New Trips In 2015-16 And The Unite4WestAfrica Initiative

Hi everybody,

After many weeks of planning, writing, and HTML, we're pleased to announce our new itineraries for late 2015-early 2016 are ready to go and now live on the website! All of our trips can be viewed here or you can navigate to the trip that interests you by hovering over THE TRIPS tab at the top of each page. This will bring up a sub menu to take you to any of the trips we operate.

Mauritanian Nomads Taking Tea In The Sahara Desert

All of our existing trips are still there, but with some minor changes:

Dakar to Freetown - stays the same

Freetown to Accra - much the same as last year, except we will visit the south of Ivory Coast instead of the north, and not visit Burkina Faso

Accra to Ouagadougou - very similar to our Ouagadougou to Accra trip, but visiting more of Togo and the east of Burkina Faso

Accra to Freetown - stays the same, but includes a visit to the Gurunsi homes of the Kassena people in Tiebele, Burkina Faso

Freetown to Dakar - stays the same

Dakar to Marrakech - Brand new trip, taking in northern Senegal, some of Mauritania, Western Sahara, and southern Morocco

Marrakech to Tangier - Brand new trip in Morocco, visiting many of the key highlights in the Sahara desert, Atlas mountains, and Rif mountains

Everyday Life In A Moroccan Medina

Our Trips And The Situation In West Africa

The ebola outbreak continues to affect lives and communities in Sierra Leone, Guinea, and Liberia. From watching the mainstream media news channels, the situation seems as bleak as ever.

However, all this doom and gloom is not a fair representation of the facts and decidedly unbalanced. There has been a huge improvement in all 3 affected countries since December 2014:

• The rate of new cases being reported throughout Liberia has drastically reduced in recent weeks, things really are looking alot better there now
• The east of Sierra Leone around Kaliahun and Kenema (where the outbreak first surfaced in Sierra Leone) has improved dramatically, with only 1 or 2 cases being reported per week over the last month. In and around Freetown and the west of the country, the number of new cases being reported has declined by a huge amount
• The outbreak continues to rumble on around Guinea, though at a much lower level than before, with the number of new cases reported being significantly lower than in Liberia and Sierra Leone

Alot more is being done by the governments and the international community to help improve the situation, though there is of course alot more work to do. It does appear slowly but surely the outbreak is being brought under control, and we are very hopeful that the region will return to some sense of normality very soon.

Happy Ladies In Their Finest Clothes In The Forest Region Of Guinea

We want to reiterate that we cancelled our trips in late 2014 - early 2015 due to the closure of a number of key borders throughout the region. That was the only reason we cancelled - the logistics of operating multi-country trips became impossible.

All sensible advice from health professionals continues to be the same - the risk of travellers contracting the virus is considered very low, you need to come into direct contact with the bodily fluids of somebody showing symptoms of the virus to become infected.

Launch Of The Unite 4 West Africa Initiative

Since October 2014 we have played a key role in setting up and promoting the Unite 4 West Africa initiative, along with West Africa Discovery, Barefoot Liberia, and Another World Adventures. The aim of this collective effort is simple - to challenge the mainstream media portrayal of the affected countries in West Africa, and to raise funds for organisations working on the ground to combat the outbreak.

Nigerian Minister Of Tourism Sally Mbanefo Speaks At The Unite4WestAfrica Launch, World Travel Market 2014

Lots Of Journalists Attended The Unite4WestAfrica Launch At World Travel Market In London, 2014

The Unite 4 West Africa initiative was launched to the media at World Travel Market in October 2014. We're pleased to say it was a huge success, the room was heaving with journalists interested in hearing what we had to say!

On the panel were the Ministers of Tourism for Senegal, Ghana and Nigeria, as well as Ben Keene from Tribewanted Sierra Leone, Dr Ron Behrens from the London School of Tropical Medicine, and David Oades (Dave The Hat) from Overlanding West Africa. Everybody gave a 10 minute presentation about the situation in the region.

In addition to helping put the outbreak into perspective, Unite 4 West Africa is raising funds for organisations who are working hard in the region to help combat the spread of the virus:

• 50% of the money raised will go to Medicins Sans Frontieres (MSF - Doctors Without Borders), who have worked tirelessly from the moment the outbreak was confirmed as ebola back in March 2014
• 40% of the money will go to 3 grass roots organisations in each of the affected countries, being TINKISSO in Guinea, KRITERION MONROVIA in Liberia, and WELT HUNGER HILFE in Sierra Leone
• 10% will be distributed to other grass roots organisations who are doing great work who might approach us for funding - if not, this 10% will instead go to the 3 organisations receiving 40% of the funds raised

All money raised will go directly to the organisations listed above. All of the time we have spent setting up and promoting Unite 4 West Africa is entirely voluntary.

David Oades, Founder Of Overlanding West Africa Speaks At The Unite4WestAfrica Launch At World Travel Market

Larissa Clark, Founder Of Another World Adventures Launches The Unite4WestAfrica Initiative

We're pleased to say we have secured the support of a large number of other travel operators and organisations who run trips and have an interest in the countries of West Africa, including Exodus Travels, G Adventures, Explore, and Intrepid Travel. We're proud to say we've raised over £4,000 since November 2014 and hope to raise much more.

We want to take this opportunity to thank all the organisations who have donated to the initiative so far, and all the individuals who have made a personal donation - thanks so much to everybody!

Please visit the Unite 4 West Africa website to learn more about the initiative, and help promote a more positive image of the countries in West Africa. There is also a Unite 4 West Africa Facebook Page and a Twitter Page where you can keep up to date with all the latest news. Please use the hashtag #Unite4WestAfrica when posting about the initiative.

Organisations Lending Their Support To The Unite4WestAfrica Initiative

With so much negative media coverage coming from Sierra Leone, Guinea, and Liberia in recent months, there is a real danger that these countries will be associated and stigmatised with this image for years to come. We all need to work together to help promote a more positive image of the affected countries and the West Africa region in general.

Sierra Leone, Guinea, and Liberia were just starting to develop a tourist industry, something we want to see flourish once again as soon as possible.

Remember: A huge number of people throughout dozens of countries all over Africa rely upon tourism for their livelihoods, and many are now starting to struggle due to a decline in tourism. Nearly every major tour operator is saying bookings for trips all over Africa are down. Lets put this in perspective - only 3 countries have been significantly affected by the ebola outbreak to date, just 3!

Africa is a continent, NOT a country, help us put the situation into perspective!

Cheers guys, we hope you are all well, and we hope to see you on Aminah in late 2015-early 2016 for another adventure through the countries of West Africa!

Dave The Hat, Al Goodridge, and Jimmy C