Stuck in Egypt - Help needed to get over to Europe
 

Two friends of mine are now in Egypt on their KTM 990 ADVs. They started off from Cape Town SA and heading towards Europe and then east to Shanghai, China. They are now in Egypt but cannot find passage to north coast of Med. due to political situation in Libiya. All ferry services from Egypt and nearby countries have stopped operation. They are now looking for cargo ships that still operates accross the Med. to any seaport in Europe. Anyone who can offer info or help please contact:
Miss Fanny Fang

For two bikes they should be able to get on any boat heading across the Med. Theres surely a local boat that would take them but this will require money/baksheesh. Get down the docks and ask around. If the TV lot can manage this on nearly every round the world trip i'm sure a couple of overland bikers can arrange something. Cyprus is 300miles.....Turkey 400....

There must be some fishing boats or something that do this trip. 2 bikes and two people is hardly difficult to fit or load on a boat.

Shipping or Syria
 

Not to mention the 80+ bikes and 40+ cars that just completed the Rallyes des Pharaons and are shipping back from Alexandria on Tuesday I think.

Syria seems to remain an option. I haven't read the forums here recently (or the thorntree) but people are still getting through Syria. You can only get informed as much as possible and make your own mind up.

Presumably if Miss Fanny Fang can access her email she can search the HUBB for information on shipping out of Alexandria, it's there somewhere.

It has to be said that Alexandria has such a bad reputation (without Visemar) that I would be tempted by the run through Syria.

Syria
 

We just travelled through Syria at end of September, and all was well, we camped just before the border at a service station on the Jordan side, and then travelled through on the highway all the way to Turkey in one day. The country is well sign posted and borders are both 24 hours. We just got stung with Syrian taxes for diesel and insurance. You can use help from an agent if you are worried, i can recommend levant Syria Travel & Tourism

good luck

Alex port is a nightmare. There will be plenty of options to container the bikes - but as far as I know no possibility of accompanying them. Nearest port from Egypt is Israel where you can get a ferry to Italy (Grimaldi). Ferry stops at Turkey en route - no possibility of offloading a car but maybe a bike is possible.

Hi Fanny,
There is no ferry-ship line from Egypt or Israel to Turkey....
Next week our club's rescue team bikes will be delivered to Mersin and İstanbul from Egypt...
I talked to the office guys there about clearing customs formalities in Egypt for your bikes...waiting for their certain reply...First reply positive...

If you accept to transfer your bikes to Turkey by ship and yourselves by plane legally, I will send you the details of the office until this Monday(shipping agent in Egypt) so you can get in touch with them..

Hope you are Japanese citizen (visa free for Turkey and free zones) and probably we can get your bikes loaded to the same ship..

At the happy end, our request will be just a thank you in HU.forums...
(Our club has already done similar missions legaly several times)

We sincerely wish you overcome this problem soon and see you on the road again...

Best Wishes
mehmet zeki avar

I hope Fanny and her partner will get all these useful info offered and get out of the jam.

Thank you guys:thumbup1:

Thanks so much everyone!!

@ Grandi: We are very interested in your post that you got through Syria in a day. May we ask:

1) How much was the customs and other fees?
2) how far was it from Jordan border to the Turkish border?
3) What route did you take... and any roadblocks
4）Where did you get Syrian visa? Amman, Jordan? Border?
5) Was there petrol and where?

Any advise warmly welcomed.

Thanks again.

If you are stuck !
Free camping @ N 24º12.943 E 035º25.503
and the beers are always cold :)
Cheers
This offer is for all motor bikes going north or south within Egypt.

TO THE KIND ATTENTION OF ALL BIKERS WILLING TO RIDE STRAIGHT THROUGH SYRIA
*******************
Situations in this part of the world may change so fast and you may not be the one among %0 1 who has been successfull to complete this trip.

Personally ı know many many bikers and in touch with them who are still stuck in the area.

We will not write any more comments for this thread again.

So its better not to take this risk and keep in touch with us or honest and trustful local people recommended by other bikers..

Wish you all the best and safe trips.

Safety First.

Best Wishes
mehmet zeki avar
İstanbul Bikers Club & Search and Rescue Team

Maybe get in touch with these guys for information as they seem to have a ferry from Greece to Egypt on their itinerary for next Jan. Could be a charter of course but with about 50 vehicles it's unlikely.
The ERA - London to Cape Town Rally - Route Outline

now feb 29th and stuck in egypt trying to get to Turkey with 4 bikes. Rupert and Fanny have been many weeks. Some people think it is easy to just hop on the nearest fishing boat. Try it!! Not so easy, but any updated news is welcome.
Chiromal-4bikes4singapore

Check out your thread
 

For updated news the other thread on this topic is more up to date:-
http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...pt-any-62770-2

Alexandria is a nightmare, as is the paperwork and officialdom to do anything in Egypt. Ships need international permits to go out of local waters - the idea of putting bikes on a fishing boat is more than just fanciful. Customs and immigration will only process an international sailing. Its freight via Grimaldi, and then fly. There are no passenger ro-ro ferries anywhere out of Egypt, after the Venice-Syria-Alexandria sailing went pop last year following the selling off of the ship to work the Spannish islands. It was nearly always sailing empty and inevitable that it will not be able to continue. The London-Cape Town rally with 100 people, and 50 cars, had to charter a ship out of Greece and this was not easy and enormously expensive - (January) and all indications were that a return to anything like a regular sailing for passengers is most unlikely.

Given Syria visas are being issued, is it totally out of the question to make a non-stop crossing of Syria from Jordan to Turkey?

The Egypt border is open into Tunisia - has anyone done this lately?

....Given the cancelling of the ship from Venice to Alex was publicised on this forum last summer, surely nobody has set off from Cape Town expecting to be able to get across the Med out of Egypt easily?

'The Egypt border is open into Tunisia - has anyone done this lately? '


Dont you mean Egyptian border to Libya??

Yes, I have just got back from UK -Italy - Tunisia-Libya -Egypt - Libya - Tunisia - Italy - UK in my own landcruiser.

Libya wasnt issuing tourist visas, but did it on a business visa,
Also be warned that at Sollum they could not take payment or issue a Visa going into Egypt, they put a stamp in passport & wrote something in arabic but told us that we HAD to get & pay for a visa before we would be allowed to leave the country
The only place we found that we could do this was by going to Cairo airport to get one!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Andy

Grimaldi used to offer passenger services, also for Alexandria - not anymore?
Maris Freighter Cruise & Travel Club, Grimaldi Lines Freighter Travel
Grimaldi Freighter Cruises Itineraries

The Grimaldi Med line goes via Alex, as does the Adriatic I think. Grimaldi still take vehicles (drive on) and passengers. But no embarkation/disembarkation of passengers or vehicles is allowed at Alex. We put ourselves and the car on the ship at Ashdod and we docked in Alex (where we had been a few weeks earlier!) the next day. But no-one was allowed on or off. Closest port you can embark is Ashdod.

Ah ok thanks. Any reason given why this is so?
Trying to understand how the system works, or not. :o

Libya / Egypt border crossing at Sollum closed
 

"page cannot be open....."
Border closed since when?
RR.

Not an official decision
 

It's an info available on several websites, but I doubt this closing follows an official decision by authorities. Situation seems to be fluid still.

Libyan Tribe Closes Border Crossing With Egypt - ABC News

So, I am entering in Egypt this week, and I eventually will want to go to Europe. Anyone found a solution on this subject?

seems its notthat easy to get out of Egypt ,
i was planning to go some where just to ride ,
Libya Tunisia ,the Libyan Visa so hard to get and also the security is so bad ,there is a friend of mine will enter Libya from Tunisia on a bike in few days hope he make it safe and will give a feed back about Libya
Jordan Syria ,Turkey :
Syria as seen on TV is so bad hope its just the media ,so perhaps you can try it that way
no RORO ferries out to Europe
if you need a place to stay in Alexandria ,contact me ,
ride safe mate
:scooter:

Hello Omar,

Is Israel an option? Any open borders?

Thanks :)

Hi Omar,
It seems that Lybian business visas are avalaible now for European people (but very expensive) and that borders are not closed.
The last question is about security but may be it will be possible to go through Lybia in a few days with sleeping in secured areas (hotels?).
RR.

Israel should be an option - but not from Egypt (please correct me if I'm wrong someone - my info is a little old) - you'd need to cross over to Jordan (Aqaba) from Sinai, then into Israel via Allenby Bridge (or maybe even the crossing Aqaba-Eilat if you're lucky. Expect a LONG crossing with everything being searched, 3rd, 4th and 5th degree questioning - remain calm and polite and all should be ok.
Shipping from Israel is possible -either Asdod or Haifa.

To confirm there are no ferries or boats that's going between Egypt and Italy, Turkey or Greece that we can go with our bikes?

No problems with crossing into Israel from Egypt. Expect that you get a lot of questions where you have been, but they will let you in.

But from Isreal how to get to Turkey or Italy as it seems Syria is still not an option to cross to get to Europe and Lybia is also not an option?

@michnus
1-Are u still in Egypt.
2-How many bikers are there to get to Turkey
3-Will you be able to have a crate yourself there.

Just for the bike,we pay 950 USD.for sea freight from Alex. or port sait to İstanbul Ambarlı port for our bikes and takes about 10 days to get here.

Our specialty club will arrange documents for Turkey import free for you.Import expenses here is about 150 USD. per bike if the owner of the bike is together with us while clearing customs in İstanbul..All will be paid here except Egypt customs and crating expenses which will be paid in Egypt.
On the Egyptian side,you must do customs formalities yourself.Then we can transfer the bike to our club garage so that you can do some maintaince and fixings yourself here.This is friendsly and free offer.

If this will be a solution,can arrange to pick your bikes, too.

Or a UK.biker has just done U.A.E. to İstanbul through İran and Iraq.John has written his valuable experiences on HU, too

Best Wishes

hi Roro
sorry mate i just saw your post
well the border is working again ,had some clashes there
every one say its not the right moment to go through ,
there is a German biker friend now on in Libya coming from Tunisia will try to get feed back from hem
im sure it will be ok if you stay in the secured hotel areas ,
cheers

crossing Libia 20/04/2012
 

Hi,

We ve just arrived in Tunis after crossing Libia from Egypt.

We got transit visa in Cairo, cost us only 100EGP and nos escort at all.

It was amazing, i wrote a post here

http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...ed-libia-63965

cheers

Carlos

your travel videos
 

Is Israel an option? Any open borders? can any one help me...

Asad, the only open border between Egypt and Israel is the one in Taba, crossing to Elat on the Israeli side. From Israel, though, the only option is to send your bike / car with Grimaldi to Italy, either to Venice or to Salerno.

Greetings
Achim

Wadi we may take you up on this offer!!! We are leaving UK to go to Dubai via Libya, Egypt and KSA on the 22nd September!!!!

Geoff: how so?
 

geoff0911; give us a hint as to how you are doing this UK to Dubai connection via Libya on Sept 22.

Libyan visa, tourist or business?

Car or motorbike?

Welcome ...
Cheers

Thanks so much, we will be back in Cairo in Oct to try and get the bikes out. I will know then which way, either Libya or ferry out to Turkey.

Is it not an option to go to Isreal and then ship to Turkey?

This is an old thread and our message is dated april.22...Things change so fast in this area..
Since last 3-4 months,ferry available between port sait and mersin(TR)..More cheaper for bikers and paperwork fast and cheap on Turkey side and no crating.You will travel together with your bike...

More details are in the forum files written by Bert Houben 2 months ago who has done it first by bike..

Best Wishes

That is good news!

I read this story on ADVrider. It seems the Egypt side is going to be a nightmare.

Into the World - 2Up Romanian adventure through Africa and beyond - Page 23 - ADVrider

Is it not possible to rather go to Israel and ship to Turkey?

I've been checking that one, but that ferry from Haifa to Cyprus is not very well known... so does it still exist? LonelyP mentions it, but our Dutch Embassy in Tel Aviv never heard of it.
With Israeli stamps in your passport, you will not be allowed into Syria at all, besides the issues in that country nowadays.

I hope to find out whether it exists, because I would prefer that route. (after Libia-Tunisia-Italy).

The ferry to Turkey, I hear very different stories about it. Some are lucky, some wait 14 days to get on it and pay hundres of Euro's to get out of %$#@$-Egypt.

It seems from Egypt there are only two ways. Go Libya, Tunisia and Europe. Or ship from Port Siad, which is a nightmare or go to Israel and ship form there to Turkey.

The Libya embassy in South Africa told me it's okay to go through Libya and no issues with escorts and such.