Woman and child West Africa
 

Hi everybody,

I'll be traveling by car from Ghana back to Holland in a few weeks time, myself and my 8 year old boy. We'll take the atlantic route, almost sealed, almost boring...!
We've lived in W Africa for years so I know the roads, the ways, negotiation, jokes, insults and French and English. That is: I know it for countries like Burkina and Mali. Mauretania becomes another story, probably.

I'd like to hear your ideas concerning our safety. Frankly, I'm most concerned about our favorite 'picknicks': stop over at a beautiful place along the road and have a cup of tea.

Are we safe? Don't scare me too much, cause we're set and do it anyway. But I guess you should be frank. Tips would also be welcome.

Thanx

Mana

Hmm......
By the "Atlantic Route", I hope you mean from Mauritania..... not all the way from Ghana trough Ivory coast, Liberia, Sierra Leone etc..... That would not be safe at all, but living in Ghana, you probably know more about this then most of us. Mauritania is not my favourite country due to what I found to be less than friendly and hospitable, but I never felt unsafe anywhere. Why not drive toghether with other overlanders going north. You,ll probably find them at almost any border crossing in to Mauritania from either Mali or Senegal. And by the way... MAU is also paved all the way to Morroco wich is a great country! Safe trip!

Hello Mana

I would not be concerned about Mauretania, like Mali friendly people.
Different but nice, including officials.
Because you've lived in Ghana you know all the do's and don'ts in African countries, would be more concerned about Spain and France or even worse ... Holland.

You can find much more info on this hubb (as you probably did) see for an example: http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...uritania-21470 more about offroad and remote pistes but also about security. No need to have a constant suply of cadeax !

As an alternative for boring 'tarmac' I would suggest to take the 'old' route from Nouakchot to Noadibou, beach highway and through the national park.
The park is still very beatifull and has all sorts of desertlandscape to get a little feel off the sahara and sertanly has terrific lunchbreak and camping spots. When you are across the border in Marocco there still are lots of 'boring' hours on tarmac ahead (at least untill Laayoune).