Egypt Costs
 

I'm planning to cross into Egypt from Sudan in about January - what costs do I face for entering (with carnet), and also for crossing the Aswan dam - I've heard all sorts of horrendous figures and am considering shipping my car across the Red Sea.

Any advice based on recent experience would be greatly appreciated.

Peter
www.camelworld.com

try to contact www.dabuka.de ,they might help with the fary from wadi halfa to aswan.
also ther will be 3 cars traveling to egypt around 20 of jan (im one of them)so maybe you can join to split the costs.
all the best
Mahmoud Mohareb

let me tell you the bike deal and you can go from there ...
don't bother. go somewhere else. burn your car out in the desert and swim home! ;-)


wadi halfa is there to annoy you: customs took 4 hours and cost 15US. passenger = 45US and bike = 40US. I'm now stuck for 3 days in Aswan because the police take Thursday afternoon off before taking all of Friday off. then the insurance take saturday off and I should be sorted for 60US.
by car, you need the transporter and that costs 2300US shared between you and the others (whoever they are and whenever they show up). ie its a long, expensive process that I'd only wish on an egyptian beaurocrat!
try calling mahmoud adries for more constructive ideas such as bookings: 002097316108

Hello

1 US = 260 SD
1 US = 6.12 EP
Wadi Halfa: go to office in train station on wed. morning. buy ticket for car 70000 SD, ticket per person 6300 SD. if problems ask for Ali Salih Ali. go to immigration near bank from office to office and pay 1550 SD and 200 SD taxes. go to port and fill in lots of forms in arabic and pay 1600 SD for stamp in carnet. find somebody to help (but Kamal Haj-Hassan is a cheater). yhe cargo boat should leave in the afternoon or thursday morning, nice cruise, takes about 30h, sometimes they stop during the night.
Aswan: pay 1022 EP car tax valid 3 month. then Ahmed El Sawy working for customs is the man! 180 EP for stamps and forms, 50 EP insurance for one month, 70 EP for "tips".
its no problem, just takes some time.

beat

Be aware that, when driving through the country they'll constantly fit you in a convoi. That means that you'll be waiting half the time. Some police will stop you and tell you that your 'drivers license' is invalid. Make sure that you are capable of reading arabic dates. That helps. If they take your license, that's where hell begins as you will have to go to a big town and pay there. Better start shouting and make sure you get it back.

On leaving the country, you'll have to go to the automobile club and get a paper that says you don't have any fines in the country.
Will cost you some, takes a lot of time.

Make sure that your radio in the car is the same brand as on the carnet. Had some big problems with that one.

Good luck. Definetly the most bureaucratic country in Africa and I've seen 33 in the past 2 and a half years.

once you've bluffed your way past the first couple of checkpoints, you get past the others easily enough. the guards all want to chat so they stop you for no better reason than their own boredom.

Everything you have possible heard about the Egyptian Customs is true, what a bunch of theiving bastards they are. I met a South African in Aswan who'd come up from SA and the only border he had trouble with was Egypt. They wouldn't let his Landie out of customs untill he went to Cairo by train met with the Egyption Automobile Club got his carnet stamped and authorised by them and then returned to Aswan then it took another couple of days as the customs then wanted a "present" from him. I met a German woman with a Landie in Luxor who had entered Egypt at Alexandria and it took her 9 days to get through customs. I paid a tourist police man to help me enter at Nuweba and it took 1 hour and cost 400 Egyptian pounds (about $65USD) for No plates, Driving Licence and insurance and his fee but that was for a motorcycle. The ferry is also not a certain bet from Wadi halfa to Aswan as it is based in Aswan and does not always tow the barge down with it, no barge no vehicles, bikes can go on the ferry though and if you do use this ferry do not under any circumstance pay for a cabin, sleep on the deck. If you can get a Saudi visa then thats the way to go, 3 day transit and drive up to Jordan. Regards Chris

Well sod that for a game of soldiers.

I'm off to Saudi Arabia.

For those behind:
In Khartoum a Transit Visa costs 4000 Sudanese Dinar ($16)
you need to get the Jordan visa first ($16)
You need one photo (ladies in headscarves)
You need a copy of a page from your carnet
You need a letter or recomendation stating it's for a transit visa

And it's ready next day. Easy. I'm off to pick mine up now...