Hi,
You can forget Morocco to Egypt i'm afraid, apart from anything else the Morocco - Alg border has been closed for a very long time.
Even before the Sahara went properly tits up, it wounldn't have been possible, now......even less so.
Have a good read through posts in the Sahara section and check out Chris' site
Sahara Overland ~ Trans Sahara Routes

There's a good reason people try to arrive directly in Egypt to start the east route, although this hasn't got any easier lately, it's still the lesser of all evils.

Good luck with you planning/reading

Sam

Know all about Morocco/Algeria before- it is the same for a bloke riding a bicycle as well and I did do a bit of research before starting that trip -unfortunately my body wasn't as well informed! As stated above realise the algeria/morocco border has been closed - but it was possible to backtrack into spain and get ferry in to algeria - then I understood you could get through to Tunisa - maybe this is not possible now?
Heard that people where getting 7 day transit visa's across Libya - so yes it was possible to get across almost most of North Africa - didn't a french son and father do it in a citroen? (maybe I have missed the 'window'?) Egypt to Algeria then to spain and hey Morocco is easy.

I have been looking at the Sahara forum very closely but still have questions - things change so quickly. It seems getting straight to Egypt is not easy now as well - and to be honest don't really want to do it that way!

Only problem I have now is that it is a damn site more expensive to pack a motorbike on a plane if you have to bypass certain countries if it all goes tits up. Maybe should say F..k Africa and do South/North America instead - but want to give it a go first and not give up before I even get out of the door!

The only open road to enter Africa from North is ferry between Mersin(Turkey) and Port Sait (EG).

There is a current thread about this in forums.

Wish you all the best.

Is this entirely corrrect? - I have read about people still getting through Libya and wasn't there another ferry from Israel I think I read about? (but I geuss having an Israeli stamp in your passport that early in a journey wouldn't help things later)and there is still the 'western' route?

Entering Israel borders means you cannot enter in Sudan there ....

RR.

Before Mersin -> Egypt came on the scene (i've lost track with that one) I recall reading about Turkey -> North Cyprus then Cyprus (N or S?) -> Israel and from there overland -> Egypt and so on.

Reading your OP I would drop Morocco and Algeria - great in their own right but not worth the expense/bother just to tick off all the North Af coast. Instead ferry Genoa-Tunis (Tunisia is no prob), do the Libyan border near Nalut, organising a helper there at least, if not an escort right across.

As Cam J says elsewhere:
so your 80s despatching skills may come in useful + of course keep your wits about you in general.

Egypt crossing had streamlined a bit I was told. Need to return number plate or get something cancelled in last Libyan town back from the border. From Egypt proceed as normal.

Ethiopia visa: if it doesnt work in Cairo get it in Khartoum. Ethiopia might get shaky with the recent death of the hardline PM, but you cross that bridge when you come to it.
Back home it's easy to contemplate add-ons like Somalia, but unless you are a very worldly traveller I suspect by the time you get to Ethiopia you may well have a plateful just keeping up. Peace may have broken out in Mogadishu and good luck to them, but that's one shot-up capital in a big country. What does anyone know about overland tourism there - no one's done it for 30+ years.

Suppose I will need to contact the Embassies in London rather than getting visas on the way - which means less flexibilty.

Not really:
Tuni - Not needed
Libya - Organise in UK, see other posts
Egypt - Needed now, right? Get in UK
Sudan - Get in Cairo
Eth - Cairo or Khartoum
And from Kenya south they're all border jobbies apart from Burundi and Moz, afaik.

Ch

PS: I see you just ordered the book. You will actually find it useful for trans-Af routes + by the time you get it will be a better departure time anyway.

Hi Chris,

Road trough Lybia is a good option (I'm considering it for March 2013), but now the main problem is to obtain the Lybian visa (I know it's now possible to get an expensive business visa) and another one is to not have the border posts with Tunisia not closed for westerner tourists.
Have you accurate infos about these points?
RR.

To get in overland I understand you must bite the bullet and buy the expensive business invite visa.

Last info I had is secondhand from May, but in the other direction:

Yes we had a fantastic trip trough Libya -
The visa agency Temehu picked us up at the Egypt / Libya border and took us trough immigration and customs in less than a minute and not paying any road or fuel taxand not even using our Carnet.
We crossed Libya in 6 days - experiencing great Libyan welcome - several times people payed for our food or fuel.

IMO the key is to use an agency helper - they can talk the border guys around as I suspect there are no fixed rules at the moment for overlanders. Or if there are then they are locally imposed, otherwise officials can overlook them in a way they'd not dare in the old days.

I think the occasional bombings and so on will stay for a while. It's no worse than Pakistan and people cross there regularly (admittedly with a police escort between Iran and India).

Ch