Hello everyone,

we are also planning our trip to Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia
but we have some doubts

The visa Assouan, how long does it take? one day, two day, 3 ...

The ferry departs on Sunday or Monday?

The new road that says that is open in this thread, is open every day? They can cross the border for her foreign? any special permission is needed (do not carry car or motorbike)

Once in Wadi Halfa. There are local transport to Karima ?, how long it takes? roads are good? or you can rent any car to take you?

Finally, conoceis someone in Wadi Halfa trusted to stay overnight, or rent a car

If anyone knows any answer please answer us on this thread,

thank you very much

JA

Hi JA,

You will find most answers to your questions in this thread

Happy travels,

Gee

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I am sure there is everything from air-con coaches to clapped-out bush taxis running south from Wadi Halfa every day.

More info on Sudan here: https://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntr...s/africa/sudan

Is the Aswan-Wadi Halfa ferry running for motobikes? It's the way I'd choose to cross the border...not because of speed, but for the experience!

We crossed this border just a week ago with two motorbikes.

The Sudanese side war pretty difficult, but we managed to do it in four hours without using a 'fixer'. But we did meet Mazar nonetheless, as he is referred to as 'clearer' at the border and you need a 'clearer' for some steps along the process. I worked with another 'clearer' first as only the clearer has and can fill in one of the forms you need and eventually Mazar was involved as well (he is basically the only one who speaks decent English). But I did not pay him (and he did not ask for it) because I acted as if he was just another official who was there in his official function as 'clearance officer'.
Nobody asked for a bribe, but at several stages, fees were asked from us (traffic police: 140,- Sudanese Pounds per motorbike and a departure fee to get your passport stamped). We could talk ourselves out of most of them and ended up paying 108,- Sudanese Pounds per motorcycle for customs (which was reduced from 158,- after some protest from my side*, but after that they would not budge).
That was all. So if you don't mind spending quite a while at the border or - as I do - even find a certain pleasure in dealing with 'such stuff', it is definitely doable without using a 'fixer' - and you can save quite a bit of money.

* just as an explanation: I did not want to pay all these fees for exiting Sudan, as we had entered Sudan coming from Ethiopia without paying anything, there wasn't even a 'traffic police' and the process was smooth and easy: immigration, get passport stamped, customs, get carnets stamped and we were good to go.

At the Egyptian side everything was extremely smooth, well-organized and professional. It was expensive, though (but we knew that before - and there was no talking ourselves out of any of the fees). But we got (and needed) receipts for everything we paid and nobody asked for 'bakshish'. We did not need a 'fixer' and I don't see why you would work with one if you have your paperwork in order (which we had).

Here is what we paid (prices given are per person and/or motorbike in LE, Egyptian Pounds):

100,- to enter the border (30 pp, 50 for the bike, 5 per hour - and they just assumed it would take us 4 hours, which was not that far from the truth)

60,- to get our bags and boxes searched (x-rayed), we had to present the receipt upon leaving the border post

0,- to get our passports stamped (but we already had a visa)

522,- customs fee (it's good for a stay up to 3 months and we were told it's the same for every vehicle, so it does not make a difference if you're on a motorbike, in a car or a truck)

60,- for the third-party insurance (no idea if they'd accept an international insurance should you happen to have one)

55,- for the license plates and the Egyptian registration

... the whole process was clearly structured, everybody knew exactly what to do and where to send us next (most of the time to the office next door). It took some time and cost a lot of money, but all in all it was one of the more pleasant border crossings, because there are no people accosting you, hassling you, wanting to 'help' you or change money for you (there's a bank at the border post where you can do that, no ATM, though).

The ferry to Abu Simbel we were on took approx 40min and cost us 50,- in total for the two of us and our two motorbikes. And we even got tea! :-) It seems there are different ferries with different prices, though.

We had already gotten our visas in Khartoum because we had heard that you can't get them at the landborder. I think it's a good idea to do that anyway, because it cost us only 160 Sudanese Pounds (approx $16) as opposed to $25 upon arrival (if you take the ferry from Wadi Halfa to Assuan or fly in) and you can extend it easily in Aswan, Luxor, Cairo, Alexandria and on the Sinai for only 11.45 LE ($1.60) for another 3 months. (We only got a month in Khartoum, starting from the date of entry into Egypt.)

Only problem: our vehicle registration expires on April 1st (we entered on March 8th) and we only found out about that later (the registration is in Arabic). We hadn't asked about it at the border, because the customs was for three months and we'd assumed that so would be our registration. It's not. So you might want to check if they can issue an extended registration already at the border (if you wish to spend more time in the country). Because from what we've heard so far, you can only get an extension in Cairo, at the airport (at 'car customs') - which we will now have to do. We were told in Luxor, though, that you could also do it in Aswan, because that's the region that's given on your new Egyptian license plate.

@Phil53: it's a very good, thus boring road all the way from Khartoum to Aswan.
It might be a truck route, but when we were there (some two weeks ago), it wasn't very busy and absolutely no problem.

@fm4fan You did much better at that border than we did a couple months ago - well done!

It may depend on the day you arrive, but for me it was hands-down the most time-consuming, costly, and complex border that I encountered in all of Africa, just due to the motorbike stuff.

BTW - they did accept our COMESA yellow card insurance.

We had the same problem as fm4fan with the reg only good for 1 month and we didn't know it, since the visa was for 3 months. The first few police that saw it just let us go, then one in Dahab would not let it slide. He wanted 500 LE to write up a 'replacement' registration in exchange for our expired one, but I didn't want to give up a piece of paper that took 4 hours to get at the Sudan-Egypt border. I wouldn't give it up if you are asked - leaving Egypt they seemed to really need that document. When exiting Egypt, they just get you to pay the extra registration fee for the days you've exceeded your registration anyway - no big deal.

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@ganaro ... maybe they are finally getting the hang of it? ;-)

Thanks a lot for the info on overstaying your registration. We'd probably exceed ours for more than two months so that might not be an option, although we might not be using the bikes much after we get to Sharm.
Anyways, I'd really be interested how much the fee (fine) for exceeding is per day? Can you help?

I had to deal many times with the "'car customs'" at airport - in the days when I lived in Egypt 'till 2012, and it's painful. However, it's worth loosing a few hours there to spare the few hours on the way back IMO. Worth having a look at all the fancy cars parked there, all seized for some reasons related to unpaid taxes, and outdated registration. I must have kept the GPS coordinate somewhere if interested, but get help as you go there, and take a cab to avoid carrying your gear during these long hours to multiple counters, in the heat. Good idea to bring water, and patience also.

My experience of the country is everything is very much arbitrary when it comes to charging admin fees, one place or the other, it's just a bit less stressful doing it when you're mentally ready for it, and not on the day you're trying to exit. And then troubles are usually not over, when I shipped my Defender out, they managed to put the wrong vehicle in the container... fun fun fun at destination!

Ride safe out there, this is by no means an easy country to ride a bike as you already found out I'm sure.

Hi fm4fan,

Great info! I would be interested in the costs you encountered when leaving Egypt. Please update when you know. Did you have to pay money to drive the new road? Your costs seem a lot cheaper than expected. Great!

I will definitely post an update about leaving Egypt. Most probably we’ll use the Taba border to Israel. A friend of ours just used this border crossing two weeks ago, and it was very okay. He just had to pay something like 60,- LE (approx. $8-9) in departure fees. I don’t remember the exact price he mentioned but it seemed very reasonable (given what we’ve all heard about Egypt and their fees). But I’ll let you all know once we’ve done it - will be a while, though.
No, we did not have to pay any road tolls so far in Egypt - I was told that motorcycles are exempt.

I can provide some info on extending our motorcycle licenses at ‘car customs’ at Cairo airport – which we had to do as we wanted to stay in Egypt for a while!
So, here goes: it is a pain in the *** but absolutely doable and you definitely don’t need a ‘fixer’ or ‘helper’.
As we had entered Egypt via the land border close to Abu Simbel, we had Aswan licence plates. Which means that we had to get new – temporary – licenses (because Cairo cannot ‘extend’ Aswan license plates – don’t ask why and don’t get me started).

So here’s a good piece of advice if you are in a similar situation: make sure you get your ‘clearance’ for your current license before you head out to the airport. Otherwise, they’ll make you go back to the center of Cairo and get it at the ‘traffic police headquarters’. And Cairo traffic is not as bad as they say but bad enough …
It’s not hard to find: opposite El Shorta Mosque at N 30.053007 / E 31.274729 (30°03'10.8"N 31°16'29.0"E), second floor. The ‘clearance’ costs you 5,- LE per license plate – but they’ll also make you pay any fine that you might have incurred while in the country. And please note, that you don’t have to be stopped by a policeman to be fined – they just put it into the system with their mobile phones if they watch you do something you shouldn’t do. How I know? Because my boyfriends’ license plate actually showed a fine of a whopping 500,- LE for using the phone while driving – needless to say that we’re not in the habit of using the phone while riding the bikes … very long story – we finally got rid of it, but it was another huge pain … whatever ;-)
So, you better get that out of the way right away.

Car customs at the airport is easy to find, just ride long the main ‘highway’ into the airport, past a check-point and then there are two or three turn-offs but wait till you see one that says ‘car customs’ (in English and Arabic). If you end up at the bus terminal, you’ve gone too far. It’s right after the petrol station: there’s a car parking lot and a road (with a ‘no enter’ sign but who bothers). You enter the building at the first gate, are probably subject to a security check and then head up the stairs. The first window with people waiting is yours. (And it’s far less hectic and chaotic than we were led to believe, but make sure you’re there sometime between 9.30 and 1.30 – that’s when they’re open).

We found a nice guy who spoke a little bit of English (and actually worked there in an official function) and knew exactly what to do. He got the paperwork ready for us. All he needed was our passports and the carnets. We found out later that your carnet will always be made out for the same date your own visa is made out (so be sure to extend your own visa – if necessary – beforehand) – the downside: you can’t tell them to do it for any other date. At least that’s what we were told repeatedly, though you might be able to talk ‘carnet guy’ into doing that – at a later stage it’s definitely not possible.
With that we had to show our bikes to a guy at a second gate who had to ‘rub off’ our VIN numbers from the bikes. Standard procedure, we were told (they’d done that at the border as well and they’d do it again at a later stage).
After that it took ‘carnet guy’ some more time to complete our paperwork and we had to pay 24,- LE per bike for the extension of the carnet (which was written on the back of the Egyptian carnet page). We had just gotten our carnets extended till July 7th (which gives us all in all 4 months in Egypt). No other costs (or ‘fixers’) involved.
So far – very smooth sailing. After that it got a bit more complicated as we had to go to the other side of the building to get our new license plates and licenses.

We got some papers at a price of 15,- LE, though, which we needed once more for a guy in the parking lot to ‘inspect’ our bikes and rub off the VIN numbers. He completes this form for you, so you don’t need anybody to help you even though the form is completely in Arabic. He does this every day so he knows what to do – you don’t need a translator!
But there they told us about the ‘clearance’ by the traffic police which meant, we couldn’t do anything but go back to city center – oh yes, and we could already buy insurance:
They’ll make you buy insurance for the time your bike is allowed to stay in the country. This hurts a bit, as in Egypt, you buy monthly insurance, which means that it doesn’t matter if you need a few days or a whole month, it’s the same price. With 52,- LE per month and bike it’s still not that bad.

After we returned (the next day), there was still lots of paperwork left to be completed but the supervisor who has to sign off on the paperwork of ‘parking lot VIN number guy’ speaks decent English and will make sure you know what to do next. If in doubt – go back to him. He was veeeery helpful! When buying insurance you might find you’ve got yourself a new friend. Just insist on holding on to your papers yourself and from time to time tell him you don’t actually need a new friend. At some point he might get the message …

They make you buy some more forms with stamps on it (and we even got some spare stamps, because we still have them and nobody seemed to need them), but all in all the new license plates and the license cost us 123,- LE (for two bikes) – which was approx. what we had paid at the border.
In the end, you’ll get fancy new ‘temporary’ license plates with astoundingly small numbers (we got 6 and 7) and creditcard-like licenses. Very fancy.



The process took – in our case – 4 days, but I’m pretty sure, you can do it in one day, two days max due to their closing time at 1.30.
We made the mistake to go to the airport without our bikes (dreading Cairo traffic and being led to believe you don’t actually need the bikes). That cost one day because we could only finish the carnet-part on the second day. On day 2 we were told about the ‘clearance’ by traffic police. So we had to come back on day 3 after getting this clearance from ‘traffic police headquarters’ in the city center. And on day 3 there was not only still a lot of paperwork left but they also had a power outage. Well, yes, that happens – so we were first told to wait and then (at 1.30) to be back the next day. The next day, there was still a power outage because it had something to do with the building. But ‘our’ very nice supervisor made a heroic decision: we would complete the paperwork here and then – I kid you not – take the desktop computer (they actually took the whole thing!!!) to a different place in order to print our licenses. Because – fun fact – the whole process is strictly manual paperwork – but the fancy credit-card-like licenses have to be printed and your data put into ‘the system’.



So this is why in our case it took 4 days … but I’m sure you can do it in less time.
We were pretty happy with what we had to pay, though. Let’s see what happens when we want to leave the country ;-)

I just returned from the Cairo to Cape Town Route, and without any doubt, the worse part of the trip was the Egyptian customs. It took us one week to take the car out of Alexandria port and 5 hours to leave the Egyptian border at Aswan.
They checked all our lugagge by X ray, then open all the bags, boxes, fridge...
The stuff there were not used to see overlanders crossing (we crossed it at october) and complain about the plates that did it wrong at Alexandria.... Never asked money of bribes, but we got stuck there for hours with the papers... There were not fixers at the customs, but luckily a sudanes man helped us with the paper work.
At Sudan side is everything much more easy. Mazar just charge 10€ and they are priceless and in about 1 hour or so we were done. Just the insurance paper work takes time because they write letter by letter our names from an arab keyboard.
I want to make a full review of the crossing, but I need time to re adapt my self to the "western style of life".. Is being harder that I thought.....
Greetings

Did you ever get around to writing your experiences up? Thanks!

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Hello,

Just crossed the border yesterday 28 May 2015. Two people, one motorcycle. We arrived 1030 and were free by 1630, could have been faster if we didn't make a fuss of things. Black market rate USD to SDG 1:9.5

No fixer used*, with patience (and cold water at hand) it is okay without one. Someone will come to you and give you forms to fill out and then send you in a general direction to customs etc.

Sudan fees: (Sudanese pounds)
50 per person - departure fee
70 per person - departure fee (Khartoum government fee) the nice man helping me at this moment did not want to me to pay it, and was annoyed at officials as it is basically a stupid fee for the government - everyone was paying this.
108 - bike customs
100 - traffic police (maybe you could get away without paying this one?)
100 - Mazar (reluctantly paid this for his private 'service' of a clearance stamp that the government does not give, took 10 minutes. It is frustrating that we are pushed to Mazar's services and are 'not allowed' do it independently, seemingly because the officials are loyal to Mazar).
TOTAL = 550 SDP/61 USD (two people, one bike)

*I know many swear by Mazar but for those that travel on a very tight budget, it's annoying that his popularity has caused his 10 minutes of service a requirement. The Sudanese are amazingly helpful and finding someone to translate is not a problem. Long story short you can do it all yourself except one stamp and form that he'll charge you $10 dollars for. Maybe you'll get lucky and he wont be around and they'll process you like a normal person.

Egypt fees: (Egyptian pounds)
50 per person - gate entrance (ugh!)
50 - motorcycle gate entrance
50 - gate leaving fee ?? (which we couldn't get out of)
522 - bike customs
30 - photocopies (even if you have photocopies, they copy a lot and it doesn't really translate that you have them)
50 - license (small piece of paper) + number plates (two small motorcycle ones)
TOTAL = 802 LE/ USD 105 (two people, one bike)

USD166 all up.

The 1 hour ferry to Abu Simbel cost us 5LE (USD 0.70cents) each - we possibly got this cheap/normal price because we had befriended English speaking locals and were therefore able to find out the real price.

Also note, the customs registration is valid for one month (though you don't know this because it's all in Arabic), when the guy was filling this form out with the carnet we asked if we could have two months, and they simply said yes with no extra cost. We got our visas in Khartoum N 15" 36.247' E032"31.404' costing SDG 160 (USD17) though it is only valid for one month from the day we got it. Visa was issued same day, we will look at extending it here in Egypt. And there's bank to exchange USD for Egyptian pounds inside gate.

Free camping spot in Abu Simbel N 22" 20.568' E 031" 36.931' at a café/garden area by the bridge in town, good shower too. We just ate and drank there, although the guy possibly increased the prices just a tad.

Hope this update helps.

Great.. This is just what I was looking for