Driving Holidays

tankbarry

For the last 2 years Ive wanted to go on a driving holiday. As there is a little bit of adventurer in me I was thinking of doing something crazy like the programme Long Way Down. I would like to start in Ireland and go to somewhere in Africa was thinking Sierra Leone / Liberia. I know its a long way but I would like to think its possible to do. It would take a couple of years planning as VISA'S and stuff can be a nightmare and to be honest saving the money to do it. Its something Id like to do so if anybody is interested get back to me and lets see if it can be done.

ToniTuddle

Well if the Visas take years to possibly come through in the mean time you could try smaller driving holidays?

Like head through few countries in Europe over a few weeks?
Or the good old fashioned Route 66 journey all through America?

Or are you wanting to make sure and save every penny for this big one to Africa?

Fizman

There was a lad who posted in Motors in Dec/Jan about a trip himself and 3 mates took on in a Volve. Drove all the way to Porto in Portugal I think. Was a pretty epic journey by the sounds of it, might be worth your while doing a search for it!

EDIT: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055767094&highlight=road+trip

tankbarry

read the forum about the trip to portugal sounds good. I will be trying driving trips to other places aswell just to get the hang of it. Will be doing a driving trip to southern spain first though. Ive have spoken to people from england that have done as far as senegal and that so have a good idea about it. I will post up here in a day or two the route and timeframe and what it might cost. then we will see if its possible... hopefully it is......

ToniTuddle

tankbarry wrote: »

I will post up here in a day or two the route and timeframe and what it might cost. then we will see if its possible... hopefully it is......

Anything is possible!

Will be a mighty experience for you.

tankbarry

Visa's wont take that long want I meant by 2 years is the planning involved.....

tankbarry

3,560 miles altogether from north france ( roscoff irish ferries ) to monrovia. Im doing my inquiries so if anybody is interested PM me.

Civilian_Target

I attempted something like this a few months ago. The idea was London to Limbe in Cameroon with 2 mates in a 27 year old Renault 4. Didn't work, but it was fun trying. The car got as far as Marakesh, I got as far as the Togolese broder.

The visas are difficult, but getting the documentation sorted for the car is even worse. You're going to learn a lot about bribing.

(BTW, avoid Guinea!)

Civilian_Target

Oh, and just saw what you said about the visas. It's not *that* bad, 4 months is enough.

tankbarry

i attempted something like this a few months ago. The idea was London to Limbe in Cameroon with 2 mates in a 27 year old Renault 4. Didn't work, but it was fun trying. The car got as far as Marakesh, I got as far as the Togolese broder.

sounds good. We would be trying to do it in a car worth no more then 500euro but with a good engine and a bit of work done to it by ourselves we are not worried about a few bumps and stuff. How hard is it to get the documentation for the car. How bad was guinea I would have to go through it.

Our route would be

Roscoff to Gibraltar 24hr trip 990 miles

Then through Morrocco, western sahara, mauritania, mali, guinea, then into Liberia. Hopefully the africa part in about 6 to 7 days.

Would have to go through guinea I was told by somebody that I could get in and out of Guinea in 5 to 6 hours If i just kept going...

If u have any other info let us know. thanks

Civilian_Target

I live in France, I bought a car here, and since they're french-speaking countries, car documentation was relatively easy. It's a bit harder in Ireland, but what you'll need is a Carnet du Passage from the AA, who will demand that you put down a deposit (which will depend on the value of your car) to guarantee that you're not going to dump your car in Africa. It means you'll have to dispose of it legally when you arrive, the most hastle-free way to do that is donate it to a charity.

Don't go through Guinea. I'm not joking, it's competing with Somalia for worst place in the world right now: car jacking and road cutting are rife. Look here: http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/travel-and-living-abroad/travel-advice-by-country/sub-saharan-africa/guinea
Other no-go areas are Northern Cote d'Ivoire, eastern Mauritania, northern Mali, and most of Niger.

Contrary to what you believe, you can do it without going to Guinea. From Marakesh, go along the coast south to Kaolak in Senegal, east to Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso, south to Kumasi in Ghana, west to Abijan in Cote d'Ivoire and then over to Monrovia. You could do that route in about two weeks in a decent (non 4x4) car, but I would advise to take at least 6 weeks and enjoy it

Feel free to message me if you think I can help!