FAQ
The most common questions. Answered.
- How much time should I take?
- How much is this going to cost?
- Which motorcycle or car should I choose for the journey?
- What spare parts should I bring?
- How can I ship something to myself in Africa?
- Do I have to speak English or French?
- Can I ship my vehicle to Egypt and take the East Coast Route?
- How should I dress?
- I have multiple passports can I switch them at the borders?
How much time should I take?
This depends on you of course but if we’re talking the West Coast route the average time seems to be around 5 months from Europe to Cape Town. Bear in mind you’ll spend several days in cities chasing down visas, you may have breakdowns or need maintenance done and things will for sure go slower than you expect.
If you are more about driving or riding than exploring it can be done in about 4 months, I would say somewhere around 6-7 months is comfortable if you want to experience the countries you pass through. We’ve had people take over two years though so feel free to explore that’s your thing.
How much money is this going to cost?
Look, traveling on the African continent is NOT cheap. This is not Southeast or South Asia, where you get in visa free and then get hostels for $5-10 a night. Bargains can be found along the way but in general visas are expensive, particularly in West Africa. Visas alone will cost you around $1500 if you are taking the west coast route.
If you’re going Europe to Cape Town with your own vehicle I’d have a rough budget of around $8000-$10,000 USD set aside. This is probably on the lower end of things and accounts for fuel, visas, guesthouses, and parts.
Travel Candies On Tour have an excellent and incredibly detailed breakdown of their trip expenses in Africa.
Just as before this will depend on you, how much you’re willing to camp, how much you’re willing to stay with locals when invited, and how much luxury you want (trust me that AC in Conakry is magnificent)!
This estimate does not include the cost of shipping your vehicle back, flights back nor does it include the cost of a CDP or the deposit required for it.
Which motorcycle or car should I choose for the journey?
This really depends on you. People have done this with a Suzuki Hayabusa, multiple Vespas, French two wheel drive cars from the 60s, and bicycles. You can get down there with almost anything. The most common options have been the Yamaha Tenere, Honda CRF, Suzuki DR series for motorcycles and Toyota Landcruisers for 4x4s.
No matter what vehicle you decide to take, make sure you bring spare parts or that they are readily available (spoiler: they are not so bring them)!
What spare parts should I bring?
With any vehicle make sure you inspect it and prep it for the journey to be in top shape before you head off. Don’t expect any parts to be available on the continent until you reach Namibia and even then it can be difficult. It can also be stressful and time consuming to ship parts in so bring everything you think you’ll need.
If you’re traveling with a motorcycle, bring all the basics you’ll need for the trip = spare sprockets, a chain (or spare chain links), a couple of oil filters, and an air filter (if you don’t have a reusable one). If you don’t have a pre-filter a spare fuel filter could be also something worth considering.
If you’re traveling with a car or a truck, definitely a solid full sized spare (or two if you plan on offroading a lot) and filters would be the bare minimum I’d recommend. If you have a Toyota Land Cruiser, especially an older model you’re one of the lucky ones as parts for that are mostly available in the region.
How can I ship something to myself in Africa?
The hack here is to ship to the DHL Main Office in the country and put your name on it. This way they will not ship it back and you have an address you can reliably ship to.
Do not ship to a hotel ahead of time if you’re not sure you’ll be there when the parcel arrives! It is likely to be refused and returned!
Countries where it has been reported to be easy and straightforward to ship into with DHL (no issues with customs):
Ghana
Republic of Congo
Do I need to speak English and French?
Fluency in both languages would be an incredible asset to have if you want to hear peoples’ stories and dive deeper into the culture but no you do not need to be fluent in either language to travel through the region. If you have a solid command of one or both you’ll have a deeper experience but there are people that have made it down all the way down without either.
A smile and a good attitude along with an offline version of Google Translate should do the trick most of the time.
Can I ship my vehicle to Egypt and take the East Coast Route?
My friend, you can ship it to Egypt but that’s about as far as you’ll get. Sudan’s borders are currently closed due to a civil war going on and it’s doubtful this route will reopen anytime in the next 3-5 years. So no, this is not possible.
If you want to travel the East Coast, your best bet is to ship into Mombasa, Kenya and head south from there!
How should I dress?
Given that most of west Africa is muslim, it’s good for both genders to dress in more conservative ways. Generally speaking people are less restrictive towards foreigners. Of course this will vary from country to country but in general yes you can wear shorts, yes you can wear a bikini on the beach, but at the same time yes if you’re going to an embassy please wear long pants, a nice shirt, and ideally close toed shoes.
I have multiple passports can I switch them at the borders?
Yes, in general it works out well in the region. It’s good to explain what you want to do at immigration of the country you’re exiting from and try to get the exit stamp in the other passport. Typically, the country you’re entering into will check to see your exit stamp from the previous country. Sometimes they insist in it being in the same passport as the entry stamp into their country.
Personally I was refused only twice – when crossing from Mauritania to Senegal and from Angola to Namibia. The other 5 or so times it worked.