Hi all,
what exactly is the Rosso border crossing from Mauritania to Senegal like? I only have heard horrors about it. What is so horrible there?

I even get interested to go there only to see the "spectacle" going on as a "tourist attraction".

nothing too bad. just lots of people looking for opportunities to unburden you of your cash.

we managed to have pretty much no cash when we arrived, consequently could only hand over a small amount for all the charges.

it's all part of the journey, fill your boots. There's probably a bumper sticker around which says "I survived Rosso"...

Thank you for your answer.
How do they try to "unburden you from your cash"? Do they ask you to fill and sign forms saying the amount of money you have and after that unmount your vehicle for 2 (or more) hours and look even inside the battery (if in a car), something that happened to me when I was leaving Bulgaria to enter Macedonia last summer.
If I have little cash, are there ATM's in Mauritania?
One last question: what do you mean by little cash?

rumour has it that you really need to go see it for yourself. I went via the dam and that was a doddle.

I gather you need to cross the river on the ferry for the fun to really start - you can't watch it from too far away to see how it works! you exit Mauretania, cross the river on the reasonably-priced ferry and then can't get into Senegal without paying heaps. and you can't go back to Mauretania because the ferry is suddenly a crazy price and you haven't got a visa to get back in. I speak from others' experiences and suggest you go and try it.

It seems that they look for the physical and moral ruin of the person. (Like the hustlers in Marrakech).
I will take a multiple (or double) entry Mauritanian visa.
I wonder what would happen if you don't pay and just wait and wait... hours (or even a day)?
An exciting experience!

Hi!

You should know what are the rules at the border, it helps not to be delayed or frauded.

In virtually all West African countries there are three border offices, not necessarily at the same place:

1. customs
2. police
3. gendarmerie

First is responsible for your goods, but rarely they care of your luggage rather than the vehicle. "Carnet de Passage" is the best solution, not only for vehicles older than 5 years. It "shuts the mouth", no bribe is required or insisted. Look then for the proper stamps and written entry. If necessary, point by finger what and where should be written or stampped.

Second office checks your visa and identity (but nobody should present itself face to face, it is enough and even better when one person brings all passports to the "office"). If there is no any odd requirements of you (lack of visa, lack of entry stamp, etc.) it is easy & straight forward.

Gendarmerie looks for statistics & the "Fiche de reignsenement", the document your should prepare yourself before entering Africa, stating: name, date of birth, pass no., it's expiry date, profession (best use professions easy to understand: electricien, chauffeur, musicien etc., absolutly not journalist !; off course all written in French!), vehicle reg. no, make of the car. There are a few exceptions you should fill according to local officer suggestion, date of entry, visa details etc. They are satisfied to get such "document" for their files or just the best base to retype it in official notebook (take more time).

If you know that you should enter all three offices just do not follow anybody who ask you for anything. Best solution is not to understand French, cheaters usually give up with persons they can not follow. Just start procedure yourself and go to the proper offices and process your documents. Refuse & ignore all civils who want: to stop you, to help you, to explain anything, to gather all documents and process them, to interact with you in any other way, just ignore everyone and be confident not asking about anything. If you are wrong in your procedure the border officer shall tell you the right way.

Rosso is famous for their hustlers. However, just do not stampede, be self-confident and cross the last 1 km before the border not stopping even for a while. The border barrier is your target. Just jump the queue of locals, other vehicles if such exists. Insist for gate opening, park your car inside and start the procedure.

Otherwise you may choose Diama, smaller and better defined (~10 EUR for each of the procedures) border leading you straighforward to St. Louis on all improved road with new asphalt ! If you want to know the shortcut to Diama from N2 road heading to Rosso, but avoiding this place please ask me on bobo49@wp.pl. I would provide you with GPS points which let you never enter this nice place at Senegal River bank you were asking for ...

Brgds

Danek

Thank you.
"never enter this nice place at Senegal River bank you were asking for ..." It sound really nice...
So, you say that with a Carnet de Passage I should not pay any bribes? (or maybe only put a 5euro note in my passport to "speed up" the formalities).
Yes, it's a very good idea to make copies of this paper which says all my personal and wehicle detalis.

"or maybe only put a 5euro note in my passport to "speed up" the formalities"

personally I wouldn't do this, you're just giving money away. let them ask and then pretend to have no idea what they are on about.

The amount you part with will depend on your tolerance, how hot it is, and how dark it's getting. I think it's a fair bet to say they all have much more time than you do.

We were stopped by soldiers outside the gate of the border control, and then told to handover passports and follow them in.

Oh, and Mauri didn't have any ATMs when I was there a year or so ago. Try auberge sahara in NKT for like minded people heading to Senegal.

Rich is pretty much right. You enter the Mauri side and get all your docs stamped. Get on the ferry and that's you out of Mauri. A 10 minute ferry ride across the river sees you deposited in (or potentially in) Senegal and you either get through, or go back and deal with trying to get back into Mauri. Neither proposition is a walk in the park, but people do it all the time. remember to take some water with you, it's a hot dust-bowl.

Crossing this border was the absolute worst day of our trip (we crossed it around November 2004). I am generally not a violent person but just thinking about it makes me want to go back there with a machine gun and mow down anyone who comes near me! Actually no, that would be too easy, make it a .45 magnum and I will just kneecap them all!! . We were first asked by the policeman manning the gate for some extortionate amount of money - and for this he said he would do everything for us. But we had been warned about him so we politely refused. Then he leaves you to your own devices and the vultures swarm in. The big uncertainty for us was the insurance, do we need it/how much is it/how long for/do we get it on the Mali side or the Senegal side. We had all kinds of offers and told they guys we would discuss it. So my wife and I went to sit in the shade and talk about. The f****ers had put a spy there and this guy was just sitting like he was part of the crowd. When he overheard us discussing it he insisted it was a good price and that he drives cars across the border all the time blah blah and that was his 4x4 over there blah blah so I (Forest Gump) evetually decided to trust him and we bought our insurance for 3months was $90 each! That is supposed to cover you for pretty much all west africa. I think the actual price should be around $30 but this story varies depending on who you speak to. By this time I see who actually is driving the 4x4 and he has no idea who the other guy is. But then that b*stard has disappeared now anyway. These guys are really aggressive and completely swarm you and break you down. After nearly getting into a fight and completely losing my cool we eventually thought we were through. But then when you are at your lowest, you are just a shell of the man you once were, then the really nice guy from the Senegal side joins you on the ferry for the crossing. He says he will sort it out on the Senegal side for you for just a couple of dollars tip. Apparently you do have to give your docs to someone…can’t remember why or who told us but I thought what could go wrong…and he did say $2! Anyway, when we got to the other side we decided to go with this guy (remember we are broken, quivering wrecks. I want my mom at this stage). He then takes our documents and another guy gets involved. He is 12 foot toll and wears these huge African dictator style sunglasses – he is satan himself. The stuff does get done, oh yes, they do it. But there’s one small catch, they have all your documents. And they won’t give them back unless you pay them. The guy who started the whole thing is happy to take his $2 but now he says this other guy (Satan) helped as well and he has to be payed…and they work in crowds. It’s constant bombardment of shouting and hussling. My wife was dealing with most of it while I watched the bikes because her French is better than mine. But at this point I had to step in again, I managed to keep my cool and I got the price knocked down a bit but we were broken and we just wanted to leave. So needless to say we left that border in a state of shock, rage and depression. The swarm of locusts (no shit) that we hit soon after really helped!!
This border has a bad reputation for reason. I am not sure if you really even need the insurance. Get it in St Louis or Dakar if you really want it. After that one expired we just wrote our bike registration numbers on our travel insurance documents and everyone seemed happy with that anyway. My tips would be to keep your cool, and make sure you make it clear to anyone who is going to help you that you are only paying them and no-one else. If you see Satan, please kick him in the nuts for me. On the plus side, after that border you must head straight for St Louis. Ask where the Zebra bar is. The will probably be signs if I remember correctly. This campsite is a bit of paradise that I will never forget and you will need it after that border. Not sure why it was so bad for us. Maybe we looked like mugs, maybe we were just unlucky.


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Africa Trip web journal

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Africa Trips web journal

the sense of relief as you ride away from that border crossing is incredible. So is the first you get your mitts on in St Louis.

Guy I was with got fined for not having insurance (after being in Senegal a couple of weeks). There's a nice air-con'd office in St Louis that sells it. We were asked to pay 110 euro each at the border, just for insurance. Got it for $20 or something in St Louis.

The Robinson place in St Louis is pretty good too, much quieter than the Zebrabar (or it was when I was there) and right on the beach too.

[This message has been edited by DougieB (edited 17 February 2006).]

Thank you for your answers.
Where in Mauritania do they sell automatic guns? For how much?
If I see satan I will kick him in the nuts for you; don't worry.

Well, on the Ceuta border at sunday evening (when all ceutis come back from Morocco) it was something similar, one guy (recomended to me by the police) took my passport to help me in order to help me, but I noticed that something may get wrong I gave him my reminding dirhams, but he asked me for 10 euros or if I had gold and I quickly took my passport from him before he noticed what was happening; I said him that I would prefear to do the things by myself.
So it seems that one very important lesson on african border crossins is: DON'T GIVE YOUR PASSPORT TO PEOPLE WHICH DON'T WEAR UNIFORM, EVEN IF THEY LOOK OFFICIAL (whit their name written like company representatives or something similar).

After reading all your posts I am really disapointed about this nice border crossing. What about Diama? Is it better?