Nord Africa and Western Sahara
I am happy I did this trip, and while I did it, I fully appreciated everything that happened around me -except for place officers extorting me in Mauritania- but the point is I’m grateful for this experience. However we are about to enter an ugly economic period, so I want to tell you the darker side of this trip, which is not to be taken as a critique from someone who would not do it again but is something worth thinking about in case you really want to do it, or in case you want to convince yourself it’s better to stay on your continent for a while.
You have a nice 4x4 van and realize you are not using it at its full capabilities, so you have to organize a nice serious trip to prove to yourself and others that you have such a van because you really use it. You do some research and realize that Morocco, Mauritania, and Senegal seem to be reasonable destinations as many people talk French, and many van lifers did this trip.
What do you need, why you need it, and what you must be aware of?
The first thing you need is patience, if you go to the African continent, you must be cool and not get angry over stuff that is not normal in Europe, just smile.
Now, materially speaking: a spare wheel; a kit to repair holes in your tires; and a compressor are in my opinion indispensable, plus some good tools, because although you will find good mechanics and smart people around, they don’t have the same respect that we have for hours vehicles, because those costs sum that is something that a majority of people cannot really realize, and therefore treat our things with the same regard they have for the category they see every day.
Do you want to service your in Africa because it costs less? I’m not a huge fan of this idea, because VAT is quite expensive if you do it by a real dealer, but you are welcome to do it, but at least I would check the vehicle before in an official dealer in Europe, to know if there are more problems or things to do, and lose less time searching for them in Africa.
Tires: do not plan to buy them in Marocco, they are twice as expensive as in Switzerland, and Switzerland is not known to be a cheap country, but between transport and uber expensive VAT, little availability of choice, so you won’t find a good deal.
Bad diesel and bad cops: Mauritania
Everyone and their mom have an opinion on why what and how, I tell you what I’ve been told and what I have experienced, and will make a distinction so you decide by yourself what you want to trust.
Load all the diesel you can while you are still in Morocco, and also in jerry cans wherever you can. In Mauritania, the diesel is deep green, while in Europe is yellowish transparent, and this is (at least so I’ve been told multiple times) because the diesel you find in Mauritania is smuggled from Algeria, and both of those countries do not have CO2 emissions standard like we have in Europe and they seem to have in Morocco. So yes, load all you can while still in Morocco, because if you have a newer vehicle it won’t appreciate all those impurities in the injectors, and the dashboard will tell you to go by a dealership, you will be in trouble because you won’t find any for hundreds of kilometers (Mauritania is basically as big as France and Spain combined). In my experience, Total’s “extreme injectors cleaner” did not work to remove the engine light.
Bad cops and customs officers: for some reason in Morocco I could speed, burn traffic lights, and get caught with the phone in my hand and I never got a ticket, I’ve been just told to not do it again, while other Europeans told me they got fined. And my god, in Mauritania, is the opposite, I don’t know if it’s the fact that I’m a young man with blond hair and with my Sprinter I represent the idea of young rich European for the Mauritanian authorities, but at 70% of police checkpoints the first question was “tu as un cadeau pour moi?” “do you have a gift for me?”, and It’s not like they asked me for 2 euros, nono, we are talking my iPhone, my watch, and stuff like that. I must be said, that I was extremely extorted by authorities compared to other van lifers, maybe because I was alone, maybe for other reasons, I don’t know, but it is like this.
How do you solve this problem? First thing at the checkpoints always give the “fiche” with your name passport number etc don’t give them time to ask you anything, you start the conversation, and you dictate the rules: “Salamalecum, ca va? Voilà ma fiche, Bonne journée” and yallah, you leave.
You encounter a really corrupted police officer or soldier, he has a gun and whatever, the keyword here is “flirting” it works like a charm, the guy is trying to extort you. You must smile and joke back to his requests, make him laugh by showing him you understood the game, you will go for free, they want easy money, they don’t want to lose time with someone who’s determined not to give them money.
So you really have time and money and want to do that trip?
Don’t spend too much time on forums with people you are not sure really did that trip that has 100 pieces of advice, call your dealership to get your vehicle checked, leave a tip to the mechanic and then ask to deactivate the electronics that risk blocking when using bad diesel, because you are going to Africa.
Do you think this sounds like an extreme choice? The alternative is that once you filled up a couple times with bad diesel your vehicle won’t go faster than 20 km/h until you go by a dealership (who never worked on such a new van, and you won’t find any dealership in hundreds of kilometers) the dealership in Africa unlocks the electronic limitation, while if you did your homework you would have prepared for this in Europe and never had the issue in the first place.
A friend of mine with a trucking company explained this is the solution, not removing the AdBlue system and all that stuff, all this can be done electronically.
Unfortunately, I only knew this upon my return.
If you have any questions feel free to write it in the comments, I’ll gladly help you if I can.