Hey guys,

I've been loitering in Cape Coast for a while. It's too nice here to leave! I'll probably wait around for some parts to get shipped into Accra so I might meet you there Liam! I think you need to tell us the story of just what happened at the Embassy!!

Cheers,
Luke

Hey Luke
We were at stumble inn in elmina. Nice place.
We are now back to @ big millies. Probably here untill thursday.
Maybe see you here!!

Sita and Steven.

Hey Sita and Steven!

I'm still in Cape Coast awaiting parts. I've no idea how long they will take to arrive, but I hope to get an estimate on Monday. I'll keep you guys posted!

Cheers,
Gelmi

No worries!!

If you want a change of scene, elmina has a really nice campsite. Stumble inn.
Not far from cape coast.
We will be at big millies for another two days and then we go closer to tema. Friday Izzie will go to the docks and saturday we'll fly home for a surprise visit to our moms ;)
So see you on the other side of the ecuator!!

Greets steven and sita

How did everything go down at the docks guys? You get away ok? Sad to miss both of you!

I've come to Accra today and after a little research have realised that the next place with a Cameroon embassy/consulate is Abuja in Nigeria, which is a fair bit further north than I was hoping to go in Nigeria! Once again, it's my lack of organisation/a plan that has bitten me on the ass again!

Does anyone have any info/advice on the Cameroon visa that could save the day? Anyone have any experience of getting it at the border, maybe?

Cheers,
Spook

Cameroon visa at border 23rd March
 

Travelling with JC Greyling and two Italians, we got a 5 day Cameroon transit visa on 23rd March at the border crossing between Ikom (Nigeria) and Manfe (Cameroon). No charge. If you want more details let me know. Good luck!
Charlie

Inspired, and love the blogs
 

Good Morning ,

just need a luttle advice , as about to embark on a round Africa, in June/July 2014 .
I'll be travelling solo, probably spend 4-6 weeks in Europe, then down to Morocco.
Dont wnat to plan any definite schedule, as defeats the logic of my 12-18 month advenrure. I intend to ad-lib it, and take day by day, country by country.
Reading your fantastic blog, leads me to ask, if tehers anything you would have done different, and anything to consider ?
Ill be travelling in a 1998 Defender 100 csw
ground tent, and totally care-free.

I did spend about 20 years growing up in Southern Africa, so used to road-blocks, military etc

Regards
Josh 51 yrs old

Here had severall people did some posts inside of this thread who also write a blog..It would be helpful to know -which blog do you mean?

Looks like you have plenty of time for your trip :-)

Surfy

Hi Charlie,

How are you doing?
You got the Cameroon visa right at the border or in Calabar?

Cheers from Nigeria,

Gee

We got it right on the border. It seemed to be at their discretion so not a certain outcome... an element of risk... but good enough for us. Once the stamp was in our passports we waited to hear the price but no one asked for money! We didn't hang around to check!!
I'll be back in Brazzaville 23 May... will you be heading that way?
Charlie

Thanks for the info Charlie, good to know there's a potential back-up at the end of the line... I'll keep looking around in the cities on the way there.

Hey Josh, great to hear your suiting up to come and join us! The only thing I wish I'd been told before I got here was that MasterCard isn't accepted anywhere. Get a Visa card before you come to avoid a rude shock!

Hi guys.

So the details of how my passport went missing from the Benin embassy in Accra... Basically, I hand over visa forms with passport, go back 2 hours later to collect visa and they ask me why I didn't give them my passport...

After a lot of :censored: they think that someone else who came to get a visa has picked up my passport from the table. Before this happened they used to stack the passports with visa forms on the table where members of the public could sit. I remember there was an East Asian guy sat next to the passport stack whilst I was in there. The office has now been moved around.

Ridiculous.

They've reimbursed for the visas that I now have to get again and also for my replacement passport. Its proving an absolute ballache to get a replacement passport from the UK though. Its been 5 weeks since it went missing and it will be at least another 4 until everything is sorted and I can set off again.

Annoying.

Anyway, when are you thinking of crossing Nigeria, Spooka? I was planning on getting my visa for Cameroon in Calabar. I don't really want to go to Abuja. Does anyone have any recent experience of getting the Cameroon visa in Calabar?

Cheers,

Liam and c90 around the World

Hi Charlie,

I was turned back by the Nigerian immigration. No possibility whatsoever for a transit. They would stamp me out, but I would only be sent back. Couldn't take that risk of course. So went to the Afi Drill ranch to relax for a few days, and then to Calabar for the visa. The days in the Afi Mountains were fabulous, btw!

Cheers from Calabar, Nigeria,

Gee

Liam mate, that's a nightmare! Hope you get your passport soon and can join us back on the road! I'm in Lome today. I just got freshly knocked back by the Angola Embassy for a visa, took me a long time to understand "you need to live in Togo for 6 months" in French... I'm about to go and have a crack at Gabon, if I can find it. Am I the only one who thinks that finding embassies is a bit of a crapshoot?

Thanks for the update Gee, very useful information indeed! Please let us all know how things go in Calabar, I've got my fingers crossed for you mate.

Cheers,
Spook

Gee

The Afi Mountains look wonderful (via a spot of Google tourism!)... great to hear you could spend time there. I sense that the second part of my trip (from Brazzaville all the way south and then up the east side) will include a bit more 'appreciation'.

Although we missed out on Afi, the trip through northern Cameroon introduced a whole new world of thick forests and hills and wildlife... which continued through much of Gabon and Congo. It made most of the preceding countries drab by comparison.

Good luck in Calabar and take care. I'm not sure how restful life is in that corner of Nigeria!

Charlie