Sudan to Europe in 4x4 how

[k974]

hi planning on driving cape town to ireland via the east african rout,

Given the cancellation of the alex- Venice ferry, and the current situation in Libya and Syria what is the best option for getting from Sudan to Europe(anywhere in Europe) with a 4x4 at the moment. Travelling on dual irish & australian passport dont mind going to israel if that is an option.

thanks for any advice you can give.

[Chris Scott]

If you're coming up the east side tol Sudan it depends a lot on when you get to that area, but I believe now you can go east across Chad to Niger - Chad is better than it's been, but I don't suppose it will be a walk in the park.
You can probably still get into northeastern Libya now, and without all the visa/escort hassle too. But whether it will be possible to continue west to Tunisia depends on how things pan out in the next couple of weeks/months. Plan on taking the Sirte bypass!
Middle East I dont know - eventually you will have to cross Syria overland.

Ch

[k974]

Originally Posted by Chris Scott

If you're coming up the east side tol Sudan it depends a lot on when you get to that area, but I believe now you can go east across Chad to Niger - Chad is better than it's been, but I don't suppose it will be a walk in the park.
You can probably still get into northeastern Libya now, and without all the visa/escort hassle too. But whether it will be possible to continue west to Tunisia depends on how things pan out in the next couple of weeks/months. Plan on taking the Sirte bypass!
Middle East I dont know - eventually you will have to cross Syria overland.

Ch

Thanks Chris,

Chad and Niger are out unfortunately, i'm having enough trouble convincing the girlfriend its safe to go on the well travel path never mind those countries, pity.

is there any way of sailing from Egyt now or from israel even, how are the people going london-cape town or vice versa planing on doing it now.

thanks for your reply appreicate it.

[roamingyak.org]

I'm in the same situation. Currently in Tanzania.

I'm looking at going from Sudan to Saudi, then UAE (and Oman) and then ferry to Iran.

'Problems' with this idea:

- You can get a 3 day transit in Khartoum (probably, only place that will issue them by the way, probably) but you will need to prove that you are married else she will need to fly.
- If you have a RHD vehicle then they will 66% likely make you put it on the back of a truck and you get to pay $600-700 for this (to transit the country as RHD are not allowed). 2 out of 3 people I have heard of have had to do this.
- Details of the ferry to Iran are hard to find and I heard it was about $1,000 and stressful. Other threads on this on this site, waiting for an update hopefully soon.

An alternative is to transit Saudi to Kuwait and try a ferry from there to Iran (Iran is a really nice country by the way). Also heard of people putting their 4x4 on a large dhowl to Oman. Definately ferries going, but will they manage a 4x4 with roofrack. Seems Iran is a also a little fussy about how and where you turn up, ie: not on a Cargo ship unannounced.

Also heard from sandlover.org that there is a ferry from Israel to Europe?

If you haven't even started by now I'd say by the time you get up that way that Syria or Libya will have changed significantly from the current situations and maybe it won't be a problem. Maybe all 'Westerns' will get a 90 day visa at the border of Libya free of charge with a few cups of mint tea and a friendly welcome??? ;p If so there may also be a power vacuum and maybe an increase in crime etc

Exciting times Glad to see the East Coast is throwing up a few challenges as well as the West Coast ;p

[k974]

Originally Posted by roamingyak.org

I'm in the same situation. Currently in Tanzania.

I'm looking at going from Sudan to Saudi, then UAE (and Oman) and then ferry to Iran.

'Problems' with this idea:

- You can get a 3 day transit in Khartoum (probably, only place that will issue them by the way, probably) but you will need to prove that you are married else she will need to fly.
- If you have a RHD vehicle then they will 66% likely make you put it on the back of a truck and you get to pay $600-700 for this (to transit the country as RHD are not allowed). 2 out of 3 people I have heard of have had to do this.
- Details of the ferry to Iran are hard to find and I heard it was about $1,000 and stressful. Other threads on this on this site, waiting for an update hopefully soon.

An alternative is to transit Saudi to Kuwait and try a ferry from there to Iran (Iran is a really nice country by the way). Also heard of people putting their 4x4 on a large dhowl to Oman. Definately ferries going, but will they manage a 4x4 with roofrack. Seems Iran is a also a little fussy about how and where you turn up, ie: not on a Cargo ship unannounced.

Also heard from sandlover.org that there is a ferry from Israel to Europe?

If you haven't even started by now I'd say by the time you get up that way that Syria or Libya will have changed significantly from the current situations and maybe it won't be a problem. Maybe all 'Westerns' will get a 90 day visa at the border of Libya free of charge with a few cups of mint tea and a friendly welcome??? ;p If so there may also be a power vacuum and maybe an increase in crime etc

Exciting times Glad to see the East Coast is throwing up a few challenges as well as the West Coast ;p

Thanks for the reply, ya its not until this time next yr so things may have changed by then who knows, i looked up couldnt find any option for a ferry from israel which would be the easies solution, people say the ferry from Egypt is suspended others say its gone forever anyone know?

[roamingyak.org]

Ferry from Israel would be ok, ferry to Israel would cause you problems getting into a few countries etc afterwards. Worth noting!

See the thread in the Sahara section about the ferry, lets not rehash things here.

Something will be possible when you do it, others like me will have suffered to open up some kind of path ;p

[itchyfeet38]

Like Roaming Yak we are on our way back to Europe - though we are currently in Egypt so will have to find a solution sooner rather than later.

Two sets of friends traveling ahead of us have transited Syria within the last few weeks (a 6/7 hour & 500km dash over motorway network). A couple of overland trucks we have met are also planning to cross next month (albeit without their guests). But we will have to check the situation in a few weeks time. Also currently trying to find out likelihood of getting visas at the Jordan border (we are Brits).

If Syria is not looking possible we will most likely take the Grimaldi ferry from Haifa to Italy (various ports). Frustratingly this goes via Turkey which we really don't want to miss) but no possibility of loading/off-loading a car. Of course as Roaming Yak says coming the other way an Israeli stamp in your passport may give you issues.

Finally we could put the car in a container from Alex :-(

We will post how/what we did ...

In the meantime if anyone has any other good ideas please shout!

[k974]

Originally Posted by itchyfeet38

Like Roaming Yak we are on our way back to Europe - though we are currently in Egypt so will have to find a solution sooner rather than later.

Two sets of friends traveling ahead of us have transited Syria within the last few weeks (a 6/7 hour & 500km dash over motorway network). A couple of overland trucks we have met are also planning to cross next month (albeit without their guests). But we will have to check the situation in a few weeks time. Also currently trying to find out likelihood of getting visas at the Jordan border (we are Brits).

If Syria is not looking possible we will most likely take the Grimaldi ferry from Haifa to Italy (various ports). Frustratingly this goes via Turkey which we really don't want to miss) but no possibility of loading/off-loading a car. Of course as Roaming Yak says coming the other way an Israeli stamp in your passport may give you issues.

Finally we could put the car in a container from Alex :-(

We will post how/what we did ...

In the meantime if anyone has any other good ideas please shout!

Thanks we are planning on going south to north, not worred bout entering israel as we both hold dual irish and australian passports.

i've just spent a while searching google and cant find any route from haifa to italy.

[roro]

Originally Posted by itchyfeet38

Like Roaming Yak we are on our way back to Europe - though we are currently in Egypt so will have to find a solution sooner rather than later.

Two sets of friends traveling ahead of us have transited Syria within the last few weeks (a 6/7 hour & 500km dash over motorway network). A couple of overland trucks we have met are also planning to cross next month (albeit without their guests). But we will have to check the situation in a few weeks time. Also currently trying to find out likelihood of getting visas at the Jordan border (we are Brits).

If Syria is not looking possible we will most likely take the Grimaldi ferry from Haifa to Italy (various ports). Frustratingly this goes via Turkey which we really don't want to miss) but no possibility of loading/off-loading a car. Of course as Roaming Yak says coming the other way an Israeli stamp in your passport may give you issues.

Finally we could put the car in a container from Alex :-(

We will post how/what we did ...

In the meantime if anyone has any other good ideas please shout!

Hi,
Don't you mind abot this solution?
I've heard several times that people who have sent their car via containers had problems with that: stealing things in the car, some others broken...
What is your opinion?

RR

[itchyfeet38]

K947

Both the Adriatic and Agean lines might work for you:

Grimaldi Group

A friend on a motorbike caught it a couple of weeks back to it's definitely still running.

RR

That's why we'd prefer to avoid it.

[k974]

Hi i got the following quote for the Giramndi lines thru their bookiung agent in new zealand very fast and professional response too by the booking agent,



We can never offer boarding from Egypt.......... the corruption from there makes life impossible.
but I could offer from Ashdod to Italy
the cost is € 368.00 for the car and € 586 for you 5 days
or
from Ashdod to Cork € 480 for the car and € 1339.00 for you - 14 days
How's that?
Schedule wise there is a sailing every week usually on a Saturday
Cheers
Hamish


now to from Egypt to Ashod, anyone see and potential problems with that?

[Titbird]

My friends are just home via that route, check:
Home is where we are... and we are home!

[lantern]

Originally Posted by k974

how are the people going london-cape town or vice versa planing on doing it now.

thanks for your reply appreicate it.

Here's a link to a London to Cape Town Rally and they also seem to be having difficulties. http://www.londoncapetownrally.com/route.html Check out Jan 4th to 12th.

[DaveSmith]

Unless you're Arabic, it's very hard to get a travel visa for Saudi. Even a transit visa is hard.

I've offered to put up a couple of HU (I think that's how they found me) couch surfers. They were told "no problem" by the Saudi embassies up until they actually tried to get one.

Good luck! And if it works, let me know how.

-Dave