Why Travel with Overlanding West Africa?

At Overlanding West Africa, we are entirely focussed upon running trips in West Africa and nowhere else. All of our time and effort is spent devising and running the best possible trips that we can in one of the more challenging parts of the world for travel.

The current insecurity in Mali has meant most other overland truck operators have decided to travel the same way through West Africa that we do.

With a number of different overland truck companies now offering trips through these countries, you might ask why should you travel with us?

Tour Ivory Coast West Africa Overland

Our trips are longer and visit far more places than other companies do. We do not run a ‘Trans Africa Tour’, as “Trans” implies transiting, and that is not what we do! We don’t rush through the region en route for South Africa, we focus our attention 100% on West Africa. We do not treat the region as an afterthought to East and Southern Africa, we take West Africa as an area in its own right and strive to highlight the many magical places you could get to visit. We want to explore as much of each country as possible and not miss out on the best places. Look at our planned itineraries in comparison and you will see a clear difference in what kind of trip you are getting.

Africa Group Tours Senegal Ghana Burkina Faso Morocco

Some of the visas for countries in West Africa are quite pricey, so our ethos is why rush? If you are spending $100US Dollars or more on a visa, why drive through that country in just a few days? That is what most of the other overland truck operators do. They plot a route through each country in as straight a line as possible to get down to South Africa. Their itineraries miss out on so many highlights. If you are spending the time and the money to come to the region in the first place, why just transit through? As an example, one company drives through the whole of Guinea in 8 days (it’s a big country with some poor roads in places). Over the course of our Dakar to Freetown trip we spend that amount of time just in the Fouta Djalon highlands, allowing ample time for you to go trekking to all the beautiful places the area is famous for. That is the difference.

Liberia Tours West Africa Overland

Our trips will take you to more places for longer periods of time. We have the knowledge and the passion to get as much out of West Africa as possible. We know what works and many of the best places in a region where information is hard to come by. We often spend 2 or even 3 nights in a place to ensure you get the opportunity to explore these incredible places.

Adventure Tour Guinea West Africa Overland

We don’t send leaders/drivers out to run the trips who have no knowledge of West Africa. Other companies do. Some leaders/drivers for other companies may well be experienced running trips in other parts of the world, but West Africa is different. This is not an area of the world geared up for tourism. And that is part of the magic of the region. It has not been ‘sanitised’ and neatly packaged for the tourist, it is very different to the other side of Africa where itineraries are fixed and dozens of other companies are visiting the same places day in day out.

Sierra Leone Tours West Africa Overland

You will be travelling with an independent company who are totally dedicated to that seasons trip in West Africa. We have 1 truck on the road, the truck you will be travelling on. All of our time is focussed upon that trip. We answer all your queries promptly and in detail and give you the most up to date information, especially regarding visas, something that the other companies frequently get wrong. All trips in West Africa hinge upon getting visas, that is what makes the region so complicated for travel at times. It is not like much of the rest of Africa where visas can be obtained on the border. We have the contacts at the relevant embassies to make the trips happen. We do not ‘chance’ it and are as honest as possible about the chances of getting the visas in the first place.

Please read our Testimonials Page to see what some of our previous passengers have said about the type of trips we run – and if you like the sound of it send us an Enquiry Form to set the wheels in motion for the trip of a lifetime!

Fouta Djalon Tours Guinea West Africa