Hi everybody,
We hope you're all well wherever you are in the world at the moment, and that this post brings as much of a smile to your face as it does to ours!
Many of you have been in contact with us over the past few months asking about our trips in 2015/16. We're pleased to let you know that we are now ready to take bookings!
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| Typical Market Scene Full Of Friendly Faces In Guinea, West Africa |
What's The Latest Situation?
It has been a very tough year for us at Overlanding West Africa as you can imagine, though nothing compared to the tough year that the region we know and love so much has experienced. It has been truly heartbreaking to see so many communities we visit on our trips affected by the awful Ebola outbreak.
Liberia has pretty much beaten the virus, with less than 5 cases since February. The East and South of Sierra Leone has been Ebola free for many months, and finally the rest of the country has caught up and started to report just a handful of cases a week for the last 6 weeks. Guinea has been more complex, with much lower numbers overall, but geographically more widespread. Thankfully that trend has reversed since February with only a handful of cases persisting around Forecariah and Boffa in and around Conakry.
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| Ivorian Stilt Dancer In Action At An Incredible Ceremony We Get To Witness! |
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| Our Freetown to Dakar Group Bush Camping Between Guinea and Guinea Bissau |
But Isn't There Still A Risk?
It's important to put the outbreak into context and remember the following:
- Well over 6,000 people have managed to recover from Ebola, and the continued advice from all sensible authorities remains clear - travellers are considered to be at very low risk, it is predominantly health care workers and those who care for infected loved ones who become infected themselves.
- We have to remember that Ebola is actually quite difficult to catch, being considered a highly infectious virus but not a highly contagious virus, unless you come into contact with the bodily fluids of a victim who has to be displaying symptoms of the virus.
- Senegal, Nigeria, and Mali all had outbreaks of varying degrees and managed to prevent it from spreading. Remember, there has also been numerous major outbreaks of Ebola in Uganda, Sudan, Gabon, and DR Congo over the past decade or so, and it hasn't deterred travellers from visiting these countries.
A good article that helps put the risk that the Ebola outbreak presents into context can be found here: Ebola: What Are the Risks?
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| Ali, Liz, and Lindsay Jumping For Joy In Guinea Bissau! |
What Next?
Aminah (our truck) is ready to go for next season. Just 6 months to go before she heads out of the UK with Al and Jason for another adventure through West Africa with a seasoned bunch of travellers!
If you are still interested in booking a trip with OWA please email us via our ENQUIRY FORM or simply reply to the initial form you sent us so we know what trips you want to book onto. Many of you who were booked onto the season we had to cancel already have a deposit with us which means some of our trips have limited availability!
We will endeavour to respond to your emails within 24 hours of making contact with us, often much sooner, but please bear in mind we are expecting a lot of bookings in a short space of time so we appreciate your patience!
Remember we have a discount structure in place if you book more than one trip with us. All dates, prices and itineraries can be seen on our website HERE
We really hope you can join us for the adventure later in the year, please do email if you have any questions at all, and please do share the message on social media and with anybody you know who might be interested in travelling through West Africa with us.
Help us promote a more positive image of the region and play a small role in helping rebuild the tourism industry there!
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| The Countries Of West Africa Where We Operate Our Trips |
