I had to leave Africa (reasons below).
During a 2 week stopover in Europe many people asked me “How was Africa?”. The video below is my shot to answer this question.

Why I had to leave Africa

After mastering the Ekok-Mamfe road I spent a week in Cameron’s Capital Yaounde to stock up on visas. I was relieved when realizing that I only needed 3 more visas in order to reach South Africa: Congo, the democratic republic of Congo (DRC), Angola, while Namibia and South Africa are visa-free for European citizens. I got my Conga visa without problems but was turned down at the DRC-embassy, reason given: “Visas are only given to residents of Cameroon”. In Africa you have to be patient so I tried it two more times, no luck. I found reports of people in forums who said they managed to get the DRC visa in Cameroon but were then turned down at the border when trying to enter DRC from Congo with a visa issued in Yaounde.
After an intense research on various traveler forums I found out that it is still possible to get a DRC VIsa in Gabon’s capital Libreville. Unfortunately people also reported that in the last weeks Angolan embassies refused to give visas for non-residents. It didn´t look very promising but I still wanted to try it and thus went to Libreville.

I got the DRC visa without problems but was struck by Malaria immediately afterwards. While shifting between chills and high fever I looked deeper into the Angola visa issue. Overland travelers reported that the common places where people got visas before changed their policies and the only place to get it in Africa was in Accra (Ghana), way too far away for me.I heard of two bikers who managed to get into Angola by getting in touch with the president of a bikers association who knows an ambassador, unfortunately he doesn´t help people traveling in a car.

To make a long story short: There was no way to get a visa for Angola and I had to end my Africa trip in Gabon. I printed a “To sell” sign for El Poderoso (my old Mercedes 300D) and put little ads in Libreville’s supermarkets.
Since Libreville is one of the most expensive cities in the world and old Mercedes cars are a rarity there, I demanded 2.5 Million CFA (around 3800 €) as a base for negotiation. Many people called, many came to test drive and after 3 weeks El Poderoso was sold to a guy called Gema for 1.9 Million CFA (2900 €).

Selling Poderosso felt like betraying my best friend. He was my protection shield, my way of transportation and my suitcase for more than 7 months. I realized how lucky I have been. I bought Poderoso for 1100 € without knowing anything about cars. I traveled 18.000 km, passing through 13 countries with the badest roads ever and faced no major problems. An amazing piece of German engineering I have to say.

And there he disappears in the streets of Libreville. Poderoso, I gonna miss you!

The next fundraising bet will happen soon, every € helps:

PS: Leave a comment to send me some motivation to Peru

After raising money for Gambian orphans and singing “Waka Waka” with 111 students of the Ola Senior High School in Ghana, it was time to continue my trip to South Africa. This time I was on my own…

Check out the new webisode and see how I travelled through Mali, Ghana and Nigeria, how two Nigerians sabotaged my car and how I had to face the biggest challenge of my trip.

The next fundraising bet will happen soon, every € helps:

PS: Leave a comment to send me some motivation to Central Africa

I wrote about traveling through West Africa by car in a previous blog post, covering the route from Morocco to Gambia. Since then I made it to Nigeria (without a carnet de passage), in this post I´ll write about what is important to know when traveling further south.

Necessary documents

All documents listed in my earlier post are required except the fiches, since after leaving Senegal the police or gendarmerie will hardly bother anymore to take the details of all passengers. I managed to enter Ghana and Nigeria without a carnet de passage, though there are people in different forums who say that they were asked for it and even others who report that they were not permitted to enter Ghana without having one. I personally think you can cross the complete west coast of Africa without a carnet. How will be explained later on.

The route

Gambia -> Senegal -> Mali

From Banjul you can catch a ferry every hour to Barra and then enter Senegal shortly after. In Senegal they usually wouldn´t let you in if your car is older than 8 years and without having a carnet. Though, if you explain to them that you only need to cross Senegal to enter Mali and that you won´t stay more than 24 hours in their country, they will let you in, sooner or later…
Just have patience and expect that they will first neglect your entrance, act as if your case is finished and care about other people. Just put yourself in the end of the queue again and insist, when it´s your turn again, that you only need to cross Senegal to enter Mali.
You probably need to pay something between CFA 2000 and CFA 7000 to obtain the laissez passer (I saw locals paying CFA 2000). You could try to use the strategies explained here (todo: link) to get around this fee, but considering that is normal to buy the laissez passer and that they already made an exception, why not just pay for it? The route I took was Kaolack -> Tambacounda -> Kidira -> Kayes -> Bafoulabé -> Kita -> Bamako

You can get a visa for Mali at the border near Kidira for CFA 15.000 and the laissez passer for your vehicle for CFA 5000.

Note that it is important to start your journey early in the morning for several reasons:

• the roads in Senegal and Mali have wide & deep holes and dead cows and bulls, which got hit by a truck, are sometimes lying in the middle of the road. Both, the holes and the cows are even harder to spot in darkness
• you will see people carrying big things on their heads, driving bicycles or donkey carts on the side of the road. In complete darkness, especially when there are cars going into your opposite direction and blend you with their lights, it is hardly possible to see anything else than the lights of the car on the other lane
• borders close at a certain hour and if you don´t want to sleep at a police station or in a hotel you need to arrive in time

Mali -> Burkina Faso

A visa for Burkina Faso is not anymore issued at the border but you can get it at the Burkina Faso embassy in Bamako. I applied for it around 9am and could pick it up around 1pm on the same day. A 30 day, single entry visa costs CFA 47.000.

Route: Bamako -> Bougouni -> Sikasso -> Koloko -> Bobo Dioulasso -> Ouagadougou

Crossing the border near Koloko was fairly easy, the only fee to pay is for the laissez passer for CFA 5000.

Burkina Faso -> Ghana

I got my Ghana visa at the Ghana embassy in Ouagadougou. There are reports from other travelers who say their visa application was declined with the reason given that visas are to be obtained in their home country before coming to Africa and are not anymore issued to non-residents.
After filling out the Visa application and paying CFA 20.000 (official fee is CFA 17.000 but everybody waiting in the hall payed 20.000 to “speed up” the process) to the lady at the entrance office I was ordered to see the assistant of the ambassador. He asked me why I had not applied for the Visa in my country, I responded that I couldn´t plan in advance when I am going to be in Ghana. “We are not issuing visas anymore, you should have informed yourself beforehand, please wait outside”. After 1 hours of waiting I got my visa. Note that the official waiting time is 3 days but all people at the embassy got it the same day because of the additional CFA 3000 to “speed up” the process.

Crossing the border at Paga without a Carnet de Passage
This wasn´t easy at all! Several overlanders reported that a carnet de passage is absolutely necessary to enter Ghana. I arrived around 6pm and the border was closed already, I thus slept beside my car and returned to the customs office around 8am the next morning. When the customs officer recognized that my car was from Spain I was asked for my carnet.
As he heard I had none he said I couldn´t enter Ghana by no means and asked me to return to Burkina Faso. I talked to several other people and finally found a solution.

Apparently there is an option to import a foreign car into Ghana with a temporary import bond from the Ghanian state insurance company (the SIC, slogan: “Our promises are sacred”).
The nearest SIC office is located around 40km from Paga, in a town called Bolgatanga. I convinced an officer to let me go to Bolgatanga with my car in order to get the import bond. He issued me a temporary 4 hour access to Ghana. Together with an declare agent I went to Bolga and got the import bond for GH$100, lasting 3 months. My original car papers were held in Bolga, I was given a photocopy and was advised to pick up the original papers when i would leave Ghana. I told them to send the papers to Aflau, the place where I planned to leave Ghana and enter Togo.
With the declare agent I returned to the border in Paga where my agent collected around 8 stamps and signatures and gave a little money to some officials here and there. He demanded GH$100 for me but I managed to get his services for GH$60. The whole process lasted around 7 hours.
My papers were send to Aflau where I picked them up about 4 weeks later.
Note that the Ghanian custom officers were very strict, I doubt that I could have bribed them to give me a laisser passer. It seems to me that getting the temporary import bond or having a carnet is really the only option to enter Ghana with a foreign car.

From Paga my journey took me over Tamale and Kumasi to Accra. About 40 kilometers before Accra the “road” was in terrible condition, I don´t know if there´s another one to take but these 40km took me about 2,5 hours.

Ghana -> Togo

A 7 day visa is issued at the border in Aflao for CFA 10.000. The laissez passer costs CFA 6000.

Togo -> Benin

A 48 hours transit visa is issued at the border in Aného for CFA 10.000. The laissez passer costs CFA 5950.

Benin -> Nigeria

Nigeria Visa: You can get a Nigeria visa in Accra. They ask for a letter of invitation, a statement from an organization that sends you to Nigeria and you have to proof that you are a resident in Ghana for over 6 months. I had none of these requirements. After explaining my mission (crossing Africa from North to South) they told me to bring my carnet, my ecowas insurance and my car papers. Even without the carnet (I told them in all other West African countries I didn´t need one) I got the Visa 24 hours after applying for it for US$100 + US$70 (non-resident fee).

I read several forum posts stating that it is impossible to get into Nigeria without a carnet, it is for sure not easy but here is how I managed it:
At first there was a Benin police lady who tried to make me pay CFA 20.000 for a stamp in my passport which is needed to exit Benin with my car. She said that without that stamp the Nigerian customs wouldn´t let me into Nigeria. This was in fact true, I though managed to find another friendly police man who gave me the stamp for free. The next step was the immigration office (two guys sitting at wooden table).

I was asked the following questions:

• What is your motive for coming to Nigeria? (Tourism and transit to Cameroon, and listing all the countries I already past)
• Why didn´t you get the visa in your country? (Cause I came overland and couldn´t plan in advance when I was going to enter Nigeria)
• Where are you going? (Lagos, I have a friend in Apapa, Point Road)
• Where are you going afterwards (Benin City then Calabar)
• Are you a journalist (No)

I then had to fill out a form and take it into an office and was advised to bring “something good” afterwards. In the office next to the wooden table my passport got stamped. After being asked for “something good” I gave them 400 Neira (N) and also left 400N with the guys at the wooden table. I moved on to the place where they issue the laisser passer. There I met a pastor in front of the office and engaged him in a long conversation about my trip, listing all the countries I passed which left him quite surprised. We then talked about the differences in the West African countries and the pastor asked me which country I liked most and which least. I told him that I could have normal relationships with people everywhere except in Ghana because I had the impression that everybody just saw me as a money source. After explaining my charity mission he said something like “I want you to have a good impression about Nigeria, I will talk to the people in the office, wait a minute”. After about 10 minutes he returned and told me to go into the office where they would issue my laisser passer. The office was full of people, with a lady at the desk being the boss. I actively told my whole story about crossing all the West African countries up to Nigeria which also left them very surprised. “You are a brave man”. Another lady past her phone to me, she knew somebody who knew German and wanted me to talk to him. I was then asked for N7000 which was quite OK already, as I was happy to see that I would really mange to get the laisser passer. I then explained my charity mission, telling them how I raised funds for Gambian orphans and that they should consider me and give me the laisser passer for N3000. The boss lady said that she really likes my project and that i should pay the 3000N. With my new laisser passer I wanted to start my trip to Lagos.
Now it got a bit crazy: About every 20 meter there was a stop: Immigration, Anti Drug Squad, Health control, Bomb Squad, etc. Each post blocked the road with some sort of chain and raised it up just when I wanted to pass, while other locals just went through. When being asked if I had something for them I said something like “Yes, a lot of love and a question How do I get to Lagos?”.
I couldn´t get around paying N1000 at an immigration post but that was it.
Two times people blocked the road and pretended to be police men, I then asked for their ID and if they couldn´t provide it I just took off.

Psychological tricks for dealing with the police and border posts

The main strategies about how to deal with local police men are covered in my previous post. I though have some few things to add: From the moment on I entered Ghana the police started to be a little bit more demanding. They usually ask you for your documents until they find any small problem and then ask you for “something good” you have for them. If all your documents are in order they might check you vehicle, trying to find anything which is not right. If everything is right, they might just say “So, what do you have for me?” out of the blue. You can either have some really cheap but exotic present (I had little tea packets from Gambia) and invent it has some special effect (increasing libido etc.) or say that you already paid the something at the last stop.

Human to Human communication and actively leading the interaction

This is by far the best strategy ever, in my opinion for any interactions between people, if you are good at this you can forget all the other strategies.
Quite often when being stopped by the police I did what I call “human to human” communication: Imagine a human being is like an onion with 3 layers. From the inside to the outside these layer would be:

1. Human (here we are all the same)
2. Nationality (German, Nigerian, etc.)
3. Role (police man, tourist, etc.)

When engaging into any interaction with anybody down here, I try to forget about layer 2 and 3 and only act on layer 1, from human being to human being. In this state I am totally centered, totally me and I perceive my communication partner as a human being, not as a police man. This is not a strategy, I do it naturally. If you act from your own center everything just “flows” naturally. Just think the police man is a fellow human being, a friend and treat him accordingly. A typical interaction would then be like this:

Police man gives you a sign to park at the side of the road, you park, police man approaches you, you roll the window down
Police man: “Good evening”
You: “Hey, good evening, how are you? (smiling, shaking his hand or even better doing the rastaman greeting by offering your fist and slightly putting it against his fist, then touching your heart with an open hand)
Police man: “Can I see your papers please?”
You: “Of, of course” (handing your documents to him)
You: “This is the road to xxx, right? You know I was coming from xxx but I want to make sure I am on the right road”
Police man: “Oh yes, you just go straight, always straight. What are you going to do there?”
You: “Oh, you know I came with this car driving overland from Germany to Ghana and…”
Police man: “With this car, are you serious, how did you manage”
You: blablabla

It is very likely that after this he or she will not ask for a bribe. You can use any moment to actively lead the conversation to a different topic. Let´s say he/she asks you to show him the content of your trunk, on the way to the back of the car you can then point out a little dent and tell the story how it happened, asking some questions or simply looking at him just being you, a human being. It will lead to a nice encounter for both of you and make it really hard from him/her to ask for money.

Surprise them and get some respect

Note that from Ghana on policemen are not used to encounter overlanders as they are in Morocco or Gambia. They thus have a lot of respect for people getting so far, especially when you do it in a normal car like mine. Just by naming the countries you crossed and telling some stories about difficulties you had will leave them surprised, making them shake your hand and being really friendly.

It’s finally done. After four weeks of waiting for a new camera (mine was stolen), the second bet is close to completion. Once more, I pushed myself to the limit to find at least 111 avid music lovers to perform the song “Waka waka” with me. The donations of 1107 € will be used to enable 14 orphans to attend the Bakau Primary School in Gambia for one year. A big thank you to all donors!
But was I really up to face the challenge – despite the haze of the Saharan winds of Harmattan? Or was I doomed to give in this time and admit my defeat? See for yourself:

Phew, I was once again off with no more than a fright. The director and more than 120 students of the OLA Senior High School in Ho, Ghana, agreed spontaneously to sing the song “Waka Waka” for the orphans in 3000 km away Bakau, Gambia. …An unforgettable experience for all and a wonderful humanitarian act.

Donors are uniquely connected with the project and are in the position to determine my fate by selecting the song and the bet, and thus providing me with new challenges. This time the bet was to work one week in a clown costume in the children’s ward at the Royal Victoria Teaching Hospital in Banjul, Gambia.

The higher the donations turn out, the more difficult it becomes for me to win the bet. Every donated 1 € increases the fun. This should be enough incentive for the donors to sky rocket contributions into astronomical heights.

Inspired by the success of Ho, I sat down to work on the concept for the new video, titled “What if your life were a movie – would you watch it?”. Music brings people together. One of my greatest passions connects people around the globe. What a great success! The Ghanaian girls prove that this is the case. Their joy of singing will allow orphans to attend school in Gambia and it also forced them to look beyond themselves. Every single one of us can use his or her skills and passions to contribute to something larger.

Live your dream.
Make your life a movie.
Make a difference.

Stay inspired and come with me on my journey through Africa. The adventure continues to take its course. In just a few days, the Nigerian border officials will put my patience to the test. Will I be able to convince them to let me and my loyal friend and vehicle El Poderoso pass through the country? Or will Nigeria turn out as my final destination?

Stay tuned, donate now. The project and the artist are happy to receive your donations.

Special thanks to Serena Epstein and Nadine Regel, who contributed passionately to the making of the video. As well as to Benedicta Afesi, the headmistress of the OLA Senior High School, and most of all the pupils, who made the performance possible in the first place.

We’re all one.
Fab

We bet, that for each 10€ donated, we´ll find one person to sing a song with us. The donations will be used to sent orphans living in The Ghambia to school.

Check out the fundraising bet here

After doing the first fundraising bet in Tangier, it was time to move on. Together with Monica, Cala and Catarina I went from Morocco to Gambia, crossing the West Sahara desert, Mauritania and Senegal.
Watch the 4th Webisode to see how we crossed borders, had a lot of fun negotiating with highway police and custom people and were received with great hospitality by anybody we met. More information about traveling West Africa by car and how to deal with Mauritanian highway cops here.

If you like what I am doing, just click the LIKE button below the title:

The more people know about Fab&Vivien, the more donations will be generated for the projects I am going to visit.

PS: Leave a comment to send me some motivation to West Africa

When entering the Artesana handcraft market in Malis capital I ran into Daddy Ghanja. He brought me to a village in the mountains where I spent Christmas with him and many more artists. On the 24th we spontaneously decided to do a little XMAS freestyle jam-session. This guy is just awesome and full of energy, the whole day free-styling and trying hard to move forward with his music.

You can reach Daddy Ghanja using this email: bigdriss@live.fr
Enjoy

Endless bumpy desert roads, berber and beduine tribes, countless police- and border stops and the road fee and car tax negotiations with highway police and gendarms that go along with them.

Traveling West Africa by car is a real adventure! Just taking off without any prior knowledge may increase the adventure factor, but some basic information can make the voyage much more pleasant. Read on and save yourself a lot of annoyance and money.

I recently made the trip from Spain to Gambia over Morocco, Mauritania and Senegal by myself (video report here) and will now summarize my experiences in this blog post.

This article is for everybody who considers traveling in West Africa by car.

Necessary documents

• Passport (valid for at least 6 more months);
• Driving license (if you´re from the EU you´re standard driver’s license will do the job, otherwise you might need an international one)
• Registration document of the car (in french: “Carte Gris”)
• Car insurance (green card, in french “Carte Verte”, it´s a green double-sided page that you can request for free from your car insurer). The carte verte is only valid in Morocco, for the other West African countries you can purchase an insurance at the border of Mauritania.
• per country: 10 copies of a paper listing data of every passanger in the car (french “Fiche”, you will get stopped many times by the police and the gendarmerie – without the fiches, they will register all your passport details manually, thus the fiches will save you a lot of time). Be sure to include: Name and Surname, passport number, Date of birth, Nationality, Date of issue of the passport, date of expiration of the passport, a note about who the owner of the car is + license plate of the car)
• A visa for Mauritania (you can get it from the Mauritanian embassy in Rabat, Morocco, see below)

Note: I went with my own car. If your car is rented or you´re driving somebody else’s, it might cause problems. I have no information about this, but you should check this issue before you´re leaving to Morocco.

Communication and languages

• Morocco: In the northern parts nearly everybody speaks spanish. Down south you get along with french (second official language)
• Mauritania: French
• Sengeal: French, some also speak english
• Gambia: English

The route

Spain -> Morocco

From Tarifa or Algeciras, you reach Tangier, Morocco in just 40 minutes by ferry. A ticket costs 35 € per person, while for a car you will be charged 65 €.

There are several companies that operate regulary and a ship can be found almost hourly. On board, you must not forget to fill in the entry form and stamp it. Shortly after the start of the journey there is usually a queue lining up where you can get the form and also hand it in. You will also need to show your passport.

After leaving the ship you will pass the Moroccan border, there they will ask you for your passport, the carte verte and the carte gris. Under certain circumstances, your car will be searched too. There are a few assistants working with the border police. They will offer their help for filling out the required forms.

As as always in Morocco, the first question is “First time in Morocco?”. If your answer is “Yes”, prices will rise. I paid a total of 10MAD (11 moroccan dirham = approx. 1 €) at the border and I think I got away quite well.

Morocco

The roads and highways in Morocco are easily navigable. The highways often cost tolls, but it stays within limits. For the entire distance, I paid less than 30 €. You should absolutely respect the speed limits; the Moroccansdo a lot of surveillance (mostly during the daytime). The rule is: 10% faster than allowed is within the limit. If the limit is 60km, you can go 66km max. If they catch you on camera, it is not easy to get away without paying the fee or paying less. They argue that the photograph was recorded on the memory card and it is not in their power to delete it, so be sure to respect the limits. If you get caught with other things, like not wearing a seatbelt or not following driving rules, you can always try to negotiate and pay less, or give a souvenir instead of money.

Mauritania visa in Rabat

It is best to ask for the visa in Germany (note the start date of the visa, as the simple ones expire in 30 days from the granting date). Otherwise, the only way of obtaining it is the Mauritanian embassy in Rabat (6, Rue Thami Lamdawar, BP 207, Rabat-Souissi).

The embassy officially opens at 09:00 a.m. The schedule for applying for the visa runs only from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.

Around 7:45 a.m. a queue forms outside the closed door, while the embassy sometimes doesn´t open until 09:30 a.m. Expect to lose around 1.5 – 2 hours in line, while you will be able to pick up the visa the next working day between 3 p.m. – 4 p.m. (as of 11/23/2011).

Necessary documents:

• 2 passport copies
• 2 passport photos (either black & white or color)
• Approx. 340 MAD (31 €) for the Visa fee
• The form to fill out (you will get it from the entrance door of the embassy)

Tricks for emergency situations:

• If you arrive after 11:00 A.M. you may still be able to ´arrange´ the documents with the park rangers, for the right fee. He will take care that the completed form is submitted on the same day to the respective desk and that you can pick up the visa the next day
• If you arrive there in the morning and you want to take the visa the same day, the parking attendant may also help you, for the right amount of course.

Border Morocco – Mauritania

The border opens at 9 a.m., but cars start lining up the night before. We arrived around midnight. At that time there were more or less 50 cars ahead of us (shown also in our video summarizes the trip). When leaving Morocco, you pass three stations: the police, customs and the gendarms. How to not pay the demanded fees is described below (link). After the border, you continue through the no-man´s land, a 3km ungoverned road without asphalt. It is highly recommended to follow one of the trucks, as they can show you the way. Otherwise you might get stuck in the sand. Some stay there forever, as the numerous car wrecks testify. After no-man’s land the fun starts all over again: Mauritanian border, police and gendarmerie.

Overall the process lasted from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. If you pay all the fees you might save an hour, the negotiating and acting takes some time, but with the right attitude you can have a lot of fun

In total, we paid 100MAD (8.75 €) to the Mauritanian police, but at that time we weren´t very practiced in bargaining yet. With more patience and by applying the tricks described in the next section you can for sure get away without paying this fee.

At the Mauritanian border, hustlers will try to sell you an insurance for Mauritania (3 days = 160MAD = 15 €). The police will tell you that, without an insurance, you must pay a fee of 20 € at each of the following police stops. We weren´t asked a single time for an insurance in Mauritania.

It is advisable to bring some euros to the border, they can be easily exchanged into the Mauritanian currency (1 € = 389 Ouguiya). Even better is to directly bring Ouguiya from Morocco. There are no ATMs at the border, only a Western Union office. Since we had no euros, we exchanged 400MAD into 14 000 Ouguiya, which was a fairly good exchange rate. In Nuakchott, the capital of Mauritania, there is a petrol station and ATMs.

Mauritania

In Mauritania, one should avoid driving at night, at least this is recommended by the local police and the Foreign Ministry. We spent a night on the roadside, sleeping in an abandoned hut. At night, a man with a flashlight illuminated the room, but we were left in peace.

There are not many gas stations along the way. You should keep an eye on the tank and use the few opportunities you find.

Border Mauritania – Senegal

The shortest route to Senegal is via Rosso. There you have to take a ship. On the other side, you pass the border to Senegal. Rosso is not the nicest place in the world. When you get out of the car, several Mauritanians want to help you with the necessary transactions to take the ship and to leave Mauritania. There is a lot off ripping off, cheating and, according to some Internet reports, also stealing going on.

We were already used to the hassle, but Rosso, after the long drive, was too much even for us. We decided to take a 110km road (the first 50km are OK, then it is bumpy) to Diama.

I bought West African car insurance in Rosso (about 15 € for 30 days). I can not remember if it was possible to buy the insurance in Diama, but since you have to pass Rosso anyway, you can also quickly buy insurance there.

However, it is impossible not to be harassed on the way to the insurance salesman. Someone will show you the way and try to charge for it afterwards.

Even though I was only asked for 0.50 €, I refused to pay because of the audacity of my “guide”.

He said that our car would have an accident, because we are bad people. Nothing happened to us

On the road to Diama you pass approx. 5 police stops + a stop at the entrance of a national park. At the border, the usual procedure: police Mauritania, gendamerie, Mauritania, border control, police Senegal, Senegalese police.

Important Note on car imports: If you go with an old car (older than 8 years) to Senegal, there might be problems. They want to ensure that nobody does business with auto exports. I’ve heard many variations about how they try to prevent it. A friend said they would charge 400 € for each car (older than 8 years) entering the country. This is something like a custom fee, because they assume that you will sell the car. If you only want to transit Senegal, you might be accompanied by an escort, which ensures that you really leave the country (very expensive). In my case, they wrote into my passport that I entered with a car and gave me three days to leave Senegal. Otherwise, I would end up in prison (they repeated that three times).

Psychological tricks for dealing with police, gendarmerie and border posts

If you add up all the stops, from Morocco to Gambia you will be in contact with the police and gendarms about 25 to 30 times. At the border, they will always ask for money. If we would have paid all the fees that were requested from us, we would be 300€ poorer.

We got away with paying a total of about 15 €. It wasn’t easy, but a lot of fun!

Here are some useful tricks:

The appropriate Look:

The fees are flexible and adjusted according to what the policeman estimates you can afford to pay. It helps to have a shabby look. My outfit consisted of torn jeans and a Jimi Hendrix-esque headscarf. I also hadn’t showered for a long time.

The other passengers sometimes walked around barefoot. The car adapted to our looks, after several hours of driving through the desert.

At one stop, I listened to an interaction between the police and an older, well-established looking French gentleman. He was asked for 30 €, while I was asked for only 10 €.

The right attitude – all the time in the world:

It helps to comeaacross as if you have all the time in the world. The police assumes that you will get fed up after a while and will just pay and leave. The longer you can stand, however, the greater the likelihood that the police will let you go without paying. A friend of mine who travelled through West Africa for 5 years said that, at times, he would cook himself a tea at the border, or even put his tent there and act like he would stay overnight.

I remember two situations in which, after some initial negotiating, the policeman said something like: “If you have no money, you must now go back, I’ll give you an exit stamp”. He then grabbed the remote control and watched TV. He wanted to signal: the interaction is over, now I’m watching TV, I have all the time in the world. Outside, there were already other people waiting. He wasn´t really planning to watch TV, but he wanted to demonstrate that he has time. I, however, had more: I waited, used the desperate look and the No-money strategy (see below), and after another 2 minutes, he let us go.

The desperate look:

“TEN EURO?”, a desperate look (as if it was an incredibly high amount) into the eyes of the policeman + stories strategy (see below) + putting your head on the desk of the police man, and he lets you go.

No money – who has no money cannot pay

My co-driver from Finland had perfected this strategy. He really had almost no money and then said things like: ”How should we pay when we have nothing?”, ”But I have no money”, ”Yes, I understand, but I just have none”.

Have the right stories to tell:

In Casablanca, my windshield was broken, which had to be repaired, of course for a LOT OF MONEY. It was a true story and every policeman or gendarme had to listen to it. For sure everyone has a similar story he wants to share with the police to trigger a little compassion. Also, it helps to be on a charity mission: for sure you can come up with something good you are going to do in the country. If you however spea in too much detail about your charity plans, they might ask for a contact man in the country, which they will call and ask to confirm.

Gifts and souvenirs:

If the above strategies don´t work, you can offer a low-value gift. In Spain, one can buy 12 bottles of Rioja wine for 12 €. A bottle of wine can do wonders, but don´t try to offer wine in Mauritania.

At the border post in Mauritania, nothing helped anymore. I went to the car and brought 4 audio CDs to the police. The policeman chose 2  Duke Ellington CDs and Astor Piazzolla. “Two?” I said with a desperate look. “Yes, two.”

“Ok, well … I´ll leave then, let’s see what we listen to in the car now…” + desperate look

He gave the CDs back too me, smiled, and let us go.

Actively addressing the money issue:

Twice, this strategy worked very well. Instead of waiting for the police to ask for money, you bring up the subject yourself. Use the desperate look and say something like: “I know that many here pay fees when they pass, I just want to say that because of story 1 and story 2 + no money strategy, we want to ask for an exception.”

Your last money:

At one point, we had to cross a bridge at night. The crickets chirped and the river flowed below us. On the bridge, a one-eyed man asked us for 4000 Ouguiya. The Mauritanians passed without paying. After applying all the above strategies, especially the all the time in the world trick, he went down to 2000. It was a very hard case. In such a situation, it helps to have a lower amount of torn money in your pocket. You then reach deep into your pocket and take out your last money. Small bills and an assortment of coins are perfect. I counted the money slowly. When the bridge guard saw this, he let us go without paying.

Conclusion:

EVERYTHING is flexible here. So flexible, that we even got one of our fellow travellers into Senegal without a visa. Getting out of Senegal was more difficult, but after exchanging facebook names and a possible date in the future we got her out .

Whoever has money, has no desire to wait a long time, and pays. Whoever has no money, inevitably negotiates more and thus pays less or nothing at all. We didn´t invent stories, just exaggerated a bit here and there. Everyone must know for himself how far h is willing to go. To leave a bit of money here and there doesn´t really hurt. I personally prefer to spend money inside the country and not at the border, but you have to do what feels right for you.

Dangerous?

Before departure, I heard many horror stories. The Foreign Office strongly recommends not to go on any trip to Mauritania (“Only when absolutely necessary”). Even the Moroccans told me that the people “down there” were not very friendly or welcoming.

Exactly the opposite was the case. We were welcomed with open arms, and often invited to stay and eat. Here you find genuine hospitality, usually without financial motives. I wonder why it doesn´t work the other way around. Imagine 4 black guys from Mauritania traveling to your country. Would they be received as we were down here?

This video shows our trip from Morocco to the Gambia.

Question? Just leave a comment using facebook or Disqus

Wondering where the title song of the Fab&Vivien-Webisodes is coming from?
We recorded it on our own

Words by Kenny Stanger
Sung by me (I had a cold!!), recorded with the awesome people from Groovestrasse, drums by Marino Colina

Enjoy: Hey Mr. Small Man by Fab&Vivien

Lyrics:
Hey Mr. Small Man, what did you dream last night?
You dreamt about a stairway that you can climb and see the light.
Your people’ve lived in darkness as generations slept.
Nothing ever changes, till someone takes a step.

(Refrain)
One small person with a big idea
And a small group of people with open ears
In a hundred different places all at the same time
Reaching hundreds of thousands of hearts and minds
Half a million people with a million hands
Rising up to better see the land
A pale blue dot seen from outer space
We can make our home a better place!

Hey Mr. Small Man, where you going with that stone?
The people say you’re crazy, you can’t build your dream alone.
But wait! A few approach, with stones and open hearts.
They say they share the same dream, but someone has to start. And it’s…

(Refrain)
One small person with a big idea
And a small group of people with open ears
In a hundred different places all at the same time
Reaching hundreds of thousands of hearts and minds
Half a million people with a million hands
Rising up to better see the land
A pale blue dot seen from outer space
We can make our home a better place!

Hey there Earth People, there’s work yet to be done.
You can light a thousand candles, with the flame of a single one.
Don’t let what you cannot do interfere with what you can.
If you have the courage to take a step, I promise to lend a hand. Yes it’s…

(Refrain)
One small person with a big idea
And a small group of people with open ears
In a hundred different places all at the same time
Reaching hundreds of thousands of hearts and minds
Half a million people with a million hands
Rising up to better see the land
Each of us a part of the Human Race
We can make our home a better place!

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