The Egypt Index

[MickeyB]

Hi,

Do you know if the customs and official infrastructure is now completed to allow regular passage from Qustul to Abu Simbel?

[Dieseloneten]

OK the figures I have been given are $600 for the use of the road. $40 for Mazar's fixer services and $100 per person travelling. Obviously these will vary according to the usual Egyptian 'invent a figure and double it' rules. Mazar is the man to talk to - his brother works in the Wadi Halfa Customs office and he can have all the officials lined up like ducks in a row (and has done recently for one group last week)

SW

[MickeyB]

Hey,

thank you very much that is helpful. At least it gives me a ballpark figure. I think that I will try the barge option Qustul to Abu Simbel in the first instance like the overland challenge.

[tadhg123]

We just used the road to cross from Egypt to Sudan.

The fixers (Amir / Kamal, Egyptian & Ayud / Magdhi , Sudanese) say this is the first time tourist jeeps have been allowed through. Group consisted of us (an Irish landrover), 2 British landrovers, a Dutch landcruiser and a Dutch Mercedes Sprinter.

It has not been an easy or cheap process. In all it has taken us 18 days from arrival in Aswan to get to Sudan. The possibility of the road arose 7 days into this. This is despite us ringing ahead by 3 weeks.

The road is not yet complete on the Egyptian side but is graded and compacted hardcore for the last few kms. It is possible for all vehicle types. The two days we were waiting there we only saw a camel caravan cross the border.

The two fixers brought up the road on a Saturday. The following Wednesday we did customs paperwork in Aswan port (with exception of carnet stamp, licence plates and exit stamp). Thursday morning at 4:30am we drove the Abu Simbel road with a customs official in the lead jeep. At the turn off to the new road another two customs officials caught up with us and the barrels blocking the road were opened.

We drove to the border crossing at Argeen and arrived at 10am. We spent the next 9 hours here while another fixer (Mr Mahmoud) drove into Sudan but failed to get any Sudanese. At 19:00 we were told we had to return to Abu Simbel and wait until after the weekend for the Sudanese to be organised. Our carnets were brought back to Aswan as they had already started the process and didn't want us keeping them which we reluctantly agreed to.

We spent the next 5 days camped in the Abu Simbel carpark.

On the Tuesday we drove to the junction ourselves for 9am and met the Egyptian customs and fixer. At approximately 18:00 we crossed the border into Sudan!

We were left by the Egyptian fixer Mahmoud with the promise the Sudanese fixer Ayud would arrive later or in the morning.

Ayud arrived about an hour later and we headed South. After 40km we left the tarmac and followed a corrugated track to the Nile. We crammed our 5 vehicles, a camel herders jeep and a small truck onto the barge. We then returned North to Wadi Halfa and left the jeeps overnight in the customs compound.
Following morning we returned to customs at 9am and finally cleared customs at 16:00.


Details:
We dealt with Amir (Mohammed Aboudas cousin 01113001496
In fairness the barges were out of his control and he did keep in daily contact with us.
We were able to compare him with Kamal as the other 3 cars were using him. He was much calmer with the officials and remained with us for all of the process which Kamal didn't. He also gave us a maximum price for the road which came down whereas Kamals went up. When one of Kamals clients had to pay extra for overstaying with his vehicle he tried to help explain which he didn't have to.

Costs:
Egyptian side
Egyptian £3750 per car no breakdown
$50 to Amir each for two cars. Those using Kamal paid $40 each.

Sudanese side
$500 split between 5 cars to obtain a short notice approval to come via road. We weren't told about this in Egypt. Apparently with enough notice this isn't necessary.
$40 each for passport processing?
$11 per car for insurance
$52 per car for ferry
$11 per car customs?
$50 fixer fee per car

Much more expensive than expected and than the barge but I suppose you don't have the worry about your jeep arriving. Barges are very eratic both North and Southbound at the moment.

Hope this helps someone else.

Tadhg

[Chris Scott]

Thanks for your detailed report Tag. A hot time to be hanging around in Abu Simbel.

Are you able to pinpoint where your Sudan Nile barge set off on the west bank? Could not see anything on Google sat image.

I have been assuming that it all involved a short barge trip from Abu Simbel dock southeast across Lake Nasser to Qustul new town (still in Egypt) where a new road drops to the Sudan border (74km) and so Wadi Halfa (+24km).

In fact I have just noticed that on the east side Google now shows new tarmac all the way from Qustul to Wadi H. It didn't a few months ago.
Perhaps whoever runs the Abu S barge franchise is busy up north.

Ch

[tadhg123]

Hi Chris.

Exactly 40km south of the border we turned off onto a corrugated dirt road towards the Nile. There is a road building contractors compound which might be visible.

We spent a few days in the Abu Simbel car park. There are good barges running a couple of times a day from the port there heading South East. Seems to be only construction vehicles though. The port car park is laned out like a proper ferry port however.

Tadhg

[Chris Scott]

Thanks Tag (and S'BC)
Corrected location on bing maps from a waypoint by SuperBC below
Nile barge in northern Sudan 30km upstream of Wadi Halfa

From current online aerial imagery Qustul certainly looks more like a street plan that is waiting to be filled with buildings.

Ch

[SuperBC]

Of my OSMand (android maps) we got the barge at 21.66280N 31.14184E so yeah that's the spot.

I can confirm it was and still is very hot

Byron

[Atlas]

Is that 3750 uk pounds ?

[SuperBC]

Nooo 3750 egyptian pounds. Still expensive but then sitting around in aswan for weeks waiting for a barge chews up the money and time.

[SimonLore]

I heard the road would only be ready in October, but it is allready fixed for now?

Great, but I think it is even more easy to take the boat than to follow the road! :-)

[achim-in-jordan]

We have heard all these announcements time and again. Now it is said it will open in just two weeks:

Sudanese Online:سودانيز اون لاين Opening of the land road between Cairo and Khartoum in two weeks: Sudan’s ambassador to Egypt

Let's wait and see and let's cross fingers. In any case the opening of the road (or better the three roads west and east of the Nile and on the coast) does not necessarily mean that every traveler can use them. They might be restricted to local traffic.

Greetings,
Achim

[roro]

Originally Posted by SimonLore

I heard the road would only be ready in October, but it is allready fixed for now?

Great, but I think it is even more easy to take the boat than to follow the road! :-)

OK for October, but which year?

RR.

[Thimba]

Originally Posted by SimonLore

I heard the road would only be ready in October, but it is allready fixed for now?

Great, but I think it is even more easy to take the boat than to follow the road! :-)

Although I'm sort of looking forward to the Wadi Halfa - Aswan experience next year (going up), I'll be more than happy taking the road. I'm travelling solo and hate the idea of leaving my dog tied to the car for 17 hours

Happy travels,

Gee

[SimonLore]

Hi guys,

I'm also looking forward to the experience of taking the ferry, but the advantage of taking the (new built) road is that you can see Abu simpel without any problem... (it seems to...)