The Egypt Index

[omar mansour]

The Egypt Index - see also:

• Egypt > Sudan border costs via Qustul 2018

• Sudan - Egypt via Argeen - west of the Nile (no ferry) 2017

• Detailed report: Egypt-Sudan Dec 2015

• Best way to Egypt from Europe

• Egyptian deserts closed for travellers

• Ferry Aqaba Jordan

• Shipping Greece to Egypt [dormant]

• Ferry Egypt-Turkey [dormant]

• Egypt Sinai Israel


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dear all
i have good fresh news that soon any one can go between Egypt and Sudan by land ,
yes the road following the Nile will be working soon
i will attach some photos here for the road
hopefully in few weeks it will be working ,
and good bye night mare Aswan Wadi halfa Ferry
here is the latest official news today
i used goggle translate so hope it will be OK

The opening of the road linking Egypt and the Sudan in two months
lost a delegation from the Egyptian Authority for Ports land and dry, by Qustul Wadi Halfa after that ended the Sudanese side of the paving and paving its part inside the Sudanese. came inspection tour led by Major General Marzouk Saber Shaltout and Major General Mohammed Saad Hassan and a number of agents of local administration, and leaders of the Guard border. This was stated by Chairman of Abu Simbel Asaad Abdel-Meguid, adding that the delegation stressed the possibility of opening the way for the citizens of the two countries within two months after collecting the work of customs and border points. said Abdul-Majid said the delegation also lose the site through the Toshka Atbara with a length of 438 kilometers which 105 Clio meters inside the Egyptian border, and 333 kilometers inside the border of Sudan Erqan the Atbara, and will be put pavement and the boot during the next period at a cost of 105 million pounds, thus completing the system of roads and transportation between the two countries. This contributes to support the movement of trade exchange and to build bridges cooperation between the two countries and facilitating the movement of citizens to achieve the desired integration between the two countries.

[*Touring Ted*]

As much as the ferry was an ABSOLUTE PAIN to organise and get on to, it will remain one of the best memories of my Africa trip.

[omar mansour]

Originally Posted by *Touring Ted*

As much as the ferry was an ABSOLUTE PAIN to organise and get on to, it will remain one of the best memories of my Africa trip.

HI Ted
how are you ? yes you are right it was one of my dreams to cross the lake Nasser on it ,since i was a kid and to see the stars shining on the lake and the Nubian desert
the ferry will be working too and i hope they make it better as there will be a road
its so hard to waste 5 days go and 5 days back
on the ferry

[*Touring Ted*]

Originally Posted by omar mansour

HI Ted
how are you ? yes you are right it was one of my dreams to cross the lake Nasser on it ,since i was a kid and to see the stars shining on the lake and the Nubian desert
the ferry will be working too and i hope they make it better as there will be a road
its so hard to waste 5 days go and 5 days back
on the ferry

Hey.. I'm good thanks. You ?

I think the ferry will go out of business as soon as that road is finished. It's a total nightmare for the locals who use it too. The boat is RAMMED full with all sorts of things bought from Egypt as you probably know.

I know I wouldn't take it if there was a nice new road instead.

It's kind of sad (for overlanders) as all the 'adventures' are now disappearing... I mean, soon the Kenyan 'bandit highway' will be all paved too. Already In Sudan you have a nice new Chinese road through the desert. A Cape-Cairo trip is going to soon be VERY VERY easy indeed.

[omar mansour]

yes you are right
last November i was not happy to arrive to Isiolo and find the nice new tar road all the way to Nairobi ,
but perhaps we the over landers must find new bad roads ,hahahaha
I'm thinking now the Omo valley route will be the next big adventure between Ethiopia and Kenya ,
any new trips great Ted ?

[*Touring Ted*]

Originally Posted by omar mansour

yes you are right
last November i was not happy to arrive to Isiolo and find the nice new tar road all the way to Nairobi ,
but perhaps we the over landers must find new bad roads ,hahahaha
I'm thinking now the Omo valley route will be the next big adventure between Ethiopia and Kenya ,
any new trips great Ted ?

I am planning on flying out to the Yukon Territory in June and taking an open top canoe through the interior...

Nothing 'Major' on the bike planned until next year I reckon. It's getting harder to collect those pennies

[roro]

The opening of the road linking Egypt and the Sudan in two months

Stay in W.Alfa for my car on another ship? NO!

Good news indeed!


RR.

[catch22]

Is this a miracle? Too good to believe!

Now get me a roro to Alex and the red carpet is right in front of me!

as said before, every problem has an expiry date.

[McCrankpin]

Well, I think I'm going to come from the other direction.

Like Ted rightly said above, in your memories the Wadi Halfa ferry is one of the big events of an East African trip.
All the ticketing and the amazing theatricals that went with it (southbound, maybe different northbound). And the rituals surrounding the vehicle barge. Plus the crossing itself and being in amongst the passengers. It's a big chunk of crossing the Sahara.
So is it really progress for travellers looking for experiences outside of normal western cultures? To replace all that with a piece of tarmac? Is it really to be welcomed?

Secondly - a lot of the African passengers (southbound again, probably completely different northbound) are family groups, some pretty big, with huge amounts of luggage mainy comprising 'white goods'. Fridges, microwaves, food processors plus sound systems, computers, TVs and the whole gamut of modern household stuff. So they seem to be Africans with some money to spend.
And the whole ferry enterprise must employ quite a lot of people.
There seemed to be quite a few on-board staff and there must be engine-room and bridge crew as well.
Plus shore crew, maintenance, docks staff and all the other people I can't think of right now.
Plus crews for the vehicle barges.

So I wondered, how many workers' families are supported by this enterprise? By the passengers who have money to spend on their shopping in Egypt, by the fares they pay, and by the comparatively tiny number of foreign travellers on board who maybe pay a higher fare?
What awaits those families when the ferry is no more?
How many will earn a living once the majority of passengers simply spend a little longer on their buses to cross from Egypt to Sudan?
What of the Aswan-to-High Dam train service, will that survive?

In January 2010 there were strong rumours that "if you waited two months" you'd be able to ride across the border. It seemed to be accepted that all the tarmac was in place and already being well used by the military on both sides. I picked up strong indications that there was a lot of resistance to opening the road because of the large number of businesses that would then cease, and that's no small issue in Africa. So I wonder now, when will this road really open?
We won't know, I guess, until it happens. But I wonder - who will benefit???

Omar, thanks for posting this up. Good to hear from you.
Don't know if you remember but we passed on the road in the Western Desert, January 2010, you going north to Alexandria from Cape Town, and us three on little Yamahas going south to Nairobi and Cape Town.
You gave us good advice about the Isiolo road, and 'little sand dunes behind El Qasr, good for practising on!' My daughter and son-in-law found Africa so enticing they now live and work in Khartoum and have their Yamahas there with them.

All the best,
Ken

[Chris Scott]

I have never done this crossing but I would have thought just about everyone would benefit from the simple streamlining of cross-border trade and transport.

The families bringing back the white goods are probably just Sudanese guest workers returning home, just as you see in Marseille or Genoa. I would have thought an a/c bus in half the time and all the way to Khartoum would suit them fine.

I suspect the resistance is/was from those who owned the ferry operation (cronies of Mubarak I read somewhere once) while a perfectly good road ran alongside.

It's bound to happen, but I do wonder if this is another premature rumour, like the Morocco-Algeria border saga.

There's even talk of a causeway to Saudi... and as for the railways, they may link Aswan to Wadi H - a trans-Sahara railroad.

Bring it on I say - for those who dont want an easy transit, there are plenty more adventures in Africa.

Ch

Three New Land Routes to Connect Egypt, Sudan
(I assume from 2012)

[omar mansour]

for me as Egyptian its so weird that we don't have a road to link Egypt and Sudan
although we have more than 1200 km of land border between the two countries ,
hope the road will be a small step for more developing between both countries ,and also to make off road tracks to the virgin lands between both countries ,
also the famous old 40 day road for camels caravans is not far from the new road ,
so many over landers can go to new land to discover and visit
also it can make the company who run the ferry to make it better as there is alternative option now ,and i don't think the ferry will die as there is lots of huge good goes from both sides will be way cheaper to transport it by the ferry
i believe Mubarak never thought of Africa ,although during history any wise Egyptian leader were doing many efforts to link Egypt with African countries
as soon as the road will be open will do a trip and update it

[roamingyak]

Hi, I am currently in Khartoum.

Excuse my cynical question, does it actually say anywhere that foriegners will be able to cross at the new border without any conditions?

They might quote security concerns and make you pay for an expensive convoy or something to keep the gravy train rolling.

If the ferry is still running they might make us use it etc....

Fingers crossed anyway....

Open the road now so I can use it!!!!

[McCrankpin]

Originally Posted by Chris Scott

I suspect the resistance is/was from those who owned the ferry operation (cronies of Mubarak I read somewhere once) while a perfectly good road ran alongside.

Yep, that's a likely situation. It certainly fits.

Here's one little event that makes me sad to think the ferry may close:
I found a seat downstairs in one of the lower decks, I was all alone on the large bench seat, being one of the first on board. (My travelling companions stayed up on the roof).
The guidebooks say if you're over the age of life-expectancy in these countries you get treated with a particular respect, and they're right.

So the only people who came to share my bench seat were other elderly gents. And at least one woman. We ended up with sufficient room between us and no one tried to push in. Although everywhere else, because the boat was so crowded, people were being pushed and shoved along the seating so more could squeeze in. My neighbours were mainly Sudanese returning after family visits.

Anyway, I needed the toilet the next morning when the sun was rising over the lake. I already knew from the day before that there were three cubicles in there, two squat and one european sit-down.
When I entered there was a queue. But Egyptians and Sudanese being who they are, so welcoming, I was immediately ushered right to the front.
There I found the sit-down cubical was free, everyone was queuing for the other two and they all knew what I wanted. No worries!

When I finished, a local passenger who had just entered the room, seeing me leave a cubicle, expected the queue to move forward. But it didn't 'cos no one wanted the sit-down. And he didn't know the layout. So he shuffled around and leaned over to try to see why no one was taking the empty cubicle.

And here's the thing you never think of when on this sort of journey. This guy had never seen a western sit-down toilet. When he saw it the look on his face was complete confusion. :confused1:

Then he must have remembered something he'd seen or heard long ago, and burst out laughing.

Well, at that point I was just walking past him to reach the exit door and had just realised what had happened. And at that same moment he must have suddenly thought to himself how rude his laughter might be and a look of horror instantly went right across his face.

But by then all the other guys in the queue were laughing out loud and, most of all, me too.

So the passenger immediately relaxed again, laughed with the rest of us and we all ended up shaking hands to celebrate his first encounter with a european toilet!

Where else could such a thing happen????
(I did wonder for a moment, in all the laughter, would they want me to demonstrate??)

It'd be great if this ferry carries on and everyone continues to maintain their livelihoods in some way or other. Maybe freight only with no foreigners maybe, sadly. Or even foreigners-only as suggested above.
It seems too often in Africa that foreign-sponsored 'progress' throws locals out of work and sometimes, off their land as well.

Omar, thanks for the PM. Good to hear from you. My daughter's in London right now but I think she'll be in touch. I passed on your email address. Will reply later.
Cheers
Ken

[roamingyak]

Omar,

As I'm in Khartoum and was planning on getting a Saudi visa this week to avoid having to take the ferry to Aswan, could you kindly let me know the following, if at all possible, as I need to make a decision about which way to go within the next week (although I have another 6 weeks on my tourist visa in Sudan):

1. When was this information made public? The wording seems vague about when it will open? "soon" and "within two months" from what start date? Yesterday? Sorry to ask, but anything more specific, or any later updates would be greatly approved ;-)

2. Those pictures look like they could be the buildings on the new Red Sea road rather than the Nile? But I have never been to that part of the Nile yet, but just a thought that the Arabic article you looked at might have made a mistake or have used them instead etc. Just a thought as the water in the background looks big...

Anyway, I had a expensive and big lunch to celebrate the vague hope that I might save $500 on taking the landy on the ferry. All valid thoughts above, but when something is badly organised, badly run and used to rip people off, then its hard to mourn its loss on a personal level.

After 2.5 years in Africa I'm not holding my breath though!!!!

[omar mansour]

Originally Posted by roamingyak.org

Omar,

As I'm in Khartoum and was planning on getting a Saudi visa this week to avoid having to take the ferry to Aswan, could you kindly let me know the following, if at all possible, as I need to make a decision about which way to go within the next week (although I have another 6 weeks on my tourist visa in Sudan):

1. When was this information made public? The wording seems vague about when it will open? "soon" and "within two months" from what start date? Yesterday? Sorry to ask, but anything more specific, or any later updates would be greatly approved ;-)

2. Those pictures look like they could be the buildings on the new Red Sea road rather than the Nile? But I have never been to that part of the Nile yet, but just a thought that the Arabic article you looked at might have made a mistake or have used them instead etc. Just a thought as the water in the background looks big...

Anyway, I had a expensive and big lunch to celebrate the vague hope that I might save $500 on taking the landy on the ferry. All valid thoughts above, but when something is badly organized, badly run and used to rip people off, then its hard to mourn its loss on a personal level.

After 2.5 years in Africa I'm not holding my breath though!!!!

hi roamingyak
regarding your questions ,
that was on the main news paper in Egypt 2 days ago ,and if you have been in Africa for more than 2 years soon is even longer than 2 months
the photos was from Qasttal area in the southern part of Egypt on the lake Nasser ,and the lake is so big even some times wider than the red sea ,so I'm sure the photos are not from the red sea
hope you enjoyed your meal
if i know any more news will post it ,
travel safe and enjoy