Ha, thanks!

Good to know!

Always. Dream trip for sure.... but with the borders all being closed I'm struggling to know when it will even be possible again..

Unfortunately US stopped doing additional pages few years back so if you ran out of visa pages you’ll now have apply for a new passport.

Frank, your are right.

Thanks Frank! I always seem to get confused about that part of the world. Maybe I need to go there to improve my geography!!

Haha, the irony!!

@@TheRoadChoseMe Not irony. Fate.

Haha, what do you call fate when it's the one you were trying to avoid ? haha

thats true. However, there was a mistake in the video since the "flaming hole" is not located in Uzbekistan but in Turkmenistan - and to gain the 5 days transit visa for Turkmenistan can really be a problem.

Excellent point! It's always a work in progress!

My pleasure!

I choose to look at it the other way around - it just makes it all the more exciting and difficult, so the rewards are massively higher! Trust me, you won't bump into other tourists!

Great to hear! Please leave a review on Amazon when you're done, I'd love to hear your full review!

Very welcome

A few reasons: 1. Lots of countries won't let you leave without your vehicle when it's temporarily imported. You literally can't leave! 2. Just because you're in a neighbouring country that doesn't mean they'll issue you a visa any more than the one you're already in! 3. Almost all visas are single entry... and have strict time limits imposed. 4. What you're proposing means going to the capitals to fly around, which isn't the most fun. 5. What you're proposing would astronomically blow out the budget of a trip like mine, and make it impossible for a regular person like me.

I think the challenge is the requirements are constantly changing, they chance depending on the nationality of the applicant, they're different if you're flying in vs. driving AND different embassies give different answers just because. It's really a "has to be now" kind of thing.

@@TheRoadChoseMe Makes planning extremely difficult... Although I reckon not impossible.

Thanks for all the real-world info, that's super, super helpful!

The JKU was fine everywhere. It's not a big vehicle, certainly everywhere in Africa are Land Cruiser Toopies and Defender 110s which are close enough to identical.

@@TheRoadChoseMe Thanks for the info! Much appreciated.

Thanks for the clarification!

Yes, true. And most Schengen countries will allow you to extend your stay after the 3 months is up if you are a tourist. When you get to a land border crossing or you re-enter a land border you simply drive into the Red Declare and tell them you want to stay another 3 months. It's easy especially if you've got a passport from a friendly country.

@@adelarsen9776 Interesting. Do you know how this affects the "within any 6-month period" rule? I have been planning my route and stays based on going in and out of the Schengen countries (so into Morocco, UK, eastern European countries, etc) every 90 days as I make my way through Europe, post COVID of course.

@@RobertVinet A good and valid question. The answer is that the rule is waived when you ask for more time. You have to do it though for each country. The best thing to do is request the permission online first and when you get to the land border you show them the letter and ask nicely and they will let you stay another 3 months. You can do it up to 2 years however they start to get suspicious after 9 months. Please ask if you have more questions. Cheers.

You just have to be careful as some countries want to make sure you use the same passport when crossing the land border. I have multiple passports too and have had to use the “fly out with one, and land with the other “ scenario before, but land borders are much trickier Even Obe-wan is not impervious to the rules

Have you been able to drive the length of West Africa with all the visas you got from home? How quickly did you do the entire coast?

​@@TheRoadChoseMe Not yet. I've only driven North West Africa, Mali, Burkina, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Guinea, etc. As soon as the world is halfway normal again I want to go to South Africa. Our plan is to get most of the visas from Germany. I think Angola can only be applied for online now. Fortunately, the southern African countries don't need a visa. On average, I always paid around 100 € for the visa (30 days) per country. That should also be the case for the countries from Nigeria and south of it, provided my research from last year is still correct. But as soon as it is possible to travel again, I want to check again for which countries it makes more sense to get the visa on the way. That often changes in Africa.

I don't think you'll be able to get enough "time before entry" on the visas for DRC, Nigeria, Rep Congo unless you plan to do the entire coast in less than 3 months. Which I STRONGLY recommend against.

@ The Road Chose Me I know this is a big problem. But for Nigeria it is the easiest way and many people from Germany did it with a visa from the Nigerian embassy in Berlin. In addition, I unfortunately don't have unlimited time for the trip and I already know the West African countries like Mali, Burkina, Guinea and Senegal very well. Since we want to have more time for the countries that come to Nigeria, we have to make the first part of the journey through the countries we know a little faster on the direct route. Therefore we drive directly from St. Louis via Bamako to Ouaga and then via Togo / Benin to Nigeria. I can and will travel to these countries again in the future. From Germany you can comfortably drive to Senegal within a week. And I don't know yet whether I will be able to make another trip to South Africa in the next few years. For someone who is visiting these countries for the first time, I would of course also recommend taking a lot more time for the trip.

I've never seen it make much difference on a world trip - it's not like you're going anywhere until you get your first one back anyway. In theory you could apply for two visas at the same time, but you're almost never in a place with two consulates that will offer the visas you need. Also, I saw my German friends try to use their second passport, and it made the border guys REALLY unhappy ! The really, REALLY want to see an exit stamp from the previous country, so then you have to show them you have two passports, and then they get REALLY mad!

What passport do you have? I can't imagine you can get into Nigeria and DRC and Angola and Mali and all of those without needing a visa.... essentially everyone does!

@@TheRoadChoseMe I have an Angolan passport, an ECOWAS passport and three European passports. Three through birthright and two by marriage. So yes, I CAN go to Nigeria, Mali, the DRC, etc without visas. My issues are the US, Australia, Canada, as I've been blacklisted by a well-known security agency:))

Thanks for the update, that's really good to know! I expect Iran and Afghanistan are still tricky too - and then what happens when you get to China?

@@TheRoadChoseMe Dan, good luck at the Afghan China border post....

What I mean was what happens visa wise when you get to China (from any other country). Are Chinese visas easy enough?

​@@TheRoadChoseMe Iran requires a carnet, and so does Pakistan and India - but you're experienced with that. Visa-wise they're fine - Pakistan introduced e-visas a year or so ago which helps immensely, but you have to get a visa in advance for Iran as we can't get them on land borders. The good thing with our passports (Aus and NZ) is that we don't require a guide to be with as throughout Iran, as British, Americans and Canadians do. As far as I know, Afghanistan is still a no go, although if someone is adamant about it, there might be pockets or slices of the place that are possible to enter or access - I'm not sure and haven't really looked into that. The closest I have been to Afghanistan was when I spent a week or so along the border in the Wakhan Valley, Tajikistan. That was fascinating as the villages and people are right there over the river from you all the time as you do part of the Pamir Highway. China itself is another joke. Takes a lot of logistical effort, organisation, guides and expenses just to even pass through for a day. I lived in China for a number of years so I managed to take the Chinese driver's test and get a life-long Chinese driver's licence and explore a fair bit of the country with my own 'Chinese wheels'. You aren't allowed to use a foreign licence in China, hence the hassle of a company having to organise a temporary one even for your transit as an overlander. Everything is becoming harder and harder there unfortunately and seems to be heading the way of North Korea when it comes to openness to foreigners. Myanmar is another one that requires a guide, but you can jump into the Overlanding Asia group on Facebook where there were often (pre-Covid times) people making groups to travel through to share expenses which is useful. For China they do that too. It's a useful place for getting the info you need. You thought West Africa was a pain, then welcome to East Asia - a part of the world with decent enough to excellent roads (and bad drivers), but low enthusiasm when it comes to cross-border co-operation - the positive being they're at least stable when it comes to security. So, there are a few hassles, but some have become easier in recent times, and everything is doable with time, patience and will-power. Personally, Turkey, the Caucasus area, the Stans and Russia and backtrack a bit, then Iran, the Arabian Peninsula (with a LHD vehicle you're good), Pakistan, India, through Myanmar, to SE Asia is the easier option when it comes to avoiding the biggest obstacles of war zones, terribly annoying visas and/or tour groups, closed borders, geographical barriers, shipping expenses i.e. Vladivostok - South Korea, Japan onwards which is also an option. Hope that is helpful, if not long. You've given us a heck of a lot of great advice and hope this is helpful in some way. Now you might have accidentally given away where you're headed next. Good luck with the planning and the waiting out of Covid. I am also waiting to set out for India via Iran and Pakistan, and thanks to Covid have been experiencing life in Istanbul for a year already. :D

I've never had that situation, I have always managed to find a way to get it on the road.

There's no way that would work time-wise when you account for how long it would take to fly in and out of every country. Plus, many countries won't let you leave while you have your vehicle in the country as a temporary import.

In addition to that, most visas on arrival are not multi-entry so your outbound flight back to the country where the car is parked cancels the visa.

Wow, it's not possible to order a "Frequent traveller" one that is thicker? That's what I did for my Australian one. I had to pay a little more, but obviously worth it. Mine has 75 pages, 70 for visas/stamps.

@@TheRoadChoseMe Unfortunately the 52 pages, or what they call the large book here, is the "frequent traveller" version. A standard US passport only has 28 pages. It used to be that you can request them to add additional pages in your passport but they stopped doing that a few years back...

I got stamped out of Kenya a week earlier in Nairobi, and I got stamped into Ethiopia the next day when I got to a town that had Immigration and Customs. Same when I crossed a few other really REALLY remote borders like Nigeria to Cameroon.

@@TheRoadChoseMe I worked 20 years in Africa with the UN and refugees, I will go back for a road trip soon. Take care and thanks again

I've covered that in previous videos, notably this one - kzfaq.info/get/bejne/rbaXfrphq5nOdnU.html

@@TheRoadChoseMe thank you

West Africa is a proper expedition, no doubt about it. If you want carefree, look elsewhere in the world!

Not prison or firing squad, but certainly a world of trouble that might mean large fines, or deportation. If I knew I wasn't going to be able to exit a given country in the legally required timeline I'd go straight to their immigration office and explain my situation / extend my visa any way possible, etc. etc. Staying legal is VERY important.