Hello, we are currently in Nouakchott, Mauritania and need to find some maps of West Africa - Senegal, Gambia, Guinea, Mali, Burkina Faso, Ghana... we don't have the Michelin north&west Africa, which would be a good start but nowhere seems to sell it locally. Has anyone done this route and successfully found any maps for the onward countries??
Anyone know any good websites to buy / acquire digital versions of the maps?
Thanks!
Alice & Zak
I'm pretty sure in Dakar and/or Serrekunda you'll be able to find national maps and the Michelin. There was a place on Pipeline road in Serrekunda approaching the coastal resorts that was one of the best book shops I've seen in anglophone West Africa with a decent travel section. If not try the camp sites where the overlanders go through you might get lucky.
Otherwise Open Street Maps would be a good backup - not sure how detailed it is in West Africa at the moment but it's better than nothing - either find software to convert an OSM map for use on your GPS or use something like OSMand on your phone.
Hi guys,
to get to Senegal without map wont be a big problem, Its just one paved road for 300 km to Rosso. Even though you take the other bordercrossing in Diama?? Forgot the right name, you might just ask in Rosso, its a small place. Just after St. Louis the road splits and there are signs everywhere leading to the overlander camp site (right hand - 8 km). Its called ZEBRABAR (www.zebrabar.net). You cant miss it.
They have a huge book swapping shelf and I found there a Lonely planet of Senegal and Gambia and they might have maps.
But at least you find other travellers and I for myself found the african solution. I photocopied the maps of others for the whole west africa. Costs almost nothing!
cheers and good luck.
bonjour
si vous utilisez android sur votre tablette ou tel portable, vous avez l'appli osmand. et aussi l'appli trails. et plus cher l'appli viewrangers.
je vous rappelle que Bruno a fait un tour simpa dans cette partie de l'afrique
http://www.bruno-lafrikavelo.com/index.html
bon voyage pierre
Thanks for all the excellent advice! Should have mentioned, we are not using GPS or a smartphone (though after countless hours lost in cities we are rethinking this decision...)
Cheers :D
Hi again,
I let my parents send me a parcel from Germany "POSTE RESTANTE" to the main post office in Banjul, The Gambia. They are reliable according to the Lonely Planet and I received actually three parcels after only 2 weeks time safely without any problems.
Shipping costs from Europe about 15 Euro.
Think about it and take the chance not just to get some useful maps but maybe a book or two or some sweets from back home or bike spareparts but most important for me was also to read a handwritten letter from my mum.
cheers
Sven
Be aware that in countries like Guinea there might be no electricity at all. Hard to charge batteries then.
In villages in Fouta Djalon they use Generators for there business but even in Conakry there was not 24/7 light.
I never used any electronics to get around and found short cuts and better smaller roads all over the places avoiding big traffic just by asking locals. They know much better than any GPS, google or whatsoever, in my opinion - plus, you can make friends :)
cheers
Sven