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Middle East Topics specific to the Middle East countries, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Yemen, Oman and the Emirates
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  #1  
Old 29 Jun 2012
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Oman-Yemen-Socotra-Saudi-Egypt possible?

We want to buy a motorbike or car to travel from Oman back to Belgium.
Is this possible?
Is there a ferry from Saudi to Egypt to cross over by bike or car?
Is Yemen very dangerous? Maybe another route through Saudi and skip Socotra?
Is the paperwork possible to get the car into Europe?

Sorry for the many questions, we are now every night dreaming of this route while travelling in our van in Australia...

And other travellers showed us this website!~ And now we are wandering every week on this website

Gracias!

Simona and Marc
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  #2  
Old 2 Jul 2012
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Quote:
Originally Posted by marcmona1 View Post
We want to buy a motorbike or car to travel from Oman back to Belgium.
Is this possible?
" Possible"

Is there a ferry from Saudi to Egypt to cross over by bike or car?
"You can ride from Saudia to Eygpt near Jordan border."

Is Yemen very dangerous? Maybe another route through Saudi and skip Socotra?
"Yemen is dangereous but it is roulette. Some kidnapping oocures sometimes. Nobody can guarantee it will happen...
Socotra is a beautiful island, if you have an opportunity, take it."

Is the paperwork possible to get the car into Europe?
"Don't know about it"

Sorry for the many questions, we are now every night dreaming of this route while travelling in our van in Australia...

And other travellers showed us this website!~ And now we are wandering every week on this website

Gracias!

Simona and Marc
Hope this helps
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"where the traveller goes, nobody knows ! "
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  #3  
Old 4 Jul 2012
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Hey guys! Thanks for the info!
What about the Saudi Visa, is it so difficult to get?

anyway we start our journey soon, finishing our jobs here in Aussie bfore we leave!

Hopefully we can manage buying a car in Turkey and driving it into Belgium
x
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  #4  
Old 7 Jul 2012
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Many have gone before you - most with a Oman / UAE residence visa. There's a road - just a matter of money and time. A carnet de passage would be a plus - however you might not need it depending on the route.

Saudi - Egypt shipment is doable. Though once in the Saudi port, your Saudi transit visa might already be expired before boarding the ship. Get ready to fight Egyptian customs to get your bike / car back from the depot. Be prepared, make sure your paper work is 100% solid. So no typos in names, numbers - everything should match.

A 3-5 day saudi transit visa can be obtained at the Saudi Embassy in Abu Dhabi in 1 day.

Besides the "normal" dangers, the situation in Yemen is very volatile. When you get in from Oman, Yemeni police / military at the many checkpoints might not be very amused about your presence. It means road escorts and lots of hassle once something happens to you.
Have a look at this: Yemen by Camel in 2012

To get your car registered in Europe, the export documents have to be there in your name. Stuff which is sorted in Oman - if it's in Arabic, get a translation on the spot. Local insurance usually covers only the Gulf area which means getting valid green card insurance in the first European country. (ie Greece)

Case you register the car in Belgium, make sure the car exists in Belgium/Europe, otherwise you'll have to pay for expensive type approval. Then it's getting it through MOT/TuV and pay import taxes.



Quote:
Originally Posted by marcmona1 View Post
We want to buy a motorbike or car to travel from Oman back to Belgium.
Is this possible?
Is there a ferry from Saudi to Egypt to cross over by bike or car?
Is Yemen very dangerous? Maybe another route through Saudi and skip Socotra?
Is the paperwork possible to get the car into Europe?

Sorry for the many questions, we are now every night dreaming of this route while travelling in our van in Australia...

And other travellers showed us this website!~ And now we are wandering every week on this website

Gracias!

Simona and Marc
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Overland by 4x4 truck
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  #5  
Old 23 Jul 2012
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Location: Beirut / Lebanon
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There are several ferries from Saudi Arabia to Egypt. Many operate only during the Haj season or for Muslim pilgrims, though. This is true for the Jeddah - Safaga and Jeddah - Suez routes.

The exception is the Duba - Safaga connection which is plied by several shipping lines. It seems that KCFMT is the principal operator on this route with two high speed ferries (catamarans) and this seems to be their contacts in Safaga and elsewhere:

KCFMT - Agents

In addition, it might be useful to call the port authority in Safaga (phone: 065 - 325 60 18 or maybe 065 - 45 12 22 or 062 - 25 60 18, website: www.mts.gov.eg ) to find out whether there are any other operators or whether there even exists a ferry from Safaga straight to Jeddah.

I have found out about "Namma Lines". They have three ships, one of which - the "Masarrah" - sails from Safaga to Duba while two others sail from Safaga to Jeddah - but apparently only during Haj season. This is their contact:

http://nesmaholding-eg.com/en/NammaContactUs.aspx

In addition, it seems that El Salam Maritime (two of whose ferries sank in the Red Sea in the past) now operates a catamaran called "Fares al Salam" on the Safaga - Duba route. I do not have any contacts of them but they do have an office or even a headquarters in Cairo.

Yemen:

Yemen is basically still off limits for overlanders! Coming from Oman, it is next to impossible to cross from the East (Hadramout) into the Western part of the country through areas at least partly controlled by Al Qaeda. Only the coast road between Mukalla and Aden might be manageable (but is not advised to take!) with an armoured convoy.

Greetings and safe travels
Achim
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