There is
a strategic “fly in the ointment” of my trip plan…actually there are several
and its starting to look like a significant barrier.
Before I
set out on the trip I did of course look into visa requirements for the many
different countries along the route. And from those investigations. I concluded
that the only significant visa barrier was Sudan… So I tried to get one while I
was in Canada but failed due to the large lead-time to my arrival there and
also the fact that I knew no-one in Sudan to “invite” me and could get no
responses from on-site tour operators or hotels… So I figured Id just apply for
that visa once I got nearer in time and location where Id heard things would be
a lot easier (To apply in Nairobi was the plan)… And other than that I had clearly
read that “visa-on-arrival” was available for Canadians in all other countries
along the planned route.
…And so
it still remains… But I had not read the “fine print” so to speak (In fact, I think the situation has changed regarding issuing visas in neighbouring countries rather than I failed to read the fine print) and it seems
that for Ethiopia the visa-on-arrival option is ONLY valid for arrivals by air
to the capital!... They are not issuing any at the borders… And worse, they are
also not issuing any visas to foreigners at any of the neighbouring countries…
or in fact anywhere but at the embassies in foreigners home countries (ie in
Ottawa Canada in my case). And my recent web investigations suggest that they
may not be issuing any land border crossing visas at all!
So, Ive
sent a couple of emails to well-placed contacts in CapeTown, Nairobi, and Addis
Ababa to see what the real story is and what my options might be… Its still in
progress but Ive so far confirmed that there is zero possibility of getting a
visa in Nairobi… So its looking like I have a real problem here!
The route
alternatives are to ride through Somalia and Djbouti to the East or via CAR and
Darfur or Chad to the West… Both options look like something someone with
serious adrenalin addiction problems and low risk assessment skills would do
and Im afraid that’s just not me!
So, I
think my only current hope might be to send my passport back to Canada and
apply for a visa there… an option that would take weeks and cost hundreds…
probably adding a thousand dollars to my trip costs! Needless to say im not
keen on it but we will see what my options are in about a week.
On other
fronts, I mentioned that I was seriously considering avoiding Egypt in favour
of crossing the Red Sea and going to Israel via Saudi Arabia and Jordan. But
while the visa problem seems not to be large for that alternate route, a little
more investigation shows that the vehicle issues are significant… Not even considering
the challenge of figuring out how to get my bike across the Red Sea on short
notice, it seems that temporary import to both Saudi and Jordan are just as
onerous as for Egypt and a Carne-de-passage requires a deposit of three times
the vehicles new value to allow entry… In my case that would tie up about
$12000 for the duration of the trip… And that point is in fact moot since the
carne’ that I did get while in South Africa only covers $2500 worth of assurance
deposit and very specifically does not include Egypt or Arabia (a choice I
deliberately made at the time but may not have been wise to do so)… So given
that Egypt is a single border and Saudi/Jordan/Israel is three, Im reconsidering
the Egypt option… But since my carne’ is not valid Id have to do it the more
complicated way of getting a temporary import permit on arrival at the border…
that can be done but it is notoriously difficult to get anything done without apparent
extortion, incompetence, beurocracy at stunningly high levels at that
particular border crossing! So, Im not feeling too confident about that either
but Ill do some more investigating just in case J
And after
that there is still the challenge of getting the Sudan visa… Thankfully I now
have a good contact in Sudan so I believe I should be able to get that sorted
out without too much bother… but that is the least of the challenges at the present.
At the
end of the day, if worst comes to worst then I can always turn around and ride
all the way back South to Cape Town… Ive thought about it a bit and Id do a big
loop around Uganda, Rwanda, and Burundi (all of which are well worth visiting
Im told) and then go South through Zambia which I missed on the ride North… It
would make for a good trip but I admit Id feel disappointed about not covering
the full length of the continent and not seeing some very interesting
countries.
Oh well,
lots of stuff to look into and challenges to work on… lets see what happens J
