Sudan Travel Forum

Hi

I will be travelling to Egypt from Jan 10, 2008. Can I get Sudan Visa at Aswan?
what is the procedure? How could I reach Sudan in cheapest possible way? Do I require Egypt Visa again while coming back from Sudan to Egypt?

Sudan visum info:

Entry visas are required by almost all nationalities, and are valid usually for one month.
Evidence of a previous visit to Israel will result in a visa refusal.
Permits are required by visitors wishing to travel anywhere outside Khartoum, and can take up to 2 days to obtain. Visitors arriving in any town or city in the Sudan must register with the police on their arrival, and show the necessary paperwork.


Egypt visum informatio":

It is possible for most tourists and visitors to obtain an entry visa at any of the Major Ports of Entry. (about $20)

Visitors entering Egypt at the overland border post to Taba (from Israel) to visit Gulf of Aqaba coast and St. Catherine can be exempted from visa and granted a free residence permit for fourteen days to visit the area.

The following are exempt from visa requirement when visiting Egypt:
Nationals of Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Libya, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria and the United Arab Emirates.

Citizens of the following countries are required to be in possession of a pre-arrival visa: Afghanistan, Algeria, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Chechnya, Croatia,Georgia, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Iran, Israel, Kazakhstan, Kirghizia, Lebanon, Macau, Macedonia, Malaysia, Moldavia, Montenegro, Morocco, Pakistan, Palestine, The Philippines,Russia, Serbia, Slovenia, Sri-Lanka, Tadzhikistan, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan and all African countries.

NOTE: If you are NOT arriving by air or sea (red sea), then you may need to organize a visa beforehand. i.e. people traveling overland from Sudan, you will need to arrange a visa before arrival.

Only just noticed this, and it may be too late for you...but it might help others looking for similar information ;)

In 2004, it was definitely possible to get a visa at the Sudanese embassy in Cairo, and it was known to be one of the easiest places in the world to get one....mine took a couple of hours to issue, no questions asked, and all i needed was a letter of introduction from my own embassy (not cheap!). I met some travellers who got visas in Aswan...there is a consulate there, and the best people to ask would be the friendly guys who run the ferry ticket office in the town centre...this was 2004, so things may have changed since then, so if you're in Cairo, try and get the visa there.

The cheapest way? Well, there are only two ways for foreigners to enter Sudan from Egypt...by plane, or by ferry from Aswan. The ferry leaves once a week and takes up to two days to reach Wadi Halfa at the other end of Lake Nasser...expect delays though. The ferry is supposed to arrive in wadi halfa in time for the weekly train south to Khartoum...in reality, you may well end up waiting in Wadi Halfa for a day or two waiting for the train to arrive.

You are supposed to register with the Aliens' Registration Office in Khartoum within 48 hours of entering sudan, but obviously that's not possible for those arriving by ferry...the train alone takes 36 hours to reach Khartoum, and that's not counting delays or time spent twiddling your thumbs in Wadi Halfa. It is worth trying to register and get some sort of letter from immigration in Wadi Halfa...that means you can take your time travelling down the Nile towards Khartoum, visiting places on the way.

If you need an Egyptian visa to get to Aswan in the first place, then you'll need to get another one to go back....you could ask about a double-entry visa, if they exist...otherwise, there's an Egyptian Embassy in Khartoum which has long queues but does issue visas, or you may be one of the nationalities that can get a visa on arrival. Ask your local Egyptian embassy.

Hope this helps and have a good trip ;@P