Road and Customs (Oman to Yemen)
 

Who can help me with information about this road from Oman to Yemen?

As I see on google maps, there are two ways.
Way N2 - far from the ocean, as I saw, it has customs buildings and some kind of border control. It also has not good road (possibly, ground or pebble)
Way N1 - has good asphalt road all the way along the ocean, but I didn't find any customs and any borders.
Which way can be used to go from Oman to Yemen? The road near the ocean seems to be more interesting and beautyful, but what to do with customs..

http://nissan-4x4.ru/img/posts/23635.gif

The coast road is the route normally taken. You will come across the first Omani checkpoint just around:
N16 49.727 E53 39.445

You can cross into Yemen using this route and visas are available at the border. Have a look at Peter's blogs:
Peter's Travels - Destination: NZ - Oman - Part 2
&
Peter's Travels - Destination: NZ - Yemen - Part 1
which have photos and describe the road etc.

Hope that helps.
Stephan

Thanks a lot!
I didn't find in his blog any info regarding "police escort" and such things which I read previously in other threads. So when I enter Yemen, do they give me special permits or whatever, or I need to get visa only and go anywhere?
This country will be transit for me, I plan to go to Saudi Arabia through Yemen..

Iza & Kamil were the last travelers I know of who went that way. You can read about their experiences with escorts in Yemen here:
singapore2poland » Blog Archive » Yemen - mystic San’a, men’s toys and the magic green plant
Stephan

thats a great trip blog ... enjoyed it thoroughly

cheers
Vick

Thanks for posting those links, Stephan! Saves me the trouble...

The reason I don't mention escorts is because I didn't have any until a long way further South. Conditions change and several tourists have been murdered recently, supposedly by Al Qaida. In all instances they were with escorts and these died, too. I'm not sure I would consider Yemen safe at this time. You will have to decide for yourself. I actually think you are safer without escorts, they attract trouble. From Al Muqalla to Wadi Hadramawt I took a back road (gravel). No checkpoints, no trouble. No tourists go there, so no Al Qaida, either.

Cheers,
Peter.

beddhist, I thought that this escort is necessary thing when I cross the border? If not, of course I would preffer to go without them.
Anyway, travelling by the motorcycle is more dangerous than travelling by the car, I confimed this on my own experience, when I was meeting several bike drivers in my trips. That's why I drive only car :)

And I don't believe in Al Qaida. I think this is just politics game :)

As I said: conditions change. When I crossed nobody wanted to escort me. In certain areas I needed travel permits and escorts, but not near the Oman border. For what it's worth: all the murdered tourists were travelling in (rented) cars, i.e. organised tours with escorts.

Al Qaida or not, the pattern has changed: it used to be local tribes abducting foreigners to make themselves heard by their own corrupt govt. The hostages were reportedly treated like guests and never threatened or harmed. Now we have tourists shot and even blown up by a suicide bomber.

The escorts alone were a pain. Now you have to consider your safety as well.

I loved Yemen and it would be a shame if travel were too dangerous now. Everybody has to make their own decisions.

Cheers,
Peter.

The road from Thumryat to Mazyunah via Muday is a nice sealed road, there is also fuel in Mazyunah. I have no idea what travelling is like after you cross into Yemen for for onwards journey.

Customs at Mazyunah on the Yemen side can be an interesting experience, especially on a Friday when all of the officials have been chewing quat all day. We spent the best part of 24 hrs there under house arrest for illegally crossing into Yemen about 30km south of this point. I wouldnt recomend doing it this way, it gets a bit worring when the shooting starts.

A point to remember if you go exploring in this area, the border marking on Garmin GPS is out by over 10km, we discovered this the hard way. :oops2:

You can follow the road south from Mazunah but dont stray to far west from this road as it might all end up in tears.

thanks, guys. I hope, everything will go clear

Don't you know how things are going with diesel in Oman and Yemen? I contacted to some people in Yemen, they said that diesel can be very big problem, because all of them use gasoline.

Diesel in Oman in is no problem and it is also a hell of a lot cheaper than in the UAE. Not sure about is availability in Yemen though.

what price for diesel is in UAE now? in dollars

Approx $2.60 in dubai, a little cheaper in Abu Dhabi, and Oman is approx 1/3 cheaper.

6 months ago the price in Dubai was over $5.00, but has come down quite a bit as the price of oil has fallen, Abu Dhabi and Omani goverments subsidise diesel, but not the Dubai government.

Petrol is subsidised everywhere and is approx $1.80 in both the UAE and Oman.

These prices are per US gallon and not per litre. Fuel is sold by USG in the UAE and per litre in Oman.

I asked a friend in Sana'a. She says that there can sometimes be very long queues for diesel (her driver has had to wait 48 hours in the past). :eek3:

However, she hasn't noticed any long queues recently.
Stephan

I crossed Yemen in February 2008 with a 10-tonnes truck. No problems with diesel at that point.

DS