Shipping 4x4 from West Africa to South Africa?
 

Intimidated by the London Sudan Embassy's flat assertion that the border with Chad is shut, and somewhat by Chris' opinion of a Range Rover Tdi's dune-cresting abilities http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/ubb/smile.gif, We're wondering about skirting the edge of West Africa, then turning off at say Ghana/Nigeria/Cameroon and shipping the vehicle to South Africa. Then we can drive back up the east side.

Any experience/suggestions will be hugely appreciated.

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Depending on your route, I'm not sure where you would actually expect to meet big dunes which you "have" to cross. YOu can travel through alot of West and Central Africa and not come across any big dunes. There are quite a few small dunes but you don't even need to go over these. People take battered old 2 wheel drive cars and get through so a Rangie would have no problems. Whilst one can get into discussiones on whether its better or worse than other 4x4s, it shouldn't have any problems in terms of capability.

Also there seems to be suggestions that the Sudanese border with Chad will open again. The European Embassies often seem to give out more negative information than what is actually happening there. Keep an eye of the other posts.

If you do want to ship, probably going out of Ghana, Togo or Benin are probably your best bets. I've heard of others shipping from there. Also heard of others shipping from Gabon and Nigeria but they seemed to have more problems. I haven't shipped from there, we drove through in a 110 TDI Defender, so just going on what I heard other travellers say.

[This message has been edited by Toby2 (edited 16 July 2003).]

Ref London's Sudan embassy: IMHO I haven't come across a more lame excuse for a methane generating operation on this planet. It would be more useful to get your advise on anything Sudan-related anywhere (incl. McD in High St Kenn, a crystal ball etc.) than their diplomatic 'mission' in London.
Good luck
ChrisB

I have some useful this-minute details, for anyone interested. Thanks to Vicky Tubb for her input:

. Several shipping lines connect West Africa to Southern Africa, including OT Africa Line.
. There's apparently a Roll On -Roll Off service operated by Nile Dutch - 00 31 10 281 8283
. Maersk Sealand ship from Ghana (Benin or Togo) to Walvis Bay, Namibia.Transit time is 24 days from ghana, 27 days from benin. Cost is $1800/3250 per 20'/40' dry container bunker, adjustment factor $50/100 per 20'/40' dry container. They do not have provision for passengers on board.

Hello
in April 2004 we shipped our Land Cruiser from Tema Ghana to Durban with Supermaritime Ghana. No problems. Cost: USD 1000 plus harbour fees of USD 400 in Durban with Access Freight.
Beat

As stated above, by the time you get to Cameroon you've already done most if not all of your dune driving. As for Sudan visa, check out my posting elsewhere on the hub. I have details of a very friendly gentleman in Khartoum who arranged for our Sudan visas coming from Chad last Dec. Sudanese embassy in Holland had declined our request for the same reasons.

In short: I don't think you should spend all that money on shipping for the reasons you're quoting.

Cheers,
Camiel

www.amsterdam2capetown.com

I believe the folks at http://www.tifua.com/ shipped their bikes with a car from Cameroun to Kenya, so I guess from there to Cape Town would be possible.

Also heard of overlanders shipping from Banjul to Cape Town. Camping Sukuta would be a good place to start asking.

we shipped from banjul and cost was $1000 to durban in a 20' container. check out gambia shipping in banjul. helpful and reliable. we shared the container with 2 motor cycles so this cost was better for all concerened. the cost of clearance in south africa was a bit of a shock about another $400.
we have met a couple who did the similar from ghana and costs were $800 for the container and about the same for the clearance. for us the roll on roll off was a possibility but we could not travel on the ship and we felt the security of the vehicle was a problem. if you do ship then you also should consider the cost of flying. from gambia you can fly to amsterdam for 280 euros and then get a cheap flight to S.A from ghana your flights may cost you $1000 to SA.
hope some of this is of help...jack.