Possible to buy a motorbike in Egypt and head to Cape town?

[Jamieaiw]

Hi all,

 

 

 

From what I've read it looks maybe possible to buy a motorbike in Egypt and head south through Africa, but you have to do the following:

 

 

 

1. Get a local to buy the bike in their name & give you a letter giving you permission to use it (specifying where / when / how long).

 

2. Get a carnet for the bike

 

3. Valid international licence and insurance

 

 

 

Anyone have any experience of this / if it is possible / know any other doc's i might need?

 

 

 

Cheers, Jamie

[Pie man]

Why the Carnet?

[Bender]

8 hours ago, Jamieaiw said:

Hi all,

 

 

 

From what I've read it looks maybe possible to buy a motorbike in Egypt and head south through Africa, but you have to do the following:

 

 

 

1. Get a local to buy the bike in their name & give you a letter giving you permission to use it (specifying where / when / how long).

 

2. Get a carnet for the bike

 

3. Valid international licence and insurance

 

 

 

Anyone have any experience of this / if it is possible / know any other doc's i might need?

 

 

 

Cheers, Jamie

I met a nice guy in Cape town who had just completed the round trip from Cape town to Cambridge and back again,  anything is possible. 

[bonio]

I once had to steer a car that had broken down in Heliopolis while my mates pushed from the back. No carnet, no licence, no documents.

Sorry, I'm not being much help.

 

[bonio]

Perhaps more helpfully...

when it comes to insurance, make sure you're covered for riding a motorcycle (some insurance policies classify anything bigger than a 125cc as a dangerous activity, and won't provide medical cover). Others only cover you where you start the trip in the country where the policy is underwritten (can't think why they do this, but hey), so if you're already in Egypt make sure the insurance doesn't have this kind of clause.

Don't know tuppence about documents for the bike.  Although articles like this (https://www.adventurebikerider.com/article/a-sudan-change-of-circumstance/) are a good read, they're short on details like that (although they do mention a carnet). But perhaps you could get in touch with the authors and ask.

Edited August 16, 2022 by bonio

[keith1200rs]

7 hours ago, Pie man said:

Why the Carnet?

So you don't have to pay tax on the value of the motorcycle for every country you enter.

[S-Westerly]

Not sure why you'd need that as your only passing through. Admittedly it's Africa so the bullshit and corruption levels on behalf of the authorities are a lot worse than Europe. My experience of them with the exception of SA,  Namibia and Ghana has been uniformly bad. Admittedly not as an overland tourist.

Edited August 17, 2022 by S-Westerly

[onesea]

My experience of African authorities is now out of date however, I always used to carry small denominations of $ and latterly €.

Liberally used they could aid situations, however some took great offence at the idea. 
Good luck in your adventures Africa is a fascinating place with some interesting cultures.

[Bender]

15 hours ago, S-Westerly said:

Not sure why you'd need that as your only passing through. Admittedly it's Africa so the bullshit and corruption levels on behalf of the authorities are a lot worse than Europe. My experience of them with the exception of SA,  Namibia and Ghana has been uniformly bad. Admittedly not as an overland tourist.

In Kenya the police used a large wooden beam with nails nocked through,  randomly dragged across the road to stop vehicles to Err inspect them and administer fines with no receipts or paperwork  

 

Good system as long as you could afford it,  I belive haggling could fetch the fine down to whatever you could pay.