What passport?
 

We are lucky enough to have dual citizenship with the UK and South Africa.

We can't decide which passport to use for the next leg of our trip though. Our next leg will take us through Africa, going through the following countries. Syria/Jordan/egypt/sudan/kenya/tanzania/malawi/zambia/botswana. We were thinking of changing from our UK passport to SA passport at the border between Turkey and Syria and travelling from there on our SA passports, ainly to save on visa costs through Africa.

Are there any pros/cons between these 2 passports in Africa besides from saving on the visa costs? Which one would you travel on if you had this choice?:confused1::confused1:

Cheers

dual nationality
 

My understanding is that there is no issue with dual citizenship - as long as one of the passports has the required visa in it (and one has the place you've just come from to prove it), you will be fine.

I'm told you can extend your stay by getting visas in two passports with different dates as well, although I'm not sure how a visa 'starts' without being stamped in etc..

I'm guessing but I reckon that you could probably save up to US$500.00 per head by going on the South African passports through Africa. I did that run a couple of years ago with a British passport and as far as I can remember it was about that amount that I paid at the borders, they all seem to automatically click up US$100.00 when they see a Brit passport. Maybe they think that we are still guilty for the sins of our forefathers. Ride safe and enjoy a great ride even if you do get shot at in northrn Kenya. (they missed) :mchappy:

Quick update
 

We have decided to use our SA passpotrs. We were going to apply for a Syrian visa in London with SA pasports, but the refused and we had to get it in UK passport.

We tried to change passports between Syria and Jordan, but this was not possible.

We managed to change passports between Jordan and Egypt, on the ferry between Aqaba and Nuweiba. We got a 6 month multi entry visa in our SA passports in London before we left (free of charge).

It's much cheaper with SA passport. For example to go through Zambia it's free for SA but $US100 or something silly for Brit. Even Kenya Visa is free at border for SA but Brit has to pay as far as I recall.

We changed from UK to SA passport when we entered Turkey from Greece.

update?
 

Thanks for the info Pumbaa.

I'm currently in Cyprus and planning the same route as you in Sept. Also have UK/SA passport and will try and get onto the SA one from Turkey, or following your tip, get an Egyptian visa in my SA passport before I leave and switch between Jordan and Egypt.

Any other tips or updates you have would be much appreciated. Especially anything on the Sudan visa. I've heard that it's quite straight forward to pick one up in Cairo, providing you have a letter of introduction from your embassy in Cairo and $100 or so.

Is this still the case? Did you have any problems?

chris

This is not the case anymore. Since 1st Jan 09 the visa regulations for Zambia have changed. All nations pay 50 U$ now, even Brits (like myself). And with Brit passport you'll get for free into Malawia and Rwanda whereas other nations will have to pay. Don't know about Kenya though.

And normally you can swap passports between every country. If they complain and want to see the exit stamp just show them the passport with the stamp. Some will then argue that dual citizenship is not allowed in their country. Well, you are not from their country :-)

Greets from Tanzania

Claudio

Sorry to hijack this.....
 

....but it's so closely related I didn't want to make a new topic.

I've now got the choice of three passports, UK, French and Australian. I can't help but feel this is maybe a bit of overkill though, and am thinking logically that one EU passport and the Australian will do. Can anyone see any advantages of French over British? I'm wondering if being a Brit might not be the best idea in some islamic states?

Also my driving licence is French and my bike is French registered (as I live in France) would it make more sense to have everything matching?

The more passports u have the better it is ;-)
I travel on Swiss Numberplates, Swiss Carnet and Swiss and UK Passports.
The Carnet of course is matching the Swiss Passport.
Did anyone care so far? Not at all!
Why not? Because the person filling in the Carnet is not the same person checking your passport.

I've been travelling through parts of Africa like this and never had any problems. But I'm always happy to switch passports when I see an advantage, like not having to pay for a visa. Or its always handy having a second passport while you are applying for a visa u can still travel around or even change the country...

and if u are travelling in West Africa, the French might be better than the UK but if u travel in Central Africa or South the UK might be better than the French.... u get it?

Enjoy

Claudio