Last Updated on February 13, 2026 by freebuffalo

This is another remote part of the world mainly visited by people who travel overland crisscrossing the continent. 

I started my journey in Dakar, a chaotic city. Leaving this place was the first challenge – dodging the traffic and potholes. It was best to stay on asphalt road as everything else was just sand. I made the mistake of following the maps blindly which took me off the main into a dirt track with lots of sand. Good lesson on the very first day. The first few days were windy that whipped up a tsunami of sand, quite unpleasant. After about 3 days, more closer to Gambia, the desert landscape gave way to a bit more greener roads. 

English was the official language in Gambia and it was a lot more easier to communicate. This was a tiny country encapsulated completely by Senegal. Fortunately, they were less bureaucratic in terms of visa, it was not needed for British Passports. There was a little ferry crossing to come into the capital of Gambia. There was no order, no queue, no schedule, strongest person get’s through and ferry left as soon as it was full. Those who do not make it have to learn from the experience and prepare for the next crossing. No need to be polite here. 

My next country was Guinea Bissau which required a visa but the consulate in Zinguinchor, just 20kms to the border was traveller friendly. You just write to them on WhatsApp and they will turn up to their office to issue a visa which took less than 5 minutes. Guinea Bissau was the poorest country I have seen. The capital city Bissau was full of dilapidated buildings and dirt roads. Electricity is a rare commodity in this part of the world. Outside the towns, power supply is available only after 7pm and until 4 or 5am. Refrigeration is rare. Food is basic. Sometimes I only had a baguette omelette sandwich which was dirt cheap though. 

I once had to stay in a small village in a hut with no electricity and only pit toilet, good old times I thought. The next day was a 114 km dirt road to Guinea through some dirt tracks, border crossing and a river crossing on a tiny boat. This was an international route but only motorbikes and bicycles can pass through the dirt road which was merely a path for about 7 kilometres going over some dodgy river crossings. However, starting on the Guinean side, there was a massive road construction work for about 20 kilometres. On top of this, there were numerous pointless police and customs check. One gets tired of the interrogation. Unlike the liberal world, here you have to prove your innocence as the bureaucrats use an authoritarian attitude, I presume to extract bribe. I had to endure these checks about five times over the 114km remote roads. 

I embarked on this trip mainly to experience West Africa, was not expecting any spectacular landscape. My main challenge here was the bureaucrats. Fortunately, there is an App where overlanders share the experience and update regularly, alas, Libertarianism comes handy amidst the chaos. 

What I saw in all these four countries, so far, was a two-tier economy. One for the rich which is a tiny minority and other for the poor. Tourists often had to choose the former which is expensive that surprised a lot of Overlanders, given what they saw around them. But on a bicycle I had to endure some small villages where the top tier economy was absent. For example, it was not possible to get a cold drink due to lack of electricity and refrigeration. I did not see industries or agriculture farms, merely just forest and empty land. Village after village, there were only tin roof houses built with mud/clay walls, people often sat under trees waiting for opportunities which might arrive some day?

Route: Dakar – Poppenguine (59km) – Mbour (30) – Fatick (65) – Sokone (78) – Serrakunda, Gambia (83) – Dioloulou (56) – Ziguinchor (84) – Ingore (68) – Bissau (80) – Buba via Enxude ( 76) – Mampata (26) – Boke (114) – Boffa (120) – Conarky (taxi).