2013-Jan start Morocco to South Africa, comments on route please
Replies: 32 - Last Post: Feb 25, 2013 11:08 AM Last Post By: Expatriate_LP
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2013-Jan start Morocco to South Africa, comments on route please
Hi. Appreciate advice on route below keeping in mind the objectives.
i. route. get from north (Morocco) to south (South Africa) via western side of Africa, visiting as many countries as possible. If visa not available for Nigeria is it possible to skip over/go around? Sure, intra-Africa flights now cheaper and more available eg/ can fly from west (eg. Ghana) to east (Kenya or Tanzania), but i would like to complete this as a north-to-south trip by land
ii. time. some flexibility, but do not want to back-track too much because, generally, takes quite a while to travel between places
iii. visa costs(efficiency). it's really a logistics ("mathematical") problem to keep visa applications(time) and costs lower, though it seems need to backtrack for availability of visa or large expense of visa
iv. passport of USA/Canada/EU
v. in 2012, what medical vaccinations are absolutely required? i have YF card, and can print Tetanas.... Hep A and Cholera shots available in a clinic in Morocco???
,
Route
1. Morocco
2. Mauritania
3. Senegal or Mali(only Bamako as eastern side destroyed and occupied). Reason for Bamako at this stage is lower cost for Burkino-Faso visa.
4. Senegal .... any low-cost round-trip flights to Cape Verde?
5. Gambia
6. Guinea-Bissau
7. Guinea
8. Sierra Leone
9. Liberia
10. Cote d'Ivorie (i would like to get the VTE/Visa d'Entente before visiting the 5 countries it covers, but apparently it is not available in countries #1 to 9, so must pay single country price for at least one of the 5 VTE countries)
11. Burkino-Faso ... get the VTE .... but route in Cote d'Ivorie up to B-F might be long/difficult
12. Ghana
-- where to get the Ghana visa these days Dec 2012? ??
some TT forum posters said got in
(a) Burkina-Faso(Ouga___) ... given my route, would need to get it in B-F
(b) Benin (Cot___) ... provided e-ticket of >3 months since leaving home country, hotel name/address/dates
-- if the VTE no longer covers Ghana, then go Cote-Ivory to Ghana then B-F
13. Togo
14. Benin
15, Niger ... in capital city Niamey get the visa for Nigeria
16. Nigeria
(a) where to get visa? i've read on TT forum it's possible in Niger(Niamey) and Guinea-Bissau
17. if roads in Nigeria good, try for Chad-CentralAfricanRepublic-Cameroon
if roads in Nigeria not so good, then directly to Cameroon (would leave out Chad & CAR)
18. Cameroon ... Sao Tome possible??
19. Equatorial-Guinea (IF IF IF possible)
20. Gabon -- get Letter of Invitation from a hotel? or CouchSurfer?
21. Republic of Congo
22. Angola
- en route, where is this Visa available? still only in Nigeria?
- afterwards, go via west coast or in-land to Namibia ??
23. Namibia
24. Botswana (if came in-land in Angola)
25. South Africa
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if roads in Nigeria good, try for Chad-CentralAfricanRepublic-Cameroonif roads in Nigeria not so good, then directly to Cameroon (would leave out Chad & CAR)
What do Nigerian roads have to do with Chad or Central African Republic?
Nigeria doesn't share a border with Central African Republic and the border between Nigeria and Chad is tiny and in lake Chad.
Cameroon ... Sao Tome possible??
Gabon would be a good bet to look for flights to Sao Tome but you can also look if there are flights out of Cameroon by the time you reach Cameroon.
21. Republic of Congo
22. Angola
I see you are skipping the DRC. Did you research the logistics of getting from Cabinda to mainland Angola?
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How long do you have for this?I would recommend to get all your vaccinations and malaria medication in your home country. Outside of South Africa, it will be difficult and a hassle to obtain.
4
@smartcookie .... i am already traveling and have flight tomorrow to Seville (Spain) . Perhaps there are medical clinics for travelers in southern Spain? Two years ago when i originally intended this trip, i did find mention of such medical clinic(s) in Morocco, though if someone has recent experience would be great to hear. My time frame is open-ended.... some places i will rush and some will stay a few weeks.... ideally be in northern hemisphere in spring.@Kira ,,,
(1) does the VTE (Visa d'Entente) still exist? WikiTravel pages for each country make no mention. On the Benin page, someone wrote the visa cost late 2012 is 94,000 CFA (huge increase from 15,000 CFA).
(2) is it possible to get visa's for Ghana and Nigeria within Africa?
Within TT forum a couple of people have written yes.
For me, living on a caribbean island there was/is no embassy for these countries. Yes, my passport is from a different country but i was not living in that country.
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@anillos_de_saturno, thanks for comments.-> roads in Nigeria.... i would like to include as many countries as possible and if relatively good/"easy" to get to Chad then would continue route to CAR and Cameroon.
Well, maybe add some creativity/adventure with water travel and "border" ...if such exists and did not find from searching.
--> DRC ... thanks for mention. I have visited east side of DRC and read about boat from Angola to Angola or Congo to 2nd Angola , avoiding DRC ... but do not know if this boat continues to operate
6
Ghana will be a non-starter unless you are prepared to pay more & start the process nowNigeria seems to have visas on arrival but still not clear if they're possible at land borders
VTE 25,000CFA - only obtainable in Ouaga, covers CI, Benin, Togo, Niger & BF, it has never covered Ghana
Medical - go to the Institut Pasteur in Casa, know of someone there about 2 days ago & he was told that they would do vaccinations. Add meningitus to your list, its prevalent in W.Africa particuarly at this time of year
Kira
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@Kira,yes, Pasteur institute http://www.pasteur.ma/p_contact.html so must stop in Casablanca (unless they offer vaccinations at their other locations in Morocco ??)
route order of initial post continues (Cote d'Ivorie --> BF --> Ghana) b/c of geographies and visa rules
Ghana visa . ... some travelers wrote their success of obtaining the visa in BF but you're saying pay more or start process now ... at which Ghana embassy are you suggesting to apply?
8
You cannot apply at any embassy now, you need to get the visa in your country of residency ... the rules changed about a year ago!You need to find my post on the visa application which will then allow you to be granted one on arrival - somewhere in the Ghana threads
You'll need to get a CI visa in Conakry then!
Kira
9
Kira,my country of residency is a Caribbean island ... and no embassy of Ghana located there.
of course, then they will look at my passport... but excuse me , i do not live in that country.
Visa's in West Africa is a logic problem and "circular" solution , for example, if want visa to country A you can get it in country B, but visa for country B you get in country A ... unless fly over some countries, but then will enter some countries twice (unless fly again over/around some countries) .... what frustration and expense .... one-time in life type of trip
10
Expatriate - I'm afraid that's no longer trueVisas for CI & Ghana should be bought at the Embassy nearest/assigned to your country of residence.
The only way around Ghana's I have described in another post whereby you must apply in advance to receive one on arrival & it's more costly!
CI is a little more lenient dependant on where you apply, even a few days ago in Accra the lady there was adamant on refusing a visa saying it should be applied for at home
So, do be careful!
Kira
11
From website TheHUBBhttp://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hubb/sub-saharan-africa/ghana-visa-availability-route-west-65905
23 Aug 2012
We got our Ghanaian visas on the way.
Actually it's not so difficult as we tried in two embassies and both of them were positive.
We are two Greeks and we were traveling with a French guy as well.
Try in Dakar. We had the green light but we did not want to waste time.
We got it in Abidjan for 30.000 CFA.
Regards.
Nikos
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1 Sep 2012danny_fitz danny_fitz is online now
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We picked up our visas for Ghana in Ouga Burkina Faso, the guy at the embassy was a bit of an arse but after suitable doffing of caps we picked them up after 5 days without too much bother.
PS Apply for your Angola visas in Accra!
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Old 2 Sep 2012
Ndoro Ndoro is offline
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Can most certainly pick them up on the way, though to my knowledge you cannot purchase them at the border. Got it in 24 hours at the Ghanaian embassy in Lome, Togo for 15,000 CFA.
Kellen
13
Well very interesting, just yesterday I was talking to the Dep Director of Immigration in Accra ... who I had a long meeting with in January & complained bitterly about the situation that was enforced in Jan 2011.He agreed to some extent the situation was crazy but also pointed out that the immigration department don't have any staff in Embassies abroad (which they'd like) but it's general Embassy staff that issue visas ..
Hopefully they'll continue to issue them locally again, my first visa for Ghana I got in Abidjan.
Kira
14
Well, to anyone following this thread, i emailed to Louis Pasteur Institute ....... the hours during December 24 thru January 3 continue as normal (Monday to Thursday)
.. the vaccinations offered...only Meningitis @ 180 DAH (about US$21 or $22)
so, i guess i will not get the Hep A or B vaccinations (already have the YF)
