Soutpiel Safari - Day 40: Nightmare border crossing

Day 40: Nightmare border crossing

Soutpiel Safari

John & Jenny

Wed 15 Dec 2010 14:21

Day 40: Tuesday 14 December 2010. Zebrabar, St Louis, Senegal.

This is an interim report to say that have made the transit of Mauritania safely without being kidnapped. We have had an atrocious day today and are too exhausted to write about it. The only message to others contemplating this trip is DON'T COME THROUGH SENEGAL. The border crossing is a nightmare, the roads are crap, and the customs will not now recognise a Carnet de Passage at the border. We have got a 48 hour Laisser Passer in which to get out of the country unless we can get it extended. We can't get into Mali until 22 December. To get it extended or get the Carnet stamped we have to go to Dakar, a city teeming with pickpockets, prostitutes, hustlers and layabouts. We don't want to go there. It is easier just not to come here! More tomorrow.

Blog Entries

2014

Jul 2014

Tue 1 Jul 08:05
- Roomassare onwards north through the islands

2011

Apr 2011

Thu 21 Apr 08:38
- Statistics
Wed 6 Apr 05:42
- Paper chase
Sun 3 Apr 19:16
- Cleaning
Sat 2 Apr 19:11

Mar 2011

Thu 31 Mar 16:26
- Day 147: Home strait
- Day 146: South Africa - 18th country!
Tue 29 Mar 14:27
- Day 145:
- Day 144: Orange River
Sun 27 Mar 17:52
- Day 143: Ai Ais and the thermal springs
- Day 142: Another lazy day
Fri 25 Mar 10:34
- Day 140: 20 weeks!
Thu 24 Mar 06:40
- Day 139: Wonderful country
Tue 22 Mar 18:10
- Day 138: Land Rover Repairs
Mon 21 Mar 18:39
- Day 137: Out of the Tropics
Sun 20 Mar 18:41
- Day 136: Windhoek
- Iridium phone
- Congo roads
Sat 19 Mar 18:07
- Day 135: Windhoek
- Day 134: Idling in Namibia
Thu 17 Mar 20:04
- Day 134: Etosha in the rain
Wed 16 Mar 18:48
- Day 132: Namibia, at last!
- Day 131: Nearly out of Angola
Tue 15 Mar 07:28
- Day 130: Lubango
Mon 14 Mar 05:36
- Day 129: Slogging it out through Angola
Sat 12 Mar 19:41
- Day 128: Good progress into Angola
Fri 11 Mar 18:51
- Day 127: Ready for Angola
Thu 10 Mar 19:54
- Day 126: DRC (Democratic Republic of Congo, formerly Zaire)
Wed 9 Mar 17:36
- Day 125: Cabinda at last
Tue 8 Mar 20:11
- Day 124: Stuffed by Shrove Tuesday
- Day 123: Pointe Noire life
Sun 6 Mar 18:58
- Day 122: Expat Sunday life
Fri 4 Mar 18:25
- Day 120 :Into Congo
Thu 3 Mar 18:39
- Day 119: Rain and more rain
Wed 2 Mar 16:59
- Day 118: The Albert Sweitzer Hospital
- Cameroon summary
Tue 1 Mar 17:36
- Day 117: Lambarene
- Day 116: Lope National Park

Feb 2011

Mon 28 Feb 13:10
- Day 115: Crossing the Line
Sat 26 Feb 16:03
- Day 114: Gabon
Fri 25 Feb 20:29
- Day 113: On the way to Gabon
Thu 24 Feb 16:36
- Day 112: Liming
Wed 23 Feb 13:41
- Day 111: Beach life again
- Day 110: Copped again!
Tue 22 Feb 06:30
- Day 109: Yaounde
Sun 20 Feb 16:24
- Day 108: Planning
Sat 19 Feb 16:51
- Day 107:
- Day 106: Back to the steam
Thu 17 Feb 15:52
Tue 15 Feb 17:47
- Day 103: Cool air at 1,000 metres
- Day 102: Through the rain forests
Mon 14 Feb 07:17
- Day 101: Cameroon
Sat 12 Feb 19:29
- Day 100: Excitement
- Day 99: Into the forest
Thu 10 Feb 17:51
Wed 9 Feb 07:16
- Day 96: Champing at the bit
Mon 7 Feb 09:53
- Day 95: Angola visas
Sun 6 Feb 12:33
- Day 94: Waiting in Abuja (2)
- Day 93: Waiting in Abuja
Sat 5 Feb 08:53
- Day 92: Rain!
- Day 91: Abuja
Thu 3 Feb 11:59
- Day 90: A long hard day
Tue 1 Feb 20:21
- Day 89: Nigeria - the derelict country

Jan 2011

Mon 31 Jan 18:03
- Day 88: Nigeria
- Day 87: Dahomey history lesson
Sat 29 Jan 20:39
- Day 86: Voodoo and motos in Benin
Fri 28 Jan 16:57
- Day 85: Another day, another country: Benin, country # 9
Thu 27 Jan 17:08
- Day 84: Visa mission accomplished
Wed 26 Jan 17:35
- Ghana summary
- Day 83: Heat is killing us
Tue 25 Jan 21:36
- Day 82: Country # 8 Togo
Mon 24 Jan 16:52
- Day 81: Fined again!
Sun 23 Jan 10:09
- Day 79: Camping by the sea
Fri 21 Jan 20:50
- Day 78: Good to go
Thu 20 Jan 20:13
- Day 77: Accra again
Wed 19 Jan 17:54
- Day 76: Day of progress
Tue 18 Jan 21:11
- Day 75: LR problems
- Burkina Faso summary
- Tombouctou photos
Mon 17 Jan 21:07
- Day 74: Accra (4)
Sun 16 Jan 19:12
- Day 73: Halfway progress check
- Day 72: Accra (2)
Sat 15 Jan 14:34
- Day 71: Accra
Thu 13 Jan 21:22
- Day 70: The worst road in Africa
Wed 12 Jan 20:11
- Day 69: Ghana
Tue 11 Jan 19:46
- Day 68: Hamrattan
Mon 10 Jan 21:35
- Mali Summary
- Day 67: Ouagadougou
Sun 9 Jan 21:25
- Day 66: And Ouagadougou to you too!
Sat 8 Jan 17:34
- Day 65: Back across the desert to Bandiagara
- Day 64: Back to Tenere
Thu 6 Jan 21:23
- Day 63: Tombouctou and the Festival au desert
Wed 5 Jan 16:21
- Day 62: From here to Timbuctoo
Tue 4 Jan 16:20
- Day 61: Back in Bandiagara
Sat 1 Jan 14:51
- Nigeria
- Day 58: New Year's Day: Bandiagara

2010

Dec 2010

Fri 31 Dec 21:51
- Day 57: Djenne and Severe
Thu 30 Dec 17:28
- Day 56: Djenne
Wed 29 Dec 16:57
- Day 55; On the road again - Segou
Tue 28 Dec 20:13
- Day 54: Bamako
Mon 27 Dec 20:18
- Day 53: Fluid balance
Sun 26 Dec 17:22
- Day 52: Boxing Day
Sat 25 Dec 15:28
- Day 51: Christmas Day Goat fest
Fri 24 Dec 20:33
- Day 50: Christmas Eve progress check
- Senegal summary
- Day 49: Welcome to Bamako - fined big time.
- Day 48: Goodbye Senegal
Tue 21 Dec 17:59
- Day 47: Mali Border
Mon 20 Dec 20:37
- Day 46: Carnet de Passage
Sun 19 Dec 18:08
- Day 45: Dakar lay day
Sat 18 Dec 20:22
- Day 44: Fine, again
Fri 17 Dec 18:20
- Day 43: Another day in St Louis
Thu 16 Dec 14:17
- Mauritania Summary
- Day 42: Boat trip on the Senegal River
- Money
Wed 15 Dec 20:57
- Day 41: St Louis
- Day 40: Nightmare border crossing (2)
- Day 40: Nightmare border crossing
Tue 14 Dec 09:00
- Day 39: Fiche and fish
Sun 12 Dec 21:21
- Day 38: 500 km of desert
Sat 11 Dec 21:36
- Morocco summary
- Day 37: Across a lunar scrapyard
Fri 10 Dec 20:30
- Day 36: Into the Tropics
Thu 9 Dec 20:58
- Day 35: The day of the fiche
Wed 8 Dec 18:07
- Day 34: Nomad fesivalTan Tan
Tue 7 Dec 16:58
- Day 33: Fine
Mon 6 Dec 18:20
- Day 32: South by the sea
- Day 31: Agadir - the dregs of Morocco
Sat 4 Dec 21:01
- Day 30: Maintenance day in Zagora
Fri 3 Dec 19:24
- Day 29: Zagora
Thu 2 Dec 20:10
- Day 28: Sun, sand and Sahara
Wed 1 Dec 21:07
- Gas
- Day 27: To the dunes

Nov 2010

Tue 30 Nov 21:34
- Day 26: Tinehir
- The Kelly Kettle
Mon 29 Nov 07:40
- Day 25: The two Gorges
Sun 28 Nov 20:05
- Day 24: On top of the world above the snow line
Sat 27 Nov 19:26
- Day 23: Rain and cold
Fri 26 Nov 20:01
- Day 22: More meandering in the Moyen Atlas
Thu 25 Nov 19:53
- Bargaining
- Day 21: Meandering in the Middle Atlas
- Tagines
Wed 24 Nov 20:30
- Day 20: Fes
- Fuel statistics
Tue 23 Nov 19:52
- Day 19: Rabat to Fes
Mon 22 Nov 08:37
- Re: Day 18: Rabat and a day of contrasts
Sun 21 Nov 20:34
- Day 17: Volubilis, Meknes and Rabat
- Day 16: Campsite near Moulay Idriss
Sat 20 Nov 16:28
- Day 15: Tetouan, again!
Thu 18 Nov 15:01
- Day 14: tetouan
Wed 17 Nov 09:50
- Day 13: Africa!
Tue 16 Nov 18:39
- Day 12: Lazy day at Rio Jara camping
Mon 15 Nov 19:42
- Day 11. Tarifa - the southernmost point of Europe
Sun 14 Nov 16:34
- Day 10: Day with the petrol-heads.
- Day 9: Andalucian hill climb
Sat 13 Nov 07:21
- Day 8: Antequera, Spain
Fri 12 Nov 05:13
- Day 7: Cordoba and the road to Grenada;
- Disappointments
Thu 11 Nov 05:47
- Day 6: Fuente Obejuna, Andalucia
Wed 10 Nov 06:15
- Tirades: British restaurant prices
Tue 9 Nov 18:53
- Day 5. Snow in the Picos!
Mon 8 Nov 16:37
- Day 4: Picos de Europa
- Day 3: At sea in Biscay
Sun 7 Nov 07:31
- Day 2: Newton Ferrers, Devon, UK
Sat 6 Nov 08:09
- Day 1: Sarratt, Herts, UK
Thu 4 Nov 07:24
- New contact and packing
- Send Off

Oct 2010

Sun 31 Oct 20:29
- Vehicle livery
- Preparation: Insurance
Fri 29 Oct 21:38
Thu 28 Oct 09:30
- Preparation: Medical
Wed 27 Oct 13:19
- Preparation: Visas
Fri 22 Oct 21:27
- The Vehicle
Thu 21 Oct 10:30
- Why do we hate Banks?
Tue 19 Oct 14:47
- Testing the Iridium Sat Phone
- Testing the Sat Phone connection
Mon 18 Oct 22:21
- Setting up systems

Day 40: Nightmare border crossing

Blog Entries

Tue 1 Jul 08:05

Thu 21 Apr 08:38

Wed 6 Apr 05:42

Sun 3 Apr 19:16

Sat 2 Apr 19:11

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