27th Feb 2008
Getting organized for our last trip taught us a lot.
Van registration falls due in May. Normally an inspection certificate has to accompany the registration papers, but, with a van sitting in the UK, the inspection had to be completed over there.
Mr Nick Guyer, the farmer whose shed the van is being stored, helped us immeasurably by taking it to the local MOT inspection station in Kings Lynn and getting it passed for us. We then had to arrange with the local RTA office to accept an overseas inspection which required pone calls from the head office and a checking of the regulations as this situation arises infrequently.
Visas have to be obtained for most of the African countries but most of these are easy to get on the borders or in the country before the one it’s required for.
We have details of a company where we can obtain the necessary insurance for Europe and will arrange that in the next couple of weeks.
Our flight is booked for the 15th March when we fly to Paris after an overnight stopover in Tokyo. Will get over the jetlag in our favourite city then fly directly to Norwich. The farm where the van is stored is an hour or so from Norwich.
New tyres need to be fitted on the van as well as a couple of other small jobs then we catch the Harwich/Hook of Holland ferry on the 28th March
The Route:
There are a few alternatives in getting to Northern Africa: crossing from Spain to Morocco is well traversed but is a ‘no go’ for us as the Morocco/Algeria border has been closed for quite a few years.
There is a regular ferry service from Sicily to Tunisia from where you would cross Libya into Egypt west of El Alemain. However a guide needs to accompany independent travellers in Libya the cost of this exercise is quite expensive. They also charge quite a fee to bring your vehicle into the country. It was going to work out about $1500 for 5 days crossing the country. The guide is mandatory only because some independent travellers were discovered carrying ancient rock carvings out of the country in the back of their vehicles a few years back. A case of a few spoiling it for the rest.
We will be taking the third route which is across Europe to Istanbul, down through Syria to Jordan then ship the van from Aqaba to Nuweiba in the Sinai. There is a daily ferry service and only takes 4 hours. We then drive down to Sharm el Sheikh for a couple of days relaxing then on to Cairo.
Heading south from Cairo, we may need an escort travelling with us up to Luxor, if so we will take alternate Red Sea route that most traffic uses. From Luxor it’s not far up the Nile to Aswan where we catch the ferry on Lake Nasser that takes us to Wadi Halfa in Sudan. The boat only departs on a Monday which means we have to gauge our timing to be there a day or two before.
The trip from Wadi Halfa to Khartoum will be interesting. There are 2 routes; one follows the old railway line across the Nubian Desert, the other one and the one we will take, runs alongside the Nile for most of the way. There are many villages and ancient temples on that route, well worth taking your time.
There is only the one crossing between Sudan and Ethiopia which is south east of Khartoum. Once we cross into Ethiopia we will do a loop firstly heading north then sweeping down to Addis Ababa.
Kenya follows next. If the trouble has subsided by the time we get there we will look around Kenya then head west into Uganda and Rwanda then on to Tanzania. If things are still hot we can travel directly from Nairobi into Tanzania.
Then it’s on to Malawi, Zambia, Botswana, Namibia and finally South Africa.
We’re looking at 5 months to do the trip. I’m sure we could spend longer and might even do so. Play it as it comes.
