Mauritania to Senegal Border - Diama

Taken me some days to get enough connection to post this. 

We arrived at the border from Nouakchott but it would make little difference if you arrived from Boghe via Rosso along the river road/track. It must be said though that the road from Nouakchott to Diama is shockingly bad but being re-paved. There's about 100km of terrible car destroying potholes and corrugations on the diversions. The reason i mention this is the mandatory National Park fee of 200 per person which even though you don't want to see it, you pay it. Its basically a toll road. There a guy in uniform at the last police checkpoint before Diama collecting your money.

After him its few km of track to the border. There are some buildings on the left and almost zero touts or people hanging around. Its quite pleasant. There was one change guy "Goulam" from Senegal doing the money and the rate was OK but we changed only a small amount so the charge was quite a lot percentage wise. He spoke good English and I gave him a card which i signed on the back. So you will know its him if you decide to change to some CFA.

First office is the passport office and the door on the right. Its in the picture. No change was made or asked for to stamp the passport. This is normal. There should be no charge.
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The next office is the Douane and there is a charge for the stamp of 10€ and for this a receipt is offered. The office is clearly marked and the middle front door leads you to a lobby and you go to the office at the back left. 

POINT 3
While we were talking to the money changer a police guy came over and took our passports to the next office. We never actually went in to that office. It was a "delivery service" but we might have been lucky. The office was next right to the Douane had a single door and an desk inside to the left with another office to the right. This is where they took the passports to stamp us out. There was a few waiting which is why they might have taken the passports to stop us having to queue. I presume this is the office where the corrupt €10 charge is attempted but for us, nothing.

Then there's the guy that lifts the second bar over the road. That's the community charge of 50MAU

That's it your done. It was easy to exit Mauritania.

Now for the dreaded entry in Senegal. Easy as...

First stop is the gate on the famous bridge. There's a guy in uniform from the water/dam company. He wants 4000CFA. If you've chnaged money with the guy i mentioned then you have collected enough small bills for this part of the journey. Get some low notes to pay these charges. Change was give by the gate guy so a 5000 will do.

 So you're over the bridge and into the fun stuff. Well that's what you've been told. Its easy although there was a lot of discussions by various police staff but i don't not know why. We had our passports done, vehicle documents and driving licence typed into the PC. Photos and prints taken. All pretty normal. Again no charges. What i can say is a local was charged something like 10€ for his local car carrying some foreign business people. We were not changed for the passport stamp and it was not asked for. He wanted to see original documents. Not copies.

So then its to Douane for the passevant. 72 hours given. We arrived on a Wednesday at 2pm and were only given until Friday. The charge is 2500CFA. He asked to look at the carnet and asked if the vehicle was a 1998. It was and so we needed the carnet or there is according to form a 250€ charge for the passevant. The passevant gets you to Dakar where you get the carnet stamped at port.

​Have a beer....

Go to the port customs office in Dakar to get your carnet stamped. The details are on iOverlander. The parking is street side and we found some on the red and white curbs (illegal) with a load of other cars and trucks. Jelly watched the car. The place was closed (Friday in our case) for lunch 1200 to 1500. I just waltzed straight in. Bypassing the desk on the left and headed straight up the stairs on the right. Look like you know where you are going.  Go to Second floor. If anyone offers to help just say no thanks. If anyone asks to see your docs that's not sat in an office just say no thanks. Go to the floor with the coke machine. Its in front of you at the top of the stairs. Turn immediately left. See the chairs and the office behind them. The guy in there singularly does the carnet. You do not need to see anyone else. The office is signed as Temporary Imports. That's it. 5 mins and you are out. Knock on the door if its closed and open it !
BTW....the people sat are not in a line/queue waiting for this office.....

There is no charge for this. The Carnet was complete and he kept my passevant.

To do this process you NEED a copy of Passport and Driving licence and vehicle registration document. We got these easily in a copy shop between St Louis and Dakar. 50CFA each. You will see loads of signs for copy places. 

Hope this helps you. Thanks to StephenD for the tips on the second floor and iOverlander and also the many other people before us who crossed the border like ChrisR. I cannot possibly thank you all but its a rule that i need to try to thank everyone. Thanks Everyone!