, did it end of march 2011

btw: you do NOT need a visa to enter Mali, just get the "laissez passer" at the border, cost 15.000 CFA (20 something euro) and then you have one week to do a proper visa in bamako freee of charge just need to fill in a form and 2 photos (up to 3 months one entry)

Sorry if this is a dumb question: If I stay less then one week in Mali, can I just skip the visa and exit with the "laissez passer"?

Mali visa prolongation at the immigration in Bamako is not free, it costs 5000cfa for one month ! The laisser passez for the motorbike is one month, guess it was around 4000cfa.

You don´t have to take the Rosso border, I made the piste to Diama on a 35years old vespa, no problem at all ! You´ll pass a national-park on the way which is pretty beautiful. At the border itself we paid 25 Euros for a 3 days laisser passez after 1 hrs negotiation, which we prolonged in Dakar for free 2 times ! It helps if you make friends with everybody and play the good old "poor student" number ! ;-)

Oh, by the way one week for mali would be a shame, the place is absolutely amazing and I loved every day of the 1,5 month I was there.


greetings from Cotonou,

Chris

Crossing direct from Mauritania to Mali is definitely worthwhile and quite easy if you stick to the main routes. In our first attempt we went south from M'bout thinking we could get to Kayes through a shortcut and save some time, but the track became uncrossable near the Mali border and we were forced to return to Kiffa to take the main road. We eventually crossed from Ayoun El Atrous without much problems.

Hi,

If done it a few monts ago to avoid the rosso border. No problem at all, just carry enouth petrol. In Mauretania moast of the petrolstations in small towns onely have Diesel. 100km from the boarder in Mali you will find petrol again :)

Travel save, Tobi
Riding the rough west coast through Africa part 3

Thanks for all the above.....very helpful. Coud anyone say just what range one needs to safely make it between petrol stations...? I can do about 380Km...is that enough??

thanks

Richard

380 km is not enough, I can do 500 and never carried extra fuel. I would say, take a 5 liter jerrycan and you will be allright.
btw, I will be on the same route at the end of december.

Richard,
Two of us on bikes just passed through Mauritania. Petrol was available in all of the major towns (see my post on the latest travel update in this section). We carried extra jerry cans, although we never used them.

The long stretch from the Moroccan / Western Saharah border to Nouakchott was just in our range (around 480km), but we were led to believe byother travellors that there was petrol available about half way. We also saw informal sellers of petrol in plastic bottles along the route, but never used them, so can't vouch for the quality or price.

Adrian