hi,

a frien of mine adn I are planning an overland trip to south afric from the uk this summer on scooters. Mainly want to know if teh south of Sudan is really as prohibited as I have heard and seen on the maps, and what are the best crossing points, in southern sudan, and sudan - ethiopia (the more likely route!)

cheers

mark anderson

Hi,
we did the same exactly 1 year ago, on XT500. Khartoum-Gedaref-Gondar(in ethiopia) is probably the most common route, had no problems at all. Methema border, very friendly and funny on both sides. Those days you wouldn't get permission as a normal tourist for the south of sudan. Besides, not willing to appear arrogant, but don't you think, you will encounter enough sand in northern sudan? Take some good nobbly tires with you and put them on in Wadi Halfa. Consider an RD250 engine or something:-) People are great in northern sudan, a bit more difficult in ethiopia, but still no problem, and the country is great. Florian and Iris

Sudanese people are really friendly, some of the best that you will meet in Africa. The three challening factors are the war in the south (which the route to Ethiopia avoids), the conflict in western sudan, a more recent development which you will avoid completely if you are coming down from Egypt or Saudi. The third is just that the country is very large with desert to the north and west which you will end up having to cross. However this is all part of the adventure. Definitely worth going to Sudan.

South of Sudan is extremely dangerous as the preliminary peace agreement is

a) not yet in force
b) at the moment endangered as the two parties cannot agree on the regions included

The Darfur conflict is hot and the region towards the Etiopian/Eritrean border lawless. Stay north of Khartoum and plan your transit to Ethiopia (route mentioned above) carefully.

Regards,
Peter

when an area is prohibited, as the south was last November, it can be tempting to assume its just bureaucracy and Sudan is certainly bureaucratic. I did, however, meet a southerner in Khartoum who warned me that the southern locals would view me as fair game and not so much rob me as murder me and split the winnings. you can never tell, but he seemed genuinely concerned that this white boy would be a dead boy if I took my pale face into the south.

the northern locals are just the nicest guys, but I had a tougher time with the Ethiopians than Florian and Iris imply. I'd been warned of stones, sticks, begging, mugging etc and, sadly, found that many Ethiopians lived down to this reputation. its a beautiful country, though, but it'll be gruelling on scooters.

as for scooters in the sand ...? I've never noticed them in the desert before, but maybe you'll get through. its years since I rode one and maybe they've changed and will be doing the Dakar soon. on the eastern route from Wadi Halfa, there's 300+km of soft sand till the first fuel and then similar to Atbara and the road. maybe the western (Nile) route would be easier, but I haven't done it myself.

[This message has been edited by RichLees (edited 04 April 2004).]

[This message has been edited by RichLees (edited 04 April 2004).]

Florian and Iris,

This december I'm heading north from ethiopia through the sudan and into egypt. Were there any problems putting your bike on the ferry across the lake? What was the cost? Any idea of the schedule?

Thanks for the help,

Brian




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