Sudan Wadi Halfa, Egypt Abu Simbel, Qustul Overland Border Crossing procedures
(Note if you have recently crossed this border and have some additional information on the costs & process etc. please help us to keep this post up to date and leave a comment in our forum Sudan Wadi Halfa, Egypt Abu Simbel, Qustul Border Crossing orOverland Facebook Group with the details)
The Egypt/Sudan border is known to be a difficult border crossing, taking all day and for helpers, customs and other officials that will fleece you for everything you have, it’s hard to decide “do I get a helper or not?”.
Well the first thing to do, is do yourself the biggest favour and DO NOT pre book a helper, some people have paid up to $650 to cross this border. Totally unnecessary and it is daylight robbery!!
Once at the border, if you are stuck, someone will help and point you in the right direction!!
Known Common Scams
- Leaving Egypt they will tell you your licence plates do not match, i.e front and back or that they do not match your documents – Take a photo of your plates and documents before entering the border.
- They will say your COMESA insurance is not valid for Egypt and requires additional insurance – This is not true, hold your ground if you can… Others have reported it being accepted. The alternative is to pay for more insurance which will cost between $20 to $40.
Costs North Bound
- Leaving Sudan, you should be paying around $50 for two people & one 4×4 (note entering in Sudan going North no fees are paid Ethiopia, Metema / Gallabat, Sudan Border Crossing)
- Entering Egypt, the maximum you should be paying for insurance, customs, health, plates (excluding visa costs) is $160 for two people & one 4×4.
Costs South Bound
- Leaving Egypt, you should be looking to pay less as you will not be paying for insurance, plates, health, and a much smaller Customs fee etc. so probably no more than $50, *Note you need a stamp from the traffic court in Aswan before heading to Abu Simbel.
- Entering Sudan at the border, you have to pay a processing fee to the government and to pay for the border itself (note heading north into Sudan, no fees are paid) Max cost should be $50 for two people & one 4×4, however people appear to be paying significantly more than this i.e. $400 odd whilst using a helper… We are unable to verify the exact costs of entering Sudan from Egypt, but one helper did confirm the costs stated below look correct.
Helpers
If you do decide to use a helper, ensure the following:
- You agree a fee for their services up front
- Run through the expected costs, write them down, compare them to others costs
- Pay all the costs yourself and obtain receipts for each fee
Egypt – Kamal & Mohammed – According to other reports, they charge on top of the official fee anywhere between $50 & $150, they will add mark up to the official costs. Kamal has quoted EG£1640/ $210 plus an additional $50 for him. 4 Wheel Nomads reported that they paid in total EG£1640 in total for his services and official fees.
Sudan – Mazar – On the Sudan side it seems that customs will direct you to Mazar if he is there. He is not actually that bad, he did help us a little, he did not ask for any money but we believe the $10 customs fee goes to him, which was fine for us..
But we are aware that a few people recently have paid a lot to cross, paying anywhere up to $650 to cross both boders with helpers.
Also note these guys go to the border every day, you are doing them a favour driving them to the border, not the other way round!!
Timings – Heading North
It’s important to be at the border as soon as it opens, normally at 9am, we arrived at 6:45am L (did not open until 9:40am for us) there are many others crossing with carnets, and they will all be dealt with first.
Note that the border is on lunch from around 12 noon, at this time everything will stop and the gates will shut, so even if you have completed your paperwork, you will not be able to leave.
Due to the time it takes to clear the Egyptian side, you really need to be there by 12 noon (11am Egyptian time), we arrived at around noon and did not leave until just after 4pm around 30 minutes after they started to leave and close the offices.
The last ferry to Abu Simbel can leave at any time from 4pm to around 4:30pm, if you miss the last boat you are stuck for the evening!! If you see a long queue of trucks, just drive past them and straight to the front of the queue.
Police Escort Aswan to Abu Simbel
It is advised that tourists join the police convoy that runs in both directions from Aswan to Abu Simbel. We joined the convoy but found that just after leaving it dispersed and we were on our own again, the convoy drives fast, between 90 and 120kmph.
On route, there are several police check points where they do take a note of your number plate.
Others have reported driving this route without any problems independently.
Convoy Times
Aswan – From the obelisk at 4am & 11am
Abu Simbel – From the Abu Simbel Temple car park at 10am and 4pm.
Sudan Border
Leaving Sudan
- Enter through the gate on your left
- Park in front of the cafeteria
- Go to immigration: There are several steps
- Counter 1 – Give them your passport, they will partially fill in a white form and then give it to you to complete.
- Counter 2 – Give them the completed form(s) and processing fees of 50pp and 100 for the vehicle
- Counter 3 – Get the receipt for your payments
- Counter 4 – Pay the 70pp government fee and obtain a receipt
- Counter 5 – Complete the blue exit form and have your passports stamped
- Go to the police office and tell them that you are leaving Sudan to Egypt, give the guy at the photocopier the following: (they will make three copies, they will keep one and return two to you for Customs and the border gate) – Fee for police is 120 + 20 for copies
- All passports
- Driving licence
- Carnet / Carnet Stamp
- Vehicle registration (both sides)
- Comesa Insurance
- TIP / Customs document given to you when entering the country
- Take these to customs – Here you will most likely be told you need Mazar, if not then give these guys all the documents, they should stamp your Carnet and fill out a form which is attached to the portion of the Carnet they keep. People have reported paying Mazar $10 for this service when he helps out. Customs fee is 110 to leave and 160 to enter.
- Go to the gate, and show them your passports and Carnet and leave. Note they may search your vehicle and place customs stickers on everything, any problems just say Mazar said it was ok to go…
Total Costs North: sd£590 / $53
Total Costs South: sd£500 / $45 *Estimated
Entering Egypt
- On arrival at the gate you will be stopped and asked to pay an entrance and exit fee, for a 4×4 and two people it cost us in total EG£150, they may also ask you for a health or quarantine fee, people have been charged anywhere between EG£16 – EG£30 each. They may also ask to see your yellow fever vaccination certificates. For entrance and exit fees they will give you several receipts, you will also be given a receipt for health / quarantine.
- If you need Egyptian pounds and have USD, you can change them in the bank.
- Park before the red cones, at this point if there are two or more of you, it would be best to let one of you deal with inspections / x-raying and the other to jump to step 4 (immigration) & 5 (Photocopies) as this will save quite a lot of time. Customs will want you to put all of your gear through the x-ray machine, we tried to avoid this so it may be best to grab one of the customs guys, start opening boxes and showing him the contents, hopefully they will then just choose a couple of items to go through the machine. You will have to leave all scanned items on the other side of the red cones and drive your bike/vehicle around the cones before loading them back in.
- If you already have a visa, fill in the entry card and give immigration your passports, they will take 5-10minutes checking/processing your details.
- Once you have your passport stamped, you can go to the photocopy office, copy the following for customs:
- Passport & Visa / Stamp
- Carnet
- Vehicle Registration certificate
- Driving licence
- Customs – Give them your carnet, passport and the photocopies. They will stamp the carnet and complete a form in Arabic (TIP), ensure you tell them how long you want to be in Egypt. i.e. 2-3 months, as this is stated on the form. They will charge a customs fee of EG£522 to leave.
- Go to office next door and make your payment, return to the customs office with the receipt.
- Get Insurance (If required). EG£380 for two months for a 4×4. Before going to step 9 return to the copy shop and get 4 copies of the following: Make sure you put all the copies in one of the card folders by the copier. They may charge you EG£30 for copies and the folder.
- Passport & Visa / Stamp
- Carnet
- Vehicle Registration certificate
- Driving licence
- The Arabic form completed by customs (TIP)
- Insurance – Comesa or other
- Drive around to the office on the other side of the buildings to register your vehicle and obtain licence plates, Costs for a 4×4 EG£55. They will check through your forms, and then complete a document in Arabic, you will need to run back to the copier shop and take 3 copies of this, and return it back to them. *It’s important to make sure your plates are valid for the total time you wish to spend in Egypt, others have reported only getting a couple of weeks and were required to extend them or pay a small fine on leaving the country.
- They will then take you to the office next door for final approval.
- Attach your number plates (Make sure you have a screwdriver and some self-tapping screws or double sided sticking pads, duct tape or nylon ties to secure the plates)
- Go to the gate, they will check some of your paperwork and head to the ferry to take you to Abu Simbel. EG£100 for a 4×4, EG50 for a motorbike.
Total Costs North: EG£1267 / $162
Total Costs South: EG£200 / $25
*Note they did not accept our COMESA insurance and should have done, this cost EG£380 of the amount above. Others have reported that it was accepted for them.
Detailed Costs
2 x people 1 4×4
North Bound
Leaving Sudan
Police £120 + £20 for copies Total 140
Departure fee government 70 pp total 140
Other processing fee £50 pp total 100
Car fee £100 100
normally an extra 50 per car is due, we did not pay this..
Customs fee 110
Total 590
USD @ 11 $52
Entering Egypt
Gate Fee 150
Health fee 60
Customs 522
Licence plates 55
Insurance (2 Months) 380
Ferry to Abu Simbel 100
Total 1267
USD @ 7.78 $162
South Bound
South bound costs have been estimated from information provided by others, and one of the helpers in Sudan (Mazar) also looked over the costs.
Leaving Egypt
Gate Fee 150
Health fee N/a
Customs 50?
Licence plates N/a
Insurance (2 Months) N/a
Ferry to Abu Simbel 100
Total 200
USD @ 7.78 $25
*Estimated Costs
Entering Sudan
Police £120 + £20 for copies Total 140
Departure fee government 70 pp total N/a
Other processing fee £50 pp total 100
Car fee £100 100
Customs fee 160
Total 500
USD @ 11 $45
*Note you may also have to pay 385SD per person for Alien registration. Some people have reported Travel and photo permits are not required anymore, however we were asked for them several times.. They are free going north… not sure about on the border going south.
Contact details of Helpers:
Kamal [email protected]
Mazar [email protected]
References to people who have crossed this border
- 4 Wheel Nomads http://4-wheel-nomads.de/?p=4050
- Africa with Autism https://www.facebook.com/Africa-With-Autism-998778493470706/?fref=ts
- Abseitsreisen http://www.abseitsreisen.de/blog/lander-informationen/grenze-sudan-aegypten/
Other References
- Ethiopia, Metema / Gallabat, Sudan Border Crossing
- Visas in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia for Sudan and Egypt
- Visas in Nairobi, Kenya for Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt
- Overland Birds
Updates can be found in our Overlanding Africa Facebook Group or Forum – Overland Border Crossings
*The information above (text and pictures) may not be used commercially in any way without prior written permission.
Overlanding Association on August 11, 2019