"Next week we shall make our way back to N'Djamena and then head to Southern Chad, cross into CAR and hopefully transit to Sudan and Uganda. "
What a big trip! Let's know some details,please.
RR

Hi Roro, We went at a slightly faster than planned pace in the end and have already arrived in Nairobi for some minor repairs, where it is easier to get done than in Uganda. We were quite rapid in our transit of Chad for security reasons, and we were also fairly quick through CAR (it took us 20 days in total) to get from Bangui to the Sudan border, and then it was a fairly quick journey down to Uganda. We will head back to Uganda tomorrow and spend Christmas at the shore of Lake Victoria, for some peace hopefully. If you want to know anything more about our trip, just ask, I will be happy to answer any questions about it. After the new year, we'll take a slow pace down the east coast to Cape Town.

Thanks Trans-African.
And what about crossing these borders? Formalities?
Racket or some others hassle?
Are you alone (no guide) to cross Tchad?
Have a nice trip!

RR

RORO,
The Chad-CAR border was very slow, about 6 hours. This was mainly as they didn't have a clue what they were supposed to do (CAR side) and had to contact someone else in another town. Other than the delays, it was ok.

The CAR-Sudan border was also very slow, it took us about 4 hours one day, then they dissapeared and then it took a further 4 or so hours the next morning. The CAR side was awful, we were threatened with guns on 2 occasions and were extorted left right and centre. You are made to feel as though there is little choice but to pay up. The Sudan side was much nicer, we were offered tea and happily pointed in the right direction. Forget about Carnets in CAR, they barely knew what to do with a passport, let alone anything more than that. Sudan knew what they were doing, albeit they were slow.

The Sudan-Uganda border was much quicker than the rest at 2 hours, and most of that was chatting to the guards. Carnet was stamped into Uganda, no problems.

We would not attempt this route again, and be under no illusion, it was not exactly pleasant. In Chad we only really experienced small scale corruption amongst officials. In CAR though, we were ripped off by everyone we came across, except for a few Missionaries. We were constantly cautious about who we approached etc. We were followed by bandits for (what seemed like) a good while, about 50km out of Bangui. They were shouting at us in an aggressive manner and one of them fired shots into the air. We have no idea why they decided to turn around, as they could have quite easilly overtaken our large vehicle in their pickup, despite the rutted road, although we are just thankful they went away.

There are quite alot of checkpoints along the route, and we got ripped off at all of them. The presence of guns if quite intimidating at times, especially when they get a bit agressive. Neither of us have any notable command of the French language, and in hindsight, this was very fourtunate, as on many occasions we were able to leave a situation because we didn't have a clue what was being said etc. At the border with Sudan, we refused to pay a demand for US$1000 and were threatened with guns (counting to 3 in an ultimatum style to get us to pay), this happened twice. In the end we paid $100 and they were satisfied. We have heard stories similar to this from other travellers in the region, and have now witnessed first hand how hostile it is in this area. In Sudan we were not hasseled like we were in CAR, there were no requests for bribes, and the gaurds were friendly so we offered them to take lunch with us, and we had a good time. The locals in the southern region were not too friendly, and my wife had a fistful of pebbles thrown at her by a small child, whilst it's mother looked on in approval (luckilly the child was not too forceful). Other than that, there were no major problems for us.

I would certainly not reccomend this route unless you are prepared to put up and deal with all of what I have described above. All in all, I think we were ripped off by about $1500-2000 from leaving Chad to arriving in Uganda. I will write this up into a report with pictures over Christmas and post it up somewhere, and include more detail on a day-to-day basis.

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Trans African

Thanks Trans-african for your report.
I won't try CAR with these conditions.
Why have you choose CAR and not directly across Tchad to go to Soudan?
(may be it's worse or forbidden due to Darfour problems).
RR.

Border between Chad and Darfur seems to be open for tourists again. Just read a report of some Germans that drove Abeche-Nyala-Obeid last month. Do not have details (yet).

Sounds positively charming as I sit here and contemplate my route plan across Central Africa on a bicycle. I shall be pedalling to Yaounde in the coming week to apply for a visa for CAR and DRC, the idea being to cross from Bangui into DRC and head east towards Kisangani. My thread here http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...l-me-its-54509 doesn't get any rosy replies, although no-one here has actually travelled in this region. Your crossing through CAR sounds a bit stressful and gives the impression that one doesn't get the sympathy vote when showing up on a bicycle.

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thebigafricacycle.com

Thanks for sharing your experience. Certainly not many people have done that route in the last 20 years. Look forward to reading about it in more detail. Are you keeping a website?