East-Africa, w/o Carnet, doable or not?
 

I'm trying to avoid huge Carnet deposits.

Has anyone done from Turkey to Syria to Jordan and then to Yemen via Saudi with transit visa and from there to Djibouti all the way to SA without the Carnet?

Egypt seems to have strict Carnet need reading here so i was thinking about going around it via Saudi-Yemen route, but what about Djibouti, Sudan, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Botswana, Namibia? Are they doable without the Carnet?

Also is is possible to access eastern Congo DRC - are there any accessible border points and routes between Tanzania and Zambia with detour into eastern DRC?

Same question for Madagascar - can the bike be shipped and temporary imported to island via Mozambique or anywhere else (Tanzania maybe?), or it's not possible? I know some people have rented the bikes on the place, but haven't heard anyone accually going with their own(?)

Thanks in advance, Margus

Hi
Kenya is another country that definately requires a Carnet and although the local AA says you also require one for Tanzania, we passed through with just a TIP bought at the border.

It is possible to enter Kenya without a Carnet!
Last year we entered Kenya from the Serengeti National Park into the Masai Mara without using our carnet. This border should be closed for tourist (but this was theory only in our case) and there are no customs, only police. Our car is parked in Kenya right now waiting for our next trip this April. The deposit was returned because our carnet was completely stamped by the Tanzania customs.

I assume entering Kenya without a carnet is also possible if you enter from Ethiopia using the lake Turkana route because there are no customs to stamp your carnet. I believe once you are in, nobody will ask you for the carnet.

The possibility to enter Tanzania from Zambia without a carnet was offered to us at the border but the price was rather high. We didn’t negotiate and we used our carnet instead.

For Sudan the situation is a bit unclear. Officially Sudan is not a member and it should be possible without. But there are stories of travelers being refused. Did anybody recently try to enter Sudan without the use of a carnet?

Probably the most difficult countries to enter without carnet are at the end of the trip, South Africa/Botswana/Namibia!

Joost

no... in Southen Africa, they issue you a temporary importation doccument , without any need of Carnet.

Javier

As stated, from Tanzania to South Africa, you should be able to use a TIP.

Currently, my organization has 6 Zambian registered vehicles in Kenya under carnet.

You may be asked at a police roadblock (there are plenty) for your carnet or if you were to get into an accident you would want to have the correct documentation.

I don't recommend passing into Kenya via Turkana or Sand River (I live 75 km from here and it's typically closed) just to avoid having to use carnets. Both for the above mentioned reasons and because you won't easily be able to leave via the more standard routes.

Thankfully the AA of South Africa let you set the value on your vehicle. I brought my Zambian registered 1977 Landcruiser in with a value of $500, so I only had to put that much down plus the cost for the carnet book. Try contacting them to see if you can get one through them