4WD transit through Egypt?

[Alps2Africa]

A friend and I are planning to drive a 1988 Suzuki Vitara from Switzerland to Namibia starting September 1. During this trip we want to (have to, really) cross Egypt, entering in mid-September overland from Libya at Musaid/El Salloum.

I thought we had all the necessary documents, but information from my AA states that "Four-wheel drive vehicles cannot enter Egypt without a permit from the Egyptian Customs." The Vitara is switchable 2WD/4WD...

Can anyone confirm whether this is something that is actually checked/can be solved at the border/completely screws us?

Thanks in advance for any information!

Björn
Alps2Africa
facebook.com/alps2africa

[achim-in-jordan]

I remember this problem from some decades ago. It has, to my knowledge, not been a problem in recent past. I entered Egypt in October 2012 with a 4WD and without any problems. One should bear in mind that today almost all Egyptian workers in the Gulf States or elsewhere drive a 4WD, though mostly SUVs. The situation has changed so much that probably no Egyptian customs officer even remembers the old regulations.

Greetings,
Achim

[andrasz]

I'm not aware of any such regulation, if it exists, being enforced in the past 10 years. I know of several people who traveled with 4wd-s to Egypt repeatedly.

[Trumpton]

I have travelled from uk to Egypt several times in the last 5 years in my own 4wd landcruiser with no problems / questions about this

Andy

[Eef_and_Dries]

Hi Bjorn,

We left crossed into Egypt with our 4WD a few months ago.
There is a lot of paperwork that needs to be done, but if you use a fixer you don't have to worry about it.

Have a look on our website.
There is a 'travellers page' where there is usefull information about that.
Home
(top left you can change the language)

Might see you on the road!

Eef and Dries

[Thimba]

Hi,

...but it seems to be a problem at the Taba (Israel - Egypt) border, see this recent (2 days ago) blog post from batterc2cpoint | Driving from London to Cape Town in 2013

"hours later we were told that the Zeb could not come into Egypt at the Taba Border crossing as it is a 4×4. Anyone who has seen our car instantly knows that it’s an overlanding 4×4 vehicle, after begging, pleading and questioning the basic mechanical knowledge that it took them so long to pick up on this we were given a firm and final answer – we could enter at Taba, but the Zeb couldn’t."

Happy trails,

Gee

[Alps2Africa]

Thanks for the link to that blog, I'll make sure to read their latest posts to get an idea of the Egypt situation. We're in Tunisia now, going for the Libyan border tomorrow.

Also good to hear again that the 4x4 rule only seems to apply at the Isralei border, if at all.

[achim-in-jordan]

I am still surprised about that incident in Elat / Taba. A friend has crossed that border without incident in 2009 in a Landrover (and as I had posted earlier, this used to be a very old rule in the 1980's). I have no clue why this might have happened: Did the border officials want money? Are there new people there after the recent political events who are reading old rule books with regulations that nobody has enforced for years? This is mysterious - as so many things in Egypt ...

Greetings,
Achim

[Jervig]

We crossed Eilat Taba with this car, no doubt a permanent 4x4, yes and no a problem at the same time.

This 4x4 regulation is in fact still valid and made at the moment the Sinaii desert was given back to Egypt. At the IS side of the border they made us believe that crossing is forbidden on EG side. On EG side nobody cares about it, they even registered on the EG car documents that you need that it is a 4x4.

JP

[itchyfeet38]

Seems 4WD are now being stopped from entering at Nuweiba.

http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...459#post438252

This will have massive repercussions for anyone trying to get to Africa via Israel/Jordan.