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West Africa
From Wikitravel
Africa : West Africa
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Contents
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.
[edit] Countries
It is generally considered to consist of the following countries:
Sometimes Mauritania, Mali, Niger, and Chad are also considered as West African states.
[edit] Cities
[edit] Other destinations
[edit] Understand
Mostly due to the colonial past of the continent, common languages spoken in the region are French, English and Portuguese,
[edit] Get in
[edit] Get around
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.
Go to Benin if you´re interested in voodoo because this is where it origins. 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.
Don't drink tap water unless you're hardcore or 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.
[edit] 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 etc.
[edit] Get out
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