africa by motorcycle

Hi everybody!

End of June I am starting my travel through Africa by motorcycle, from north to south and back. I will be 15 months on the road and there are 34 African countries in my itinerary. I am stuck with issue of Libyan visa. Also because of such a long period I am having problems with almost every embassy (they are not willing to issue visa so long in advance).

If anybody have some advice I would be very greatfull (especially for Libya).

Mark, Croatia

If Libya is like Algeria, yes you are well advised to do it well in advance. For most other countries, getting a visa in the neighbouring country is often the best solution. It usually takes 1-3 days in the capital city and it is often cheaper and more relaxed than doing it from Europe. I have once done it that way from Cape Town to Djibouti and I have had no problem.

What is the specific problem for Libya ? I remember Algeria being a major hassle that required me to find someone in-country willing to write an invitation. Sometimes, local travel agencies will do that for a fee.

You do need an invitation from someone in Libya and your passport details all have to be translated into Arabic. You can get help through an agent and doing a search through google.com will give you information on Libyan travel agents.

I faced a similar problem a few years ago in that I had to travel back into the same countries a couple of times, and had to use up visas before I could get new ones.

While it is a pain, you can go to the embassy of the country next on your list and get a visa. You are subject to their office hours and location. Since you have a long itinerary, this might be easy for you to schedule. I had to make some deviations from my itinerary and leave some friends to get back to major cities for the office hours.

Get a list of all the embassies and their details before you leave.

I met a number of people who were doing what you are doing.

For Libya you need an invite 1st so do it before you go

For latest situation have a look on www.sahara-overland.com , chris scotts excellent website & forum