Egyptian Customs Trouble....Help!!

[jim]

Hello,
I recently arrived in Egypt from Sudan and my bike is now being held by customs as my Carnet is not valid for Egypt. Can anyone out there give me advice any advice on how i can get it out?

Thanks
Jim

[simmo]

Hi Jim

dont know how much this will help you. When I recieved my Carnet from AAA in Canberra they had crossed out Iran..the whole point in getting it! The fix was they sent a new back cover with no countries crossed out which was stapled onto the back of the carnet after neatly removing the old back page! ( the yellow cover)

maybe the issuer ( or Egyptian AA )could do the same for you. It makes no differrence costs wise to include the whole world on the carnet.

Probably a bit slow but i cant think of anything else.

cheers

alec

[RichLees]

if the reason that your carnet is not valid is because you have a bond of 200% for most African countries, rather than 500% for Egypt, you're going to have to find a way to increase the bond or pay the duties to the customs and reclaim them on exit. as this is presumably several thousand pounds - 300% of the value of your bike, talk to your carnet agent!
I recall some joker saying he was going to chance it with the Egyptians. I found them frustrating and incompetent (at Cairo) without taking any chances.

[Werner]

This is my suggestion: You are in Asswan, I guess? Take train to Cairo. Go to Egyptian Automobile Association downtown. Talk with an officer, preferably the head hancho. He will advise you what to do to meet Egyptian requirements. You may have to telephone your Aussie AA office, which will get in direct contact with the Egyptian hancho. A lot a baksheesh will change hands, and you'll be on the road again. Egyptian bureaucracy is one of the crookedest in the world. So be prepared for the worst.

[Werner]

Sorry, I meant to write "office of the SA Automobile Association."

[jim]

Hello and thanks for all teh info!

I have had it with Egyptians and Egyptian officialdom! Basically according to the AA of my country (SA) i cannot under any cicumstances use a carnet issued by them in Egypt, i even offered the 500% security. no deal. The AA of Egypt says i can get in if my Carnets is validated by the AA of South Africa....

Mr Hamman of Aswan customs, who i must add seems at first to be a helpful reasonable chap but is actually a real corrupt crook, says if a i pay LP3000 to his mate i can get a local tryptich...

And finally another Egyptian authority says for a mere US$4000 security (left of course under their watchful care) i can enter. I would expect snow capped pyramids before expecting to see that "deposit" again!

So, it seems my cape to Cairo trip is now to be a Cape to Aswan and back to Kenya trip where people are a little more reasonable and shipping is cheap.

Sigh.
James (The South African, but who the hell can tell teh difference between us and Aussies anyway- we all look the same. Hey Werner? Ha ha just kidding...)

[chris]

in 1999 while i was sorting through the sh*t that is egyptian customs at cairo airport, i met a dutch bloke with a bmw gs who had flown his bike from yemen to cairo without a carnet. usual problems, as you are finding.

the solution was to take a customs official on the back and ride to the border with israel. this of course required 'fees', his accomodation and return train fare etc etc. the dutch bloke's girlfriend took the train to the border.

i suggest you do the same to neiweiba on sinai and take a boat to jordan.

the great thing about riding bikes is you won't have to talk to the moron, cos he and you are wearing helmets....

if you can do a few wheelies, you can scare the life out of him too

hth

ChrisB

[This message has been edited by chris (edited 22 August 2004).]

[omar mansour]

i think the best is what chris said,
i had to do it like that,from alexandria,all the way to newibaa,but the guy was too fat and big,(but he was too nice too)and he was dreaming to be on the bike all the time,but i did gave hem the motorbike papers,and keep a copy of it with me,put hem in any public transportation,and give the drive some bakshish,to dirve in a way that i can follow hem,
so try to do that ,from a city to the next one and so on,
maybe you can paY HEM LIKE A 100 L.E PER DAY AND HIS transportation,(around15 or 20 u.s aday.
make sure that the guy have a mobile phone with hem and take his number,cos all the original papers will be with hem,
DONT EVER LOSE HEM OR YOU Will NEVER GET YOU BIKE OUT OF EGYPT,
TRY TO CONTACT MR MAHMOUD IDRIS IN ASWAN MAYBE HE WILL CAN HELP YOU IN ANY WAY
HIS MOBILE IS 0106845201.
MY PHONE IS 0101703058,IF I CAN DO ANY THING FOR YOU(ALTHOUGH I,M IN ALEXANDRIA
CHEERS MAN +ENJOY YOU TIME IN EGYPT

[jim]

Hi again,
Thanks for all the new ideas, I have considered the idea of riding to Alex with a customs officer in tow, but dear Mr hamman at Aswan insists this is impossible. I guess it hard for him to make any cash out of teh deal...

Ive decided that going back South is really not so bad and now im even looking forward to it.

Jim
PS Also my Carnet is not valid for Syria, pakistan and a host of other places North of Egypt. Next time Im definately using a fake!!

[omar mansour]

haha make sure to make me a fake carnet too,wish you all the best ,and if you need any thing call me
salam