Kora playing

We're hoping to pay a visit to The Kora Workshop in Kafountine on our trip from Dakar to Freetown this autumn, and again next spring. There are still a few seats left to join us as we spend a week exploring Senegal's little-visited but delightful Casamance region. Music plays a large part in the culture of West Africa, and it will be great to have a chance to try playing the kora, and hear a performance by a local master.

Here is Pa Bobo Jobarteh playing in Kafountine.

For some more great kora music, here are the Malian legends, Toumani Diabate, on kora, and Ali Farka Toure, on guitar, playing Kala Djula.

We still have a few spaces left to explore this fascinating region on our Overlanding West Africa trip this autumn from Dakar to Freetown. Details are here

Overlanding West Africa in the media

We’ve been busy promoting OWA since we returned from West Africa in April 2013, and are very happy to say that our hard work and efforts are paying off in getting us noticed.

Firstly one of our travel blogs was recently published in Travel Magazine in may 2013. You can read about our first ever exploratory trip on the link below as we journeyed between Sierra Leone, Guinea, and Ivory Coast . An incredible journey with some superb photos attached:

Travel Magazine: Overlanding West Africa, a driver's tale

We’ve also recently featured in Black Frog Publishing’s ‘Spotlight’ series of interviews. Kirsty and Andy have many years of experience working in the overland industry and have now set up a publishing company focussing upon adventure travel writing. They interviewed us for their latest article highlighting why we set up Overlanding West Africa and what makes the region so special to travel in. Thanks guys!

Black Frog Publishing: Spotlight on Overlanding West Africa

Richard at The Sunday Times, a fellow West Africa aficionado,  was kind enough to include Overlanding West Africa in his “Ride The Road Less Travelled” article a few months ago. Featuring our new exploratory trip through Liberia we truly believe a place for this trip is warranted. To date, no overland truck based company has been through Liberia….we are attempting to be the first! Along with being the first to run trips through Guinea Bissau and Sierra Leone in 2012 we are very proud to be pushing this little known corner of Africa to the adventure travel market.

We also featured in Escape The City’s recent ’Top 10 Escapes’ article. E.T.C is a great website, designed to tempt people away from the hustle and bustle of a career in the city and show them there are alternatives. Thanks to Ben Keene from Tribewanted in Sierra Leone for recommending us for the list!

Escape The City: Overlanding West Africa In Top 10 Escapes

The picture below, on the right hand side, is of BBC journalist George Alagiah. Focussing upon the changing social and economic climate in Africa, George hosted a questions and answers session on Twitter. We are very pleased that George picked a question about Ghana from us at Overlanding West Africa (it was his top question!)

Overall we are very pleased that we are cementing our reputation for operating the most indepth and comprehensive trips in West Africa, going to more countries and visiting more places than any other operator.

We still have a few seats available for our Dakar To Freetown and Freetown To Accra trips in late 2013. We are offering discounts on the remaining limited number of seats. Remember guys, our Freetown to Accra trip will be the first time an overland truck based company has ever gone through Liberia, we will be making history, come and join the adventure!

Please read the Passenger Feedback that we received from our 2012-2013 season, and see what makes our trips better than any others out there by reading our Why Travel With OWA? page.