East Coast of Africa. South to North

[jimmyha]

Hoping to do the east coast staring in April. I've nearly finished riding the west coast, struggling a bit with either dated visa info or just north to south.

By the sounds of things I only need to worry about Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopian visas.

Does anyone know the best way of getting them? Which embassies are more relaxed, costs etc?

Hoping it's easier than DRC, Angola etc!


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[Wazungu]

With the exception of Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt (and possibly Mozambique) visas are available at land borders for most nationals.

For Ethiopia when heading north, you need to courier your passport back to your home country in order to obtain a visa. Once you have that visa, you can get the Sudan visa in Nairobi. Egypt can be obtained in Nairobi as well, or, possibly Addis or Khartoum. For details on obtaining these visas, go to the blog of Stan Weakley at Slow Donkey | Slow donkey through Africa - although they are South Africans, the same holds true for all other nationals in obtaining visas for Ethiopia and Sudan.

This question is better posted on the South African overlander forum at 4x4 Community Forum - Powered by vBulletin

We came north to south so it was different for us as regards Sudan and Ethiopian visas.

[jimmyha]

Thanks for your help. In that case I think sadly I'll have to give it a miss due to that Ethiopia visa.

I'll probably ride to Kenya then fly back to the UK from there.


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[navalarchitect]

I'm most of the way through a south- north trip at the moment and the followingg is my experience (Australian passport holder)
- all visas from South Africa upto Tanzania (including Mozambique) available at border.
- Kenya now requires you to use their online system to pre organise their visa
- East Africa Tourist Visa (3 month multi entry) is now available covering Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya and at $100 it is half the price of buying the three separately - but first entry has to be which ever country you bought it from. For Rwanda you can pre organise on line, the other two countries require an embassy visit in one of your preceding countries (and for Kenya at least not all embassies are currently able to issue this visa )
- Ethiopia. The advice that you must get it from your own home country is largely true. However the Nairobi embassy is known to occasionally make exceptions if you are willing to be politely persistent. Last week I met a Dutch man who had succeeded there- but it took him a week and a half of stress.
- Sudan. Full tourist visa (1 month) can be obtained in Nairobi but process is slow and requires a letter of invitation which has to be obtained from a Sudanese travel agency at some cost and time. I met one person in Nairobi for whom the whole process took nearly 3 weeks (not certain if he had any special issues causing delay). Alternative is to get 2 week transit visa, these are issued quite quickly without a letter of invitation required, but do need you to get Egyptian visa first. Not certain about their availability in Nairobi, I got mine in Ethiopia.
Egypt. I was advised by another traveler that the Nairobi Egyptian embassy wouldn't issue him one and simply told him to get it at the embassy in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. I didn't check to see if that was correct but simply followed that advice.

Getting the Egyptian and Sudanese transit visa in Addis takes one week, 3 days for the Egyptian followed by 2 days for the Sudanese, so you can do it Monday to Friday.

Hope this helps

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[Wazungu]

Visas for Kenya are still issued manually at all points of entry including land borders. They are introducing an e-visa system, but for the foreseeable future manual visas will be issued in conjunction with the e-visa system. I know this as I have done it in the past few months and have had communications both with the Kenya High Commission in London and various highly placed contacts in Kenya.

The East African visa (Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda) can be obtained at Kenyan embassies and high commissions and, I am told, at a land border and, I presume, at the other countries' embassies.

Not all border posts for Mozambique guarantee that they will issue visas.

I am told that in order to get an Ethiopian visa in Nairobi, you need to be a Kenya resident. Otherwise you have to send your passport back to your home country.

[lorraine]

Mozambique likes a letter of recommendation.
Do not make the mistake and miss Uganda. One of the few countries that allow you to ride in their game parks.

[Ride Far]

Ethiopian visa is not especially difficult... via DHL I shipped in second passport and application materials from Dar es Salaam to Ethiopian embassy in Washington DC (I'm American) and picked up approved visa in Nairobi.

Lot of mentions of Egypt visas from various consulates... but aren't they available on demand at border posts for most nationalities? They are for Americans... got an Egypt visa at the Wadi Halfa, Sudan, border last week, $25, easy.