West Africa - Lessons Learned

*Our six month route, over 18,000 miles*

We spent six months driving from Morocco down to Cape Town from December to June. West Africa was our most challenging travel experience to date and also the most rewarding.

Some of the challenges we expected - heat, tough roads, difficult police stops, crowded, chaotic cities. Some of the challenges were a surprise - the complexities around securing visas and the ever present curious people.

The official, United Nations definition of West Africa starts at Mauritania and ends at Nigeria when you are travelling south. For most travel sites, West Africa is generally considered to be from Mauritania through Angola. Namibia starts the transition to Southern Africa. We drove south from Morocco on a mostly coastal route, avoiding more inland countries and areas with higher level travel advisories.

*Visiting the artist village in Dakar, Senegal, artist Mienandi in his studio*

A friend briefed us upfront saying that West Africa is about people and culture, not about wildlife or scenery, especially when compared to Southern and Eastern Africa. This felt true, although we were treated to some spectacular scenery when we worked to find it.

The rewards were the warm greetings, the hospitality, the humanity of West African culture which encircles people and solves problems, and the introduction to ways of living so very different from what we are used to. We enjoyed our conversations and learning along the way about various aspects of village life and culture, music, religion and even the food.

*Young woman preparing casava dough, a staple in the regional diet*

We learned to love, and eventually missed, the hubbub of the community market with vendors crammed along small streets selling everything imaginable from toothbrushes to live chickens.

*Purchasing fruits and vegetables at the market in Mauritania*

Once we left Morocco and until we reached Namibia, we very rarely saw other tourists or travelers. We were constantly greeted with “You are welcome” meaning to our country, our village or our place of business. People laughed and yelled “hello white people” in local languages as we passed through bustling community markets or along walked along village streets. As introverts, it was sometimes difficult to have all of the attention - there is no such thing as stealth tourism as a white person in West Africa. But the kindness and joy behind the attention was beautiful.

*Women laughing with (at?!) us at a market in Ghana. They wanted to know what day of the week we were born to assign us a special name and were amazed that we did not know.*

Below is some of our key take aways and advice for those planning a similar adventure.

Visas

We have a whole blog page on securing West African Visas with details on costs and where we got them. But even as we were writing the blog, things were changing. Our best advice is to research close to the time of your travel, reach out to other travelers and build a plan for securing most of your visas en route. This allows you flexibility in entering and exiting as most visas are time limited.

With one exception, we were easily able to get our visas through either on line portals or in person visits to embassies along the way. The one exception for us was Nigeria which at this time, is best secured from an embassy in your home country before you leave. We were surprised at the total visa cost - close to $2,000 for each of us (US and UK passports) for Morocco to Angola which included 18 countries.

On the downside we had to stay longer in Conakry than we wanted, securing visas. But on the upside we got to visit this incredible art school, providing shelter, schooling and training for kids formerly living on the streets.

We found the Overlanding West Africa and Morocco Facebook page and associated WhatsApp group to be invaluable in providing up to date advice and detailed information on securing visas. Most of the visa sites are not set up for overland travelers but for people flying in, so there are often minor fixes that overlanders need in order to get through the system. We could not get our Ghana visa applications to upload so I posed the question to the WhatsApp group. Someone informed me that if I clicked “arrival by land” the portal immediately refused to accept the next page of fields and would not load. The trick was to click on the “arrival by air” box, even if driving in. Who knew??? After an hour of frustration, problem solved.

Money

Money is also an ever changing situation. When we entered Nigeria, they were just recovering from a critical currency shortage. Before we started our West Africa trip, we secured several thousand dollars in new $100 bills to have for situations when we couldn’t access an ATM or a country was having a currency issue. We also pulled out 1,000 Euros. We wished that we had also been carrying smaller USD bills. Although when you are working with a border money changer, rates are much better exchanging those crisp new $100 bills, if you are in a country with a currency situation although they may accept US dollars as payment, giving you change is a problem.

In general, we tried not to use our cash on hand but to find an ATM as soon as possible after entering a country and withdraw local currency. We used our $100 bills to exchange at the border when we knew this would be an issue because of a currency shortage or a lack of ATMs.

Access to cash varied by country as did payment method. Our US Visa cards did not work at all in Angola. Smaller countries were not set up to accept credit card payments at all and only wanted cash. Even the Toyota dealership in Conakry wanted cash for the repairs, which required a long time standing at multiple ATMs repeatedly withdrawing the $50 maximum amount.

*Stack of cash we pulled out at the ATM to cover a $600 truck repair in Guinea-Conakry*

Overall, our advice would be to start your trip with a stack of USD $100 bills, a range of smaller bills and some Euros. Mostly, USD were more in demand with the exception of Cameroun where the exchange place we found at the border in Banyo would only change Euros. The Liberian economy works with both USD and Liberian dollars, you are even given a choice at the larger bank ATMs. Once you enter a new country, plan to obtain enough local currency to cover the basics - for us mostly gas and food. Relying on credit cards was always risky.

Vehicle Permit

With a US plated vehicle the cost for a Carnet de Passage was prohibitive so we went without (see our West Africa Visas and Permit Cost blog page for way more details). This worked out well for us, with the exception of Ghana (more details on that blog). For Liberia, we obtained the permit in advance from the Liberian Embassy in Conakry where we got our personal visas. For all the other countries, we could arrive at a border, go to the Customs office, show our current US Registration paper and receive some version of a Temporary Import Permit to bring our truck in. Typical fees ran from free up to $20. In the end we spent way less than a Carnet would have cost us.

Insurance

We opted to purchase liability insurance in advance rather than dealing with border insurance agents. We worked with Tour Insure, a German company who wrote us a policy for 20 countries (Morocco to Cape Town) for six months for $500. The policy they gave us listed each individual country. We were asked for proof of insurance multiple times at police and military check points and as soon as the officer saw the relevant country name listed all was accepted. This saved us the time and hassle of having to buy country specific insuance at borders (which typically runs about $20-$30 a country so the cost is pretty equivalent).

For health insurance, we carry an annual policy through World Nomads which costs us $1,000 a year and covers on the road health issues. We also have a basic US based health insurance plan as a backup in case we have to be flown home for care.

Vaccines

Before we left we updated all of our standard vaccines and also paid for a series of travel related vaccines, most importantly Yellow Fever. We were asked for proof of this at many border crossings. Covid was not as common, we were only asked for proof of Covid vaccine a couple of times. We carried our international yellow vaccine cards which were always recognized by border health professionals.

Malaria

Opinions on what to do about the ever present danger of contracting Malaria throughout West Africa are varied. Of course, the best solution is not to get bitten. But despite being careful, wearing repellent and clothing treated with pyrethrin, we still got plenty of bites.

The main split is between people who choose not to take any medicine proactively and those who do. It is a very individual decision, based on your own health profile and doctor’s advice. We chose to take a preventitive drug for about 10 weeks during the time we were traveling through the places with the most mosquitos. There are a variety of antibiotics you can take to prevent getting malaria and we took a daily low dose of doxycycline. There can be negative health impacts from long term use so we tried to minimize our time on it. We also carried malaria test kits and coartem as a treatment in case we got it. The antibiotics, test kits and treatments were easily purchased at pharmacies along the way (after we left Morocco which required a prescription for the anitbiotics.)

Paperwork

We started our journey with a huge folder of copies which proved invaluable. We made copies of our US car registration, color copies of our passports, copies of our car insurance, copies of our International Driving Permits (we never showed our US driver’s licenses, only our IDPs), copies of our truck title (we never needed this after leaving Europe), copies of bank statements proving we could pay for our travels, copies of our vaccine cards and a huge stack of fiches. Fiches are a standardized document which lists all of your passport information and can be handed over at a police stop. Fiches are requested frequently in Morocco and Mauritania but not much beyond that. Although we still found them to be a helpful resource to allow someone at a police check to take the piece of paper and record the information later when they have time instead of causing a long wait. We also had a stack of passport size photos that we used for visa applications along the way. The passport photo and the copy of the passport were the most frequently needed items for visa applications.

In general, we found that when we pulled our huge folder out at a police check point and could easily access any document being asked for, their interest in trying to find something to fine us for quickly waned and we were allowed to go. More on this below.

Food

We brought a few staples with us - mostly the “can’t live without” and some back up items. Coffee (Dawn), juice (Andy) hot sauce, peanut butter, soy sauce, canned pureed tomatos, pasta, rice. In general, from Mauritania through Angola, food was most easily purchased at community markets from individuals. We would re-stock staples at European style supermarkets in big cities, but we found the prices to be high and selection to be poor and somewhat random. It was difficult to find some items that we like - cheese, freshly prepared chicken or beef, cold cuts, salad preparations. Vegetables like tomatos, avocados and potatos could be found at local markets as could local fruits - mangos, pineapples, bananas. Meat was sold as live animals or at stands that we were uncomfortable buying from, mostly because we know our stomachs are not used to local microbes. When we found refrigerated meat in a supermarket it was exciting. Our freezer is tiny so we did not stock up but would enjoy a few days of chicken with our stir fry or beef stew.

*Neighborhood slaughterhouse in Accra. Ghana*

We prepared 90% of our own food. Our favorite West African foods that we sampled along the way were peanut soup and joloff rice. But mostly we prepared our own pasta, rice, egg and bean and potato dishes. Again, that sensitive stomach thing, it was generally safer and cheaper for us to make our own food. For sure the lifestyle in West Africa does not accommodate the sanitary standards we are used to. Meat is usually left hanging in warm open air with flys galore.

For all our fresh fruits and vegetables, we painstakingly washed them with a spray bottle with a bleach solution which was 1 1/2 tsp per gallon. We would wash them, spray them with the bleach solution then re-wash them. We only did this when we had a fresh water supply, preparing them for the week.

Our favorite daily purchase was fresh bread found in almost every village and town. Typically about $.25 for a baguette. We would just look for the basket of bread on display outside someone’s small shop or home.

*Purchasing our daily bread from a baker in the Democratic Republic of the Congo*

Water

We found water sources relatively easily throughout West Africa. Sometimes we would fill up at a gas station or campground. We can carry 25 gallons of fresh water. No matter what the source, we pumped it into our tank through our UV system to kill anything worrisome. This allowed us to fill our hydroflask bottles daily with fresh drinking water.

We are happy to say that we never had any major intestinal issues in 6 months of travel. There were a couple of restaurant meals that made us a little grumbly but for the most part we managed sanitation so that we did not get sick.

Weather

We were making our way south from December to June. It was HOT and HUMID! Highs averaged in the mid 90 degrees, lows mid 70’s with humidity over 89% Definitely one of our biggest challenges. The worst was when we couldn’t cool down at night. We were also very aware of and tracking the rains, knowing that roads in Cameroun and Gabon could become impassable when the rains hit. Our timing worked out perfectly for us on that front. Andy created a monthly weather spreadsheet to track our progress against weather forecasts and the rains arrive shortly after we passed through Gabon in late April.

To mitigate the humidity we had a tiny USB charged personal fan which could be clipped close to our heads as we slept. We also have Fantastic Fans in the camper but the personal clip on fan was more direct and provided more relief. (We initially only had one but Dawn hogged it so now we have a second one so Andy can cool off too.)

A challenge related to the weather was that we would drive longer (air conditioning) and walk less to avoid the heat. Being hot makes us lazy. We would see with admiration African women walking miles in the heat of the day with bundles or buckets of water perfectly balanced on their heads. We are just not that tough.

When water was available, a mid afternooon shower was another favorite way for us to cool down.

Phones, Data and Connection

This has been complicated for us to figure out. Initially in Africa, Andy had Google Fi. It is a great provider, unlimited data worldwide with great connectivity. But it is designed for US based users and they kick you off once you have been out of the country for too long. So we ported our numbers with Google Voice and purchased sim cards along the way.

*Helpful sim card sellers at the Moroccan border at Tangier Med*

Traveling in Africa, the only way to access data and connectivity with our phones was to purchase a sim card in each country. How easy this was to do varied. The best scenario was to buy it at the border and have the person selling it help get us set up. Sometimes we would have to find a store selling them after entering the country and often it could be a long process - necessitating registration with your passport etc. We learned to dread it. But it also allowed you to pay for as much data as you thought you would need upfront.

Once you have a local sim card, many countries had intermittent coverage inbetween bigger population areas. In West Africa, it was not possible to purchase ESim cards, you had to get the physical one.

We are still learning the intricacies, sometimes we had calling capacity and sometimes not. Mostly we relied on WhatsApp to be in contact with friends and family and made calls when we were on a Wifi system.

Security

Prior to our trip, this was one of our biggest concerns. Everything on the exterior of the truck is locked on. Andy also put security film on the windows. We are very aware that we have an expensive vehicle and are traveling through areas where people have very limited resources.

We followed some basic guidelines and are happy to say that we never felt like we were in danger, never were broken into and were never approached with malice.

We always found our camping spot well before dark and did not drive at night. We camped away from people to the extent we could. In big cities, we found secure parking with a guard. The idea of private security guards was a novelty to us at first. But in West African cities, it is really common even for small businesses to have a guard. Banks and hotels will almost always have them and usually bigger restaurants and stores will as well. On some streets we walked we felt like there were more guards than patrons.

We paid close attention to travel advisories issued by the US State Department and other sources. In the end we liked the UK system the best. Their travel warnings were divided into four categories like the US, (three levels above “no worries"),” but they divided countries into well mapped regions.

*The UK government travel advisory map for Cameroun at the time of our travel. We had to cross the red zone, but never encountered any problems.*

When it came to police and military it was a weird conundrum. Although they often asked us for money or a gift (usually with a big smile) and the system is rife with corruption, we did feel that they were looking out for our safety. There were a few times approaching dark when we could not find a safe place to camp and ended up staying at a friendly police station or military post.

*Camped at the village police station in the Republic of Congo*

In many countries, people curious about us and our trip would be concerned that we had run into "bad people” in their country. But we never did. We don’t know if we were just lucky.

Police and Military Checkpoints

Military and police stops were the worst part of our drives, sometimes frequent and frustrating, being asked the same questions over and over again. But on the flip side, we never encountered trouble makers on the roads.

We talked to other travelers and heard horror stories about police corruption in West Afriica. In general, most overland tourists are committed to not participating in a corrupt system and we try to avoid paying any bribes along the way. We had a specific strategy that worked really well for us - and we never paid a bribe at a border or military/police checkpoint.

*Typical military check point in Nigeria - the country with the most of them. First some random stuff blocking the road then the actual stop.*

Approaching the barrier, we would assess the situtation. If the barrier was not actually closed and no one was making a move to block our way, we smiled, waved and drove through. If our way was blocked, we stopped, took off our sunglasses, put a big smile on our faces and Dawn pulled out our huge documents folder. Andy would be sure to ask the officer how he/she was and build some rapport. When asked for a gift to pass, he had several responses from “no thank you,” to “my only gift for you is my smile today,” to “but I am the guest in your country, do you have a gift for me?” 95% of the time this brought a returned smile, an acknowledgment that they tried but would not be forcing us to pay anything and we were allowed to pass. Very occasionally the officer would try to play hardball to get a bribe, but always gave in finally when he saw we were serious about not paying. There were also plenty of stops that were legitimate check points and the officer only wanted to see our passports or understand our purpose in passing through.

We had only one really ugly incident with corrupt police in Togo (see our Togo blog for details) and we ended up paying a hefty fine. The incident started with us going the wrong way down a one way street in Lome and went downhilll from there. The incident was unnerving but we still never felt that we were in actual danger.

Border Crossings

The first five or so border crossings we did in West Africa we were anxious about. We would arrive early, paperwork all neatly arranged in a folder, ready to smile and talk our way through. Then we relaxed and got over confident. Travel fates punished us and the Ivory Coast declined to let us in so we had to turn back for a few days and then we had to spend the night at the Ghana border waiting for unexpected paper work (more details on those country’s blogs). Eventually we got used to just not knowing what to expect and taking it in stride. We never approached a border in a hurry as that is a recipe for disaster.

*One of our easiest borders- immigration office at the border leaving Togo going to Benin*

In general, there is a loose progression that is fairly uniform - whether the border is a few modest buildings on a dirt road or a major one. Typically both upon leaving one country and entering the next there is a police check to review your documents, an immigration check to stamp your visa and a customs stop to handle vehicle paperwork. So a minimum of six visits to officials, most of whom are hand writing your information into huge log books. It takes a while. Often there is also a health professional checking your vaccines and weirdly this can be both upon leaving and entering a country.

*Our hardest and longest border crossing - Elubo border into Ghana, despite the sign it was an unwelcoming 30 hours at the border.*

Border crossings were one of the places we were most frequently asked for money. Often it was framed as a “fee” for the officer to complete our paperwork. We always arrived having researched the actual official fees and payments (information available on the iOverlander app from other travelers) so would question these random demands. We never actually paid any. It helped that we would bring a pre-loaded game on our phone and sit and play quietly, letting the officer know that we were content to wait them out on any unwarranted payment demands. Eventually they would give up, hand us our passports and wave us on.

The other primary challenge at bigger border crossings are the fixers. Always friendly, jovial and persistent as heck, these individuals would do their best to latch on and provide service despite us repeatedly saying that we did not need them. Typically they would follow us around anyway. The most difficult situation was when the actual border officials were supporting the use of the fixers by asking them to show us the next office or walk us somewhere. We did end up paying a couple of tips to people in these situations - it is hard not to after they wait with you for two hours and intervene on your behalf even if you don’t need them to.

Roads

We encountered pretty much every type of road imaginable. From mud to technical rock to sand to asphalt with enourmous potholes, West Africa has it all. Luckily Andy literally designed the truck with West Africa in mind.

We have great clearance and 4x4 capability but it is not the truck’s main strength (we went for comfort with the size of the camper which makes it more tippy than the standard landrover or defender that most choose for these routes). We were still able to go everywhere and drive everything that we wanted to. We were grateful for our Maxtrax which got us out when we got stuck in the sand. We also used our Rotopaks crossing the Namibe desert in Angola - even filling our oversized 33 gallon gas tank wasn’t enough to cross the 650 rough km with no gas stations.

We timed our journey to pass through the most challenging countries (Nigeria, Cameroun, Gabon) before the monsoons turned the roads into famous mud swamps. Googe estimated travel times were a joke. Some countries had decent paved roads as the main thoroughfare others had roads that had been paved sometime in the past decade then deteriorated to the point that we wished they were just gravel. Potholes are not typically marked or dealt with.

Andy got used to airing up and down as the conditions dictated. We did get one sidewall tear on a rocky road in Angola when we were aired down but otherwise the tires did really well. After the iconic Nigeria to Cameroun drive, we had a major issue with the truck (see the Cameroun, Gabon and the Taco Taco blog) but local people were traveling the roads speedily in much less well equipped vehicles. Breakdowns were common and taken in stride.

*Road entering Cameroun, heading south from Banyo*

*Road to Lope National Park in Gabon - muddy still in the dry season*

*A favorite drive across the center of the Ivory Coast, we thought we were committing to a paid highway when we set off. Oops.*

*One of our most rigorous and beautiful drives, Taraba state in Nigeria, heading to the border between Nigeria and Cameroun*

*Traditional villages in Taraba, Nigeria*

People

The people throughout West Africa were welcoming and curious about us. It is not an area a lot of tourists pass through so we typically attracted a lot of attention. As introverts, this was challenging for us but we learned to adapt. We were grateful for a camper in which we could hide when it all became too much. When we camped near a village, often people would gather around to watch us set up camp. They would sit and watch us until we went to bed and return in the morning. It was not unusual to wake up to groups of kids sitting nearby waiting for us to wake up. We were not very entertaining, often just sitting and reading our kindles but we were a novelty.

Throughout West Africa people are entrepreneurial and working hard to make a living. Much of the economy runs off of informal jobs and people selling things. In big cities and small rural traffic stops, you can buy almost everything from the comfort of your car from people selling along the road.

*Lovely girls selling mangos roadside in Nigeria*

In general, people wanted to share about their culture and lifestyle. We were welcomed with kindness into private spaces, accompanied by guides that we found along the way. Our white faces were greeted with surprise and smiles as we passed through tiny villages, kids would wave.

*Children gathered around Dawn and our guide when we visited Galoya, an arts village in The Gambia*

Requests for money or food were frequent, and many people assumed we were missionaries. We restricted our donations to schools and education and did not hand out food or toys to kids as we know others have done. I am sure we created some disappointment along the way.

West African culture is community driven, we never saw a homeless person. We visitied communities where they explained systems for shared cooking, childcare, gathering water and sanitary facilities. Even in the poorest area, people take care of each other. Every time we had a problem or issue it was solved with kindess and humanity.

*Crew of helpers who dug out the bank so we could get around a broken down truck on a small Nigerian road*

Many people asked us for our Whats App numbers as they wanted to stay in contact or see if we could help them get to the US. Upon hearing we were American we were universally greeted with enthusiasm. The United States represents hope to the people we met. We gave out our numbers and tried to respond respectfully to people who communicated with us.

Every country has its own customs and even in the countries where the people are generally more reserved, we found if we took the initiative to smile and offer a greeting it was always returned in kind. In some ways we felt like we had the responsibility of being ambassadors for our country and culture.

After leaving Morocco, most of of the countries had very basic burgeoning tourism infrastructure. It often took some work and initiative to find sites (which we read about in Lonely Planet) but there are official and unofficial guide systems for people to show you around at most of the known ones. Even when we could not find someone who spoke English, we managed to communicate. There is also a general cultural understanding of the benefit of welcoming visitors who will buy food, gas, local art and hire guides at local cultural and natural sites. We never felt unwelcome.

*Visiting the art store of Alfa Romeo in a small visit in Senegal, he took the time to show us a great river side camping spot.*

The people of West Africa are beautiful and we could have taken so many more photos but we also felt it was important to be respectful of people living their lives and our position as visitors passing through. When people wanted to be photographed, we were thrilled to oblige, otherwise we refrained.

*Group of village boys in Benin who wanted us to take their photo*

Camping

Our number one resource for finding places to camp was the iOverlander app. Even though there is a long gap in information from 2019 to recently, people take entering accurate information and reviews into the app seriously. We relied on it for safety and detailed logistical information. There is typically price and specific facility and resource information for paid sites. It also gave us the heads up that certain wild spots in Angola were being visited by armed robbers.

We always prefer wild spots, away from people and would look for those first. The primary challenge in West Africa is that it is highly populated and usually if there is a road it is being used for a purpose so completely being hidden was difficult. Our favorite places to stop over for a quick night and be left to ourselves was abandoned quarries. It sounds awful, but they were typically secluded, flat and private.

Paid campgrounds are rare. But there are a variety of restaurants and hotels that allow you to camp on the grounds. When we were overheated and grumpy, we found refuge at occasional hotels with pools that allowed us to camp on the grounds for a minor fee, or for agreeing to eat a meal in the restaurant. Using the pool for an afternoon cool off often made everything seem easier. Most places we were almost the only visitors so empty hotels and restaurants were happy to have us. When we were close to big cities where security was an issue, we would find somewhere with secure parking to camp.

*Camped on the grounds of a beach resort in Ghana*

Laundry

There are some laundry services in big cities throughout West Africa but they are surprisingly expensive. We did almost all our own by hand. If we were taking an Airbnb break, we would find one with a washer to do sheets and towels.

Highlights

People always ask us which are our favorite countries we have traveled to. West Africa was our most adventurous endeavor to date. Every day was different, the challenges in communication (our French is terrible and our Portugese even worse) and finding resources (water, gas, food) were ever present. But the opportunities to learn about people and cultures so different from our own were outstanding and filled our hearts.

Because of the cultural learning opportunities, we had the richest experiences in Morocco and Benin. Angola was a highlight for its vast geographic diversity and scenery. But there were many other moments along the way that stand out for us. We have separate blog posts for each country or region along the way but here is a short list of some of the highlights.

Morocco

Chefchaouen - wandering the ancients streets of this blue mountain town

*Mountain town of Chefchaouen with its periwinkle blue medina*

Fes - visiting the artists, weavers, tanners, coppersmiths, and winding our way through the medina and markets
Aït Benhaddou - historic ksar (fortified village) along the old Saharan caravan route

*Aït Benhaddou rising out of the southern Sahara*

Mauritania

Banc d’Arguin National Park -driving through the remote dunes and sandy roads

Senegal

Ile de Goree off of the coast of Dakar - lovely architecture and ugly history - center of the European slave trade

Toubakouta - small artisan village with riverside beach
Cap Skirring - endless sandy beaches

The Gambia

Galoya, village with the Wide Open Walls art project

*Artist Amadouh Bah infront of the mural he and his friend Musa Bah painted to promote world peace*

Guinea - Conakry

Centre d’Art Acrobatique Keita Fodeba - treated to a private performance at a performing arts school in Conakry

*Acrobats performing at Centre d’Art Acrobatique Keita Fodeba in Conakry*

Sierra Leone

Spending the night at the Tiwai Island sanctuary on the Moa river and hiking with a naturalist guide

Liberia

Nimba Nature Reserve - solitary camping and exploring an old mining site being transformed into a nature reserve

Côte d'Ivoire

Sassandra - beautiful beach camping

Ghana

Cape Coast Castle - visiting the crumbling relic from the days of the European slave trade and learning about the horrors perpetrated on human beings. It is odd to list as a highlight but truly understanding the history felt so important. Never again.

Benin - our favorite West African country after Morocco, Benin had so many highlights for us, its hard to choose. Here are a few.

Tata Somba - visiting these traditional homes in Northern Benin
Abomey - visiting Voodoo sites and learning about this ancient religion
Ganvie - stilt village outside of Cotonou with people living in houses built on the water

*Visiting the chameleon shaped Voodoo church outside of Abomey*

Gabon

Hiking in Lopé National Park

Republic of Congo

Lesio Louna gorilla reserve - visiting these magnificent animals

Angola - scenically diverse and remote, Angola was spectacularly beautiful. We also breathed a sigh of relief with mountain breezes and our first cooling temperatures at night in months.

Calandula Falls - second largest in Africa
Pungo Andango - enormous black rock formations
Tundavala Gap - breathtaking views
Lago da Arco - natural rock arches
Iona National Park - driving the length of the park through the picturesque Namibe desert and passing through Himba villages

*A solitary morning at Calandula Falls, Angola*

*Camping in the Namibe desert, Iona National Park, Angola*

It was an epic journey, and we will hold so many memories dear and probably bore our friends and family horribly as we repeat our favorite stories. We write these blogs to share our adventures and hopefully to provide some helpful information to other travelers. Thank you for reading, and as always, please don’t hesitate to ask us any follow up questions.

West Africa - Lessons Learned

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Angola