mali, burkina faso, niger, nigeria, angola and DRC

[ozranger]

hey everyone

i will be heading from ghana down to south africa and was thinking of going burkina, mali, niger down into nigeria and will be passing through drc and angola.
how safe are these countries? the aussie travel advisory says to avoid most of them or other parts, but these advisories are always so conservative.
has any one passed through any of these countries recently??
areas to avoid? areas not to be too concerned about but have a bad rep??

thanks