Itinerary
- Mauritania:
- (best place to get a visa for Mali)
- Fly to Nouakchott
- Nouakchott: Saudi Mosque
- Chinguetti
- Parc Banc D'Arguin
- Mali:
- Tombouchtou/ Timbuktu
- +Tombouchtou/ Timbuktu: +Dyingerey Ber mosque (14th c)
- Boat to Gao
- Dogon country: northern villages (Sanga, Bongo, Aroun, Tireli)
- Niger
- Burkina Faso:
- +Gorom-Gorom's thursday market
- Gaoua: Lobi villages, Tiebele near Po
- Sierra Leone
- Liberia
- Cote d'Ivoire
- Guinea:
- (second best place to get a visa for Mali after Mauritania)
- Conakry: get visa for Mali.
- Conakry: Marche' Madina, one of West Africa's largest markets
- Dalaba: Fouta Djalon plateau, one of the best places for hiking in West Africa, mainly for waterfalls (Chutes de Ditinn, Chutes de Kambadaga)
- Bossou village on the Liberian border: one of the best places in West Africa to see chimpanzees
- Foula Djalon plateau
- Senegal:
- Saint-Louis, old colonial capital, 300 kms north of Dakar, 10 kms south of the border with Mauritania
- Cape Verde:
- Praia
- +Cidade Velha
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Notes
Trip difficulty: difficult to strenuous
Length: 30 days
Season: Oct-Apr
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The rain season in west Africa is June to September
Links:
- Maps for Africa
- Lonely Planet Thorn Tree Forum
- Lonely Planet letters on Africa travel
- Visa information from Project Visa
- African embassies in the US
- Visas are the real problem in this part of the world. West Africa is a wonderful part of the world. Unfortunately it is in the hands of a bunch of corrupt, incompetent, criminal and unfriendly politicians. The governments of West Africa (with the exception of Senegal) make it very difficult and expensive to obtain a visa. Some of the requirements are laughable. In 2007 the embassy of Mauritania still required "proof of transportation, letter of financial solvency from bank, proof of employment and an invitation letter". The embassy of Mali required a hotel reservation. Both clearly stated that they are not responsible of they lost your passport while in their possession! Welcome to the fifth or seventh world, not the third world. Only Benin, Togo, Gambia and Equatorial Guinea granted visas at the border and only Senegal did not require a visa. The stupidity of these governments border on the demented. (Written in 2007. Hopefully it will improve with time).
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