I have never done this crossing but I would have thought just about everyone would benefit from the simple streamlining of cross-border trade and transport.

The families bringing back the white goods are probably just Sudanese guest workers returning home, just as you see in Marseille or Genoa. I would have thought an a/c bus in half the time and all the way to Khartoum would suit them fine.

I suspect the resistance is/was from those who owned the ferry operation (cronies of Mubarak I read somewhere once) while a perfectly good road ran alongside.

It's bound to happen, but I do wonder if this is another premature rumour, like the Morocco-Algeria border saga.

There's even talk of a causeway to Saudi... and as for the railways, they may link Aswan to Wadi H - a trans-Sahara railroad.

Bring it on I say - for those who dont want an easy transit, there are plenty more adventures in Africa.

Ch

Three New Land Routes to Connect Egypt, Sudan
(I assume from 2012)

for me as Egyptian its so weird that we don't have a road to link Egypt and Sudan
although we have more than 1200 km of land border between the two countries ,
hope the road will be a small step for more developing between both countries ,and also to make off road tracks to the virgin lands between both countries ,
also the famous old 40 day road for camels caravans is not far from the new road ,
so many over landers can go to new land to discover and visit
also it can make the company who run the ferry to make it better as there is alternative option now ,and i don't think the ferry will die as there is lots of huge good goes from both sides will be way cheaper to transport it by the ferry
i believe Mubarak never thought of Africa ,although during history any wise Egyptian leader were doing many efforts to link Egypt with African countries
as soon as the road will be open will do a trip and update it

Hi, I am currently in Khartoum.

Excuse my cynical question, does it actually say anywhere that foriegners will be able to cross at the new border without any conditions?

They might quote security concerns and make you pay for an expensive convoy or something to keep the gravy train rolling.

If the ferry is still running they might make us use it etc....

Fingers crossed anyway....

Open the road now so I can use it!!!!

HI Omar

Any recent news on the road ? i am doing a uk-South Africa trip end of the year

thanks

Sudan Vision Daily - Details

Good news from the Sudan side.... and hoping that Egypt will be in the same mood!

RR.

allAfrica.com: Egypt, Sudan Ink Agreement On Operating Border Crossings

Thanks for this link.
But inside, it's written it's about to improve "commercial ties": not sure they are very happy about tourists' crossing.
So we need to wait some recent reports from travellers...
RR.

Hello Drewafrica how are you ?
so sorry for my late reply as i just saw your post now
for such a long time i hear that they will pen the road soon
but its always the same ,so your plans as you will take the ferry and there is no road ,its better for you like that
and if the road is open it will be great fro you cause you will save time and i hope you will save some $$$ by then too
the new Egyptian Ambassador in Sudan is a good friend of me and i asked hem please if he can do something to the only road that link Egypt With East and Southern Africa and he told me he will do his best
if i have any updates will publish it here f course
cheer and travel safe

Sudan Vision Daily - Details
But.. how many times they announced the dates already?

today in the Egyptian news big article about the opening of the road Southern of Aswan to Abu Simble then a ferry from west to east bank of the Nile (less than 90 minute ferry ) and then here you are few miles away from Halfa ,
so you can make it in the same day and avoid that horrible ferry across lake Nasser
here is a link to the article it is in Arabic though, i tried to find English one but didn't
perhaps you use Google translate
travel safe always

[url=http://www.almasryalyoum.com/news/details/500265]

All sounds great 4 hours instead of 48 . The article says trial starts on 25/8/2014. Hope it all goes well.

There is a road showing on Google maps as, Aswan - Abou Sembel Touristic.
Just wondering if this road has always been there or is it possible that it has only recently been added??
Sounds like this could be the answer to the Lake Nasser ferry/barge.
Will have to wait and see what, and if anything changes for the better.

Yep, that's a likely situation. It certainly fits.

Here's one little event that makes me sad to think the ferry may close:
I found a seat downstairs in one of the lower decks, I was all alone on the large bench seat, being one of the first on board. (My travelling companions stayed up on the roof).
The guidebooks say if you're over the age of life-expectancy in these countries you get treated with a particular respect, and they're right.

So the only people who came to share my bench seat were other elderly gents. And at least one woman. We ended up with sufficient room between us and no one tried to push in. Although everywhere else, because the boat was so crowded, people were being pushed and shoved along the seating so more could squeeze in. My neighbours were mainly Sudanese returning after family visits.

Anyway, I needed the toilet the next morning when the sun was rising over the lake. I already knew from the day before that there were three cubicles in there, two squat and one european sit-down.
When I entered there was a queue. But Egyptians and Sudanese being who they are, so welcoming, I was immediately ushered right to the front.
There I found the sit-down cubical was free, everyone was queuing for the other two and they all knew what I wanted. No worries!

When I finished, a local passenger who had just entered the room, seeing me leave a cubicle, expected the queue to move forward. But it didn't 'cos no one wanted the sit-down. And he didn't know the layout. So he shuffled around and leaned over to try to see why no one was taking the empty cubicle.

And here's the thing you never think of when on this sort of journey. This guy had never seen a western sit-down toilet. When he saw it the look on his face was complete confusion. :confused1:

Then he must have remembered something he'd seen or heard long ago, and burst out laughing.

Well, at that point I was just walking past him to reach the exit door and had just realised what had happened. And at that same moment he must have suddenly thought to himself how rude his laughter might be and a look of horror instantly went right across his face.

But by then all the other guys in the queue were laughing out loud and, most of all, me too.

So the passenger immediately relaxed again, laughed with the rest of us and we all ended up shaking hands to celebrate his first encounter with a european toilet!

Where else could such a thing happen????
(I did wonder for a moment, in all the laughter, would they want me to demonstrate??)

It'd be great if this ferry carries on and everyone continues to maintain their livelihoods in some way or other. Maybe freight only with no foreigners maybe, sadly. Or even foreigners-only as suggested above.
It seems too often in Africa that foreign-sponsored 'progress' throws locals out of work and sometimes, off their land as well.

Omar, thanks for the PM. Good to hear from you. My daughter's in London right now but I think she'll be in touch. I passed on your email address. Will reply later.
Cheers
Ken

__________________
TTR250 - London to Cape Town

Omar,

As I'm in Khartoum and was planning on getting a Saudi visa this week to avoid having to take the ferry to Aswan, could you kindly let me know the following, if at all possible, as I need to make a decision about which way to go within the next week (although I have another 6 weeks on my tourist visa in Sudan):

1. When was this information made public? The wording seems vague about when it will open? "soon" and "within two months" from what start date? Yesterday? Sorry to ask, but anything more specific, or any later updates would be greatly approved ;-)

2. Those pictures look like they could be the buildings on the new Red Sea road rather than the Nile? But I have never been to that part of the Nile yet, but just a thought that the Arabic article you looked at might have made a mistake or have used them instead etc. Just a thought as the water in the background looks big...

Anyway, I had a expensive and big lunch to celebrate the vague hope that I might save $500 on taking the landy on the ferry. All valid thoughts above, but when something is badly organised, badly run and used to rip people off, then its hard to mourn its loss on a personal level.

After 2.5 years in Africa I'm not holding my breath though!!!!