As a group of 9 volonteers we want to deliver 4 cars (1 Toyota Pick Up and 3 Peugeot Partner) to 'Medecins sans Frontières' in Ethiopia. We plan a trip from Belgium to Addis Abeba in dec/jan (3 weeks) this year. We would like to travel via Egypt Sudan Ethiopia and come back by plane.
- how do we get from Europe (Greece,Italy, France,....) to Egypt?
- Can we drive from Aswan to Abou Simbel and to Wadi Halfa
- How to cross the border from Sudan to Ethiopia
- Any help and info is welcome

Stephan


[This message has been edited by Kortrijk Afrika (edited 19 August 2003).]

Q1) any way pretty much, Europe is pretty flexible, possibly France, Italy - ferry to Greece, Turkey, Syria, Jordan, Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia. Another route, Holland, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey, Syria, Jordan, Egypt, etc, alternatively there may be a ferry across from Greece to Egypt. There is supposed to be a service from Greece to Israel but may be difficult going that way, if the Egyptians for example realise you came through Israel I think they might refuse you entry but not sure.

Q2) No you can't drive from Aswan to Wadi Halfi, you have to get a ferry. There is supposed to be a passenger ferry that runs regularly but you have to get the barge to get the vehicles down, this can be expensive, may be $2000 for the four vehicles, not sure. Its also irregular so you can end up stuck there for 3 weeks waiting for it to get down. Heard one account where the only way of contacting the barge was via the radio on the passenger ferry. So twice a week the traveller went onto the passenger ferry for the coupl eof hours it was in and tried to arrange for the barge to come down. He did this for 3 weeks before it arrived just sitting around in the mean time. There is no open land border. Another alternative may be Saudi - they may give you a three day transit visa to drive down to Jeddah to ge tteh ferry to Saukin in Sudan. However there have been some terrorist incidents against westerners in Saudi and so you a) may not want to go or b) the Saudis may not be issuing visas, you would need to check.

Q3) You just drive, forget the name of the border but its very easy, its about 1 1/2 days drive from Khartoum, then you start climbing from the border and wind all the way up to Gondar. Really nice on the way up. Just need to check the weather for the time of year you are going. I think they have flooding up there and its a mountainous route that could possibly get blocked quite easily. They are in the process of building a good route up with the help of the Chinese but its not in place yet and instead you wind up on tracks next to the new road.

If you have time then there is some really good stuff to see on the way down such as the Krak Des Chevaliers in Syria (http://www.syriagate.com/Syria/about...schevalier.htm) and Petra (http://www.nationalgeographic.com/explorer/petra/)in Jordan.

[This message has been edited by Toby2 (edited 20 August 2003).]

Hello

You might be able to get into Sudan between the boarders of Egypt and Sudan by Port Sudan on the coast.Have heard of trucks going through there.
The boarder between Sudan and Ethiopia is called Gallabat / Metema,
You will have to sleep at the Imigration office at the boarder post,it is safe and secure,
Good Luck

We did the route through Europe/Middle East in June 99. Syrian visa is easy to get in Turkey, Jordan at the border Egypt in Al Aquaba. Get the ferry from Aquaba to Egypt so you don't need to bother with the 5 hour border crossing via Israel.

My best advise for this route since you are short of time is get as many visa's before you leave AND DON'T LEAVE HOME WITHOUT A VISA FOR SUDAN. the embassy in Cairo is not that helpful and it takes about 6 weeks. All visas are processed in Khartoum and needed 11 passport photo's with a South African PP.

If you can't get a visa you can ship the car to Djibouti from Aquaba and fly with Ethipian Airline or Yemenia to collect in Djibouti.

There is a ferry from Suez to Port Sudan via Jedah but you can't even board it without a visa for Saudi (even if you don't get off the boat). The Saudi Embassy in Amman (Jordan) will not issue visas to non muslims and definitely not during the Haj.

The ferry info (Egypt/Sudan) is spot on but I must add that even with a Carnet Eqypt is an expensive place to get through - about USD300 taxes.

Hope this helps.

Mike

Hi - I'm doing a similar trip down thru Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia and then into Kenya - What I've found though is that getting from Greece into Alexandria doesn't seem possible - I think that you can ship your car from Pireaus in Greece to Alexandria but then you'll have to go separately on a plane - very costly affair - an alternative would be to go from Genoa (or Marseille) to Tunisia. From there you can then get to Egypt via Libya which isn't as hard as you'd imagine to drive thru....
as for crossing into Sudan from Egypt, as of mid-September the Red Sea route to Port Sudan is still closed (even though there are rumours this might open soon) - the only feasible way of crossing this border is with the car ferry at Aswan to Wadi Halfa - the journey is approx 48 hours....
Good luck
George

Finally we will ship the cars from Antwerp to Port Said and fly to Egypt and pick up the cars there. We know it is not the cheapest way, we are neither Scottisch nor Dutch ;-),but it allows us to spent 4-5 days more on the African continent.

Why not this route: Turkey, Syria, Jordan, transit Saudia Arabia and via Jeddah take the ferry (200 U$/car)to Port Sudan
Avoid Egypt and the expensive ferry.