The Egypt Index

[andrasz]

The Aswan - Abu Simbel road had been there since at least the late eighties, 25 years ago you could simply hire a taxi (or take your own car) to go to AS and back with no hassles.

[roro]

Thanks for these infos,

Hoping we could get a report from some travellers who tried this option...

I don't understand why, since this new road + short ferry is in service, we don't have any experience about it...

RR.

[omar mansour]

Originally Posted by lAbArYnth

There is a road showing on Google maps as, Aswan - Abou Sembel Touristic.
Just wondering if this road has always been there or is it possible that it has only recently been added??
Sounds like this could be the answer to the Lake Nasser ferry/barge.
Will have to wait and see what, and if anything changes for the better.

the road is old one they repaved it and make it all the way to the Sudan - Egypt border i think like 4 years ago but for some political reasons they keep repeating the opening of the road will be on that date for the last 3 or 4 years
hope it will be real soon

[omar mansour]

Originally Posted by roro

Thanks for these infos,

Hoping we could get a report from some travelers who tried this option...

I don't understand why, since this new road + short ferry is in service, we don't have any experience about it...

RR.

cause it is just a new road , although some travelers used it lets say in the last 2 years but it cost a lot i think like 3000 $ as the employees in both side of the borders have to move with you (in Egypt side like 400 km ) and Sudan side like 25 km
it was an option to avoid the ferry if you travel in big group if it is 30 ppl then each will pay 100 $ last year i met a an overland truck a female was driving it and they manage to use the road but they had to arrange it 3 weeks in advance

[lAbArYnth]

Thank you for all info.
Waiting in anticipation for some travel reports to see what the outcome is in near future with this new information that came to light regards this road.
Particularly towards January 2015 as that is when we will be traveling North towards Egypt.

Reg

[roro]

Originally Posted by omar mansour

cause it is just a new road , although some travelers used it lets say in the last 2 years but it cost a lot i think like 3000 $ as the employees in both side of the borders have to move with you (in Egypt side like 400 km ) and Sudan side like 25 km
it was an option to avoid the ferry if you travel in big group if it is 30 ppl then each will pay 100 $ last year i met a an overland truck a female was driving it and they manage to use the road but they had to arrange it 3 weeks in advance

Thanks, I believed thd 3000$ was for a "new road" along the Nile western bank and acrosss the Egypt/Sudan border, .without ferry. And not for the one with the ferry from/to Qustul...
Are there 2 roads (except the Aswan/Halfa one) or is it the same?
Rr.

[schenkel]

The mix of high carnet deposit, corrupted Egyptian officers, crippling bureaucracy and outdated complex immigration procedures really puts one off visiting Egypt overland!.
For me it was very convenient and cheap to skip Egypt all together and fly my bike from Khartoum. I think If you want to visit Egypt....fly there.

[roro]

Originally Posted by schenkel

The mix of high carnet deposit, corrupted Egyptian officers, crippling bureaucracy and outdated complex immigration procedures really puts one off visiting Egypt overland!.
For me it was very convenient and cheap to skip Egypt all together and fly my bike from Khartoum. I think If you want to visit Egypt....fly there.

For, because you have a bike and not a 4wd! It'not the same price....
RR.

[schenkel]

Originally Posted by roro

For, because you have a bike and not a 4wd! It'not the same price....
RR.

RoRo
Thank god I was on a Bike, because going through Egypt is just a rip off.
Flying a 4x4 would have been financially impossible for me. The other option is also a bit crazy; that's going through Saudi Arabia where they won't allow a vehicle with right hand steering wheel.

[roro]

Originally Posted by schenkel

RoRo
Thank god I was on a Bike, because going through Egypt is just a rip off.
Flying a 4x4 would have been financially impossible for me. The other option is also a bit crazy; that's going through Saudi Arabia where they won't allow a vehicle with right hand steering wheel.

Not Flying the 4x4, but shipping, but it's not very cheap!
FF.

[togians]

Ahram Online - News, Business, Culture, Sports & Multimedia from Egypt

This looks promissing

Egypt-Sudan border crossing to open in next few days: Ministry
Opening is delayed after initial announcement of 12 August; minister forecasts 'drastic change' in coming period between two countries
Ahram Online, Wednesday 13 Aug 2014

Egypt and Sudan will open a shared border crossing within the next few days, according to a press release from Egypt's trade and industry ministry.

Previously, an official declaration made at the beginning of the month set 12 August as the day for the border's opening.

The ministry did not give any explanation for the delay.

"The coming period will witness a drastic change in Egypt-Sudan commercial and economic relations, especially after the opening of the border," Mounir Fakhry Abdel-Nour, Egypt's trade and industry minister, said on the sidelines of meetings of the Sudanese-Egyptian joint commercial and industrial committee that started in Khartoum on Tuesday.

capetown2arnhem.com

[andrasz]

About the 27th press statement to this extent over the past 3 years...

[roro]

Originally Posted by roro

Thanks, I believed thd 3000$ was for a "new road" along the Nile western bank and acrosss the Egypt/Sudan border, .without ferry. And not for the one with the ferry from/to Qustul...
Are there 2 roads (except the Aswan/Halfa one) or is it the same?
Rr.

And about my question, 2 roads or is the same? Which one?

RR.

[Chris Scott]

Thanks, I believed thd 3000$ was for a "new road" along the Nile western bank and acrosss the Egypt/Sudan border, .without ferry.

I recall there was a report (earlier in this thread?) on a group doing it that way, but it sounded like an expensive exception. And iirc they did cross the Nile SW of Wadi Halfa to the east side, if not right back up to WH itself to check in. I recall tracking the obscure west side port on Google maps.

I wonder if while the old west side tourist road was being resurfaced to Abu Simbel, they carried on tarmacing to the border of Sudan, even though there was not much on the other side then (I recall following intermittent tracks/roads). This is what caused confusion here; it looked like the new road would sensibly avoid a ferry over Lake Nasser and carry on all the way west of the Nile to Dongola bridge.

And not for the one with the ferry from/to Qustul...
Are there 2 roads (except the Aswan/Halfa one) or is it the same?

As I understand it there are two from Abu Simbel area. But the much announced new route into Sudan is: Aswan to Abu Simbel, short ferry to Qustul new town, then to the Egyptian border post on 22°N, and half an hour down to Wadi H. I believe Endurodude did this early last year going north on his Fiat record run.

You would think Abu Simbel to Dongola would have been the simplest, overland, ferry-free way of doing it, and it seems such a road can now be traced (mostly) on Google. But perhaps the mayor of Wadi Halfa and the guy who was given the Egyptian Qustul ferry concession, or the estate agents in Qustul didn't want it that way. There may be strategic reasons in complicating the border, or perhaps the fact that the Chinese had recently completed a road from the south up to WH, so it was better/simpler to keep it on that side. The one on the west side in Sudan may be in rough shape and too expensive to rebuild or is allocated to smugglers.

Ch

[omar mansour]

Originally Posted by Chris Scott

I recall there was a report (earlier in this thread?) on a group doing it that way, but it sounded like an expensive exception. And iirc they did cross the Nile SW of Wadi Halfa to the east side, if not right back up to WH itself to check in. I recall tracking the obscure west side port on Google maps.

I wonder if while the old west side tourist road was being resurfaced to Abu Simbel, they carried on tarmacing to the border of Sudan, even though there was not much on the other side then (I recall following intermittent tracks/roads). This is what caused confusion here; it looked like the new would sensibly avoid a ferry over Lake Nasser and carry on all the way west of the Nile to Dongola bridge.



As I understand it there are two from Abu Simbel area. But the much announced new route into Sudan is Aswan to Abu Simbel, short ferry to Qustul new town, then to the Egyptian border post on 22°N, and half an hour down to Wadi H. I believe Endurodude did this early last year going north on his Fiat record run.

You would think Abu Simbel to Dongola would have been the simplest, overland, ferry-free way of doing it, and it seems such a road can now be traced mostly on Google. But perhaps the mayor of Wadi Halfa and the guy who was given the Egyptian Qustul ferry concession, or the estate agents in Qustul didn't want it that way. There may be strategic reasons in complicating the border, or perhaps the fact that the Chinese had recently completed a road from the south to WH, so it was better/simpler to keep it on that side. The one on the west side in Sudan may be in rough shape and too expensive to rebuild or is allocated to smugglers.

Ch

that is the best answer the one or 2 roads
and again in some news that the main road goes direct to Dongola and ferry free is going to open some timelater maybe a year ,or 2 or 10
all we have to do is to keep smiling be happy ,be positive hahahahaha