West Africa travel guide

Traverse one of Africa’s least-visited regions in our West Africa travel guide. We take you from the Sahara to the Atlantic, looking out for saltwater hippos and nesting turtles, sampling food, browsing markets and taking tranquil cruises along the way. Meet the people who live in one of the world’s most ethnically diverse regions – and plan your route with our interactive map and highlights.

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West Africa travel guide

Traveling West Africa is a balancing act – a mix of culture, food, nature and a past best told by the region’s own storytellers. Festivals are all-singing, all-dancing and clothes shops and markets are draped in a rainbow of wax print cloth. The dark historyof the slave trade marks port cities like Ouidah. Beyond, there are wild beaches, ancient rainforest and undulating, sun-baked dunes.

West Africa is one of the most culturally diverse places on earth.

Unlike in much of the continent, many of West Africa’s countries are compact, meaning it is possible to travel overland between two or even three different countries in a single, two-week trip. However, their diminutive size does not make these nations any less diverse; West Africa encompasses both Franco- and Anglophone nations, speaking between them hundreds of languages. It also stretches from the arid Sahel, at the Sahara’s edge, through monkey-filled forests all the way to the Atlantic.

Our West Africa travel guide welcomes you into this most fascinating of regions.

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West Africa is...

one of the most culturally diverse places on earth. Over 600 languages are spoken here, with many more dialects.

West Africa isn't...

a no go zone. Most are stable, safe and welcome tourists.

Things to do in West Africa

West Africa is the place to go for culture. Languages and traditions don’t just vary by country; in Benin alone, with just 10 million inhabitants, over 50 languages are spoken. There are dancing mask festivals, elaborate coffin carvers, animistic tribes, jazz festivals, Ashanti kings, Vodun (voodoo) temples and semi-nomadic cattle herders roaming the sandy Sahel. Get stuck in – and be sure to learn greetings in a few of the local languages for a guaranteed icebreaker. With all the focus on culture, it’s easy to forget about the wonderful wildlife. West Africa is no Serengeti, for sure; but there is big game here, notably elephants, hippos and buffalo, as well as monkey-filled rainforest and even sea turtles laying their eggs along the wild stretches of coast. There may be fewer animals, but there are also fewer – if any – tourists, making this a particularly special and intimate experience. More importantly, you’ll be providing desperately needed funds to these parks and reserves, ensuring the wildlife is protected. Compared with the behemoths in the rest of the continent, West Africa’s countries are really rather tiny – meaning that it is possible to explore two or even three of them in under two weeks. Classic combinations are Ghana, Togo and Benin, or Senegal and Guinea-Bissau. Alternatively, go the whole hog and take a month-long overland expedition, crossing the Sahara desert to reach the Atlantic Ocean.

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Things not to do in West Africa

Seek out your Instagram shot. West Africa is unbelievably photogenic – the stuff of NatGeo dreams. However, people are as entitled to their privacy as anyone else – so please avoid sticking cameras in people’s faces. Strike up a conversation, buy something from their market stall, exchange names – and always ask permission before taking their photo. If they say no, thank them and move on. Buy items made from endangered species. Illegal poaching, bushmeat and Vodun (voodoo) beliefs combine to make West Africa a hotspot for the illegal wildlife trade, with much of it ending up on market stalls across the region. Feathers, bone, fur, teeth, skins and ivory can all be found here; it may be an important part of local culture, but please don’t fuel the trade that is driving species to extinction. Dismiss it as a destination for hardcore Africa explorers. South Africa and Kenya have long been the continent’s gateway nations, thanks to their great infrastructure and easily accessible Big Five. While we wouldn’t recommend a month-long overland Sahara tour or wild camping in Mali for the uninitiated, English-speaking Ghana is a wonderful introduction to the continent. River cruises in Senegal, too, tick the first-time traveler box neatly, eliminating lengthy, bumpy road travel while introducing you to a country visited by few tourists.

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