Basically nothing existential. When we were asked what we missed, the first things that came to mind were our friends, neighbors and some former colleagues.

In addition to the people who stayed at home, we missed bread and cheese. We sometimes lacked home kitchen equipment or a comfortable bathroom. And we often missed the simplicity with which many things can be done and taken care of in Germany.

The encounters with other people were exciting and a very important part of the journey for us. We met a lot of great and different people and we learned a lot. Be it in conversation with locals or expats, or in exchange with other travelers.

It was a shame that we didn't speak French – but communication worked well in these countries too. With Google Translate, with hands and feet, non-verbally with looks and laughter and gestures.

And we both got along well with each other. 216 days, 24 hours, one room. Only when we were both stressed or under attack at the same time the atmosphere sometimes did become tense. No wonder given the challenges we have faced.

We got all visas on the way because we didn't know when we would be where and whether we would even drive through. The Overlander community, especially iOverlander, has helped enormously hereby, because the conditions for obtaining visas are constantly changing. This website also offers a good overview.

And be careful: regardless of how long a visa is theoretically valid, the border officer can reduce the length of your stay.

The cost of visas is high. Since you often have to travel to major cities to get the visa, we usually paid an “express surcharge” in order to get the visa the next day (rarely on the same day). 

Important: Euros or primarily US dollars must not show any signs of use and should be suitable and preferably in 50 and 100 bills.

For us as EU citizens it was as follows:
 

The visa costs for us were around €1,500 per person.

The process at the border can vary, depending on whether there is a preliminary police check, a follow-up check or a vaccination check. But we did without “professional” helpers and always managed it. We usually spent one to two hours at the borders, including exchanging money and buying a SIM card. The worst border was the one from Morocco to Mauritania with around seven hours and most of that time on the Moroccan side.

Our car was scanned twice, in Morocco and in Guinea Conakry.

Some borders were so small that we couldn't exchange money or buy a SIM card. There were also borders where we had to explain to customs officers how to stamp the Carnet de Passsage. A few times we first had to look for the stamp or the boss with the stamp. And sometimes we had to wait for lunch break or prayer time.

In addition to the visas, this is the main cost factor for our trip. Due to the poor diesel quality and also because of the unavailability of Adblue, we chose a modification. Information about this can be found here.

In Sand of Mauritania, consumption rose rapidly, you should always keep an eye on the next fuel option.

There was a crisis in Guinea Conakry due to a fuel tank explosion and fuel availability was limited. We didn't have any problems but the situation with petrol for motorcycles was critical for some time.

In Nigeria we had to drive 60 kilometers back to fuel up and took more reserves because we couldn't be sure what the situation was towards the border with Cameroon.

In Cameroon and the Congos, the availability of diesel depends on the day. We always filled up when possible (our tank holds 140 liters) and had a reserve of 30 liters with us.

Filling up in Angola is surprisingly inexpensive! Otherwise it was usually around 1 Euro to 1.50 Euro.

We underestimated the effort required to obtain cash.

From Mauritania to Congo Kinshasa it was hardly possible to pay by credit card.

A foreign Visa card does not work at all ATMs. Ecobank was the most reliable for us. The costs for the withdrawal vary from bank to bank and Ecobank was not always free.

In some countries you only get the equivalent of 20 euros or a little more per withdrawal because a large amount of banknotes cannot fit through the ATM slot.

So we set up a Western Union account during the trip and will check for future trips to see if there are less expensive options.

As a rule, we exchanged cash at the borders at more or less good rates. And we very quickly stopped thinking about the “additional costs” of getting money – it doesn’t help.

Liberia is very special. The actual currency is the US dollar. The Liberian dollar is worth nothing outside of Liberia and is not traded. So we have around 2 cm left (around 40 euros). In Liberia you can get US dollars for this, which was helpful for us because we didn't have that much cash with us.

A special feature of the US dollar: Old notes (before 2017) are still valid in America, but no one in West Africa wants them – except in Liberia. Banks don't accept the old notes at all, dealers only exchange them with new euros at a significant discount or in a bundle.

In Dakar we had to pay a fine of around 15 euros for “mobile phone too close to the driver’s ear” – without a receipt. Otherwise we managed not to pay any bribes. By misunderstanding, by not understanding, by ignoring, by waiting.

The poverty is dire and we are wealthy – these are facts. This makes us a walking wallet with an inexhaustible budget for everyone in West Africa.

Children's begging for money or food is like a reflex. Sometimes we were asked for food even though people had food in their hands.

But even though it always felt hard-hearted, we stuck to the advice not to give out gifts so as not to support the begging system.

We felt welcome almost everywhere on the trip. We were never afraid at any point during the trip.

However, we didn't camp wild for a while. From Guinea Conakry to Benin, the opportunities became rarer due to the population density, but we also didn't spend much time on beaches where you can just stand there. In Nigeria, Cameroon and the Congos, we looked for areas that were closed or guarded for security reasons.

We slept well in our roof tent for 172 nights. Only a few nights in the tropics were too hot for us. Our mini fan didn't help either. We almost always enjoyed a fantastic starry sky.

We stayed in private homes for five nights on our trip and spent 33 nights in hotels or B&Bs because we were in big cities, had to do laundry, had to take the car to the workshop or we had malaria.

In hotel rooms you either use air conditioning (which is preset at 17 degrees) or the rooms are musty and stuffy. At least there was often a slight breeze in the roof tent.

You don't actually want to use many hotel beds. We also experienced that bed linen was not changed at all. For really good hotels you pay almost European prices.

There were no classic campsites between Senegal and Angola. The alternative is hotels or bungalow complexes where you can stand in their parking spaces. A room or bungalow is then opened for the overlanders.

And fortunately, in some places on the beach you are allowed to stand next to restaurants and use their sanitary facilities.

An interesting phenomenon is that not only we but also other European travelers like to visit Christian centers even though most of them do not practice the faith. For us it has to do with the fact that we have an idea of what to expect and they are usually very peaceful places.

For the most part, the trip was not a culinary highlight by our standards.

We had phases in which we cooked a lot ourselves and others in which we had people cook for us.

Fish, when available, was always tasty and well prepared.

The standard when ordering food was chicken with rice and… The “and” was sometimes just spices in the rice or onion sauce, sometimes some vegetables.

What we always liked to eat was Jollof rice, because it was well seasoned, and dishes made from cassava leaves (manioc). Cassava and yams as root vegetables taste very different depending on how they are prepared. You can quickly get enough of Fufu. We actually prefer the South African “Papp” (corn).

We ate the most delicious food in Ghana and Togo, where there were also great dishes without meat.

We used the supermarkets in big cities to replenish our supplies, be it canned goods, muesli (expensive) or espresso. By the way, we had the best coffee in Cameroon!

What was always available to buy was bread (although often with a rubbery consistency), long-life milk, eggs (often boiled), roots. Often there were also pumpkin, cucumbers, carrots and tomatoes, and plantains.

Bananas were available almost everywhere, although we found the small yellow ones the tastiest and the secret of their shelf life remains a mystery – sometimes like that.

In some regions avocado was fantastic, passion fruit was a discovery, pineapple and papaya were just right.

One problem with shopping on the street was the quantity – we couldn't use a whole banana branch or a bucket of avocados.

By the way: we got drinking water everywhere. If you want to avoid small containers or even the plastic bags that litter everything, you have to plan a bit in advance.

We prepared well and had all the important vaccinations except the (still new) one against dengue fever.

The dominant issue is malaria. On the recommendation of our tropical medicine doctor, we decided not to take prophylaxis because of the long travel time, but instead took tablets for treatment and self-testing.

When malaria hit us, we were treated well and from our experience we can say that you can get medication for it almost everywhere in West Africa. Only if you are in really lonely areas do you need tablets for self-medication. However, obtaining a suitable amount of medication for long-term prophylaxis on site is not easy.

The doctor who treated us advised us that self-tests are not reliable. They don't work in the very early stages or if the values are too high. His advice: Europeans should go to the doctor if they have a fever or are feeling very unwell, as it may be necessary to hurry. This seems to make sense from our perspective, as we had to learn that malaria can cause very different symptoms.

By the way: Repellent (especially the one with DEET) may be cheaper locally, but since repellent is not used in many countries, there is none to buy. So be sure to take enough with you from home.

We also had a well-equipped first aid kit with us, but we only needed a few aspirin or ibu and some disinfectant. Also electrolyte solutions and something to stabilize the stomach and intestines. But it only really hit us hard once in seven months.

Almost everyone plans a route taking rainy seasons into account, as you don't want to get stuck on muddy slopes.

So it's nice and warm and in the tropics, of course, there's high humidity. Our peak temperatures were 50 degrees in Mauritania and 39 degrees in the tropics with 89% humidity. You're happy when you occasionally have night temperatures below 25 degrees in the mountainous regions.

We usually ensure that our photos are of good quality. On this trip we took fewer photos with the camera than usual and a lot more with our cell phones. The photos are more of a documentary nature.

People don't like to be photographed without asking and we have largely refrained from secretly photographing people. Even with children, we didn't feel comfortable just sticking with it. Many of the images we have in our heads are missing:

People in incredibly colorful and imaginative clothing. Great hats and caps despite the heat. Sunday clothes are also often in partner looks and people who dress up to go to church.

Whole families of four or five on one motorcycle.

Children who carry water and wood on their heads at the age of three. The obvious poverty in the villages along the road.

And: Many photos were taken under the conditions of Harmattan, a weather condition that causes hazy light and poor visibility.

It was absolutely important for us to research and communicate online. And so a new SIM card had to be purchased in every country. It felt like we were being ripped off about 50% of the time: too expensive, only valid for one week, less data than promised, linked to a private account so topping up was difficult. But buying at the border from any dealer was usually less complicated than buying officially in a shop.

In Guinea, social network apps only worked via VPN.

For Ghana we had the first eSIM of our lives – expensive and with lower network coverage.

But we had a surprisingly good coverage in many countries. But never as good as being able to load large amounts of camera images into our database.