Scoot West Africa

05/12/2023

We took a boat to visit the small village of Eloubaline in Casamance. It takes one hour by boat to reach the village. Members of the village guide you around their home and share info about their daily lives in the village.

13/11/2023

Our first 7 day trip to Senegal and The Gambia is in the books for this season. We scooted across the (very wet) salt flats of the Sine-Saloum, crossed The Gambia River, parked under the palms, swam in the ocean, met a crocodile whisperer 🐊, took the backroads to the Casamance, climbed up centuries old trees, met a king, drank palm wine and cashew moonshine, and rode into Guinea-Bissau territory on miles of untouched beach. Caught up with old friends and made some new ones. Learned how to play "wild Uno." Honestly could not have asked for a better crew. Matt, Lynn, Sophie and Dave -- you guys were all stars and I look forward to catching up with you down the road.

07/06/2023

Day 1 on our Coast 2 Coast trip. Dakar to Cape Town. 3 months.... Maybe.....

15/05/2023

Want to join us for a trip, but need a reminder about the dates? Make this the wallpaper on your phone 😉

02/05/2023

We have dates up for 2023-24!! Some first time itineraries along with our classic tours that are constantly evolving. ⁣
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There may be some others popping up but these are already in the books and we've started taking inquiries. ⁣
We also have dates open for private custom and group tours. ⁣
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November 5th - Dakar to Mauritania (2 weeks) ⁣
November 5th - Dakar to the Casamance via the Gambia (one week) ⁣
December 3rd - Dakar to Bissau (2 weeks) and Dakar to Casamance (1 week) ⁣
January 7th - Bissau to the Highlands of Guinea (2 weeks) ⁣
January 26th - Bissau to Dakar (9 days one way trip) ⁣
February 4th - Dakar to Bissau (2 weeks for Carnival) ⁣
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All the details, including rough itineraries and price, are on our site at scootwestafrica.com .

15/04/2023

Saturday morning in Sao Pedro. Not a bad start to the weekend.

14/04/2023

One of the great hikes on Santo Antao is the roughly 15 kms point to point hike from Ponta do Sol to Cruzinha. It can be done in either direction, but if you head south from Ponta do Sol, you will clear the really large elevation changes early in the hike and you should mostly have the sun at your back (providing you leave early in the morning). You pass through a few small villages where water can be purchased and there is a water point set up on the side of the trail at about the 10kms mark, but you would need to purify it. If rugged cliffs and ocean views are your thing, then this hike is the one for you.

13/04/2023

Waking up to some amazing views from my verandah this morning. Today we will walk along some paths on the side of those cliffs. It’s about 15 kms to Cruzinha. Amount of training done in preparation - > 15 kms

11/04/2023

View of Fogo from the Serra Malagueta Natural Park on the island of Santiago.

10/04/2023

The sun is setting on another great day in Cabo Verde. Cheers from Kabungo Beach Bar

10/04/2023

The sun is setting on another great day in Cabo Verde. Cheers from the Kabungo Beach Bar

03/03/2023

Our welcoming committee as we arrive at our bush camp near the lake. We are staying as guests of the Immam in Tamalan Village. We spent the afternoon soaking in the lake after 220 kms of epic riding

20/02/2023

Just an average Monday afternoon on a scoot trip

06/02/2023

We usually get a few lines on TripAdvisor. Barry practically wrote a memoir. He traveled with Matt and Boubacar this past November from Dakar to Mauritania on a 2 week scoot trip. I would seriously recommend reading this even if it had not been one of our trips. His writing and photos are brilliant and the narrative really gets at the heart of what we are trying to do with our trips. Have a look: https://www.barrisonford.com/post/mauritania-scooter-trip

Words and film photos from a two-week scooter trip in Senegal and Mauritania.

03/02/2023

We are going back to Cape Verde for a week long trip for Easter. This is a non-scoot trip. Just need your two feet and a sense of adventure. We will climb a volcano, join in the local Easter Festa, swim in the ocean, sample the local wine and coffee (and perhaps a caipirinha or two) and learn about the history and culture of our favorite archipelago. Trip starts on April 8th. All the info is here: https://scootwestafrica.com/cape-verde/

Cape Verde (7 Day Trip) It takes a special place to get us off the bikes. Cape Verde is that place. While this is not a scooting trip, there is more than enough adventure and discovery, from climbing the volcano on the island of Fogo to sampling the local caipirinhas. We will explore several islands...

21/01/2023

In 2009 we moved to Mali and opened The Sleeping Camel. Ibrahim (on the left) just sent me this photo. He was our first employee in Mali and to this day remains family. This is our group from early 2011 that left Bamako and travelled together to the Festival in the Desert just outside Timbuktu. Whilst we were aware that trouble was brewing, we all just believed things would normalise. Still waiting…. but for 2 incredible weeks we saw all the things. Hiked in Dogon Country. Danced in the Desert. Spent 3 days on a boat on the Niger River coming back to Mopti from Timbuktu. Simply the best time! To all that shared this trip, we were lucky to experience it. Let’s hope we get to go back soon.

09/01/2023

We just finished a 2 day hike in Fouta Djallon. So many epic views. My phone ran out of memory with each viewpoint outdoing the last. It’s not so easy to get here. But not that hard if you put your mind to it. I’ve always said Cape Verde has my favourite hike in West Africa. But I can seriously say, this overnight hike from Doucki is so close that I’d be happy to call it a tie. The sobering reality that kept popping into my head when I was struggling is that this isn’t a cultivated walk for tourists. The locals use this route in their daily lives.

06/01/2023

100 kms and 3 bean sandwich’s until we reach the town of Pita

11/12/2022

Our 2 week scoot trip to Bissau for Carnival is sold out, but we have added a 7-day non scoot trip that meets up with us in Bissau for all the festivities and the Bijagos Islands. Good way to brighten up your February https://scootwestafrica.com/mini-guinea-bissau-7-days/

Mini Boa Festa! 7 Day Trip to Guinea-Bissau Crumbling colonial buildings, sacred forests, priestesses and matriarchs, cerulean blue water — if there was ever a use for the phrase “hidden gem,” Guinea-Bissau is it. We will party in the capital with the most fun-loving population in West Africa....

05/12/2022

Matt has just posted a new blog post with some guidance on how to snag a ride on the iron ore train in Mauritania. If you want to do this trip with us, we just added new dates for April. It is a one week trip starting and ending in Nouakchott on April 23rd. https://scootwestafrica.com/hitching-a-ride-on-the-iron-ore-train-in-mauritania/

Some tips on hitching a ride on the iron ore train in Mauritania. Scoot West Africa can help you get there on one of their tours to Mauritania

15/11/2022

We just wrapped up our first Jaam Rek trip of this season. A week long trip through Senegal, the Gambia and the Casamance. The post-rainy season kapok trees of the Casamance were really something. Like green chrysanthemum fireworks hanging in the air. Stunning. The sight of them will nearly knock you off the bike as you drive past!

07/11/2022

In Sagata, when someone has a party, the faux lions turn up. The local teacher told us that they are there to entertain but if they catch a local child, the parents must pay a 100 cfa bounty to have the child released. So most of the time at the party, kids were racing thru the village, mostly laughing, but clearly, very cautious 😃

27/10/2022

When we are not scooting around, we occasionally climb active volcanoes. After a star-filled night with meteor showers and the milky way at our fingertips, we woke at 430 to begin the climb to the top of Pico do Fogo. An absolutely brilliant hike with about 1000 meters of vertical climb. Our Cape Verde trip is wrapping up in a couple of days but we will definitely have new dates in 2023!!