8 Important Things that you might Know Before Travelling to West Africa

This is the hardest area to go on the planet. You will undoubtedly meet a couple of voyagers, you will wind up sitting tight for quite a long time to simply withdraw on open vehicle, your flight will get dropped and the norm of convenience will make you need to leave.

You won’t find the culinary paradise that Europe offers, the hiker’s energy of Asia or the variety of South America. As it’s been said – West Africa will either make you or break you.

The dry season endures from November to March and this is the best opportunity to think about venturing out to West Africa. Obviously, the environment changes from the dry desert of Mauritania across the tropical area from Guinea Bissau to Cameroon.

The primary motivation to go in dry explanation is for transport. Assuming you were at that point apprehensive to figure out that a few courses from A to B can require as long as 20 hours in the dry season, you don’t wish to endeavor it in the wet season. It will require somewhere around two times the investment. On the off chance that your vehicle even makes it there by any stretch of the imagination.

The flights can frequently be postponed or dropped during the wet season and your opportunities to find different voyagers will diminish.

There are 19 nations in West Africa as per the Lonely Planet manual (the UN records just 16).

Most of identification holders (EU, Australia, Canada and USA) will require a visa for something like 16 of them. (In the event that you are pondering – Senegal, The Gambia and Sao Tome are probably going to be sans visa – however check before you go as things change rapidly).

A few visas can be gotten on appearance. Some are given at the boundary and others can be possibly given at the air terminal while flying in. Notwithstanding, many visas should be applied for in advance at the international safe haven or department and a few visas can be just given in the nation of your residency.

Generally speaking, research your visas before you proceed to make an arrangement where to get each visa if doing so on the way. Assuming you are intending to visit Nigeria and Ghana – get these 2 visas in advance. It will save you a ton of migraines.

Ensure you have an adequate number of pages in your identification.

Most visas will utilize two pages – for a sticker or huge stamp and passage/leave stamps, so consider getting a fresh out of the box new identification in the event that you are wanting to be in Africa for some time.

West Africa is definitely not a modest objective and as it will be either hot or hot and sticky, you will require a lot of water. As the expense of filtered water is frequently $1 per liter we suggest bringing a sifted water bottle.

It will in a real sense save you many dollars and time attempting to find water as you go, also doing your piece to assist with lessening plastic and be a more mindful voyager.

There is nothing unexpected that money is lord in West Africa. You could involve your ATM card to pull out neighborhood money in many spots. Assuming that you are from Australia we prescribe getting this card to stay away from any ATM charges – it set aside us heaps of cash.

In nations like Sierra Leone or Nigeria where the most extreme withdrawal is $40 or $55, you could find it more straightforward to simply change cash. We frequently found that ATMs regularly hit a financial dead end.

The best outcomes were normally from Ecobank or UB Bank. Assuming you end up going to Sao Tome and Principe or Equatorial Guinea you will require cash. Euro is certainly the best hard cash to bring while heading out to West Africa.

You will go to a locale impacted by Malaria and the most straightforward method for safeguarding yourself is:

1. Try not to get chomped by mosquitoes. So the undeniable exhortation is to wear defensive apparel at day break and nightfall and take and use mosquito repellent with DEET as this is now and again difficult to source when you’re there.
2. Take Malaria tablets – there are a couple of choices so investigate as needs be. We’ve taken a portion of doxycycline during our half year long excursion. Getting in West Africa and for the most part one of the more reasonable ones with less aftereffects than a portion of the other jungle fever medications is simple.

Things are most certainly elusive in West Africa so attempt to pack what you really want for your excursion. Things like a headlamp, resting sheet and garments for ladies are extremely elusive. Men have it somewhat more straightforward as there are a lot of covers, pants and shirts to purchase at neighborhood markets or shops.

Concerning ladies, except if you can pull off being dressed as an African lady in a vivid African dress, ensure you bring what you really want. Bringing along sterile things or contact focal points answer for the initial not many months is really smart as well.

The WIFI in West Africa is non-existent or slow. So get a nearby SIM card in every country to remain associated. They’re by and large extremely modest and a sim card with 1GB of information will ordinarily cost under $5. Orange or MTN are suggested. You can do this inside the space of minutes at the air terminal when you fly in or on the other hand assuming you’re voyaging overland, local people sell them in the city. You will require a visa or a variety duplicate of your ID to get set up.

Even better, get yourself an eSIM with Airalo! A Global eSIM for Africa is the way forward, particularly on the off chance that you anticipate making a trip to numerous nations. I discuss what is an eSIM in this blog entry.