Our first African country in the truck - Atlas Mountains in Morocco. Carnet de Passage CPD : basically a passport for your car. It is a customs permit recognized across borders that allows you to temporarily bring a personal vehicle into a group of countries. Costs vary widely across countries based on assessed risk. Typically, people bundle together a group of countries they plan to visit and secure a CPD from an issuing agency automobile club for example.
Laissez Passer LP : when related to a vehicle, it is a country-specific document issued by a customs agency allowing you to temporarily bring your vehicle into that country.
The primary reasoning behind these documents is that countries want to ensure that you do not bring your personal vehicle into the country and sell it without paying all the appropriate taxes and duties, following all the legalities of that country. A CPD is stamped in and out of each country as you pass through as evidence that you have left and gone on your way.
An LP or TIP is typically issued upon entry at the border by customs, although sometimes can be arranged for in advance at an embassy. It is time-constricted and collected or stamped out when you leave the country. Throughout Western Africa these documents are usually commonly understood and frequently asked for at military and police checkpoints. We are travelling with a Toyota Tacoma with US license plates and registration. For us, a CPD is difficult to obtain we only found one issuing agency who would give us a quote and very expensive.
In sticker shock, we decided to go without, which we had heard was possible with some extra hassles along the way. We knew the highly-experienced overlander Dan Grec had done it and were willing to give it a go. We have finished our West Africa route, Morocco to Angola and only hit one major roadblock with vehicle permits Ghana and one with visas Nigeria. Below are tables of costs and some details for both visas and vehicle permits to date, along with where we secured them. Waiting room at the Mauritania border for Visas on Arrival - a surprisingly complex border, it is not unusual to take hours to complete the paperwork.
