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What do you take to Africa? What do you take to Africa?
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Travellers' questions that don't fit anywhere else This is an opportunity to ask any question, and post any notice you wish that doesn't fit into one of the other sections.
Photo by Ellen Delis, Lagunas Ojos del Campo, Antofalla, Catamarca

I haven't been everywhere...
but it's on my list!


Photo by Ellen Delis,
Lagunas Ojos del Campo,
Antofalla, Catamarca



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  #1  
Old 30 Mar 2013
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What do you take to Africa?
We, my wife and I, are going to Africa, Cape Town, and back in 2014/5. I have been looking at visas and I am rather worried about the cost. Has anyone any idea what they cost to do the whole trip? And how much is the carnet?
Silly questions but I am just planning the trip and need to know.
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  #2  
Old 31 Mar 2013
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Location: Australia
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Costs?

If you are worried by the cost of the visas .. you will be in shock by the cost of the carnet.

Please read the blue bar thingys across the top of the page ... it tells you things like

Paperwork | Horizons Unlimited

saves the rest of us retyping the same things again and again...

OK?

If you are planning on shipping in and out of the same country then you have the possibility of buying a bike and selling there - saving costs of shipping .. and possibly carnet.. depending on where you go.

You will need to provide more details if you want more answers ;
Where are you from (country)? Or more correctly what country your bike is registered in...
Where you are thinking of going (countries)?
What you want to see?
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  #3  
Old 31 Mar 2013
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It is not the easiest question to answer at the best of times but you have told us nothing about yourself and little about your proposed trip, type of vehicle two wheels or four, length of trip even where you are from all make a difference to cost.
Here is something of a breakdown from a couple of years ago for travel with a 4wd http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...l-africa-57058 use the search facility in the top right hand corner and there will be more, as Warin says check out the trip paperwork section for carnet and other costs.
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  #4  
Old 31 Mar 2013
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Hi,

The costs of Visa depends a lot from your nationality. People from the USA pay a lot more in african countrys then people from SA. For me as a European passport holder i payed more then 1000 Euro for visa in Africa and 0 Euro for Visa in Southamerica. To enter Egypt with arabic numberplates etc was the moast expensive on followed by Sudan with police registration and farry. 4 days Transith through Angola cost me 160 Euro + 3 Months of paperwork. Gaboun, Nigeria and Burkina Faso are 100 Euro each. The other countrys are around 50 Euros/Dollars and Southafrica and Namibia were free

http://www.adventure-travel-experien...en_transafrika

Enjoy it, Tobi
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  #5  
Old 22 Apr 2013
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Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Richmond, VA
Posts: 68
I find it odd the title is "What do you take to Africa?" - here I am expecting questions on clothing, etc ....nope! visa costs! and carnets!

Simple answer...plan your route and then check the emabssies/consulates of the countries through which you will be traveling and see what the costs are. They vary based on contry and based on your nationality. Some may even have no visa for you! - Lucky!

As far as carnets, same sort of deal...depends on the vehicle and if you do the guaratee option or the indemnity option. Go to your national automobile association - RAC for Britain, CAA for Canada and the US, etc. They have the breakdown in cost and application fees for you.

Sometimes the visa fees can be different in your home country vs on the road. For example, Somaliland charged 50 or 60 GBP for the visa if you got it in London, but if you got it in Addis Ababa it was only 50 USD. So, quite a nice discount by waiting.

This is where HUBB can be of great help as a lot of times visa costs aren't readily available online for foreign cities.

Hope that helps.
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  #6  
Old 25 Apr 2013
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We just did the transafrica over the westcoast by car, switzerland - capetown at the end of 2012.

We spend for 20`000km

1`500.- USD for visas each,
220.- USD for the Carnet,
3`600.- USD for Diesel fuel (used 16.55 Liter / 100km)

I dont know why the people here always say that the carnet is expensiv.

The rest of the trip is cheap (National Parks, Fees, Roadtax, Food).

We got severall Visas as "multiple entry" (more expensive) to be able to turn back for the case when the rainiseason dont allow to progress on the planned route. We optained all visas in our home country (switzerland).

Surfy
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  #7  
Old 26 Apr 2013
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Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Richmond, VA
Posts: 68
Just curious in regards to your carnet...
what was the value of the vehicle?
what country had the highest % of coverage demanded of the countries you drove through and what was it?
how much was the application fee?

Our application fee alone was 3x what you paid. it was $650. Even going for the indemnity option (10% of total premium), we still forked over $3500 or so. Granted, we were going through Egypt, but the vehicles were only valued at $1,000 USD.
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  #8  
Old 26 Apr 2013
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Each country is different.

We had a carnet for a UK registered vehicle valued at £3,000. To go through Egypt we needed to make a deposit of 8 times that ie £24,000.

Fees for issue were negligible in comparison - c. £200.

We could have got insurance instead but that would involve paying a premium of 10% ie £2,400 with only 50% refundable on safe return of the vehicle ie £1,200 lost.

Fees for the bank guarantee were around £200 a year.
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