1

Most west African states are safe, it's wise to keep an ear to the ground when in-country to find out & keep asking people for their opinion there.

Personally at the moment, Mali is off limits, but I wouldn't hesitate to go to any of the others ... with possibly the exception of northern Nigeria

You realise Eritrea cannot be accessed from Djibouti? The border has been closed for a while ...

Have fun, learn some French!

Kira

2

Thanks so much for your reply!

I know that Eritrea cannot be accessed by land, I will fly from Djibouti to Sana'a then to Asmara. I will definitely be avoiding Mali, Niger, Chad and a lot of those Northern border areas. I have read about the dangers of North Nigeria, and I assume the cities and travels alone will be pretty over whelming so I'm going to take it easy there.

Thanks again for the help, I appreciate any information about the region! I will try and learn some French too.

Au revoir.

Yanush.

3

I travelled from Mauritania to Liberia along the coast last year and didn't have any serious problems. In Guinea-Bissau there was an attempted coup while we were there but the locals were fairly used to it and we didn't experience any problems, and the country was great otherwise.

Guinea-Conakry felt least safe but we didn't have any specific problems aside from once being chased by motorbike bandits while in a shared taxi from Koundara to Labe (apparently not uncommon). Sierra Leone was great and Liberia was fine, though we stayed inside after dark while in Monrovia.

4

Hi Yanush

I just travelled overland (single female - Aussie) from The Gambia through Senegal, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea and Sierra Leone (and met people from Liberia) so can vouch that I feel totally confortable with travel through all those places. I'm also just about to head to Djibouti, Somaliland and Ethiopia so watch for my updates on there. The only "danger" I heard about was expats in Sierra Leone saying that Guinea had bandits who chased NGO vehicles. But travelling locally on sept-places/taxi.brusses, I didn't come across this. In fact, everyone was so incredibly welcoming - Guinea was one of my favorite places.

Jez

5

That's good to hear. The main countries I am concerned about are Guinea-Bissau, Guinea and Liberia. Someone else has just posted about NGO's being chased by bandits it's Guinea.

Thank you for you feed back on your travels, I am trying to get as much different info about the area as I can.

6

@Jez- My first stop in Africa is Ethiopia, so I will be sure to check you updates. Just another question, how did you go with accommodation in Guinea-Bissau/Sierra Leone etc? I was going to try and do a bit of Couch-Surfing there really just to try and meet some other travelers but did you come accross and guest houses or Hostel type places?
Thanks a lot for your feedback!

7

I stayed in hotels everywhere. My trip reports under Guinea and Sierra Leone detail where I stayed and what I paid. Note that West Africa is very expensive (was paying about $35/night in Freetown for example) so couchsurfing is a good idea.

8

Aparthotel Jordani in Bissau was really good ~$30/night (Pensao Creola is cheaper but was booked out)
The Catholic mission in central Conakry was the cheapest we found ~$20/night, was quite nice and safe.
Hotel Hejaz was the cheapest we found in Freetown ~$20/night, but we also stayed in Raza Guest house and Hotel Baromoi in Aberdeen which were very good but from $100-135/night
Monrovia is very expensive, we stayed in Bella Case which was $140/night but very nice.

We met very few other backpackers, mainly at Tiwai Island (which is great), but there are lots of expats, especially in Freetown.

9

You should read up on the situation in West Africa regards Mali and other areas where tourists have been kidnapped. Find out all you can, and ask around when you are there as well as keep abreast of info. from the local media.

10

I don't think you need to be concerned about Burkina Faso. It's been stable, and I don't know of any parts of the country considered unsafe for travel. Seeing as how you probably won't be coming through Mali anyway, you can avoid the north of BF if you want to, as it's the area that some governments have issued warnings about.

Guinea-Conakry is not stable politically, so violence flares up now and then. Having been there several times in the last year, I never felt unsafe myself, but the police and especially soldiers can be a huge hassle and can make travel unpleasant (GUINEA TOURISM MINISTER, are you reading this???)

Personally, I wouldn't go to any part of Nigeria, but I'm sure you can read the news and decide for yourself.

As for just going from capital to capital, well, you might want to rethink that strategy. Most people seem to find rural west africa to be the most rewarding. The huge urban centers tend to be dirty, overcrowded, congested (traffic), and noisy. Though some offer great cultural opportunities and fun (I'm thinking Bamako, Conakry, and Bobo-Dioulasso), others can be disappointing and exhausting (Freetown, Dakar). Some time in the quiet spaces in between can be the perfect respite though.

11

Yes, Nigeria is not a definite for me. I don't think I will be going at all. I have been in the process of figuring out a few visas in Australia before I leave and a Nigerian visa is a lot of work for a place that I would probably just enter and leave quite quickly!

I usually go to the capital cities first (depending on how big the country is/how close to where I'm leaving from) and then from there I visit rural parts of the country. I am assuming though that it is not very easy to do many day trips in a lot of the West Africa due to bad roads and public transport. I am planning though to see rural places and smaller towns like St. Louis and more accessible places like that, but I have just read a lot that travel outside of some capitals is quite dangerous. But if going by land one must travel outside of the cities anyway.

So you have been to Guinea recently? How about Guinea-Bissau? Very little place but that is somewhere where I would like to travel to the countryside outside of Bissau.

Also, I have a question about carrying cash. I know that it will be necessary because there won't be many ATMs but it could get quite daunting carrying that much cash around. I've had to do it before (Uzbekistan/Iran/Türkmenistan), but for this trip it may have to be A LOT at one time.

Thank you very much for your advice!

12

I was in Nigeria (on an overland truck) in 2001 and it was amazing. I've always wanted to go back and travel a bit independently, but never quite had the guts to do it.

You will never meet more friendly people and meet less tourists than in Nigeria. It's green, relatively cheap, English speaking, and many parts are fascinating (like the walled city of Kano, and Wiki Warm Springs). We had locals coming up to us in the street asking us to take their photos, and some people came over, shook our hands and said with a big smile 'welcome to Nigeria' and then walked on. However, the situation changes rapidly and it would be somewhere that you would have to be very flexible when travelling, and keep an ear to the ground at all times.

13

ATMs are everywhere in Senegal, none in Guinea-Bissau, plenty in Guinea (but often don't work or take foreign cards), plenty in Freetown take VISA (but can only take out small amounts at a time), a couple in Bo, and a few in Monrovia take VISA.

Western union is everywhere as well.