Over twenty years ago when he left South Africa for a job in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, Trevor jokingly mentioned to family and friends that when he finally leaves Abidjan, he would like to drive ‘home’. Now, home then meant South Africa, but then included their then planned retirement place in a nice town in the Algarve, Portugal. So, a southerly and a northerly route became possibilities.

It was on a Sunday in late August 2018 when Ulrich received an email with the proposal to travel with them from Abidjan to a still be decided ‘home’. Always in for an adventure Ulrich agreed to further discuss the possibilities and feasibility. Several emails packed with ideas, and fundamental questions such as when, how, which route, how long, who is coming along, were exchanged and a meeting was arranged the next weekend to discuss the matter further.

“Travelling – it leaves you speechless, then turns you into a storyteller”

Ibn Battuta, Muslim Berber Moroccan scholar and explorer

Let the preparations begin

Several weeks passed and behind the scenes both families continued working out the answers to an ever growing long list of questions. Slowly though the overland trip was taking shape on paper.

Trevor, Charlotte and Ulrich had concluded that the southern route posed major challenges including a longer time frame and finally agreed that they would drive with our two cars from Côte d’Ivoire through Mali, Senegal, Mauritania, Morocco and Spain to Portugal. The cars would then be shipped back to Abidjan by container and we would fly back to Abidjan.
This routing was later revised due to the growing uncertain security situation in Mali. They would now follow the coast closer and cross over into Guinea and drive straight into Senegal. They had learned that roads are less ideal and some stretches of national road have more holes than Swiss cheese but it was apparently a much more appealing, varied and above all safer route.

Charlotte and Trevor were exploring many possibilities of where and how to sleep on their beloved 16 year old Toyota RAV4. What is best? Next to the car in a tent or on top of the car in a tent, but how to affix it to the roof? Many sketches made and thrown into the bin. In the end they settled with on an SUV-tent that will stand next to the car and cover the rear door to provide dry access to the interior of the car as well as plenty of room to sleep more than two adults and seat a few people for dinner. Their car also features a wooden custom made interior to safely carry all their belongings as well as the camping gear.

For Ulrich it was clear almost from the start that he wanted to sleep on top of his 10 year old Toyota Land Cruiser in a roof top tent. But where to source one? Locally they are not available, importing would cost a fortune, therefore, plans were drawn and material sourced and Ulrich started to build his own one person roof top tent from aluminium. He continued building himself a full drawer and cupboards interior for his car and a 270º awning to provide the needed shade from the strong African sun and tropical rain showers of West Africa. More details on the vehicle page.

While planning and building all the accessories for the cars, the planning and research of the route with the sights, formalities and background information of the countries continued. Ulrich started collecting all the information from the Internet, guide books and personal information in a detailed Country Information Sheet for every country we would travel through that includes

• Wikipedia and climate statistics
• their Embassies in the respective country
• Emergency phone numbers
• General information on currency, access to ATMs, telecommunication, cultural customs
• Speed limits and traffic rules, fuel and prices, road conditions, mandatory items in your vehicle and documents
• Information on border crossings, where to cross with GPS coordinates, how they work, where to go to get documents and stamps, opening hours, other overlanders’ experiences
• Visa and Custom policy of the country
• Points of Interest with GPS coordinates and other overlanders’ comments, what is worth seeing and what to expect to pay, to wear, to bring, to do or not to do
• Accommodation possibilities for overlanders, campings or wild camping spots, hotels, again with GPS coordinates and additional details such as street addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, websites and other overlanders’ experiences
• Food and Drinks, where you can eat well, have a few cold drinks to wash down the dust of travelling in Africa
• Travel Advise from the UK and French government websites

This has been an ongoing process in preparation for the 2020 expedition as it involved screening various websites, forums, (overlanders’) blogs, Youtube vlogs and Facebook groups on a daily basis. It is incredible how much valuable information is out there but also how quickly the information changes and needs updating. If the information could not be found or was outdated it was wonderful how quickly and with what detail other overlanders responded to questions in groups and forums.

The planned itinerary at the time included travelling on 2 continents, visiting 8 countries from the lush tropical climate of Abidjan, the rain forests of Guinea, the savannah of Senegal, the desert of Mauritania, the Atlas mountains of Morocco and the beautiful coast of Southern Spain and the Portuguese Algarve, driving about 15,000 km, spending more than 60 days on the road, seeing countless sights and stunning landscape, along the way seeing friends and family, making endless new friends and experiencing an overland trip of a lifetime.

We obtained as many visas from the respective embassies here in Abidjan as possible to save time and hassle at the border. Unfortunately, being the Citizen of an African country still makes travelling on the continent strenuous and expensive. South African nationals require a visa, and sometimes some other documentation, for all the countries we will visit. A European Union national on the other hand, only requires a pre-organised visa for Guinea, Senegal and one at the border of Mauritania. All other countries will welcome you with a stamp into your passport for free.

“Travel isn’t always pretty. It isn’t always comfortable. Sometimes it hurts, it even breaks your heart. But that’s okay. The journey changes you – it should change you. It leaves marks on your memory, on your consciousness, on your heart, and on your body. You take something with you… Hopefully, you leave something good behind.”

Anthony Bourdain, American celebrity chef, author, and travel documentarian

Our special vehicles and international borders

Our research had brought forward that there was very little known how two Ivorian cars, on top of that with diplomatic plates, could cross all these borders and which rules would apply. Although we learned very early on that it would be difficult to enter Senegal with vehicles that are older than 5 years on a Temporary Import Permit (TIP) regardless of their registration. So Ulrich started researching how to obtain a Carnet de Passage for each vehicle. That is an international customs document that most countries in the world accept as a (financial) guarantee that the vehicle will only enter their territory on a temporary basis. Luckily at the time the German and Swiss automobile clubs offer such a Carnet de Passage for vehicles registered outside Europe.

Three months before we were scheduled to leave, it was the beginning of December 2019, we were informed that it was very difficult to assess legally whether Ivorian customs would actually allow the diplomatic registered cars to re-enter the country without major problems. It all had to do with the special legal status of our cars. Slight panic came up and after a meeting with officials it became clear to us that we could not risk our cars being impounded in the port of Abidjan by customs because our returning vehicles did not have the right papers or no one had ever dealt with such a case before.
Trevor decided to go through the official importation of his car and get regular Ivorian registration plates. Ulrich did not want to do this with his car and urgently needed a replacement vehicle. Preferably, of course, the same model as he already had prepared a custom made roof top tent, awning and interior for his Land Cruiser. Although Land Cruisers are a very common sight in Côte d’Ivoire and Abidjan, they do not get sold very often. And if then they do not need to be advertised. So decent vehicles in the right price range with the preferred combination of engine and accessories are hard to find. Jackpot! Luckily a colleague advertised a very similar Land Cruiser for sale on the same day the shocking news came. After inspection, a test drive, and some negotiations a suitable replacement expedition vehicle had been found. It now needs some TLC, some minor repairs, a new insurance and roadworthy certificate. Early 2020 it was available for the transplantation of all the additional electrical wiring, electronics and other gear from the original car to the new Land Cruiser. The trip was saved!

COVID-19 Pandemic

And then came what none of us had ever experienced before. Late 2019, news emerged about a new virus spreading fast from China and Early 2020 it was clear that it had reached Europe. But at the time we did not yet see any danger to our expedition. Only after several countries started to impose travel restrictions and quarantine people, the impact of this new virus started to become more clear. As the pandemic had not yet really hit Africa yet, it was a unknown for weeks what impact that virus would have on our expedition. Therefore, we continued planning our trip, getting our vehicle ready, Trevor officially importing his and Ulrich converting the new Land Cruiser into an overlander, while following the news closely.

It became quickly evident that the original scheduled departure date of Saturday, 29th February 2020 was no longer feasible. Trevor was still missing vital documentation for his RAV4 and with every day the virus spread further, eventually reaching West Africa and Côte d’Ivoire.

Even in the first weeks of March 2020, we were still hopeful that we would only have to reschedule our expedition, but once the Ivorian government decided to close all borders, air as well well as land borders for any travelling on 20th March 2020, it was clear that it may take a long time before we can travel again.

Due to the rapidly evolving coronavirus crisis we sadly had to conclude that our trip could not proceed for the time being. We had no idea which borders were likely to be closed and when a lockdown may be declared, trapping us for who knows how long in a foreign country. Quarantine on arrival for 14 days in a local facility was also a real possibility for foreign arrivals. We were better off at home for that moment.

In the end, the delay in getting our documents has clearly been a blessing in disguise as we could so easily have encountered any of the situations described above and be stuck in the Casamance where we would have been if we had left as planned.

So time past. Côte d’Ivoire and especially Abidjan went into a a short lockdown itself with a curfew. Something we had not experienced since the revolution in Tunisia almost ten years earlier.
Charlotte and Trevor took the tough decision to abandon the prospect of driving ‘home’ to their retirement home. Trevor’s retirement late 2020 was sober due to the pandemic and they pack up their household in Abidjan, sold their beloved RAV4 and left for Portugal.
Ulrich kept his second Land Cruiser, named Eeyore, in the hope of still being able to travel with it up the West coast of Africa in one form or another. Fortunately, the pandemic did not hit Côte d’Ivoire as hard as other countries and we are able to travel within the country quite freely again soon. So in May 2021, Ulrich joined a good friend and his family with his overlander Land Cruiser for a remarkable camping trip to some pristine beaches near Sassandra.

A new expedition is born

Fast forward to early 2023. Ulrich visited with his parents Marrakesh again for the very first time since the beginning of the pandemic in February of 2023. It was marvellous to see everyone again. Ulrich’s parents had returned back to Germany announcing that they would want to come back to Marrakesh in October of this year and then for a slightly longer visit. It was upon his return to Abidjan that Ulrich thought that that would be the ideal new destination for an overlanding trip with his Land Cruiser Eeyore that was still standing in the garage waiting to be taken across the West coast of Africa. The idea was born and quickly Ulrich started to plan the expedition. A new itinerary had to be drawn up. This time he would want to drive to Marrakech and back. No hassle with sea containers and shipping. But the new itinerary posed new challenges, questions and problems to be solved.

Once Ulrich had announced on his Facebook thread that he was planning this expedition, Trevor contacted him being very keen to join. Quickly a WhatsApp call was setup and the first details were arranged.Ulrich had also found several friends who were interested in joining the expedition. At the time of writing this posting, several friends will join him on various legs of the expedition. More on this on the itinerary and travel companions‘ page.

All the documentation that Ulrich had prepared for the 2020 expedition had to be reviewed and updated. Many formalities had changed. The land borders of Côte d’Ivoire opened officially and unconditionally in March of 2023, three years after they were closed due to the pandemic. So much was uncertain in the new world of overland travel and had to be figured out again. Many WhatsApp and Facebook groups to be followed and scanned for fresh post-pandemic information. Ulrich is still updating all of his 2020 country information documents meticulously. So many things have changed and need to be taken care of.

“The dust on my boots and the rhythm of my feet and my heartbeat say… AFRICA”

Vusi Mahlosela, Sotho South African singer-songwriter