Ethiopia warning - Carnet is not enough
 

We are stuck at the Ethiopian border at gallabat.

They wont except our carnets without an additional letter from our Embassy in Addis to say they guarantee our bikes.

Our carnets have ethiopia on them.....

Email your embassy and get this letter with all your bike details on it. Kind of like a letter of invition.

British email: gelilawit.damena@fco.gov

That is most bizzare indeed!?! I've never had a problem at that crossing before. I've always done it in a 4x4 mind, but it is still ludicrous!

Official?
 

Is this definitely not a ruse to get some cash out of you?

I have tried the FCO / Home Office et al. The current "line" is that they are unaware of the issues and are unprepared to issue anything from the UK. ie as usual very helpful!

Looks like it will have to be done "locally"

Ted, keep us up to date and thanks for the warning.

Interesting this comes up so soon after getting an Ethiopian visa outside your home country becomes almost impossible.

The contact suggested:

gelilawit.damena@fco.gov.uk

(I have added the UK)

has been very been very helpful in the paperwork.

Where is the best place to get the visa now? I have Harare, Zim as the best place?!

We got through... Took us about four hours to get a pdf letter sent to us and printed. Totally relying on a guy with a laptop though. Otherwise its a 40km taxi ride to the next town and a 1-2 day stop over in NOWHERE !!

We ended up forging our letter for the kiwis but they got caught out and had to pay $50 usd each to let it slip.

They have NO WAY to check forgeries as long as they are good. Check your dates and details, they're not stupid... You shouldnt/wouldnt get into trouble for trying though. its only a small office with customs officials collecting A LOT of tourist bribed..

Our Brit friends got their letter in advance and sailed through with no issues or bribes this morning. Very fast and official..

Get the letter !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hey Ed ... Andre here on the F800 .... strange, we got through those customs, think 5 bikes and 1 land rover no problems quite late in the evening. It almost seemed like they wanted to go home and just quickly did all our stuff to let us go.

Glad you guys are through now, we are still in Kenya .. probably in Uganda early next week. Hope you guys catch up with us at some point .. ride safe, see you have had your fair share of problems already. Good luck on the Moyale road, my favourite part of the trip so far ;)

Hi there, we will be there in a few weeks. I am a British national, living in Australia, bought my bike in SA and has the carnet issued there. Am I supposed to be contacting the SA authorities or the British embassy in Nairobi? The email address mentioned above, the person is out of the office, not sure if on leve or not.

Thanks in advance all.

Maestro

If you're British or NZ (maybe other) contact the British Embassy in Addis !!

Email OR +251 11 661 2354


I now have a PDF copy of the said letter if anyone wants it emailed to them for "Editing"

Ted

Hi Ted, I made contact with the British embassy already today and hopefully they are sending me the letter electronically. Would you be so kind as to send me a copy of yours so that I can compare information contained therein please? Similarly, I would be more than happy to send mine (if I get it!) on to anyone as well.

Many thanks

Maestro

Clearly, this seems to be the norm and they are sorted providing this info

After a couple of emails I received an email containing a pdf with appropriate seals

:D

Greetings, I just got mine as well so clearly this is indeed the norm. Best of luck and see you all some time soon.

Maestro

Hi Ted - Can you send me a copy pls? enzo at africa4x4cafe dot com

Thanks