comprehensive southbound Morocco to South Africa VISA report

[nljafrica]

Some friends and I will start overlanding from Morocco: January 2012 to ???

My current take on things is that Angola and now possibly Nigeria are the ones to be most concerned with, and that many others mostly seem possible on the fly. For still others it seems like a grey area.

Below are the relevant countries -- could we all work together on filling this in with a brief summary of experience (time taken, where acquired, cost)? In particular, does anyone have any relevant info on the Visa Entente? Once I finish this trip next year, I will provide a thorough update here, I promise! (I have a US passport.)

Morocco (no visa needed for US/EU)
Mauritania
Senegal (no visa needed for EU/US less than 90 days)
The Gambia
Guinea Bissau
Mali
Guinea
Sierra Leone (Must get in advance?)
Liberia
CDI (Visa Entente?) (not currently advisable to go?)
Burkina Faso (Visa Entente?) (new high fees, I read $181 if through US Embassy)
Ghana
Togo (Visa Entente?)
Benin (Visa Entente?)
Nigeria (Seems like it may be one we need to get ahead of time in the US)
Cameroon
Equitorial Guinea (No visa required, but need small pox and cholera in addition to the oft-required yellow fever).
Gabon
Congo (Brazzaville) (need letter of invitation?) (possible to get transit through or around to Congo -- Kinshasha and down to Angola?)
Congo (Kinshasha) (possible to get transit through or around to Angola?)
Angola (Seems by consensus the most difficult)
Namibia (Border)
Botswana (Not needed)
South Africa (Not needed)

[geovalue]

If you are going south and it seems you are, you can apply for Congo Brazzaville and Congo Kinshasha and Angola in Nigeria in the capital Abuja at their respective embassies. You will need to go to Abuja as you cannot apply in Lagos. The most difficult visa to get will be the Angolan visa they offer a 5 day transit or a 30 day one. We managed to get an Angola visa on 3 different occasions so it is possible but many give up in frustration. I recommend you contact the respective Embassies in the USA and get the latest visa requirement details. We got our Nigerian visa in Ghana and it took several days but there were no problems. We were traveling with Canadian passports. We have a lot of information on the west route of Africa on our blog.

You are in for a wonderful adventure. West Africa is certainly not for the faint of heart.

Safe travels
Janet
WWW.adventurouspirits.com

[lloyd123]

Global Visas South Africa

[cruiser guy]

I think you can get the Sierra Leone visa at the border but don't quote me on that. I suspect you're coming through the Pamalap crossing from Guinea? It closes at about 6:00 - 7:00 in the evening or it did the last time I was across.

E-mail when you're coming through Sierra Leone, we are in the Southern Province. I'd like to chat about your progress up to that point as I am planning to go from Sierra Leone to Germany next year (2013) spring.