Sudan to Egypt via Argeen (west of Nile)
3 months ago I drove on a new road from Dongola (Northern Sudan) to Abu Simbel, on the west side of the Nile. Perfect asfalt, for 501 km. All through the Saharian desert, with no gas stations nor other facilities. This road wasn't in the maps, GPS, maps.me, ...., in February 2017. Even the police, in a "station" 1 kilometer from the intersection to the road, knew it. Once you are in Dongola, don't cross the Nile. Head north in the same road that took you there.
There is a new border between Sudan and Egypt in Argeen (Arjeen?). 361 km from Dongola and 140 from Abu Simbel.
We got fuel at the border, with the nice guy that runs the cafeteria. He also bought us lunch. It's a 24X7 boarder, although the Egypcian side isn't open all the time, at least for those coming from Sudan. We were told it usually opens around 14:00, about the time they let us in. It took us 3 hours to get out of Sudan and 4 hours to get in Egypt. In the sudanese drama the officials did everything for us, while we had lunch, got fuel, changed money, slept, and so on. In Egypt it's just very burocratic. Their english is not the best and there are many, many, many forms and procedures that need/should be performed. But it's all about being patient.
I hope I've covered everything important in this subject. It's much easier riding this road than having to go to Wadi Halfa and crossing the Lake Nasser, in any point.
Last edited by Chris Scott; 25 Sep 2017 at 17:11.
|