From Cairo, Egypt to Nairobi, Kenya - June, 1997

Shipping the bike by air from Cairo to Nairobi was an experience - not to be repeated. Cost wasn't too bad, about US$1170 for the crated bike at a total weight of 550 kilos.

Price was Egyptian pounds 4.4 per kilogram. Exchange was EP 1.00 to US$0.30.

Plan on doing most of the planning and organising, part of the building of the crate and supervise their guys carefully. They work hard but don't understand the strength required for big bikes.

The problem is that Egyptian customs won't stamp the carnet until the bike is actually IN THE AIR - and of course you want to be on that same plane. Problem. After a day and a half of wrangling (I will be writing that story someday and posting it - update - see our Egypt page, link on left - home, our story) I finally got a Colonel in the Tourist Police at the airport to come to customs and help - it took another two hours with his assistance to get the carnet stamped. Note that all during this day and a half the bike was in the customs impound area at the airport. The fact that we couldn't get it back was irrelevant - it had to be in the air and irrevocably gone before they would risk stamping the carnet. They even offered to stamp the carnet and mail it to Nairobi for us! Yeah right. Like I was born yesterday.

Flights worked out at US$1550 for the two of us.

Landing in Nairobi is straightforward, somebody will try to get you to hire them to do the customs clearance for you - it's normal to do so, but clear with them what their charges will be - don't take "not much" for an answer - and how long it will take and how much in "tips" to get it through. Expect US$100+ if you want it in a few hours, as in sometime today. You can try yourself, but it's pretty chaotic and you don't know who and how much to "tip," although you can probably figure it out eventually.

Uncrating the bike is easy - let it be known that you don't want the crate and it will disappear in seconds before your eyes - they will do all the uncrating.