gps/radio in africa allowed?

**lordmaciek2** · #1 29 Aug 2005

Helo,
Going to Cape Town in 12 days

))We will all have GPS-es and 144Mhz radios. Just wandering if it allowed to have these? ie. should I hide it before every police check / border? (thats what I did in Russia).

mac
http://motoafryka.prv.pl

**RichLees** · #2 29 Aug 2005

I didn't take a radio and had no issues with GPS. everyone on the east coast and through west africa was interested in the GPS and that might mean aggravation if you've got a bad cop. discretion always means less hassle!

**tifua** · #3 31 Aug 2005

Never had an issue with GPS in West/East/Southern Africa (travelling by m-bike with GPS mounted on dash so was quite obvious).

Heard rumours that some North/West African coutries consider Satelite phones and handheld 2-way radio's to be spy kit.

**Toby2** · #4 31 Aug 2005

We went trans africa through West / central / east africa and didn't have a problem with either radio or GPS. However it concerned, just tuck it away. Obviously much easier to do if you in a vehicle as apposed to on a bike.

**Matt Roach** · #5 8 Sep 2005

No problems with GPS on the east coast, although I know some other overlanders who had some hassle leaving Sudan because they hadn't included their GPS or laptop on their customs declaration.

I didn't declare mine, and it was handlebar mounted and had no problems, so maybe they just picked the wrong customs guy having a bad day.

**witt** · #6 27 Sep 2005

We travelled from London to Cape Town via West Africa and Cameroon - Namibia in 2004 with laptops, GPS, handheld radios, and a sat phone. The radios and GPS were in plain sight for all police checkpoints and border crossings. The sat phone and laptops were in their cases but we made to special effort to hide them. This gadgetry never caused any problems.

Witt