Hi folks,

any recommendations/ hints where to go and what to avoid, how to handle bureaucratic staff? This countries will be my first countries on my trip, so I'm still a little bit unexperienced. Thanks.
Cheers,

joe

------------------

That's a pretty big subject!

Best suggestion is to do a lot of reading on the site - there's a vast amount of information here, just takes some looking around. Don't forget to check out the links on the left, the website has a lot of articles on trip planning, also dozens of travellers stories to read through, and of course there's the links page with hundreds more stories.

Enjoy!

------------------
Grant Johnson

Seek, and ye shall find.
------------------------

One world, Two wheels.
www.HorizonsUnlimited.com

__________________
Grant Johnson
Seek, and ye shall find.
------------------------
Inspiring, Informing and Connecting travellers since 1997!
www.HorizonsUnlimited.com

Hi Grant,
Thanks You very much for Your quick response. I will continue to read through all this great information, nevertheless I would like to ask You some more questions. Later on. Many thanks.

Cheers

joe

Happy to help with specific questions, especially after you have done some reading on the site.

If no one read and browsed around the site, just asked questions, we'd be inundated with "what's a carnet" and similar questions that have been asked and answered thoroughly a hundred times.

All we ask is that you and anyone else coming to the site for the first time is "do the reading - the answers to a lot of it are already here" - then ask away for the trickier stuff, everyone is very willing to help then. Answering the questions that require a book - or the entire website - to answer is too hard! And if it's already been answered a hundred times...

Enjoy!

And we look forward to hearing about your trip once you hit the road!



------------------
Grant Johnson

Seek, and ye shall find.
------------------------

One world, Two wheels.
www.HorizonsUnlimited.com

__________________
Grant Johnson
Seek, and ye shall find.
------------------------
Inspiring, Informing and Connecting travellers since 1997!
www.HorizonsUnlimited.com

Hi Grant,

I fully can understand You! Anyhow it's a great forum You created . Thanks.

Cheers

joe

Joe:

Plan to visit Tunisia first, it is by far the most "European" (meaning, least amount of hassle) of the North African countries.

I have not gone there with a motorcycle, but I have been through many times with an aircraft (flying it myself). Depending on your interest, you can either stay in 5 star hotels, or live more simply. Personal security is not a big concern in Tunisia - it's a pretty safe place to be, more or less on par with, for example, France.

So, Tunisia should provide you with a nice introduction to North Africa, if you like what you see, you can get more adventurous and try out Libya (more or less a middle of the road type of country, quite safe, but kind of tough to negotiate all the bureaucracy, and not so many English or French speakers), if you like that, you can try out Sudan, which is the absolute "acid test" for headaches, security concerns, and difficulties dealing with the government.

Hi Joe,

I can't tell you about Tunisia and Libya, but we were in Sudan in January and found it pretty easy as long as you are patient and follow their rules.
The bureaucracy is a bit overboard, but it appeared to us that it also depends on where you enter. We had a lot more checkpoints etc. where they wanted to go through all our papers coming from the west, than a friend of ours who came up from the south.
It took quite a few hours to go through all the differant border officials (customs, police, intelligence, medical officer, and a couple of others that I don't know what were!) and fill out all the forms. But all in all I don't feel it was too bad. Maybe we were used to african bureaucratics by the time we got to Sudan.
The most important thing when entering Sudan is to list every possible place you might want to visit. This is written down and isn't easily changed, although you can with a lot of hassel, and it isn't for free...
How (where) are you planning on entering Sudan? As far as I've understood, it isn't legal for forigners to cross from Libyas south eastern corner into Sudan. Are you driving via Egypt? Or flying over?
Since you won't be coming via the Darfur area where we entered, you probably won't have any security problems.
Visiting the pyramids etc. is a must and when you arrive in Khartoum, there are some nice museums that are worth visiting to see some local history.
One place to stay away from in Khartoum is the Blue Nile Yachtclub. There was litteally $hit everywhere in the showers, etc. when we were there. We ended up staying at the Youth Hostel. It was a little better and more central.
All in all, we stayed in Sudan about a month and generally enjoyed it. The main downside is the attitude towards blond women. My wife got hassled a lot, even though she used long dresses, long sleaved shirts and usually a bandana or something over her hair. This also happened with other light haired women we met along the way. She never walked around alone, and we would get constantly asked if she was my sister, and if they could go on a date with her!!! I don't think it would be a safe idea to try it the other way around and ask that of their wives! Of course, if you visit an internet café in north africa, and have a look at what the majority of surfers are veiwing, you'll see that it's porn with blond bimbos... So in their minds, all blond western girls must be easy... They seemed pretty sexually frustrated there, and in the other islamic counrtys we were in. Next time she'll dye her hair dark so she won't stick out so much, just to make things easier for herself!

Have a look at our website under - Sudan. There might be some more stuff if interest for you.

Good Luck!

Erik D.

www.dunia.no






------------------