Saharan Rally 2009 - Teams required!

Enjoyed the Mongol rally so much that me and my mate Adam are planning another trip. Setting off on January the 31st, this rally will be going France, Spain, Crossing over into Morocco and then through the Sahara desert, passing Algeria, Libya and Egypt then heading for the far east and up the red sea. Will then cross over into turkey by ferry and then go the easern way round Europe, passing Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Austria, Switzerland and then on the home straight through France and back over to England. Something in the region of about 7500 miles and 3-4 weeks.

We are not doing this through an organisation and it isn't part of a bigger rally - me and Adam (team Rusty Rhinos on the Mongol Rally 2007) are doing it off our own back. We are raising money for Mercy Corps - a very worthwhile charity.

We are looking for another team...or 2....
...To come with us on this trip around Febuary 2009. So we can share the experience and have a good laugh. It is not for the sort that would only ever think of going on package holidays. There will be bartering, bribes, breaking down, lack of sleep and a fair amount of off road driving and sand. No hotels. But a huge amount of fun and see loads of places.
You will need a vehicle capable of doing it (to have another landie with us would be superb) and a bit of money and the mindset to do it.
Me and Adam were thinking of taking a range Rover, but decided against it as it makes it a bit too easy...so we are taking a 1963 series 2A. Another team, my mum and stepdad, are coming in this Series 2



Anyone interested in making a team? Contact us through the website http://www.saharan-rally.co.uk or reply to this thread

You do know that it costs a fortune to take your vehicle into Egypt, don't ya?

Can ya get LPG in North Africa? I do know unleaded petrol is cheap in Egypt, a friend of mine filled his Toyota Corolla (I think) (when the light came on on the fuel gage to full) for the grand total of EGP (Egyptian Pounds) 70 - about GBP 7!!!! wether their fuel is of the same standard as Europe I don't know..

EDIT: I've been to Egypt 5 times so feel free to ask me anything if you want any advice.

this sounds like an awesome idea. if i wasnt at college, i would be well up for this

I'm well up for it but I've got to try and convince my sister, were planning on doing our own trip next year....

Ferry from Newcastle to Norway, drive north to Tromso then south back through Finland then the baltic states and then on down to Croatia and the like before heading home through Switzerland, Austria, Germany & The Netherlands to catch a ferry back to the UK. I'm going to try and convince her to do this but (and only if it's OK with Rustyrhinos) split from the group somewhere about Istanbul and do our own, albeit, slightly altered plan in reverse.

Unless anyone has space in their vehicle for a little one??

LPG in North Africa...Have no idea to be honest! Fuel indeed is cheap as chips in the African countries. I am guessing like a lot of countries the fuel standards wont be the same and only decent stuff in cities. Not bothered by that though, old landies will run on anything.

Tweet your trip sounds good Anyone is welcome to join us for part of the way....there are a few people that are interested in coming as far as Morrocco, having a play there then heading back which is all good .

Tweets, have you gone into Egypt with a car before? I know importing a car into Egypt is expensive but getting into the border can't be that expensive I wouldn't have thought (my mate goes to Egypt regularly, and there are people that regularly cross the border who don't exactly look loaded). Don't suppose you know the situation with the ferry crossing between Egypt and Turkey at the moment? Its supposed to be a bit shady (not that this will put us off going of course, we would go even if it meant getting on a freight ferry hehe)

Hiya, no I've never took a car into Egypt, I've never really wanted too, have you seen the standard of driving in Cairo?? tis shocking!!

I remember reading somewhere that border crossings are long and tedius with only certain points for foreigners to cross, I'll see if I can find it again and post a link

I aint got a clue about the ferry situation but I've got a close friend in Cairo who is Egyptian, I'll call him when I can find out is a best time and ask him to look into it, if he can't get any info his nearest relatives can (all fairly high up in goverment jobs, military etc...) I'll also ask him to find out about border crossings from Libya to Egypt. I looked into going to Libya some time ago and the only way tourists can go there is to be part of a tour group which means having a guide go with you everywhere, Whenever I go anywhere I really like to do it independently as much as possible, having a guide with me at every turn kinda cramps my style, I was in Russia in 2006 and the onlyway I could get the visa was to be part of a trip (Trans Siberian in my case) most of the trip we had guides at every stopping point en route but after the obligitory tour and on the trains we were left to it, or so you would think, we were followed everywhere, and they weren't discreet about it either. I mentioned it to a tour guide and she asked how I noticed as they were meant to be discreet and she waffled on about it being for our safety yada yada yada

Thanks for that Tweets

yeah Egypt border crossings (and others) can be a very time consuming process and lots of paperwork. You have to make sure you have the right documents etc etc or in theory they can send you away (but of course that can often be got around ).

Cool about you getting back to me r.e the ferry situation...there is info on the net but I don't trust it tbh.

r.e the guide in Libya...yeah you do have to have a "guide". In theory, they have to stay with you all the way. In practice, and from what other people have said, they don't need to follow you everywhere...just basically let you in and out of the country...and if you are caught without the guide you make an excuse or two. Independant travel is deffo the best way. Not been onn a package holiday since I was 12!

Cool siggy by the way

I ain't managed to get hold of Shady (that's my mates in Egypts nickname, all young people in Egypt refer to each other by their nickname, my mate is Shady by name and Shady by nature lol) as he works alot but as soon as I do I'll get him on the case

Hehe cheers

as posted by protractor isnt the carnat de passage something like 800% for Egypt? thats why few people actually take their vehicles into that country and prefer to visit other saharan countries instead. Morocco only needs a green card and i believe algeria, tunisia are cheaper. Worth looking into before turning up at the border.

G

Yup, it is still 800% for the Carnet De Passage. In theory, you dont *have* to get one of these but it is strongly not recommended and they might just tell you to bugger off at the border crossings.

So yeah, you could pay £4000 to get your vehicle into the country...which can be leant as a guaranteed bond and refunded...but then if you get robbed or break down or whatever you are buggered.

The other way to do it is to get a form of insurance for it....you pay something like 20% of the Carnet De Passage plus £350 cash. If you don't loose the car then you get half back of what you paid them. (works out that roughly in the end you pay £500)

There has been a slight change of plan. No more Morocco and no more Egypt...it's complicated but it's the only way...problem with Morocco is that you have to go to the southern tip to get out...and if you want to then head East you have no choice but to go through Mali - and as a westerner you are almost guaranteed to get robbed or falsely arrested. Then there is the problem with Egypt...we cannot get a guarantee that we can get a ferry out (although there are freight lines chances on getting on one is slim). You can't go west out of Egypt because there is no such thing as a double visa into Libya. You could go west...but then you have to go through Iran...which we would rather avoid!

So this is our new route (anti-clockwise on the map) which we are fairly certain we are going to stick by. We are going down to the south of Italy, ferry over to Sicily, drive down Sicily, then cross by ferry into Tunisia. After tunisa we hit Algeria and do approx a 3000 mile loop there. Algeria, being the largest of the North Afican countries has lots of varied saharan terrain from sand dunes and oasis to rocky formations and mountains. Then we had back round Eastern Europe.

The good thing about this route is that no Carnet De Passage or guides are needed. VISAs are cheap (about £30 if I remember) and the ferry is about £250 return which is about the same as a single into Morrocco anyway.

Without getting lost or taking detours the route is approx 8000 miles

Now I'm even more interested

I just got hold of my mate in Cairo last night too so he is running round today like a blue arsed fly finding stuff out for us so I'll leave him to it for a few more hours before I tell him

Good stuff

Still plan to go to Egypt at some point, and Morocco infact, just not on this trip so all info is good

If you are seriously up for it, we need to start applying for the Visa in late September.

For anyone else thinking about organising their own Sahara trip, you might find this useful...explains some of the problems with borders etc!

Rusty Rhinos' Saharan Rally 2009: Sahara Routing Conundrum

p.s mods, I think I have put this in the wrong section?

A little bump for those that might still be interested

Now have a detailed route of Algeria - looks like it is going to be a damn good fun 3000 miles Our Landie is coming along quite nicely so all is on track

I'm still interested but it all depends if I can get the Disco running 100% (having a few problems) when exactly were you thinking of going again?

wouldnt the first route with a ferry from libya be better? just not going as far as egypt?
looks like a good trip but wouldnt ypou be better off taking you time rather than trying to do it in a few weeks?

We basically decided Algeria would be a more fun trip than Libya for the terrain, the route etc etc. Yeah we could take more time, but we like it this way. We do stop at a lot of places...we just do a lot more hours of driving than others might do to make up for it

Setting off January the 31st