In 2018, the idea was birthed and 5 years later, it was realized. On July 23, they decided to embark on a wild adventure, travelling through several countries to get to London in Europe.
In total, these 14 persons made up of 13 gentlemen and one female took 5 vehicles and set off.
Confirmed participants were Kwabena Peprah, Saka, Fred Papa Kwofie, Richard, Kwame Peprah, Kofi Peprah, Kwadwo Prakah-Asante, Franklin Peters and his son Quincy, Joseph, Cyprian Ed, Kwabena Ayirebi and his brother Kojo and the only female in the pack, Serwa the Shecanic.
Of course, they had ‘plan B’s’, barring all unforeseen circumstances to take the trip till they faced situations where they may have had to continue the rest of the journey by flight but fortunately, they didn’t have to.
Along the way, some 5 members of the team returned to Accra because of work among other things.
But in all, 9 participants made it.
It was a 16-day trip and in all, they went through 11 countries.
This was detailed by one of the participants; Kwabena Peprah in a Facebook post.
This is a breakdown of the countries travelled by road in 16 days and the processes involved.
Day 1: Long drive on day 1 to Bouake in Côte d’Ivoire, using the border at Gonokrom near Dormaa Ahenkro (540km):
They went through paperwork for the clearing of the cars at the customs entries as part of the border crossing requirements at the Ghana border into Ivory Coast which according to them was not too difficult.
With each of them having Lassez Passers (Valid travel document recognized by member states), they went through the process and moved on to Takikro.
With immigration officials at Takikro still in Cote D’Ivoire trying to extort them, they used the longer Yamoussoukro - Bouake road instead of the shorter but bad bandit road.
Day 2, driving from Bamako Mali through Tingrela (790km):
Attempts were made to extort them at the Tingrela border, they took pictures of documents and vehicles and drove to the Malian border post. Malians were stricter with their processes; the lasses passez didn’t take long but the search process of belongings and cars did.
They were assisted by the Ghanaian Mission in Bomaku – The consul met and escorted them to Bomako.
At this point, they had some brake issues with some of the vehicles but after some checks, they were on their way.
Day 3, continue to the Senegalese border and then on to Dakar (Senegal) (620km):
Halfway to Dakar, the road is terrible but they managed to go through. According to the writeup, there are three active terrorist areas in this stretch where attacks are said to happen.
They were warned to stop far away anytime they see a herd of cattle crossing the road and to back up, prepared to turn and fire away at the slightest hint of trouble because the terrorists are able to cross the road with cattle to stop you whilst they flank you and deal with you mercilessly.
They met some cattle crossings but fortunately, those were innocent.
Day 4 and 5 – Dakar (888km):
They went through the Malian side in Diboli and went through processes to get into Senegal at Kidra.
Senegalese police were friendly. The team stayed at Dakar an extra day to work on their vehicles which had some mechanical problems and also to take some rest.
Day 6, Nouakchott, Mauritania (588km):
Mauritanian officials gave them a tough time. They were rude and offensive. They were refused passage through Mauritania so they returned for their Laissez Passez so they could go through another town in Senegal (Rosso).
All 5 vehicles managed to cross on one vessel by a ferry across the border. They got someone to help with the processes at the Mauritanian side of the border.
After many payments, the cars were cleared, they were arrested for having their vehicles tinted and after the forth and back, they moved on to Nouakchott in Mauritania.
Day 6 to Day 8 – Morocco:
The drive in Nouadibou; Mauritania was quite stressful with extreme heat and strong winds. The air was so hot that the performances of the car dropped rapidly. Intake temperatures were so hot so fuel burn was crazy. The Moroccan consul helped with the border crossing from Mauritania to Morocco.
The cars were scanned through some giant scanners and they continued the journey. There was a country called Western Sahara sandwiched in between Morocco and Mauritania with wasteland of nothing.
They rested at Dakhla and moved to Agadir and then to Tangier.
Day 9
They crossed Tangier to Algeciras in Spain with the ferry and continue to sleep in Valencia.
They went through rigorous checks in Spain. Mobile scanners scan the vehicle, drug canines check after, and then they are cleared.
Day 11, Monaco
Day 12, Lake Como
Day 13, Frankfurt
Day 14, Amsterdam
Day 16, they arrived in London, via Calais / Dover much to the excitement of other Ghanaians in London who didn’t fail to express their excitement and welcome them.
Here are some videos:
Here is the full post:
WA
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