Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
crossings there is also the danger that officials won't recognise the visa and will force travellers to purchase a new indi-
vidual country visa.
Before you go rushing off to your nearest West African embassy to ask for this visa, you need to learn how it works.
For a start, it is only obtainable
within
these five West African countries, which means that first you must obtain a visa
for the first of these countries and, once there, apply at the immigration or visa extension office in the capital city. To get
the Visa des Pays de l'Entente, which is valid for two months, you'll need to take along CFA15,500 to CFA25,000 de-
pending on the country, and up to two passport photos. It usually takes 24 to 72 hours for the visa to be issued.
Although the Visa des Pays de l'Entente may work out to be more convenient in some cases, it's worth remembering
that it's only valid for one entry into each country: ideal for overlanders, less so for those who plan to visit countries
more than once.
Volunteering
There are quite a large number of volunteers in West Africa, and it's a great way to reduce the ecological footprint of
your trip and even make a contribution to local communities. It's also an amazing forum for self-exploration, especially
if you touch a few lives and make friends along the way.
Keep in mind that there is no such thing as a perfect volunteer placement. Generally speaking, you'll get as much out
of a program as you're willing to put into it; the vast majority of volunteers in West Africa walk away all the better for
the experience.
Ghana in particular has numerous volunteering possibilities .
Organisations
The following international organisations are good places to start gathering information on volunteering, although they
won't necessarily always have projects on the go in West Africa.
Earthwatch
(
www.earthwatch.org
)
Frontier Conservation Expeditions
(
www.frontier.ac.uk
)
Idealist.org
(
www.idealist.org
)
International VolunteerPrograms Association
(
www.volunteerinternational.org
)
Peace Corps
(
www.peacecorps.gov
)
Voluntary Service Overseas
(VSO;
www.vso.org.uk
)
Worldwide Experience
(
www.worldwideexperience.com
)
Worldwide Volunteering
(
www.wwv.org.uk
)
Women Travellers
When travelling in West Africa - solo or with other women - you're unlikely to encounter any more difficulties than
you would elsewhere in the world. The female authors of
West Africa
have travelled for extended periods (including
solo travel) and/or lived in West Africa, usually without incident, and most did their research travelling alone.
