While I’m posting about my stormy relationship with Miss Malaria when I was in Botswana a little while ago, today -in real time- I crossed a new border. I entered South Africa earlier, for many reasons.
1/ I couldn’t sleep last night, the Orange river was flirting with a quite violent wind…the number one enemy of my rooftop tent;
2/ I had a two-month visa to explore Namibia and it’s expiring tomorrow already!;
3/ the Carnet de Passage en Douanes (CPD)* for Rafiki is expiring on the 4th of March and I had to order a new one, which is going to be delivered somewhere in SA in the next coming days.
*The CPD is the international customs document which covers the temporary admission of motor vehicles. To resume: it’s a passport for the car!
Remember, I was initially supposed to drive from France to Africa via the Middle East -so I’ve asked the Automobile Club in France to start the carnet early March (when I was supposed to enter Iran, first country where the carnet is mandatory on my route).
That’s the reason why, after one year, I had to renew the Carnet if I don’t want Rafiki to be in trouble. The initial price to create a carnet is the value of the car (a deposit which varies with certain countries) and it costs me €253 to renew it (one year minimum). The deposit will be refunded as soon as Rafiki is back in its home country (France).
Advantages of the CPD:
- Using a Carnet is an alternative to leaving a cash security deposit with a foreign government and reimbursement formalities;
- Eliminates the need for national temporary importation documents;
- Facilitates entry formalities at border posts and port of entries.
My CPD has been IDEAL so far and mostly mandatory here in Africa anyway.
All that to say: I’m back in South Africa after 10,5 months!
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