Ebola borders

[TotalOverland]

Just starting out on North to South through west Africa.
Haven't even left Europe and countries seem to be closing their borders rapidly due to Ebola.

Seriously considering East coast instead but appears ferry from Turkey has now stopped and Libya border closed.

Have been looking through all the threads for options.

Any thoughts or ideas?

Doesn't seem like the sanctions being imposed due to Ebola are going to be lifted anytime soon.

Richard

[Yves GSA]

Hi
have the same plans starting october....allthough I never planned to visit the ebola affected counntries....except Nigeria as it is on my way down.....and cameroun closed its border with Nigeria.
Many other countries are closing border for the 3 ebola countries...only Cameroun is also doing this for Nigeria.
So I'm tyring to find out if there are ways (water/air) to get from Benin to either cameroun or gabon.....
I cannot judge if there is a lot of overland trafic heading that way..otherwise I just assume benin people can do business with cameroun...in stead of nigeria.

I just follow this...and if there is really no option (in respect to timing and budget) ...I might have to redesign the entire trip and opt for shipment straight to South Africa and do all Southern countries (and look at Madagaskar)

[Simon R]

In 2011 we had no problems flying our bikes from Abuja to Joburgh. You can have have a fun ride through Morocco, Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso etc. and avoid the Ebola area.

[Yves GSA]

Simon, txs for the positive note..
In fact our way down is not a straighforward one..after cameroun we end op in congo where we would want to go east so fly into goma (due to rainy season and the 3 months we have I avoid doing the famous N1 from kinsasha to lumumbashi). One in Goma we can go Tanzania and due south.

But this is plan conceived with a EU background, where services are available and reliable.

I think in Africa a lot is possible if you have time and money.
What did you pay to have your bikes airshipped to Jborg (which I would not do...I would prefer Goma)

I know airshipment from Kinsasha to Goma (Congo) is possible allthough I have no details yet.

And yes my heart wants to do the actual route south driving...not flying my bike every few countries due to some issue

[Simon R]

YVES GSA,
we paid $4800 for the bikes and ourselves, which was $800 more than we wanted to. We worked out it would cost around $4000 to cover that distance in visas, fuel food accommodation etc. getting from Abuja to south africa.
We had been on the road for nearly a year having started in Tokyo and were needing to finish in six weeks or we would be facing lots of renewal costs such as travel insurance carnets expiring etc.
As it was after arriving in Joburgh we then managed to scoot around Mozambique, zimbabwe, namibia and south africa which was good value compared with just slogging through the mud of central africa for 6 weeks.
As you said it is a balance of time and money plus mental state and energy
Simon

[saidschin]

Another option is to take the ferry from Kinshasha to Kisangani. About 150 dollars....