Comments on: A Traveler’s Report on West Africa http://travel.booklocker.com/2006/10/05/a-travelers-report-on-west-africa/ Bargain destinations and the cheapest places to travel Sat, 20 Mar 2010 10:25:39 -0400 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: salimatou http://travel.booklocker.com/2006/10/05/a-travelers-report-on-west-africa/comment-page-1/#comment-128880 salimatou Mon, 07 Apr 2008 23:56:23 +0000 http://travel.booklocker.com/2006/10/05/a-travelers-report-on-west-africa/#comment-128880 I don't know if things have changed significantly since I did a month-long circuit in the same countries that this writer discussed, but I had a significantly different experience in 1999. After living in Niamey for 5 months, another female friend and I traveled around the same region, and had a wonderful time. Yes, you have to get used to being asked for money all the time because we are American and therefore relatively rich, but once you can get over that, we found people to be extremely warm and helpful. In order to escape the constant barrage of proposals of men trying to get a visa to the States, we came up with the explanation that each of already had multiple husbands (Islamic polygamy reversed). This seemed to satisfy the guys, and if not, at least they got a good laugh out of it. We ate street food, which was never more than the equivalent of $2-3 per meal (usually much less). We stayed in hostels or hotels that were $10-$15 average (which was on the higher end of our budget), and generally clean. This is not to say that we didn't have our moments of being ripped off (specifically by a tour guide in Dogon country in Mali), but we made it through all the above countries, plus Mali and Burkina Faso, without paying a single bribe at the borders or being harassed by anyone once we made it clear we weren't just going to marry them or give them money. I haven't found panhandlers in my hometown of New York City to be as understanding. I guess I would disgree that West Africa isn't a desirable place to travel. My dream is to go back someday. I don’t know if things have changed significantly since I did a month-long circuit in the same countries that this writer discussed, but I had a significantly different experience in 1999.
After living in Niamey for 5 months, another female friend and I traveled around the same region, and had a wonderful time. Yes, you have to get used to being asked for money all the time because we are American and therefore relatively rich, but once you can get over that, we found people to be extremely warm and helpful. In order to escape the constant barrage of proposals of men trying to get a visa to the States, we came up with the explanation that each of already had multiple husbands (Islamic polygamy reversed). This seemed to satisfy the guys, and if not, at least they got a good laugh out of it.

We ate street food, which was never more than the equivalent of $2-3 per meal (usually much less). We stayed in hostels or hotels that were $10-$15 average (which was on the higher end of our budget), and generally clean.

This is not to say that we didn’t have our moments of being ripped off (specifically by a tour guide in Dogon country in Mali), but we made it through all the above countries, plus Mali and Burkina Faso, without paying a single bribe at the borders or being harassed by anyone once we made it clear we weren’t just going to marry them or give them money. I haven’t found panhandlers in my hometown of New York City to be as understanding.

I guess I would disgree that West Africa isn’t a desirable place to travel. My dream is to go back someday.

]]> By: Dave http://travel.booklocker.com/2006/10/05/a-travelers-report-on-west-africa/comment-page-1/#comment-42925 Dave Fri, 06 Oct 2006 21:52:19 +0000 http://travel.booklocker.com/2006/10/05/a-travelers-report-on-west-africa/#comment-42925 My thoughts exactly. Africa isn't exactly a cheap or desirable place to visit in my opinion. Granted, i'd sure like to go drive around the desert in a land rover and shoot at big animals, but thats about it. My thoughts exactly. Africa isn’t exactly a cheap or desirable place to visit in my opinion. Granted, i’d sure like to go drive around the desert in a land rover and shoot at big animals, but thats about it.

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