The Egypt Index

[SuperBC]

Its still not officially open and probably not finished, I would recomend the barge still as the cheapest/easiest way to cross. If you do take the road try and get fixers to organise it in advance (20 days)as we all had to stump up $100 US extra to the sudanese for our 4 days short notice to Khartoum. this could of course have been some sort of rip off

Of course thats assuming it turns up, we only went as we had been to long waiting for the mythical barge.
Good luck if there is anyone left transiting egypt now

[zwyszomi]

Egypt Sudan Port

[ramblurr]

Does anyone have any updates about the road?

Specifically I'm interested in going overland on bicycle. Is the ferry still the only option?

[tadhg123]

Hi Ramblurr,

I think the only reason we got through on the road was someone likely lining their own pockets during the the revolution. That plus the barges werent running. Haven't heard of anyone else taking it.

I imagine it would be doubly difficult on the bike as we had Egyptian customs with us passing through the Egyptian checkpoints and even then it took time. The fixers in my posts and the weblink above will be able to tell you more but the ferry definitely seems to be your best, cheapest and simplest option.

Good luck and be thankful you don't have a car to get through Egyptian customs!
Tadhg

[zwyszomi]

Hi
Does anybody has any recent info how likely is that this road will be available in predictible future?
zbyszek

[togians]

Hello,

Yesterday I received this e-mail from Mohamed in Aswan:

Hi Berry,

Things are ok here with more tourists now. Yes, it is fine to enter Egypt in a 4 x 4 and to drive to Sudan. You do need to know that taking the road to Sudan is a lot more expensive than taking the barge . The road route costs US$3000 for 1-3 vehicles and I would need relevant paperwork 2 weeks before you travel.

Hope this helps.

Best wishes, Mohamed
http:://ferryaswanwadihalfa.wordpress.com

[roro]

"The road route costs US$3000 for 1-3 vehicles and I would need relevant paperwork 2 weeks before you travel."

3000$ only to drive along a road!!! What a shame, it's a true racket!!

RR.

[zwyszomi]

Al-Qastal port to connect Egypt and Sudan | Al-Shorfa

[zwyszomi]

Does anybody know, how likely is that the border will be opened in the predictible future?
zbyszek

[Pedro Bueno Vieira]

Has the road been built?

[Chris Scott]

If you mean the 35-km road connecting the new Egyptian border post south to Wadi Halfa, then yes, it appears on Google sat which it didn't about a year ago.

The road north from the border post to Qustul has been around for a while.
Not much of a town at Qustul yet, but the quay looks finished.

So according to Google sats the infrastructure seems all in place and you'd think a service might start this year, but this is Egypt and anyway it will still involve a short ferry crossing from Abu Simbel to Qustul.

Ch

[roro]

Originally Posted by Chris Scott

If you mean the 35-km road connecting the new Egyptian border post south to Wadi Halfa, then yes, it appears on Google sat which it didn't about a year ago.

The road north from the border post to Qustul has been around for a while.
Not much of a town at Qustul yet, but the quay looks finished.

So according to Google sats the infrastructure seems all in place and you'd think a service might start this year, but this is Egypt and anyway it will still involve a short ferry crossing from Abu Simbel to Qustul.

Ch

But, if I remember well, I've heard that you need to pay around 3000$ to cross this border.
True?
RR.

[Chris Scott]

As I understood it the ~$3k was for an army escort to Abu Simbel or something like that. I interpreted it as the local brigade making money while the sun shines.
It's hard to believe that if the border crossing becomes normalised everyone will be paying that sum. Locals surely could not afford it.

Ch

[achim-in-jordan]

There has been a bit of confusion about this issue. There are actually two road connections. One leads South on the Western side of Lake Nasser and - as much as I have understood from various threads - this is the one where you have to pay the 3k.

The other roads starts from Abu Simbel with a short ferry across the lake to the Eastern side at Qustul. The ferries could be seen ready as early as 2012. They have actually been used as well. I do remember at least one instance with regard to the record-breaking 11 day trip from Cape Town to London:

Now we have left Khartoum behind and will drive north alongside the River Nile tonight - we have 900kms to do before reaching Wadi Halfa in the early hours of the morning and will hopefully see this off before completing a historic crossing into Egypt. Our crossing from Sudan to Egypt has involved arranging an army barge, more usually used for commando training, to cross Lake Nasser, from Qustul to Abu Simbel. The barge crossing comes after driving a newly built, but so far unused, road from Wadi Halfa to a new frontier post on the line of the Sudan – Egypt border at Eshkeet. This is the crossing route that has been promised will soon be the official tourist route. Much depends on enormous goodwill among local officials and for months of detailed planning to come together for the arrangements to fall into place.

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I would imagine that Mazar in Wadi Halfa would be able to shed some light on the actual regulations.

Greetings,
Achim

[roro]

Originally Posted by achim-in-jordan

There has been a bit of confusion about this issue. There are actually two road connections. One leads South on the Western side of Lake Nasser and - as much as I have understood from various threads - this is the one where you have to pay the 3k.

The other roads starts from Abu Simbel with a short ferry across the lake to the Eastern side at Qustul. The ferries could be seen ready as early as 2012. They have actually been used as well. I do remember at least one instance with regard to the record-breaking 11 day trip from Cape Town to London:



Fiat Panda World Record Attempt | Africa Record Run

I would imagine that Mazar in Wadi Halfa would be able to shed some light on the actual regulations.

Greetings,
Achim

Thanks Achim for these precisions.
Waiting for some report of travellers using this "short ferry" travel to (or from) Qustul......
Is it a car ferry ? (meaning you can travel with your own car on this ferry and not on a separate on).

RR.