Carnet question.
 

Hi.

The plann is to ride home to Europe from Zanzibar in the beginning of 2009 when my work is finished here (I hope)
Reading about carnet´s have me a little bit confused:confused1: Some sites/threads say that it´s a must have,while other say that it´s not. What I can see is that it seems like less and less countries "officialy" requier them.
Do´s this mean that I most likely will be approched by customs officials asking for a carnet just to get some cash on the side,even tough it officialy does´nt exict anymore?
Knowing Africa I suspect I will have pay no mather what documents I have :cool4:

Tom.

carnet
 

for travelling through Africa it is best to have a carnet.

approach Paul Gowen at the RAC for further information. He is extremely helpful - if a bit overloaded with work. there are many options for travelling without a carnet. but this often means quite a bit of form filling in and 'additional' costs. Most borders are now used to the carnet system and how it works.

So far I second that
 

I'm currently in Bamako enroute to SA hopefully.

For the two bordercrossings that I have had to deal with so far, it seems to me that having a carnet just paves the way a bit easier than if you haven't gotten one. I won't go as far as to say that you HAVE to have it. Plenty of travellers I have met, say that it isn't necessary and it's just as easy without. I'd disagree a little. It's not just as easy, but it CAN be done. And so far I don't think it has ever been an actuall requirement. As I said, it just lets you slip through without filling out too much paperwork.

I don't know the situation further down, or the countries that you will be visiting, but if I had to make a choice, I'd say get one. If the customs officer at the particular border doesn't know what to do with it (chances are that he does, though) then just don't use it for that particular country.

That's the best advice I can give with my limited experience so far.

All the best

Torsten

Keep on rolling Thor.....don't stop for anything. Every kilometre you do is good news...