gave up on entering senegal via rosso/diama border or entering senegal via kidira mali border by motorbike in 2010 due to conflicting posts as to customs documents or carnet requirements
did anyone on a motorbike go through either those 2 border posts and could they give me upto date info what the situation is
my destination is the gambia 2011

Don't know about motorbikes, but we went through Diama last month with two cars - one of which was my 1987 Merc 200D. The passavants cost us 50 euros each - negotiated down from 150 each. The funny thing was that the customs guys invited us in to the office and we sat down and had lunch with them, much to the incredulity of the rest of the queue, who had the door shut on them!

Worse was to come, however, as that b*****d at the check-point near St Louis airport decided that my mate, in the other car, had a "problem" with his passport. He was carted off to customs HQ in St Louis. After a sphincter-tightening half-hour, "the man" decided that there was NO problem and he apologised for the inconvenience!

Roger

Thx Roger, usefull update!
Jacob

I went through Diama by motorbike about 3 weeks ago, via the off road piste. We went to Rosso first to fill up on gas. Even at the first petrol station we found it was quite unpleasant.

We spent a long time waiting at the border, about 4 hours. All they have to do is write your details down in a book (2min work), so it seems they just keep you waiting for the hell of it. Really annoying, we started the day in Nouakchott and finished at the Lac Rose, several hours riding in the dark cause of this hold-up at the border.

Motorbikes did not need a carnet. The only cost was 15EUR and the waiting time.

When crossing in to Mali we did not need a passavant either. Cars did, and waited many many hours. Senegal - Mali was the fastest border crossing of all actually.

Good luck!

There's a new road to Diama which cuts off half the old piste - the one that starts on the north side of Rosso. We used it last month - you pass through Keur Messene. Still a dirt road but (currently) a bit better. It seems to have been built for the new power station. (Chinese?!?!?)

Roger

Do you have a GPS Track that you can post, it would be appreciated.

Thanks, JB

We crossed with motorbike at Diama a week ago. Same story more or less. Already in the petrol station in Rosso there were so many hustlers. So i was positively surprised at Diama. No hassle at all. We got all our papers and carnets done in one hour at both borders. Actually it was a pretty pleasant crossing. Did cost us some 50 euros altogether for all the fees and taxes for 2 people and a bike.
More problems on the road inside Senegal, as we were given 2 days to get to Dakar to stamp carnet (same thing we should do on the way out of Senegal - in Dakar, not on the border!)
And some ****ing corrupted police on the road that won't let you go before you give them money!
Safe trips!

coming from Nkc after the village of Tiguent
leave tarmac for Rosso at N16deg 47.317min and W016deg 05.951min

after Keur Massene join the dam at gendarmerie chkpt at
N16deg 31.768min and W016deg 14.307min

the "power plant" is the new acqueduct that goes all the way to Nkc
good water available at the central plant
chinese yes like most things in Africa and elsewhere these days

if you ride the dam at night (beware of boars) you can skip paying the entrance fee to the Diawling Ntl park, the director of which is slightly less charming then Tony Blair

N16.78850 W16.09947 to N16.52955 W16.23866 if you prefer decimal.

The Warthogs are cute! I would think the cows are more of a danger. I would rather pay the fee than drive that road at night. We were warned by some locals about a bloody great hole in the road (no - not one of those little 1-metre potholes!) - I would not have liked to find that in the dark!

Roger

actually on a piste like this you see the potholes much better at night (with your lights on, of course , didn't see any giant holes some 2 weeks ago

You just need to go fast enough!

I rode with a 11 bike group through
Portugal-Spain-Morocco-Mauritania-Senegal-Gambia-Senegal-Guine Bissau
in 16 days from the 5th to the 20th of February


The "new" deviation to Diamma starts at N16.78854 W16.09930

It is mixture of hard gravel and light patches of sand.


We didn't have any carnet. Bikes less than 5 years payed 35eur, bikes older than 5 years payed 50eur - as was the case with my 14 year old Africa Twin.

We were given a pass avant valid for 3 days that we managed to extent to 10 days in Saint Louis. Too long and complicated process, I was not involved myself directly to correctly explain it.

I'll gladly sent GPS track, waypoints or photos of this track, just PM me.

BR,
Luis Cabrita

__________________
Luis Cabrita, Honda XRV 750 Africa Twin '97 & Honda CBR 600 F4 '99
https://www.flickr.com/photos/148874658@N08/albums

Wanted to share a positive story for crossing at Diamma with visa obtained in Nouakchott! The Start of the Piste is now being tarred, but it's not tarred all the way. I skipped off at one point and rode on the old piste(for 500m) before getting back onto the prepared gravel road that was still un tarred.

Mauritania:
2000UM for the park entrance (receipt with 2000 printed on it)
500UM for the communal tax (hand written receipt)
Gendarme asked kindly for a "cadeau", but nothing further. The young Douane officer asked for 10€, refused to stamp. I asked to speak to the boss, who just waved me through, no issues. Police, no issues, very nice!

Bridge across the river, 4000CFA official receipt, hand written. No hustlers.

Senegal:
Police hassled for a few minutes for 10€, but gave up quite quickly
Douane guy was really nice, didn't ask for a bribe and even stamped my Carnet! No passevant required. (My friend who crossed just before me suspected that the more troublesome officer had just left on his arrival)

Douane and Gendarme stopped us on the way to St. Louis, checked the Carnet and a bit of paperwork. No issues, just a nice chat about Senegalese football players and a quick introduction to wolof
Policeman south of St Louis just waved us by: no "violations for wrongly indicating!"

All in all, a great day. Lady luck was on our side today?

Africa on a KTM690 Overland Ride | Cornwall to Cape Town