Hey there,

After circumnavigating Africa on a 125 XT I found myself stuck in Sudan. Syria, Libya and Yemen were no options due to the current situation leaving me with only two realistic options:

1) Egypt - (Jordan) - Israel
Pro: Easy, quick
Contra: Boring, Egypt is annoyingly bureaucratic, Israel stamp in your passport (even the Egyptian/Jordanian exit stamp might be enough), I'd skip loads of interesting countries.

2) Sudan - Saudi Arabia - UAE - Iran
Pro: No flights, cheap, fun
Contra: Difficult to organise for bikers as KSA wouldn't allow non-residents to ride bikes.

This report is most interesting for bikers I guess because you could just cross KSA in a 4x4. Before I go into detail, here's the bottom line:

Total Cost Option 1:
Around 1000-1200 USD. The ferry cost around 900 USD and then it all depends on how lucky you are in Egypt.

Total Cost Option 2:
I was as unlucky as you could possibly get (I'll explain why later) and ended up paying about 1200 USD.


As I travelled during the off-season (beginning rainy season in Africa and summer in UAE/Iran/Oman) I couldn't find any other travellers to help me. If you travel during any other time of the year - or if you just have enough time to hang around Khartoum for some time - you might be lucky and find a 4x4 headed the same direction. In that case you'd probably be able to put your bike on the roof (check it with the KSA embassy first!), take a ferry from Port Sudan, cross KSA and get to UAE cheaply. The same might be true for the ferry from UAE to Iran. So you might be able to get it a lot cheaper than me but maybe it's not too bad to know about the worst case scenario:

Sudan to UAE by plane
I checked a few airlines and EgyptAir seemed to have the best rate. They charge USD1/kg for up to 250kg as a flat fee. So whether your volume weight is 120kg or 250kg, you'd end up paying for 250kg either way. On top of that you'll have to pay some minor additional charges and also get the dangerous goods declaration as well as clear customs. For both you'll need a broker. You cannot (as in they won't let you inside) do it on your own. I decided to build the crate together with a local who was recommended to me by my DGD agent. I never regretted hiring him because he really helped me a lop buying reasonably cheap wood (it's still insanely expensive) and putting it all together. Here are my expenses:

USD 291 (EgyptAir cargo)
USD 55 (DGD + Agent)
USD 13 (Customs + Agent)
USD 44 (Help with the crate)
USD 66 (wood)
USD 205 (Flydubai passenger ticket)
USD 71 (Handling fee in Dubai)
---------------------------------
USD 745

It really was super stressfull as I just didn't have enough time. Some advice if you're thinking about doing it: Take your time, buy the wood and everything in advance and don't buy your ticket until the bike has cleared customs. In the end it all worked out for me but I wouldn't want to have that kind of pressure ever again.
Another word of advice: Don't rely on phone calls or email. It won't work. Whatever you try to sort out, go there and handle it face to face. Once they know you and you got their number it's fine. But until then calling people is just a waste of time.

UAE to Iran by ferry
It seems like there is only one shipping company offering this line: Valfajr next to Al Ikhlas Tower in Sharjah (you can easily find the location on Google Maps). You can't really negotiate at all (the only thing I managed to avoid was some paper that would have cost me USD 15) - the prices are fixed. The company clearly takes advantage of its market position but at least everyone was very professional. It all went down exactly as they had promised me. When and where to drop off the bike, who to see, what to do... Perfect.

USD 413 (Cargo + Passenger ticket)
USD 45 (Customs + Handling fee in Bandar Abbas)
------------------------------------------------------------
USD 458


Total cost was USD 1203. Pretty much the same as option 1) would have cost me but instead of taking a boring short cut back to Europe I could visit UAE, Oman, Iran, Armenia, Georgia and Turkey. Also as I mentioned above, you might be able to save quite a bit if you just find somebody in a 4x4 who's willing to take you along.

I hope this is helpful to some of you. If you have any questions, please feel free to comment or if you don't think it'd be interesting for everyone, just send me a PM or contact me on FB: facebook.com/stevenslittleride

Cheers,
Steven

Perfect information and timing. I too know several travellers trying to reach Africa from Turkey or vica versa and all are stuck in mid east area or Sudan..
Seems problems in Libya,Syria and Egypt will continue for several more years and agreement for ship runs between egypt and turkey is nor extended yet and seems will not in the near future..

This is a great job and many thanks for sharing current information and your experiences with great tips..

All the best..

__________________
Mehmet Zeki Avar
''Borderlines divide countries,HU friendship finds a way to reunited"
https://www.facebook.com/mehmet.avar.12?ref=tn_tnmn

Thank you very much for the good info, I will maybe try the other way ... from UAE to Sudan.

Hi All

Anybody have any recent info regarding shipping/ flying etc, from UAE or Oman, to Africa?

Lm