From Spain to Ethiopia & from Ehtiopia to Ukraine!

[mahsita]

Hi,

I´m planing to ship my bike to Ethiopia and from there make my way to Ukraine. There are 2 routes that are available either through Sudan & Egypt and then taking a ferry to Europe or through Dibouti, Yemen/Dubai or Iran and then further either through Armenia Georgia... or through Turkey... It´ll be somwehre between this Nov and March 2015

Now the questions are:

- Does anybody know any shipping company or airlines that could ship my bike to Ethiopia?

- Which way is better? Sudan Egypt or Djibouti? Better means in terms of the paperwork, road conditions (I´m not good at off road) and costs?

- I think I will need a carnet for Iran, Egypt and Djibouti. Is that right? Anyway to get to Dibouti without a carnet?

- Can I get the visa for Djibouti, Yemen and Oman in Ethiopia?

- Do I need an insurance for the bike for these countries and in this case can I get it in each respective country?

- Are there any safe ferries from Djibouti to Yemen/Oman/Iran?

- Any bike shops or bike friendly people/places in these countries?

- Any safety issues (apart from Yemen maybe and the fact of me being a woman)?

I would appreciate any info you might have. If anybody happenes to be around just give me a shout. I´m going to be staying in Ethiopia/Mekele for a few months.

Cheers,

Mahsa

[achim-in-jordan]

Hi again, Mahsa!

I have answered some of the questions below in the other thread

Hi Mahsa,

Thanks for your questions many of which have already been answered in other threads. Unfortunately, I did not make it to Djibouti at the time since I did not have time enough to sort out the port in Djibouti on ENTERING. To summarize your questions briefly, this is what I would advice:

There are no ferries crossing the SOUTHERN Red Sea. From Djibouti, you could either ship your vehicle / bike to Aqaba, then cross into Israel and take the "Cenk Y" ferry to Turkey or the "Salamis" ferry to Greece. Or you could ship it to Salalah in Oman which is the Maersk hub for the region and where customs is fairly easy. From there, you could then continue through Oman - UAE - Iran into Turkey.

From Ethiopia, you could also continue to Sudan, where you can apparently still obtain a Saudi transit visa, then cross by ferry to Jeddah in Saudi. Or you could continue to Egypt and then on to Jordan and Israel.

Even though the situation at the Horn of Africa has greatly improved with regard to Somali pirates, I would not recommend to ship your vehicle with the local Dhows to Yemen. Yemen is off limits for foreigners right now given the kidnappings and assassinations of recent months.

As a biker, you can not transit Saudi, so this option mentioned above is out.

The roads up to Sudan and Egypt as well as through Oman, VAE and Iran are all tarmaced, so no issue here.

You can obtain the visa for Djibouti in Addis.

With regard to the paperwork etc. I would imagine it is a little easier through Egypt (even though the process is sometimes a nightmare). This route has been taken by so many people that the fixers in Wadi Halfa (Mazar) and Assuan (Kamal or others) know what to do. By contrast, Djibouti and the shipping to Oman are rarely done. From there on, it should be OK, though.

Ethiopian airlines has fairly decent cargo rates. Though Ethiopia is a landlocked country, it has leased parts of the port of Djibouti, so any shipping line will offer quotes to Addis Abeba as a final destination (a bit weird though if you later take the same way back ...).

Best of luck!
Achim