Is it possible to travel the length of Africa without a carnet as mine is running out and im sick of paying out for bits of paper.

Thanks for the help
Tim

Hi,

it is necessary to have the carnet with you in Africa. It is required by certain countries, where you will find specific information on their websites.

I myself am preapring a Transafrika Trip on the eatern route and it is not possible without the Carnet.

Good trip for you.

Regards,

Jan

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www.travelove.org
www.motorradreise.blog

Hi,
It looks like a no, it's not possible without, i'm afraid

http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/tri...t-of-countries

Safe travels
Sam

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http://capetocapeblog.wordpress.com/

Only speaking for West Africa, Mauritania down till Nigeria. You need one for Nigeria and Ghana, the others till u reach Nigeria are poss without.

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Manfred
www.thisfabtrek.com

AGAIN ???? I am starting to suspect that HUBB has some interest on the carnet'- thing

DEFINITELY AS of 2008-9 YOU DO CAN RIDE YOUR BIKE FROM EUROPE TO SOUTHAFRICA WITHOUT ANY KIND OF CARNET .

and here again , people should differenciate "Countries in which a Carnet is accepted" (i.e. Burkina -as they accept , will use and validate the Carnet ) and "Countries that REQUIRE a carnet to get in ). In Africa there is ONLY one country and this country is EGYPT.


Every now and then someone claims "you need a carnet to enter X". Bullshit . They should say "We had a Carnet , and we enter X" . As of today I confirm that the western route is totally carnet-free. I have done it twice (bike , car) and thinking doing it again in a 4x4 truck and NEVER HAD A CARNET .

so pls. Stop misleading people , 'cos this bullshit about all those countries requiring carnet is putting lots of people off about planning their trip . Who / WHO ? is affirming that you need a carnet in Burkina ! Who ** f**CK says you need one in NIGER ? or in CHAD ? -Names ? Experience? or "they have heard from someone/read it somewhere?" -seriously , I can't figure out why people mislead travellers so much -or why-(unless they are on the business of selling carnets)/

i am assuming that those people can differenciate "Can use a carnet in Niger" from "Should produce a Carnet to get in Niger"

I have to agree with Javier, to many people giving advice on things they know nothing about!!!
I have crossed Africa twice, once with a Carnet (because I did not know better) and second time without.
I have been to Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Namibia, Algeria, DRC Congo, Gabon, Cameroon, CAR, Nigeria, Niger, Algeria all without one.
Sometimes the border guards will ask for one as it makes there job a little easier but with a little patience you will get through. As you cross Africa you will learn crossing the borders is the hardest part of the whole experience.

Hi
We traveled july-aug maroc-senegal without any carnet. In fact we didn´t have any documents of the car. The car was even registred on a person who wasn´t with us on the trip. The car was from 1990 and we had no problem entering and selling the car in Senegal. Yes of course it was some husteling at borders but thats normal even if you have the required documents. It was a blessing we had stashed up with french porn magazines. Othervise we might not have been able to cross the borders

I'm sure all French women following in your wake will be very appreciative of you efforts with the porn mags.

This makes for some very interesting reading.

Im planning west route of Africa at end 2010.

According to the RAC here in the UK it would appear that one IS required, and then reading on the South African AA website it says a carnet is compulsory ONLY in Egypt, Uganda, Kenya. (Not my route)

I've asked them for clarification, but it looks like I'm going to take the +-£1000
I would have spent on a Carnet and use it for any TIP's, "greased palms" etc and probably come out at the end with some money left over.

It does seem a case of "asking your barber if you need a haircut". The RAC will be inclined to say yes you do need one.

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Gracias Javier,
you gave a lot of encouragement with your posts. Because of this carnet matter I canceled Africa completely before my travel, and now, because of problems shipping the bike and myself to South America, mainly because of little money and NO PLANING, only the carnet thingy was giving me doubts. I have some money to buy visas and petrol and bribe, but not for carnet.

Now the plan is to ride as far as possible to South Africa, sell the bike, if it still runs, and all the gear somewhere, and take a flight to S. America and travel hitchinking. If sb have any postive thoughts on selling the bike and taking a cheap flight, very welcome.

We've just come back from Western Africa.
Morocco & Western Sahara, Mauritania, Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso, Ghana
We had a 10-page Carnet.

It was NECESSARY only for Ghana but we used it in Burkina Faso as well instead of paying for a Passe Avant/Laisser Passer.
We had to explain to the officials how to fill it in but it wasn't a problem.

Note: It's no longer accepted by Senegalese authorities.

Ted, if you dont trust the people writing here, not sure what da **** are u doing here.

Milton, hmm, no comment..

About Ghana: it is not necessary, as I wrote above, my spanish friend crossed without a carnet, no prob. With bike. You might get problems depending who is working at the border that day. Try next day, if unlucky. Dont shout.

Tom, dont listen to what an embassy said or whatever, they dont care, I had ambassadors telling me that it is impossible to cross into certain African countries without a carnet.

Sb wrote that Africa is impossible on a shoestring. Bullshit. Visas and and lasser passers all across west coast was about 580 euros. No bribes paid, and no insurance bought, exept for a couple of countries.

I dont see any point in this discussion anymore. javier already in 2006 wrote about this carnet necessity thingy, nb gives a shit, and info on the carnet page is kept unchanged. Those who have money, will keep buying carnet, I am writing for those guys, whose whole budget is the cost of the carnet, or even half of that. Just go guys.

The vast majority of advice on the hubb is spot on and accurate but some of it isn't ! Some of it is plain nonsense too. Some people will write anything for the sake of writing it..

I know through experience...

There are some people who I will listen to without question because I know them or built up a sort of trust in what they're saying over the years. There are some people with only a few posts who I have no idea who they are or where they've been. Ill read what they're saying, but i'll make my own mind up whether to take it on board.


If you took for gospell everything you read off the internet without question or cross reference, you're a friggin idiot. Ain't you got your own brain ?

Collecting opinions and information of a few people, cross referencing it and making my own judgements is " What "DA ****" am I doing here"

Like everyone else with half a brain no doubt !!

__________________
Did some trips.
Rode some bikes.
Fix them for a living.
Can't say anymore.

I wasn't going to get a carnet for my West-Africa tour, but since we're going with Mafratours (ferry) from Antwerp to Dakar, they demand we get a carnet. According to them, when you arrive in Senegal by sea, you need a carnet. Does anyone know what's the deal here? Others say a carnet is simply not accepted anymore in Senegal, so I risk buying a expensive carnet I don't use.

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http://tony-ontheroad.blogspot.com/

Hey everyone - great thread, very interesting and informative - and recent!

Travelling West Africa... UK to Cape Town in November...We were going to get carnet... as advised by a tour company, websites etc... but I dont think we will bother now -not really because of the cost of the carnet, but the hassle of underwriting it - bank / insurer. Theres enough to organise already, so if we dont need one - great ! Plus we dont actually want to comply with the carent :confused1: - we will be 2 riders to CapeTown, and 1 driver will be leaving us from Accra and we want to leave the 4x4 there as it is not worth shipping anywhere. If Accra is not the best option due to being stricter with paperwork etc, we coulf leave it in Ivory Coast... maybe Benin..Originally wanted to ship the bikes (which we will buy in the UK) back to Australia, but we cannot import them. So unless we can sell them in CapeTown with prior arrangement (????) anyone? , we will have to ship them back to the UK ($$$) to be bought back off us there... unless any other ideas,,,,