Hi ladies, gentlemen, girls and boys, and all the other crazy enough like us to do a journey like this.
I have started planning the same journey, but most probably only in 2 years.
I will be traveling from Hamburg-Germany to Patensie-South Africa. My home town.
To get to your question about being difficult to get into Egypt or Sudan:
It is not difficult, just expensive. A Carnet de Passe (Document for Pass) is a document which allows you to import and export your vehicle into each country. A normal Carnet de Passe will be billed 1/3 of your actual vehicle value, but be careful, they count all the extras e.g. winch, tent, extra tanks, snorkel ect. and then they calculate the deposit for the Carnet de Passe.
East Route:
If you come from Europe and travel through Israel, you will not be able to enter Sudan. I used to have a little trick for this when I was there on business. I stapled a normal small paper into my Passport and then they stamped on the paper. This will not work here, because you will have the Israel stamp on your Carnet de Passe...this means trouble. You can apply for a Transit Visa before you arrive there, then you will have not trouble. This is only relevant when you travel through Israel.
Egypt and Sudan has very high taxes on a Carnet de Passe, so you will be billed 2/3 of the actual vehicle value.
My Vehicle is worth 7000Euro, after I took it to customs in Germany for the Carnet de Passe calculation, they said 18 000Euro (due to all the extras), so if I would like to pass through Egypt and Sudan in need to give them a 12 000Euro deposit, which you get back after your journey and handing them the complete Carne de Passe, but very cheap fuel!!
At the entry border you get an "import" stamp and at the exit border an "export" stamp. You need to show the customs all the stamps in order to get your money back. It is nearly like a "full service history" of a car.
If you have an accident and your car is totally wrecked, you need to inform your customs, the customs of the current country, the police of the current country and you need to make photos about the scrapping of your vehicle, otherwise you might have trouble to get your money back from customs.
West Route:
Here you will exit Morocco and enter at the south of Spain.
Here your Carnet de Passe is only 1/3 of the calculated vehicle value, but then you get a block for Egypt and Sudan. If you try to enter - or enter one of these countries - you will get into trouble.
I got all the information from my local Car Club www.adac.de
You need a car insurance which pays for the damage caused by your vehicle. This you can get for approx. 1200Euro for 12 months. You can only get a full insurance (for your damage and their damage) if your vehicle is younger than 5 years.
I got this info from Travel Insure in Hamburg, my Car club recommended them.
This insurance is often not enough, and the current country wants you to purchase one of the local insurances. This you can do at the local customs, normally very cheap. If you should have an accident, your insurance will only pay after the local insurance got to its limit. Let's say the damage is 2500Euro to the other vehicle, and the locally purchased insurance will only pay 1800Euro, your "foreign" insurance will pay the rest.
Vehicle type for the actual journey:
You WILL need a 4x4.
You need a vehicle with high ground clearance.
You will need proper tires (big and wide with a rough profile) with steel belt, make your vehicle a bit wider with a widening kit.
A long wheel base vehicle will give you a more comfortable ride, a short wheel base is more maneuverable, and has better off road abilities, but this is only noticeable in extreme offroading conditions.
Try to get a vehicle with diff-locks in the front and back.
You need one with hi- and low range gears, otherwise you might damage your clutch and maybe gearbox, for the oil will get to hot in the gearbox.
If you want to drive through the rain forest, you will need a snorkel and winch fitted to your vehicle, choose the right season, if you go there in the rain season you will get stuck around every corner. The roads are clay...this means you just slip into the ditch when they are wet.
Very important!! Take enough Water and Diesel!
+- 7litres of water per person per day
You need sand ladders when you are driving through the desert, you will get long distances of hard sand, but every now and then you will get a soft patch, and get stuck straight away. Here they might be useful.
Talking about buying or selling your vehicle.
Buying:
Buy a Toyota Land Cruiser or a Land Rover Defender. You get spare parts for all of these all over Africa. Of course you can take another vehicle, but if you have a break down you can wait up to 10days for the right parts.
You will get trouble with spare parts when the Toyota Land Cruiser or Land Rover Defender is younger than 2004, because for these vehicles you need special software, and electronic parts.
Take a vehicle without Air Conditioning. The shock will not be so big when you are getting out of the car with 22°C inside and 45°C outside. If you do this all the time you will weaken your immune system and get sick along the way. Nobody wants this. An air Conditioning is heavy, "hangs" on the motor, and means more fuel.
Selling:
I can't say anything about selling an "African" Vehicle in England, but in Europe you will have a lot of trouble selling.
1) Remember, you have a Carnet de Passe, you only get your deposit back when you show them a complete Carnet de Passe. This Carnet de Passe is only complete when your vehicle is back at the "Start point". A Carnet de Passe is valid for exactly 12 months, you can extend this by another 12 months and another 12 months and again and again, you just need to inform your Automobile Club or Customs (depends where you left the deposit for the Carnet de Passe) 6 weeks before the expiry date, otherwise you will get trouble with your money.
2) The steering wheel is on the wrong side.
3) The road safety tests are very strict here. Here it will most probably be Not Roadworthy.
4) You can sell the car to one of the Exporters, but you will lose a lot of money
Remember: When you are on this journey, If you have a time table you need to be flexible. Take time to enjoy the brilliant views, animals and cultures of Africa. If you have a breakdown, relax, take a step back and try to think :-)
When possible, try to travel in a convoy. Aways handy when sleeping in the wild and not in a camp, or when traveling over long vast distances.
Take a proper GPS system. The company Garmin has good GPS systems and actual maps for Africa, and even when you are doing serious offroading you will still have an idea where you are.
I hope I did not chat too much and I hope I could help some people. Like I said, I am only planning in going in about 2 years. But planning is everything.
Best regards to everybody.
Christo M.
. There's a healthy second hand market in Belgium (where I live), where Morrocans buy cars to ship out to Morroco. Prices you get are low, but you'll sell it for sure. By the way, a second hand 4WD is much cheaper here than in SA (I've lived there for 9 months so I know the prices), since there're so many of them here !
