Border to Senegal!
And action:
We were at the Diamer border when a police officer approached us and demanded our phones. However, we were not able to understand what he was saying as he spoke broken French, which we did not understand. We had only taken a picture of the Diamer border sign from a distance, as we were aware that taking pictures and videos at borders could be complicated. The police officer confiscated our phones and passports, took them to the police station and handed them over to the head policemen. They accused us of taking videos of police officers, which we hadn’t done. Despite showing them the video of the border sign and deleting it, they still suspected us of having other hidden cameras.
We were confused about their behavior and were left waiting outside for a long time without any explanation. Eventually, they called us back into the office and explained to us in Arabic that they had seen a video on YouTube of a Moroccan person traveling through Mauritania who had documented police corruption. They believed that we were friends with this person and that we planned to do the same. After much discussion and waiting, we were finally given back our phones and passports with the exit stamp. However, they warned us that if they found anything incriminating, they would involve the Moroccan authorities. At the next office where the passports were checked, one of us was even asked if he had a hidden camera in his glasses.
We had heard that the Rosso border was worse than the Diamer border, but we were still surprised by the level of trouble we encountered. Finally, we were relieved to leave the borders of Mauritania behind us.
Senegal here we are
To cross the dam, you have to pay a small fee of 8 euros. Once you’ve paid, you can head to the borders of Senegal. Upon arrival in Senegal, we felt very welcome. The locals greeted us with big smiles and were very helpful. We easily got the stamp for entry after passport control. After that, they checked our car papers. If you have a Carnet de Passage (CDP), you’re good to go. However, if you don’t have a CDP, like we didn’t, you can find more information in the Tips & Tricks section below.
Apart from the Passavant, you also need to have insurance for your car. In West Africa, you can purchase the brown card which covers the insurance for all West African countries. We paid 50 euros for the insurance which is valid for three months. Our handler organized all the necessary papers and insurance for us. It took around 3-4 hours to complete the process. During this time, we stayed at the borders and enjoyed the company of the people working there. We had a local dish in the restaurant (Senegalese people like spicy food). Afterward, we were invited for lunch again. We shared a cup of tea with them and had a chat. Time passed quickly, and our handler arrived with the news that everything was done. We drove together with him to St. Louis to get the money from the ATM, and that was it.
Welcome to Senegal ☺️
Tips & Tricks:
- In the rainy season, it can be tricky to reach the borders of Diama. As it is offroad through the national park.
- Since we don’t have a CDP (Carnet de Passage) there are three options :
- If your car is 8 years old or younger you have the right to have a 10 days Passavant that you can extend later in any Douane office in the country.
- If your car is older than 8 years the officer can give you a transfer Passavant valid only for 5 days to cross Senegal to the other countries.
- What we did: We bought special permission from the Douane office in St. Louis for 250 Euros, made by a person called Mohammed. (he has an organization for rallies.)
- Passavant: After 10 days the Passavant needs to be extended, we went to Dakar to get the extension. Here, we learned that you can extend it at every Douane office. Which is way better than going to Dakar. Dakar is a super busy city with a lot of traffic jams. The Passvant is valid for 10/15/15 days in total for 40 days. In case you plan to stay longer in Senegal you just have to leave the country and reenter, and with that, you will receive a brand new Passavant. (Valid for 40 days in total again)
- It is possible to contact a handyman who helps you through the border process. We got one for the Passavant and insurance process—10/20 EUR.
- Calculate around 3-4 hrs waiting time if you do not have a CDP
- Buy a sim card at the border and also directly charge it with some data. Note: we had Orange which has a good reach but it’s a little pricy. Instead, you can have free which offers good promotions; reach is semi.
- Money change is possible at the border.
- You can also buy the insurance (brown card) cheaper in St. Louis which is 30km from Diama Borders ( 40 Euros for 3 months )
Note: It seems like the payment for 250EUR is not correct and a way of corruption. Try to negotiate the price.