Hello all,

New to this forum, any help would be much appreciated..

Both my self and my other half are planning to ride from the UK to Tanzania in 2021. We're currently looking at ways of crossing from Turkey to Egypt. Has anyone attempted this in the last year or so ?

Hoped for a ferry crossing to Alexandria but it looks like this isn't an option but I could be wrong.

Open to alternative routes

Any advise would be much appreciated.

Hi Patrick

I have a plan for doing that route myself, sadly no where near as soon as 2021.

The route I was planning on doing requires a non-British/American/Canadian passport as I am planning on going through Iran. Fortunately I am an Irish citizen. The route is one of two depending on regional conditions.

Turkey
Iran (this is where the Irish passport is needed)
Then comes the choice of:

Iraq...........or.......... United Arab Emirates by ferry from Bandar Abbās to Sharjah
Jordan.....................Saudi Arabia
Egypt......................Jordan (I am NOT missing Petra)
..............................Egypt

There are pluses and minuses for both routes - Iraq is still unsettled and may remain that way for some time but is reasonably direct, via UAE is longer but you see more of Iran and you go through Saudi Arabia.

Personally, I am currently leaning towards going via UAE so that I can see more of Iran.

The biggest stumbling block may be your passport to go through Iran. People can go through Iran on a British/American/Canadian but they need guides which cost money and may reduce your freedom to wander.

As a complete alternative it is possible to get a ferry to Israel from Greece and to go from there into Egypt but that has the potential to disrupt your passage into Sudan. The biggest issue with that is that it is not for passengers so you put your vehicle onto the ferry and then have to fly to Israel - this gets to be expensive.

Grimaldi has a passenger-and-vehicle ferry from Salerno to Ashdod in Israel.

Also note that Egypt has been known to ban motorcycle traffic in the Sinai. Seems to be inconsistent when it applies and when it doesn't, but something to check in advance anyway.

Here is a good read - how others did it recently - in the drivable way (Israel), before corona:


https://www.4x4tripping.com/2020/03/...-ostroute.html

Surfy

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Jay-Benson, AnTyx, & Surfy thank you very much for the feed back,

Much appreciated - As to the Iran question, we're traveling on one UK passport & one Tanzanian passport, we'd be willing to travel with a guide if it means seeing Iran, how ever on this trip we are governed by time to a degree, we both have to be back in Tz for work purposes, so looking at the options at the moment we might have to bite the bullet and airfreight the bike an gear from Turkey to Egypt....

The other option looks like Israel, I'll follow up on the advice and see how best we can get the bike there, either via Greece instead of Turkey ect.

Theres a ferry from iskenderun turkey, to Duba Saudi Arabia. It is a 3-4 day trip a bit pricey! From Duba theres another ferry that crosses into Egypt at that same port. Both car, motorcycle, and passenger ferries.

I'll also mention something, though don't rely on this option very much... A friend of mine works for an NGO in Jordan, and apparently the Syrian (Damascus) government is super keen on promoting tourism in the areas it controls. Which is the southwest corner of the country, possibly also the west coast as well (my friend mentioned that with a neutral passport, it's entirely possible to go see the Crac des Chevaliers these days). So depending on the situation, it may be viable to take a ferry from Nuweiba in Egypt to Aqaba in Jordan, cross up into government-controlled Syria and get all the way up to the seaside Turkish border.

Again: a very dodgy option.