Location: Senegal, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Sierra Leone
Dates: Southbound [DKR-FTN] 1st-30th Oct 2012; Northbound [FTN-DKR] 18th Apr–17th May 2013
Duration: 30 days
Group size: 20
Price: From £1400 with a €320 'kitty' which will include all food whilst camping, accommodation and entrances to the major parks, activities and fun things along the way. For more information on what the 'Kitty' will include, you can click here.

There is roof net storage, a large library, with forward facing windows at the front for a good view ahead, and drop-down windows along the side to take in the sights- if you’re thinking “what about the air-con?” – then this is probably not your style of trip!

This is the first leg of an epic journey which covers almost the whole of West Africa. From Senegal, known as the 'Pays de la Teranga', to Cameroon dubbed 'Africa in Miniature', this trip is not for the faint-hearted. A truly rewarding experiential adventure off the 'tourist roads'.  To learn more about the second leg, click here.

The first two weeks of the trip will be pretty easy-going, with relatively short drive days on reasonable roads – but once you cross the border into Guinea, the roads through the highlands from Kandika to Labe start to deteriorate markedly.

Though the Chinese have begun to grade and pave some of this road, they are still some way from completion and driving through the Guinean highlands could get pretty interesting i.e muddy if the rainy season is still in swing or bumpy and dusty if the road has dried out!

It will be tough for certain stretches but rewarding – you’ll have to help Aminah (the truck) along the way. There will be one or two ferry crossings en route, and if bridges are washed out rivers will have to be crossed one way or another. So be prepared for a true overland adventure along a route rarely traveled.

The operator is fully aware that travel and tourism in developing countries can throw up a lot of complex issues and ethical questions and that there are some negative consequences which are sometimes unavoidable – but they also know that there are many opportunities to use tourism and cultural exchange as a tool for development and positive change.

To this end they are establishing ongoing relationships with a few projects along their route that focus on grassroots community development. You’ll be visiting the projects on our trips and helping out where we can, bringing supplies out from the UK and providing financial support.

In Sierra Leone you will spend some time at John Obey Beach to visit the Tribewanted project which is now over a year into an innovative sustainable tourism initiative working alongside the local community.

This operator is trying to distance themselves from the ‘eco-label’ – ‘who’s more responsible than who?’ debate and simply do things the way they think any decent traveller would. To them that means:

• Treating the areas they visit with the utmost respect
• Being courteous to the local people and respecting their customs and traditions
• Making the effort to learn some of the language(s) of the regions
• Not littering or using plastic bags. Where possible, recycling cans and plastic bottles by giving them to the local children who have plentiful uses for them
• Burying bio-degradable waste properly if bush camping, or giving it to animals to forage on
• They also try to use small scale camp sites, hotels, restaurants, shops and markets owned by locals which directly contribute to the local economy and benefit the community.

Home - Trips - Responsible Tourism - Who are we? - Gallery - Blog - Links
West Africa Map - Disclaimer - Contact us