I have been on a bicycle trip to Eritrea for two weeks in September 2018 ( fly in / fly out ) just as the border had been opened and the furtest destination south I was able to obtain a travel permit for in Asmara has been Mendefera.

I tried to specifically get a permit to travel as far as Adi Kwala which is 30km before the Ethiopian/Eritrean border but it was absolutely impossible even with well connected local friends trying to help. You are only allowed to travel on major routes, the interlinking route between Decemhare / Mendefera for example is off limits, also the spectacularly scenic Filfil route ( branches off the Keren road ) is badly damaged and closed.

The temporary security zone for foreigners is as we are speaking now still in place. The only time my travel permit has been checked was when entering Keren. Also nearly all of the former military checkpoints had been removed, at least on the routes Asmara to Massawa, Decemhare, Keren and Mendefera.

I have asked many people and during that time Ethiopians were granted a 10 day stay without pre-aranged visa, foreigners still needed to apply for visas in their country of residence and the officials I´ve asked told me the border is only open to Ethiopians/Eritreans not foreigners.

Of course you can always try to slip through and there might even be a chance it works out but I have to remind you folks trying to talk yourself out of that kinda situation might be close to impossible in Eritrea and they will definately not hesitate to throw you in jail if they catch you without proper documents or travel permits ! ( if unlucky they will say you´re a spy, it wouldn´t be the first time ! )

It´s at least to my impression one of the least corrupt countries on the continent, officials are very dedicated to their duty and it´s a whole differant situation than in most other African countries regarding bribery and "fixing" problems.

As people were asking about crossing from Eritrea into Djibouti, just forget it you are not allowed to go to Assab as the Saudis have a military base there.

Apart all these struggles I have highly enjoyed my time in beautiful Eritrea and will definately be back soon. The people are amazingly friendly and hospitable, it´s totally save to even wander around at night and the landscape is breathtaking.



In my two weeks there I´ve only met one other tourist, I hope more people will decide to go in the future to discover this beautiful country !


Cheers !

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