Hi All,
We're currently in Egypt (Sharm el Sheikh). I've just spoken to Mr Salah at Nile Navigation Company in Aswan. He tells me that they are trialling a new system whereby the Monday passenger ferry can tow a barge with your vehicle on it. Plus points: If you're travelling with your family like I am, then you all get to travel together and it only takes one day. Minus point appearts to be the cost - about USD1200 for the barge.

I'll keep you posted as to what actually happens, but if anyone out there has heard this tale before or thinks it's a scam, please let me know preferably by emailing me directly using the link above.

thanks,

Pete



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Pete Sinclair.
Alnwick to Botswana
http://www.a2b.uk.net

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Pete Sinclair.
Alnwick to Botswana
http://www.a2b.uk.net

I was on the ferry from WH to Aswan with my motorbike 5 sep.
Didn't see anything like this and I met people comming from the north with their car on a "cargoferry".

I met som people from ZA on their way north but I think they turned back to Khartoum because the price of the ferry and the price (and hassle) of travelling in Egypt.

Good luck, anyway!
AliBaba - Now with Egyptian numberplate(s?!)

All and especially Pete,

I've been meaning for a long time to put something up here about the ferry situation but haven't got round to it. I will post something quickly now and answer any questions later. (We go to Spain for a week tomorrow and you may need the info before we return).

Mr Salah of the Nile Navigation Company is a whiny snot of a man and you are better off dealing with him as least as possible, you will have to deal with him at sometime though. What he says and what he does are not the same at all.

They have changed the rules quite a bit fairly recently. The price of the vehicle barge for vehicles alone is now EP11,000, divided by number of vehicles. This price increased from EP5900 in April 2002. So if you want to put your car on a 'cargo' barge you pay EP926 and wait until the rest of the barge is full of other cargo, this is what we ended up doing.

There is only one barge that will take vehicles as it has been fitted with a ramp,and they will use no other, we tried. If it is not in Wadi Halfa or Aswan when you need it then you wait. Now you ask, if there is only one barge with a ramp and it costs EP1100, but for EP926 they will put other cargo on the same barge for you!! Go figure.

Another rule change is that only one person can travel on the barge with the car. This has been mentioned on other web sites but it is now being rigidly enforced. The reason for this is a recent accident where a sailor died and they decided that the cargo barges were not passenger ships. We tried to get around this also but absolutely no dice.

They wanted my wife either to stay in Aswan on her own or travel to Halfa on her own whilst I travelled with the car. Passenger ferry takes 24 hours, cargo barge 3 days, so mismatch at one end or the other. We refused and asked Mr Whiny if he would leave his wife in a foreign country.

We eventually put our car on the cargo barge, watched it leave on the Sunday and both got on the passenger ferry on the Monday. I paid the Nubian captain of the cargo barge a bottle of vodka and gave EP100, about GBP15, to the rest of the crew of 8 and they then travelled all night and the car was in Halfa when we arrived on the Tuesday. Result.

You must give a car key to the barge captain as there is a customs check on Lake Nasser. I was assured the crew was Nubian and therefore trustworthy and so not to worry. It may be possible to inadvertantly give them the petrol locking key by accident though.

Lastly, most of the Ferry Company staff are Egyptian and wonder why you want to go to Sudan at all. We came across a Sudanese employee of the company, it is jointly owned and run by both governments. He is great, a very helpful, freindly bright light in Aswan.
His name is MAHMOUD IDRIES and he hangs out in the Aswan Moon restaurant most evenings, between 2000-2400 hours. Aswan Moon phone number 097 316108, they will get him for you. Mobile +20101235540. He is very keen on promoting tourism to Sudan, will help, did what he said he would and is desperate to become known to all. Please mention you got his name here. There is pictures of him towards the end of the Egypt section of our photos, see web site. He also arranged for us to be met by Kamal Hassan Osman in Halfa who whizzed us through the delights of Sudanese customs and almost seemed offended when I gave hime some money.

BTW It is possible to put motorbikes on the passenger ferry, but not recommended!!

Jasper

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A Journey of Hope
www.expeditionjasanne.co.uk
www.fugroseastar.com

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A Journey of Hope
www.expeditionjasanne.co.uk

My wife and I are planning a southward trip next year and I am intrigued as to why it is "not recommended" to put bikes on the passenger ferry from Aswan to Wadi Halfa. Could someone please explain this to me, and is the alternative to send it on the barge?
Glyn.

The only hassle I had with my bike on the passenger ferry in December 2003 was the crowd watching me from inside the doorway as I rode onto the ferry ... they scattered when they realised I wasn't going to stop. I didn't leave anything on the bike as I think it would have been stolen.