Africa >> West Africa

West Africa is the western region of Africa. In the north the region is bounded by the Sahel, and in the south and west by the Atlantic Ocean. The most densely populated area of Africa with many places to see.

Countries

It is generally considered to consist of the following countries:

Sometimes Mauritania, Mali, Niger, and Chad are also considered as West African states.

Cities

Other destinations

Culture and History

Talk

Mostly due to the colonial past of the continent, common languages spoken in the region are French, English and Portuguese.

Travel to West Africa - Visa Requirements

The african highways connect many cities in West Africa with Nigeria being the main hub.

BEWARE: Flying from other African cities can be dangerous as many airlines have a very poor safety record. Check this first before choosing to fly with an airline.

In order of size here are the main airline hubs.

  • Lagos Airport - Serveral flights per day to London. Less frequent flights also to other main cities in Europe
  • Dakar Airport - Many flights to to Millan, Madrid, Brussels and Pairs
  • Accra Airport - Many flights to UK (Manchester, London, Glasgow) as well as Frankfurt.
  • Abidjan Airport - Flights to Paris, Brussels and Dubai

Tours and Getting around West Africa

Generally it takes time - and a whole lot of patience - to move around in West Africa. The roads are not all in great conditions and many roads aren't paved. Always be sure to have an extra day or two in the end if you are going somewhere since planning is very hard when the transport is unreliable.

West Africa tourist attractions and sightseeing

Go to Benin if you´re interested in voodoo because this is where it originates. There should be plenty of opportunities to go to voodoo festivals and fetish markets.

Mali has Dogon-country which is a world heritage site. Also go to Timbuktu/tombouctou - the city known from Donald Duck magazines - and Gao which contains yet another world heritage site.

If you're interested in meeting some of the world friendliest people go to Burkina Faso or Ghana.

West Africa city tours

West Africa Restaurants: cheap, moderate and expensive

West Africa nightlife, bars, clubs and pubs

Don't drink tap water unless you have a cholera vaccination which also protects you against tourist diarrehea.

Make sure your water bottles are sealed and not just refilled with tap water. It can be hard to see.

Stay safe

West africa is probably the one place on earth where you should protect yourself in every way from mosquitoes. Do not sleep without a net and do not go without malaria-medicine.

Also you need a yellow-fever vaccination to enter most (if not all) of these countries.

Remember to check all of your other vaccinations because many other might be necessary (meningitis, typhus, cholera, rabies).

Get out

Destinations in West Africa:

This page was last edited by Anonymous user(s) of Wikitravel. Based on work by Peter Fitzgerald, Carina, Tim Sandell, Ryan Holliday and Colin Jensen, Wikitravel user(s) ChubbyWimbus, Episteme, Valtteri and Morph, Anonymous user(s) of Wikitravel and others. - Content on this page is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 1.0 license

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